Getting Ready for Court

GETTING READY FOR COURT
I’m blowing the dust off of all of my legal courtroom dramas that I’ve accumulated over the years and trying to “brush up” on defense tips before I go to court. From what I’ve read from some of the Jones Harvest authors who keep me posted on this fraudster’s shenanigans, Brien Jones, owner of Jones Harvest Publishing in Bloomington, Indiana, has gathered “196 of his authors, 3 of his ex-employees, and 6 companies” to join together in a lawsuit against me.

Actually, the numbers change from day to day, but here is the basic letter to authors:

I hope you have noticed that you haven't received any letters about new bookselling packages. It's not because we ran out of stamps. We decided to make it or not, with the books and authors we have. We're still trying to find a way to sell books, when I come up with something I'll call.

In the mean time, this is free.

Jones Harvest Publishing along with 190 authors (so far) plus SIX OTHER COMPANIES is finally filing suit against Bonnie Kaye. I already paid the Miller Law Group in West Lawn PA for the whole thing, so I don't need any money from you or anyone.

I have decided to include clients like you in the suit at no charge. Please believe me when I tell you her attacks on my company have hurt you and your books. You deserve compensation too.

You don't have to do anything, or say anything, or pay anything, or go anywhere. You'll just get a share of whatever we get back.

If you want a share of the settlement, all you have to do is say "Yes" and I'll add you to the list.

I would love it if you stood with us.

Brien Jones
Author Celebrity Assoc.
Jones Harvest Publishing
Toll-Free 877-400-0075

Since I know that Jones has written some compelling fiction in his day, such as his “The Scariest Pumpkin of Them All,” where he later took his company logo of a scary pumpkin from, I started wondering, “How do I start providing a defense against someone who can’t distinguish truth from fiction, or more to the point, from someone whose truth is fiction?”

Let’s start with 196 of his authors….or 190…or whatever the number is. As I read the Amazon quarterly sales reports that one of his authors forwarded to me, I counted 160 titles that are part of his publishing company. And guess what one of the 160 titles is? Yep, his book “The Scariest Pumpkin of Them All.” And as I examined the Amazon list further, guess what another title was? “The Year the Reindeer Went on Strike,” another Brien Jones creation. It seems like a prophetic book before it’s time when I read the synopsis: "Santa Claus searches for a new way to power his sleigh when his reindeer go on strike. First using penguins, then polar bears, Santa learns just how much he needs his reindeer. Can he work out a compromise in time?" This sounds similar to the real story of his employees all quitting due to his fraudulence and he needs to figure out how to get a book published before the legal authorities get to him. I don’t know how that book ended, but I do know from his ex-employees that they would never return. And then there is the third Jones book, his novel “The Manuscript” which according to Jones’s write up on his Starred Review website (page 4) will really make you think:

As the President of Jones Harvest Publishing, author Brien Jones draws on his experience in the industry for parodying the world of publishing in The Manuscript. Through his coruscating wit and wry observations, he takes off on subsidy publishers, aspiring writers, poetry, thrillers, and romance novels, as well as Indiana town.

Lee Goodwin is an author consultant at an Indiana-based print-on-demand publisher, Myownbook.com, where by paying $1000 aspiring authors can make their dreams come true and get their manuscripts turned into books. To be published by this company, a book has to conform to three rigid standards - it cannot be pornographic, dangerous, or racially prejudiced. But this applies for just the first three pages, since they are the only ones read by the publisher during the supposedly stringent screening process! Even though Lee has to sometimes contend with eccentric writers, insufferable poets ("I am not a big fan of poetry. I figure life is tough enough, why rhyme about it?"), and strange conversations (like when an author claims, "My dog is possessed by Hitler's ghost."), it is a job the forty-one-year-old divorcee enjoys.

Like I mentioned, his fiction is sometimes indistinguishable from his truths. But more to the point, 3 of the books listed on the Amazon list of 160 were his. And for a guy who is supposed to be such an expert on book selling, how come his books haven’t sold any? Actually, for that matter, of the 160 titles on the Amazon report for that quarter, I saw sales for 21 books.

Now let’s be logical. Am I, Bonnie Kaye, the cause for the lack of book sales for the Jones Harvest authors on Amazon? I think not. My attacks on not on Jones Harvest authors—they are on the publishing and publicity fraud of Brien Jones and Jones Harvest. What this means is that by exposing this company, new unsuspecting authors have a chance to read the truth before throwing out their money, and current victims of his fraudulence realize they have a way to fight back through my help.

I’m not sure what anyone can sue me for. I have heard from nearly 80 authors as of today who have sent me complaints about being scammed by Jones Harvest. I think it will be much easier for me to find them to testify then it is for Brien Jones to find authors who want to sue me for…..what exactly is it they are suing me for?

I know the wheels of justice turn very slowly, but in my heart, I do believe that honesty will always win out over dishonesty. Constantly trying to defend a lie is not only difficult, but exhausting as well. Remembering lie after lie is a full time job. But then again, Brien Jones has plenty of time on his hands. As he said in his letter, he’s not soliciting new authors and he doesn’t know how to sell the books of his old ones. But he has paid in full for a law suit against me. Maybe that’s why none of his authors have received their royalties this year.

I think I better start taping some of the Law and Order episodes I may have missed to brush up on some legal strategies. I promise to keep you posted!