Where is our royalties? We paid to be published authors

My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of a group of authors who are victims of a publishing scam through Airleaf Publishing (formerly Bookman Publishing) owned by Carl Lau. We are seeking other victims who have been robbed of their dreams through investments of money and time.

As of October 2007, we have over 90 authors in our group who have been defrauded by Airleaf Publishing for nearly $1,000,000.00. We are taking aggressive action with the Martinsville, Indiana police and the Indiana Attorney General's office to bring criminal action against Airleaf. We have made great strides in our efforts which will hopefully find us the justice we are seeking. If you are an author victim, we welcome you to join our group in hopes of retrieving any lost money, putting the company out of business permanently, and pressing criminal charges against the guilty parties.

Here is some background about me. I am a professional relationship counselor in a niche market of straight/gay marriages which affects 4 million women in this country. Since 1984, I have worked with over 30,000 women who unknowingly married gay/bi men and over 2,000 gay men who need support to come out to their wives.

My website can be found at http://www.gayhusbands.com/. I constantly receive international publicity because of my expertise in this field. I serve as a consultant for the top television shows including Oprah, Montel, and Tyra Banks. You can see my website listed on their resource boards. I have also published 3 books other than the one with Airleaf Publishing about this topic—one through the traditional method and two others through POD.

In the summer of 2006, I researched a number of print-on-demand publishers because I had a new book I wanted to reach the public by September 2006. The book “Straight Wives: Shattered Lives” is a compilation of 27 stories from women in my international support group. Airleaf promised me that if I paid a hefty fee of $1,850.00, my book would be out on time. They were true to their word. I personally had no issue with that. In fact, I was on an Airleaf high because of the wonderful service provided to me.

My book came out the same week that former Governor James McGreevey’s book “The Confession” was released. I launched my own media campaign, and I was interviewed Paula Zahn on CNN and the national FOX news. Sales were booming. Airleaf kept telling me that I was their most successful author.

I was feeling so good about Airleaf at that point of time that I volunteered to talk to prospective authors who were on the fence. I now live with the guilt of convincing them to follow me down the road of doom.

Although I had a signed contract to receive quarterly statements and royalties, I only saw one check for $300.00 after six months. Nine months later, my attorney sent a letter threatening legal action with no response. Zippo. Nada. Nothing. Then I sent a letter to the owner, Carl Lau, that if I do not get satisfaction I will take my own action, and I am doing exactly that because there was no reply. It was only after I launched a criminal complaint with the Martinsville, Indiana police department that I received a second check which is still far from the money I am owed. I realized that there are many more like me who published with Airleaf and I started to seek them out.

I am gathering Airleaf authors together to join me in taking criminal action against a company founded on fraud. We now have 70 Airleaf authors with horror stories from people who have been defrauded from $99.00 to nearly $20,000.00 and who are joining me to fight back so we don’t have to be victims anymore.

I developed this website for two reasons:

(1) to warn unsuspecting, hard working authors not to throw your money away on promises that won’t come true. Airleaf makes some wonderful promises but they fail to keep them;
(2) to help other Airleaf authors who are looking for justice.

Please write to me at Bonkaye@aol.com for more information or to join this cause. It will not cost you ONE PENNY!

Self-publishing scandal. That's going to make history!

AIRLEAF UPDATES, August 25, 2007

Dear Airleaf Author Friends,

I wanted to give you an update as to my progress to date. The letters keep coming in daily from authors who are joining our ship. Yesterday, I received a letter from Airleaf in the amount of $681.64. This was sent to me as a result of the detective from Indiana going to their office last week. I believe that they think if they give me money, I will stop my campaign. But they don't know me. This is not about just me anymore. It's about all of us who have been cheated out of our money, hopes, and dreams.

I am keeping in touch with Detective Buskirk in Indiana and sending him information daily. He is compiling all of the information. He did tell me that he will be in touch with the Attorney General's office as well based on the information I am sending him.

I have contacted an attorney who does class action suits. He doesn't charge money unless he wins the case. Then he gets a percentage. I will send him all of the information you have provided for me in the next day or two and he will review it.
I have also contacted the Attorney General's office in Indiana. They explained to me that each person has to file his/her own complaint. I know that will take a few minutes of your time, but please do it. One author did tell me that the Attorney General got back $5,500.00 for him after an eight month wait. I found that encouraging because I don't know of anyone else who had that happen.

This is the link. When you send it in, please email me so I can keep track of who is sending it there.

Office of the Indiana Attorney General - Steve Carter

They will ask you the address of the company, owner, and phone number. Here it is:
Carl Lau, Owner
Airleaf Publishing and BooksellingCopyright © 2005 All rights reserved.35 Industrial Drive · Martinsville, Indiana 46151Telephone: 1 800 342-6068
Airleaf is definitely starting to feel the pressure, but this has only begun. They don't understand what pressure is yet. Over the holiday weekend, I will compile all of your stories into a document to be used in our future publicity when we are fighting and then winning our case.
Thank you for your support. I will keep in touch with you every few days.
Feel free to write to me at any time.

Best regards,
Bonnie Kaye
http://www.airleafvictims.com/