AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE APRIL 19, 2008
Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,
We are now at 431 Airleaf Victims. I'd like to wish a Happy Passover to all of our Jewish members of the group.
This week, I will be off from my regular job reviewing all of your surveys that you sent to me a couple of months ago in order to identify information to help the government agencies investigating our case. I am hoping to find key documentation that will help us prove the fraudulence that we are claiming. I will let you know some of my results next week.
Thank all of you who told me you wrote to 60 Minutes. If you didn't have a chance to do so, please do so this week. Their email address is: 60m@cbsnews.com. I want them to understand the enormity of our case when it comes to fraudulence. Please put in the subject box, "A Victim of Airleaf Publishing Fraud," or something similar. The more stories they receive, the more convincing our campaign will be.
Today, the Martinsville Reporter released another update. Our reporter friend, Ron Hawkins, has interviewed a number of people including some former employees who were there during Airleaf's last moments.
Feds investigating Airleaf, former employee says
By Ronald Hawkins | rhawkins@reportert.com
Saturday April 19, 2008
Martinsville
At least one former employee of the defunct Airleaf Publishing and Book Selling company has been questioned as a part of a federal investigation into the company's practices, according to that former employee.
The potential criminal filings against the Martinsville-based, vanity publishing and marketing business would be in addition to the multiple civil actions filed against owner Carl Lau and the company he operated until late last year.
In an interview, former Airleaf vice president and sales person Dawn Rodgers said she was questioned on Good Friday by U.S. Postmaster General investigators regarding Airleaf. The investigation is being done in conjunction with the FBI, she said.
Martinsville Police Department Capt. Jeff Buskirk, who investigated Airleaf for local law enforcement authorities, said he's turned over his materials to the FBI.
Bonnie Kaye, a Philadelphia-based author who started airleafvictims.com, said she'd contacted the FBI about Airleaf.
FBI special agent Wendy Osborne, however, said, "The FBI doesn't confirm or deny investigations."
An insider's story
Former Airleaf vp Rodgers worked for two periods at Airleaf. In the first, she had been promoted to vice president of marketing before she left and in the second was a marketing sales person. She was one of the last employees to leave before Lau shut down the business.
Author Kaye said she believes Rodgers shares some of the blame with Lau.
"She was taking money under fraudulent pretenses," Kay said. "She continued taking money after production shut down."
Rodgers said she is as much of a victim as the Airleaf customers who didn't receive the books or marketing services they were promised.
"If anyone's a victim," Rodgers said, "it's me."
Rodgers, who is currently unemployed, said Lau still owes her money.
"He owes everybody," she said.
Lau didn't respond to requests for comments on this story. In a previous interview, however, Lau said after co-founder and Airleaf Executive Vice President Brien Jones left, the business started heading downhill. Lau said Jones, who started his own vanity publishing business in Bloomington, tried to persuade former Airleaf customers not to do business with him.
Jones has said that's not the case
Rodgers, who worked with Jones, said the business headed downhill after Jones left in January 2007, but the cause was the loss of Jones' skills. The sole bad guy in the story, she said, is Lau.
"He didn't have the integrity to run a good business ," Rodgers said. "I wish Carl would accept responsibility for what he did. ...
"I don't think Brien was one of the bad guys. He cared about the business. It went crazy after he left. ...I'd like Carl to be held responsible."
Rodgers said she believed in Lau until the end, when things began to rapidly unravel.
About Airleaf
Airleaf Publishing and Book Selling was a vanity publishing firm based in Martinsville that published and marketed books. Established nearly six years ago, it shut its 35 Industrial Drive offices in mid-December. Many of Airleaf's authors were previously unpublished. Airleaf offered packages for authors that included printing and for an additional price promised it would pitch books to movie studios. Other packages included promises of ad placements in major newspapers and magazines along with interviews on national radio shows and more.
"I believed in what I did, otherwise I wouldn't have done it," Rodgers said. "We all did what we had to do. We cared more about the company than Carl."
In an interview Thursday, Jones said since he started his own business he's had 400 clients and there have been no complaints.
Investigation questioned
Jones questioned whether there is an investigation.
"No one has ever contacted me," Jones said. "I would think at some point someone would have. ...I would think I would be one of the first people they contacted."
Rodgers said the investigators "didn't go into much" about what charges there might be against Law.
The founders of Airleaf, which started as Bookman Publishing and Marketing, had good intentions when they started the business, Rodgers said. Most of the marketing promotions such as cruises and appearances at book shows and even pitches to Hollywood studios happened.
"I don't believe either (Lau or Jones) started with the intent to defraud," Rodgers said.
Martinsville resident Bob Denton is helping some authors receive their books. Denton left Airleaf a month before it closed, he said, but still manages the building and managed it before Lau acquired it. The building is for sale.
Denton worked for Lau for 4-1/2 years in sales, product shipping and receiving, he said. Since leaving, Denton started Mountain Valley Publishing, a publishing firm that he operates out of his home and has some of Airleaf's former clients.
Denton said he left Airleaf because he knew if he sold a publishing package, the money wasn't there to produce it. Denton agreed with Rodgers and Lau that the business started to decline after Jones left.
"At first, it was a good business," Denton said. "It got a lot of people's work published. I don't think they intended to defraud anybody.
"They just ran out of money. Why? I don't know. Carl made a lot of bad business decisions." That was the end of the story.
Here is my response. Please feel free to post your own response to this story.
My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of the group Airleaf Victims found at www.AirleafVictims.com. I would like to clarify some of the issues in this story.
It's not just a matter of Carl Lau being a bad businessman; it's a matter of his operation knowingly committing fraudulence against our 431 authors. We do hold Lau responsible because he held the purse strings; however, other employees were totally aware that services were not being delivered nor were they ever intended to be delivered. These employees include the ones told by Lau to pretend he was in Europe while he sat behind his desk, never saw an ad in the NY Times or LA Times for Airleaf books, or never waved Bon Voyage to the people who paid for the Carnival Cruise that never was booked. By knowing fraud was going on and not reporting it to authorities, they were participating in it or covering it up.
Dawn Rogers claims to also be a victim by comparing the loss of a paycheck to the loss of people's years of hard work, throwing money away down the drain that they saved for their futures, and the pain of calling dozens of times and being ignored because services were not being delivered. Let's be for real. Ms. Rogers was there until the very last day begging people for their credit cards selling them packages that were never going to happen--and she knew it.
Let's not turn the bad guys into the heroes and the victors into the victims. The employees of Airleaf profited off of our innocence. Two of them for sure were in Hollywood having great sex in a hotel while they were supposed to be selling our books to Hollywood producers. Those escapades were paid for by our hard earned money.
Everyone who took part in misleading us should be ashamed of themselves. So far, I haven't heard anyone say a simple, "I'm sorry." That might be a good starting point. If ex-employees are looking for pity, this is not the place to find it. Start taking responsibility for your action, and maybe then maybe we'll feel something besides contempt.
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.That's the end of my story! Here's the link for the paper in case you would like to post your own comments:
Link to Martinsville Reporter story:
By the way, Bob Denton has changed his email address and wanted me to share that with you. You can reach him at: bdenton308@comcast.net. If you sent Bob an email recently and didn't get a response, please resend it to that address because it may have gotten lost in transition.
One of our readers wrote to me stating that Carl Lau sent her back a disk but it was blank. She was wondering if any of our other authors had the experience. If so, please let me know. Another author sent me a note that Carl Lau was requesting $2.50 per book. Once again, if you are being asked for money for your books by Carl Lau, please let me know.
This week, I'd like to introduce two new books by our Victim's group. The first book is by John Krismer. John used my new publisher, CCB Publishing, for his book (CCBPublishing.com). Here is the cover and synopsis:
Few realize a New World Order plans to replace our constitution with a Single World Government, nor that our Federal Reserve Bank is privately owned and is not subject to oversight by Congress or the President. Its stockholders include the Rockefellers, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers of New York; the Rothschild’s of London and Berlin; the Lazard Brothers of Paris; Israel Seiff of Italy; the Kuhn & Loeb Company of Germany; and the Warburgs of Hamburg and Amsterdam, earning almost two billion dollars a day in interest as they buy off our dysfunctional Congress and intentionally level this great nation.
George H. W. Bush, the undisputed “Overlord” of the Shrub Dynasty, in his State of the Union Message in 1991 said: “What is at stake is more than one small country, it is a big idea – a new world order.” Did We the People ever agree to this treasonous act of turning over our nation’s sovereignty to a Single World Government?
About the Author
John R. Krismer, MHA-LFACHE is founder and CEO of Health Systems Institute, consulting with governments, hospitals, clinics, and professional organizations. He has conducted hundreds of educational institutes, and served as a principal investigator, researching the health record database system, which involved four major universities. He has served as CEO of several hospitals and corporations, and as a board member of two health insurance companies. He has been referred to as a visionary ahead of his time.
Another one of our victims, Terry Levine, has a new book that will be available on the first day of May. Terry is a well-known personal coach, and you can view her website at http://www.CoachInstitute.com. Terry sent this note:
I am asking you for one favor please. My new book Coaching is For Everyone is available on Amazon.com on May 1 and is by far my most exciting and best book yet.
My request is that you help me make this book an Amazon.com best seller on May 1. I am not asking you to buy a bunch of stuff - just one copy of a book that you will love and if you just send me (Terri@TerriLevine.com) your receipt from Amazon.com I will send you a FREE ticket to my next event worth $500!
Please ask everyone in your network, in your data base and email lists to do this for me. Together, on the May 1st release date, we can really ring the bell in the coaching world and make my pride and joy a number 1 bestseller on amazon.com.
I appreciate you and your assistance in making my dream come true and sharing my finest work with the world. Here is the link to my book on amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Coaching-Everyone-Learn-Your-Coach/dp/1600373968/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208296251&sr=8-2
My Goal Is YOUR Success!
Terri Levine, The Guru of Coaching SM
President
Comprehensive Coaching U, Inc.
727 Mallard Place, North Wales, PA 19454 Phone:877-401-6165
Create a great home based business coaching clients over the phone!
Visit http://www.CoachInstitute.com today!
Good luck to both of our new authors. I'm happy to publicize any new books that you are creating. Just let me know!
Next week I'll report on more news with our case. Have a good week, and keep up the faith. Justice will be ours!
Love, Bonnie
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Airleaf Victims Update April 12, 2008
Airleaf Victims Update April 12, 2008
Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,
As of today, we have 431 members in our group. Welcome to our new members.
This is where I ask you all for help once again. I am trying to help make a case for the authorities who are investigating this case. I know I asked you this question before, and some of you responded, but now I'll ask you again in hopes that everyone will respond. Next week, I'll be taking a week's vacation from my job so I can devote myself to going through all of the surveys that everyone has sent me in a thorough way. But that will be time consuming and I need information NOW.
Here's what I need:
If you paid for the following specific marketing services to Airleaf that you never received, I need to hear from you so I can pass this information along.
Here's the specific information:
Book fairs for London or Germany
Ads in the NY Times, LA Times
The trip on the Carnival cruise
Television or radio commercials that never took place
Kirkus reviews or Bowker reviews
Please let me know that date to the best of your recollection that you paid for the services, who your representative was, and what you were told when you followed up waiting for any results. Just drop me an email and let me know. Thanks so much.
Also, if you are an author who has been told by Carl Lau that he wants you to pay for your books for either $1.00 or $2.00 each, please send me a note and let me know that your books are being ransomed to you. And if you've already paid, please let me know. All of this will help our case.
If you are a newer member of our group and didn't get a copy of my survey, please let me know so I can email it to you so you can help me track you as it pertains to our action.
There may be some interest by the news show 60 Minutes about our case. I think this would be a great venue for us to publicize our cause of stopping predatory publishers. I sent them a press release about our situation and they did ask me to send more information. Now I am asking you to drop them a line about what happened to you. If they can receive several hundred emails by Monday or Tuesday, this will be very powerful. Please click this direct link for the email to pop up: 60m@cbsnews.com. In your email, please put in the subject box, "Help for the Airleaf Victims" or "I am an Airleaf Victim." In the email, tell them your name, where you live, the name of your book or proposed book, and how you were violated by Airleaf. Ask them for help to expose the fraudulence so that other publishers won't do this again. You can tell them you are a member of the Airleaf Victims organization at www.AirleafVictims.com. Let them know that we want this fraudulence exposed. After you send the email, please let me know or copy me on the email. Thanks so much. This will be very powerful for us if we can have a mass group send this out.
One of the best ways to start marketing your book is by having a website that people can refer to. Lots of you paid big bucks to Airleaf to have your book posted on their site. This is an expense, but not nearly as expensive as you might think. You can buy a domain name at www.Register.com for $35.00 for the year. Pick a name that illuminates what you have written about. I helped our victim Sarah Harrison pick hers for the book she recently published "You Love Your Daddy, Don't You?" about her true life experience with incest. I helped Sarah with the domain name of www.IncestVictim.com.
When you click into it, you'll see her new beautiful site. I have a website designer, Tina's Web Design, who is charging our Airleaf Victims $200.00 per site. If you need updates or changes, she charges $5.00 each which is extremely reasonable. If you need help with this, let me know. There's no charge for website hosting if you go with Register.com for the year and buy the domain name from them for the $35.00, and the one page website is free. It's a steal of a deal! I can help you pick out a domain name that's good for your site and walk you through the simple process of buying it. This way, when you're doing publicity for your book, you have a website to send people to where they can buy it.
Last week, I published a letter from one of our authors about Dorrance publishing charging her by the word. These were two of the responses I received from our members:
Bonnie,
I, too, was duped by Dorrance "Publishing". I paid $12,500 to print 1,000 books. (I negotiated to alter their contract which normally only printed 500 books for this price.) Granted, it was hardbound, color, but that was insanely high and I chose to go with them because they promised to "continue to print books for 2 years to fill orders without any further charge." They also had an 800 number and the staff and where with all to take credit card orders and supposedly had connections to distributors. Well, I got my 100 books, and sold them in a month, ordered 100 more (at a 45% discount off cover so I paid MORE money to them) sold those and ordered and got another 100, sold those and was ready to order more when I was told they had zero in inventory. They had only printed 400 of the 1,000 upfront.
I had on my own, found a Baker & Taylor rep. who agreed to carry my book, had it on Amazon.com, had 4 local bookstores lined up to buy and do book signings, had a tv spot to advertise an outdoor market I paid $150 to be at to sell books. They proceeded to have a COMPLETE stock out for 5 months during which time I lost all credibility with the local stores, had to attend a market in which I sold artwork based on the book since I had NO BOOKS to sell, and was so upset that we got an attorney. The fine print stated they would print to meet demand, not that they would guarantee any stock. Very sneaky. So after paying attorney's fees of $400 I got as a settlement 50 books for the price of shipping. (These were later deducted from my amount of 1,000 to print). Well, we had a major catastrophic medical event in which my child needed lots of attention and My Prince had to go on hold. The contract eventually expired and they agreed to pay me $2,000 back and the few books they had in inventory since they never met their initial commitment.
This sounds crazy that I spent so much for this book, but I only had to sell 3,245 books to break even. I knew I could do it. Sales and demand were beginning to take off, then they had no books to sell and put the brakes on me. I want people to know that they are NOT interested in the book doing well. They control how/when/how many books you can sell. I would have done better to go to a local printer (they were $10,000 for 1,000) but I thought I could not do the ISBN and Copyright and credit card sales without help.
They are worse than Airleaf...I never paid them for marketing, only for BOOKS which they never did produce per our contract. I would advise anyone to burn their money in lieu of going to Dorrance Publishing.
Marcia S.
Hello dear Bonnie,
It looks like there's a lot going on with Airleaf and ideas for publishing. All of us victims are very lucky to have your leadership and strong perseverance.
I want you to know that I copyrighted my book "GRILL!" in February of 2007. In the past year I have received two letters from Dorrance Publishing. They found my name on file at the Library of Congress U.S. Copyright Office. Since my fiasco with Airleaf, I took it upon myself to research them on the net. I found several sites with people sharing their bad reports about them, so I tore the letters from Dorrance up. At first I had believed their desire to publish me was legitimate, but thanks to you I am very cautious on making spontaneous decisions about publishing.
You may share my experience with our group if it will be helpful in any way. I now realize that a publishing company must need business bad if it has to search for clients by searching the copyright office.
Love, Diane
If you have information about other companies who are scamming authors, feel free to send me a letter and I will print it here to warn others. As I tell so many of you who write to me, we were victims once—don't fall prey again! Check out every offer and feel free to send it to me to check it out for you as well.
Here is an excellent link for you regarding talk shows and hosts throughout the country. There are hundreds of the biggest talk show hosts listed as well as their websites and phone numbers. If you have publicity about your book or would like to pitch your book to them, send them a note at their email addressed listed under "contact information". The link is:
Link for talk shows: TALKERS magazine - Heavy Hundred 2008
That's the news for today. Write to me if you have any questions or concerns.
With love and hope,
Bonnie
Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,
As of today, we have 431 members in our group. Welcome to our new members.
This is where I ask you all for help once again. I am trying to help make a case for the authorities who are investigating this case. I know I asked you this question before, and some of you responded, but now I'll ask you again in hopes that everyone will respond. Next week, I'll be taking a week's vacation from my job so I can devote myself to going through all of the surveys that everyone has sent me in a thorough way. But that will be time consuming and I need information NOW.
Here's what I need:
If you paid for the following specific marketing services to Airleaf that you never received, I need to hear from you so I can pass this information along.
Here's the specific information:
Book fairs for London or Germany
Ads in the NY Times, LA Times
The trip on the Carnival cruise
Television or radio commercials that never took place
Kirkus reviews or Bowker reviews
Please let me know that date to the best of your recollection that you paid for the services, who your representative was, and what you were told when you followed up waiting for any results. Just drop me an email and let me know. Thanks so much.
Also, if you are an author who has been told by Carl Lau that he wants you to pay for your books for either $1.00 or $2.00 each, please send me a note and let me know that your books are being ransomed to you. And if you've already paid, please let me know. All of this will help our case.
If you are a newer member of our group and didn't get a copy of my survey, please let me know so I can email it to you so you can help me track you as it pertains to our action.
There may be some interest by the news show 60 Minutes about our case. I think this would be a great venue for us to publicize our cause of stopping predatory publishers. I sent them a press release about our situation and they did ask me to send more information. Now I am asking you to drop them a line about what happened to you. If they can receive several hundred emails by Monday or Tuesday, this will be very powerful. Please click this direct link for the email to pop up: 60m@cbsnews.com. In your email, please put in the subject box, "Help for the Airleaf Victims" or "I am an Airleaf Victim." In the email, tell them your name, where you live, the name of your book or proposed book, and how you were violated by Airleaf. Ask them for help to expose the fraudulence so that other publishers won't do this again. You can tell them you are a member of the Airleaf Victims organization at www.AirleafVictims.com. Let them know that we want this fraudulence exposed. After you send the email, please let me know or copy me on the email. Thanks so much. This will be very powerful for us if we can have a mass group send this out.
One of the best ways to start marketing your book is by having a website that people can refer to. Lots of you paid big bucks to Airleaf to have your book posted on their site. This is an expense, but not nearly as expensive as you might think. You can buy a domain name at www.Register.com for $35.00 for the year. Pick a name that illuminates what you have written about. I helped our victim Sarah Harrison pick hers for the book she recently published "You Love Your Daddy, Don't You?" about her true life experience with incest. I helped Sarah with the domain name of www.IncestVictim.com.
When you click into it, you'll see her new beautiful site. I have a website designer, Tina's Web Design, who is charging our Airleaf Victims $200.00 per site. If you need updates or changes, she charges $5.00 each which is extremely reasonable. If you need help with this, let me know. There's no charge for website hosting if you go with Register.com for the year and buy the domain name from them for the $35.00, and the one page website is free. It's a steal of a deal! I can help you pick out a domain name that's good for your site and walk you through the simple process of buying it. This way, when you're doing publicity for your book, you have a website to send people to where they can buy it.
Last week, I published a letter from one of our authors about Dorrance publishing charging her by the word. These were two of the responses I received from our members:
Bonnie,
I, too, was duped by Dorrance "Publishing". I paid $12,500 to print 1,000 books. (I negotiated to alter their contract which normally only printed 500 books for this price.) Granted, it was hardbound, color, but that was insanely high and I chose to go with them because they promised to "continue to print books for 2 years to fill orders without any further charge." They also had an 800 number and the staff and where with all to take credit card orders and supposedly had connections to distributors. Well, I got my 100 books, and sold them in a month, ordered 100 more (at a 45% discount off cover so I paid MORE money to them) sold those and ordered and got another 100, sold those and was ready to order more when I was told they had zero in inventory. They had only printed 400 of the 1,000 upfront.
I had on my own, found a Baker & Taylor rep. who agreed to carry my book, had it on Amazon.com, had 4 local bookstores lined up to buy and do book signings, had a tv spot to advertise an outdoor market I paid $150 to be at to sell books. They proceeded to have a COMPLETE stock out for 5 months during which time I lost all credibility with the local stores, had to attend a market in which I sold artwork based on the book since I had NO BOOKS to sell, and was so upset that we got an attorney. The fine print stated they would print to meet demand, not that they would guarantee any stock. Very sneaky. So after paying attorney's fees of $400 I got as a settlement 50 books for the price of shipping. (These were later deducted from my amount of 1,000 to print). Well, we had a major catastrophic medical event in which my child needed lots of attention and My Prince had to go on hold. The contract eventually expired and they agreed to pay me $2,000 back and the few books they had in inventory since they never met their initial commitment.
This sounds crazy that I spent so much for this book, but I only had to sell 3,245 books to break even. I knew I could do it. Sales and demand were beginning to take off, then they had no books to sell and put the brakes on me. I want people to know that they are NOT interested in the book doing well. They control how/when/how many books you can sell. I would have done better to go to a local printer (they were $10,000 for 1,000) but I thought I could not do the ISBN and Copyright and credit card sales without help.
They are worse than Airleaf...I never paid them for marketing, only for BOOKS which they never did produce per our contract. I would advise anyone to burn their money in lieu of going to Dorrance Publishing.
Marcia S.
Hello dear Bonnie,
It looks like there's a lot going on with Airleaf and ideas for publishing. All of us victims are very lucky to have your leadership and strong perseverance.
I want you to know that I copyrighted my book "GRILL!" in February of 2007. In the past year I have received two letters from Dorrance Publishing. They found my name on file at the Library of Congress U.S. Copyright Office. Since my fiasco with Airleaf, I took it upon myself to research them on the net. I found several sites with people sharing their bad reports about them, so I tore the letters from Dorrance up. At first I had believed their desire to publish me was legitimate, but thanks to you I am very cautious on making spontaneous decisions about publishing.
You may share my experience with our group if it will be helpful in any way. I now realize that a publishing company must need business bad if it has to search for clients by searching the copyright office.
Love, Diane
If you have information about other companies who are scamming authors, feel free to send me a letter and I will print it here to warn others. As I tell so many of you who write to me, we were victims once—don't fall prey again! Check out every offer and feel free to send it to me to check it out for you as well.
Here is an excellent link for you regarding talk shows and hosts throughout the country. There are hundreds of the biggest talk show hosts listed as well as their websites and phone numbers. If you have publicity about your book or would like to pitch your book to them, send them a note at their email addressed listed under "contact information". The link is:
Link for talk shows: TALKERS magazine - Heavy Hundred 2008
That's the news for today. Write to me if you have any questions or concerns.
With love and hope,
Bonnie
Saturday, April 5, 2008
AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE APRIL 5, 2008
AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE APRIL 5, 2008
Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,
Welcome to our two new members. We now have reached 429 members of our group.
On the legal front, I feel confident that some legal proceedings are progressing. Please be patient as action is happening. You can be sure that I am checking on a regular basis with the various authorities. So far, I feel assured there is movement in our direction.
I'd like to start off this week with something to amuse you. I am Jewish. We have a word in our language which is "Chutzpah." Even if you're not Jewish, you may be familiar with it. But in case you're not, it translates into "gall," or excuse my language, "balls." This concerns Carl Lau, Airleaf fraud perpetrator, as we are trying to get our books being held hostage by the thousands in the Airleaf building. Bob Denton has kindly offered to retrieve our books back for the cost of the postage. However, some authors were getting notes from him stating that Carl wants to be paid $1.00 per book in order to release the books. So I called Bob to see what's up with that.
Bob explained that Carl said he, Bob, can return books to authors if the books were paid for and just being stored at Airleaf; however, if the authors paid for the Airleaf publishing services and received their 25 or 50 books as was agreed to in the contract, they have to pay to get any additional books that might have been printed because Carl claims they belong to him.
Now, quite frankly, I have some deep, severe philosophical disagreements with this kind of thinking. Carl Lau claims these are "his" books because we didn't pay for the additional books that are sitting there. He hasn't considered the additional monies that we paid for marketing services that were never performed or the royalties that were never received. But then I started thinking some more about this, and I called Bob back. I told him to please let Carl know that if anyone is in that situation, we want to know the name of the printer. I have had several printers come to me telling me why they stopped printing for Airleaf—namely because Carl Lau owed them thousands of dollars. So I suspect that many of our books that Carl wants to charge authors for were never paid for anyway. But you can be sure I'll be checking this out with the printers.
If you are an Airleaf victim in this situation where your books are being held for ransom by Carl Lau, please let me know immediately so I can work with you to see if we can locate the printer and whether or not your book was one that was never paid for. If so, we will have new charges to report to the federal government—which would be excellent.
Please remember—this has nothing to do with Bob Denton who is really trying to help authors by retrieving our books, discs, and materials. Bob is doing all the labor for free including finding materials, packing them, and shipping them. This was not his idea, and he has given Carl Lau his opinion backing us.
One of our Airleaf authors, Gertrude, wrote to me about a book company she used, Dorrance, located in Pittsburgh, PA. She told me that she was charged "by the word." This is something new to me. Several others have written to me about this company. Here's what she asked me to ask you:
Dear Bonnie:
I found one statement of my account dated for 9/25/2005. They did charge me by the word. They also charged me $480.00 for alteration fee when they deliberately changed some of the words and I had to get them to change the words back. I think they really took advantage of me because I was not familiar with the publishing business. From the statement of 9/25/2005, I paid them a grand total of $13,780.00. I don't know if there is anything that I can do about it now.
Yesterday, I found a blog site under their name. I didn't know that this blog site was there when I was dealing with them. I don't know whether I should add a comment to the blog site or not. I don't know if there is anything I can do about this situation, if they are the only publishing company that does this. I don't know if they have charged their other authors the same as they did me. Do you think I should add a comment on the blog site about the way that they charged me?
Sincerely,
Gertrude
Please let me know if you have had any similar experiences with this company.
One of our author's, Anita, asked the question about ownership of the ISBN number. I referred the question to my new publisher, Paul, from CCB Publishing, and here was his response:
Thanks for passing along Anita’s question. The answer is that the Publisher owns the ISBN number, not the author. If the author wishes to have their book re-published by another author, a new ISBN number is required.
When re-publishing books as a second edition, CCB Publishing provides a new ISBN number free of charge.
Hope this helps! Paul
Since last week's update, I received a number of comments about copyrighting. I had several dozen people panicked when they wrote to me after seeing that their books with Airleaf and others were not copyrighted at all, even though the books had that imprint.
Here were some of the responses. The first is from my POD guru, Victoria Strauss:
Hi, Bonnie,
Just wanted to address this, from the last Airleaf update:
Take a moment to check your book in the link below to find out. If it's not there, your book is unprotected and anyone can copy it and say it is theirs.
This isn't true. By law, authors have copyright from the minute they
write down the words. Their work is fully protected from that moment,
and they don't need to take any action to ensure that.
Copyright registration is an additional step that US-based authors can
take (most countries have no formal registration process). It doesn't
confer any additional protection--all it does is to give you the right
to sue in court if your work is infringed. In the USA, you MUST have
previously registered your copyright in order to bring an infringement
suit.
However, infringement of unpublished work is so rare as to be
functionally nonexistent, so registration is not necessary for
unpublished works. Many authors are terrified of theft or plagiarism,
but it really should be last on their worry list. There's no need to
register copyright before a work is published.
There's a lot more detail about copyright on the Copyright page of
Writer Beware: http://www.sfwa.org/beware/copyright.html
Should Airleaf authors register? If their books are on the market,
especially if they're selling their own stock of books, it's probably a
good idea (though if they were to republish with any changes, they'd
need to re-register). For anyone whose book was never published by
Airleaf, however, registration is not necessary.
Hope this is helpful!
Victoria Strauss
Personal Website: http://www.victoriastrauss.com/
Writer Beware: http://www.writerbeware.org/
Blog: http://www.accrispin.blogspot.com/
The next note was from Mark Levine at Click Industries (www.Clickindustries.com), a company that helps authors with solutions to many issues as far as publishing. I have been in touch with Mark for over a year and he has always been very responsive and accommodating. He wrote:
Bonnie,
Just wanted to let you know that even if a company doesn't register an author's copyright, it doesn't mean that the book is unprotected and can be taken/used by anyone. Yes, if a company tells you it's registering the copyright and doesn't, it's fraud, but the author isn't totally left in the cold.
A writer has what is known as a common law copyright once the work is produced in any tangible form. Registering the work with the US Copyright Office provides other benefits (http://bookpublisherscompared.com/why_copyright.asp). But, if a third-party used an author's book without the author's permission, the author could still sue and recover damages, even if the book wasn't registered with the US Copyright Office. With all of the suffering of the Airleaf authors, I want to make sure they don't have an extra thing to worry about.
The above link provides all the details about why someone should register their work with the US Copyright Office.
Mark
And this information came from Helen at Artship Publishing:
Hello Bonnie. Since you are doing such a formidable job distributing advice and information to the authors in the VICTIMS group, I would like to offer some, if you would be so kind as to distribute these clarifications in none of your newsletters.
Books Printed and “In Stock”-- please note that POD means “print on demand”. This means that an author who has self-published can take an order, put in the print order with the printer, receive the book and ship it one-at-a-time, avoiding the necessity for big print order fees and inventory. It’s a good way of avoiding the dreaded “returns” too. In some instances the POD printer will ship the book out to the customer directly, but this is rare.
Re bookstores and other resellers, naturally the author would hope that there are at LEAST 1 or 2 of his/her books on the shelf for customers to browse through— and an author can persuade local stores to carry them in various ways: go preparing to set up a display, talk the store into a book-signing, take a free book and a poster-- and there are dozens (yes, dozens!) of other creative ways to get stores to carry the book. The author should in ALL instances sell the books to the bookstore at a discount (the store needs to make money, too) and guarantee returns after4 a decent period of time. All these rules and ideas are outlined in good books for self-publishing authors, such as the one by Tom & Marilyn Ross-- and NO author should even consider self-publishing without going through this learning curve FIRST.
COPYRIGHT. When Copyright is applied for, the author needs to fill out form TX (available from the Copyright office web site), pay the fee, and provide two copies of the book. If the book has not yet been published (the Copyright office defines “publication” as the date when, and the form in which, the book is made available to the public for purchase), the author CAN provide 2 copies of the manuscript. However the most common practice is to apply for the ISBN and the SAN prior to publication, and to apply formally for copyright when copies of the published book are available.
Incidentally, even if your book is not yet registered with the copyright office, your intellectual rights as author are protected as soon as you write it. There have been many, many cases in which an author was able to win a plagiarism court case proving his ms was written by him first even before it was registered in the copyright office. He who writes it first, owns it. Authors should research this topic thoroughly, and applying for a SAN at the earliest opportunity helps.
Also, don’t expect the Copyright Office to send you that letter immediately. It can take 6 months or longer.
If an author is using a “vanity press” (fee-based) or an independent publisher, that publisher will, if it is legitimate and organized, supply the author with all the registration numbers long before the book appears in print— and will send 2 copies to the Copyright office as soon as it IS in print for registration there. So the offer by Fidel Publishing confuses me a bit. If an author has already had his book published somewhere, the Copyright should have been part of the publishing service. Authors should demand contracts which spell all this out.
Another tidbit: Don’t use AuthorHouse. They are being sued in class-action for dishonest practices. I personally know one author whose book is being printed in mass numbers by AuthorHouse and sold in the orient at prices so low that he earns pennies on each book. This was not in their contract, either.
Contracts: an author needs a contract which spells out everything. But, of course if an author doesn’t know the pitfalls, it’s easy to overlook or not anticipate something important. It’s a good idea to have a lawyer who is familiar with the publishing field. After all, in addition to your rights to your own intellectual property, it’s money-- perhaps BIG money-- and you do NOT purchase services without a valid contract, any more than you’d buy a house without legal paperwork, that has been ready by your attorney.
A word about ArtshipPublishing: We write contracts and we urge authors to have their attorneys review them.
We also help authors get their books finalized, polished, completely registered (published), designed, printed, publicized, and distributed — often, without an initial cash investment on their part.
For me to take on the publicity job though, I have to be sure that there is a “fit”, that we both might not be better off if that author searched out an agent or other publisher instead— for instance where it comes to children’s books, religious books, teen novels and other very specialized genres where I have less experience than I do in non-fiction, medical, and historical areas. The subsidizing I do puts our company at risk, so I have to be selective as to which books go into print through ARTSHIP at our own cost— we are NOT Random House! But I’m glad to consider them all, give my honest advice, and offer what services which would be appropriate.
For those who — like all of the authors who approached AIRLEAF— are seeking a publicity agent, I have surveyed over twenty of the most prominent book-publicity houses and publicity departments of publishing houses, and the information is contained in a detailed report— it covers who does what, specifically; whether they take your book online and to reviewers, etc, or sell you the tools so you can do it yourself; which ones offer services for flat fees or customize campaigns; and so on.
I also communicate with over 25 printers; I have a report on which ones offer digital vs. offset, at what quantities, their fees, which are P.O.D., and so on.
Either of these reports can save an author literally, weeks of lost time and speed up that part of the learning-curve.
The role I fill most frequently is the book-designer and publishing role. I get the book formatted with fonts, visuals, size, page layouts, etc. as appropriate and in a way that will enhance the content of the book.
Good luck Bonnie, keep up your amazing work.
My best— Helen Compton
http://www.ArtshipPublishing.com
So, the bottom line—I wouldn't panic if your book is not copyrighted. If it gives you peace of mind, get it done for the $45.00 fee either by yourself or through Fideli Publishing who is offering to do it free as a courtesy to our victims (just for the cost of the fee).
Also, Helen brought up an IMPORTANT POINT that I will now reinforce. If you do go to a new publisher, MAKE SURE YOU RECEIVE A SIGNED CONTRACT. I hate to tell you how many of us did business with Airleaf without having one. And I'm not trying to make you feel stupid—I'm at the top of the list. I sent them back my signed version of the contract, but never received a signed copy back. Even though I've been told that this still stands as proof of a contract, I would feel much better having the signed copy. So make sure that you ask for this first before anything else when you republish. Interesting—I never had to ask my new company CCB Publishing for a copy. It was sent to me immediately, and after I signed it, a copy was returned to me quickly with the owner's signature.
New book share
This week, our group member Sharon Licht's new book was released. I asked Sharon to tell us about it.
MAGIC MARMALADE A Tale of the Moonlight Fairies by Sharon E. Licht
Magic Marmalade is a new and exciting story about a little girl who wanders into an enchanted woods and discovers a magical world of fairies and elves and a place where dreams come true. This book is perfect for children of all ages. Anyone intrigued by fairies, elves, adventure, magic, and happy endings will adore this story. Description: Soft cover, 84 page book, 7 - 1/2" x 8 - 1/2", written in rhymed verse, with full color illustrations by Artist James Browne.
The book was written by Sharon E. Licht, a local Bucks County, PA writer who has penned this delightful story for the enjoyment of young and old alike.
Books can be ordered on the web at:
http://catawbapublishing.com/ Bookstore, Children's Books or through the author by sending email to: caganne@verizon.net Please type book order in subject line. PayPal is the preferred payment method. Money orders also accepted. Price is $20.00 each plus the cost of shipping when ordering through the author.
We all wish you the best of luck, Sharon. All of our authors can appreciate the hard work that goes into producing a book, and when you see it come to fruition, it's a most exciting moment to be celebrated.
If you have a new book out that you would like to share with the group, please feel free to share it with me.
Have a good week, and please feel free to send me any issues or questions you have.
With love and hope,
Bonnie
Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,
Welcome to our two new members. We now have reached 429 members of our group.
On the legal front, I feel confident that some legal proceedings are progressing. Please be patient as action is happening. You can be sure that I am checking on a regular basis with the various authorities. So far, I feel assured there is movement in our direction.
I'd like to start off this week with something to amuse you. I am Jewish. We have a word in our language which is "Chutzpah." Even if you're not Jewish, you may be familiar with it. But in case you're not, it translates into "gall," or excuse my language, "balls." This concerns Carl Lau, Airleaf fraud perpetrator, as we are trying to get our books being held hostage by the thousands in the Airleaf building. Bob Denton has kindly offered to retrieve our books back for the cost of the postage. However, some authors were getting notes from him stating that Carl wants to be paid $1.00 per book in order to release the books. So I called Bob to see what's up with that.
Bob explained that Carl said he, Bob, can return books to authors if the books were paid for and just being stored at Airleaf; however, if the authors paid for the Airleaf publishing services and received their 25 or 50 books as was agreed to in the contract, they have to pay to get any additional books that might have been printed because Carl claims they belong to him.
Now, quite frankly, I have some deep, severe philosophical disagreements with this kind of thinking. Carl Lau claims these are "his" books because we didn't pay for the additional books that are sitting there. He hasn't considered the additional monies that we paid for marketing services that were never performed or the royalties that were never received. But then I started thinking some more about this, and I called Bob back. I told him to please let Carl know that if anyone is in that situation, we want to know the name of the printer. I have had several printers come to me telling me why they stopped printing for Airleaf—namely because Carl Lau owed them thousands of dollars. So I suspect that many of our books that Carl wants to charge authors for were never paid for anyway. But you can be sure I'll be checking this out with the printers.
If you are an Airleaf victim in this situation where your books are being held for ransom by Carl Lau, please let me know immediately so I can work with you to see if we can locate the printer and whether or not your book was one that was never paid for. If so, we will have new charges to report to the federal government—which would be excellent.
Please remember—this has nothing to do with Bob Denton who is really trying to help authors by retrieving our books, discs, and materials. Bob is doing all the labor for free including finding materials, packing them, and shipping them. This was not his idea, and he has given Carl Lau his opinion backing us.
One of our Airleaf authors, Gertrude, wrote to me about a book company she used, Dorrance, located in Pittsburgh, PA. She told me that she was charged "by the word." This is something new to me. Several others have written to me about this company. Here's what she asked me to ask you:
Dear Bonnie:
I found one statement of my account dated for 9/25/2005. They did charge me by the word. They also charged me $480.00 for alteration fee when they deliberately changed some of the words and I had to get them to change the words back. I think they really took advantage of me because I was not familiar with the publishing business. From the statement of 9/25/2005, I paid them a grand total of $13,780.00. I don't know if there is anything that I can do about it now.
Yesterday, I found a blog site under their name. I didn't know that this blog site was there when I was dealing with them. I don't know whether I should add a comment to the blog site or not. I don't know if there is anything I can do about this situation, if they are the only publishing company that does this. I don't know if they have charged their other authors the same as they did me. Do you think I should add a comment on the blog site about the way that they charged me?
Sincerely,
Gertrude
Please let me know if you have had any similar experiences with this company.
One of our author's, Anita, asked the question about ownership of the ISBN number. I referred the question to my new publisher, Paul, from CCB Publishing, and here was his response:
Thanks for passing along Anita’s question. The answer is that the Publisher owns the ISBN number, not the author. If the author wishes to have their book re-published by another author, a new ISBN number is required.
When re-publishing books as a second edition, CCB Publishing provides a new ISBN number free of charge.
Hope this helps! Paul
Since last week's update, I received a number of comments about copyrighting. I had several dozen people panicked when they wrote to me after seeing that their books with Airleaf and others were not copyrighted at all, even though the books had that imprint.
Here were some of the responses. The first is from my POD guru, Victoria Strauss:
Hi, Bonnie,
Just wanted to address this, from the last Airleaf update:
Take a moment to check your book in the link below to find out. If it's not there, your book is unprotected and anyone can copy it and say it is theirs.
This isn't true. By law, authors have copyright from the minute they
write down the words. Their work is fully protected from that moment,
and they don't need to take any action to ensure that.
Copyright registration is an additional step that US-based authors can
take (most countries have no formal registration process). It doesn't
confer any additional protection--all it does is to give you the right
to sue in court if your work is infringed. In the USA, you MUST have
previously registered your copyright in order to bring an infringement
suit.
However, infringement of unpublished work is so rare as to be
functionally nonexistent, so registration is not necessary for
unpublished works. Many authors are terrified of theft or plagiarism,
but it really should be last on their worry list. There's no need to
register copyright before a work is published.
There's a lot more detail about copyright on the Copyright page of
Writer Beware: http://www.sfwa.org/beware/copyright.html
Should Airleaf authors register? If their books are on the market,
especially if they're selling their own stock of books, it's probably a
good idea (though if they were to republish with any changes, they'd
need to re-register). For anyone whose book was never published by
Airleaf, however, registration is not necessary.
Hope this is helpful!
Victoria Strauss
Personal Website: http://www.victoriastrauss.com/
Writer Beware: http://www.writerbeware.org/
Blog: http://www.accrispin.blogspot.com/
The next note was from Mark Levine at Click Industries (www.Clickindustries.com), a company that helps authors with solutions to many issues as far as publishing. I have been in touch with Mark for over a year and he has always been very responsive and accommodating. He wrote:
Bonnie,
Just wanted to let you know that even if a company doesn't register an author's copyright, it doesn't mean that the book is unprotected and can be taken/used by anyone. Yes, if a company tells you it's registering the copyright and doesn't, it's fraud, but the author isn't totally left in the cold.
A writer has what is known as a common law copyright once the work is produced in any tangible form. Registering the work with the US Copyright Office provides other benefits (http://bookpublisherscompared.com/why_copyright.asp). But, if a third-party used an author's book without the author's permission, the author could still sue and recover damages, even if the book wasn't registered with the US Copyright Office. With all of the suffering of the Airleaf authors, I want to make sure they don't have an extra thing to worry about.
The above link provides all the details about why someone should register their work with the US Copyright Office.
Mark
And this information came from Helen at Artship Publishing:
Hello Bonnie. Since you are doing such a formidable job distributing advice and information to the authors in the VICTIMS group, I would like to offer some, if you would be so kind as to distribute these clarifications in none of your newsletters.
Books Printed and “In Stock”-- please note that POD means “print on demand”. This means that an author who has self-published can take an order, put in the print order with the printer, receive the book and ship it one-at-a-time, avoiding the necessity for big print order fees and inventory. It’s a good way of avoiding the dreaded “returns” too. In some instances the POD printer will ship the book out to the customer directly, but this is rare.
Re bookstores and other resellers, naturally the author would hope that there are at LEAST 1 or 2 of his/her books on the shelf for customers to browse through— and an author can persuade local stores to carry them in various ways: go preparing to set up a display, talk the store into a book-signing, take a free book and a poster-- and there are dozens (yes, dozens!) of other creative ways to get stores to carry the book. The author should in ALL instances sell the books to the bookstore at a discount (the store needs to make money, too) and guarantee returns after4 a decent period of time. All these rules and ideas are outlined in good books for self-publishing authors, such as the one by Tom & Marilyn Ross-- and NO author should even consider self-publishing without going through this learning curve FIRST.
COPYRIGHT. When Copyright is applied for, the author needs to fill out form TX (available from the Copyright office web site), pay the fee, and provide two copies of the book. If the book has not yet been published (the Copyright office defines “publication” as the date when, and the form in which, the book is made available to the public for purchase), the author CAN provide 2 copies of the manuscript. However the most common practice is to apply for the ISBN and the SAN prior to publication, and to apply formally for copyright when copies of the published book are available.
Incidentally, even if your book is not yet registered with the copyright office, your intellectual rights as author are protected as soon as you write it. There have been many, many cases in which an author was able to win a plagiarism court case proving his ms was written by him first even before it was registered in the copyright office. He who writes it first, owns it. Authors should research this topic thoroughly, and applying for a SAN at the earliest opportunity helps.
Also, don’t expect the Copyright Office to send you that letter immediately. It can take 6 months or longer.
If an author is using a “vanity press” (fee-based) or an independent publisher, that publisher will, if it is legitimate and organized, supply the author with all the registration numbers long before the book appears in print— and will send 2 copies to the Copyright office as soon as it IS in print for registration there. So the offer by Fidel Publishing confuses me a bit. If an author has already had his book published somewhere, the Copyright should have been part of the publishing service. Authors should demand contracts which spell all this out.
Another tidbit: Don’t use AuthorHouse. They are being sued in class-action for dishonest practices. I personally know one author whose book is being printed in mass numbers by AuthorHouse and sold in the orient at prices so low that he earns pennies on each book. This was not in their contract, either.
Contracts: an author needs a contract which spells out everything. But, of course if an author doesn’t know the pitfalls, it’s easy to overlook or not anticipate something important. It’s a good idea to have a lawyer who is familiar with the publishing field. After all, in addition to your rights to your own intellectual property, it’s money-- perhaps BIG money-- and you do NOT purchase services without a valid contract, any more than you’d buy a house without legal paperwork, that has been ready by your attorney.
A word about ArtshipPublishing: We write contracts and we urge authors to have their attorneys review them.
We also help authors get their books finalized, polished, completely registered (published), designed, printed, publicized, and distributed — often, without an initial cash investment on their part.
For me to take on the publicity job though, I have to be sure that there is a “fit”, that we both might not be better off if that author searched out an agent or other publisher instead— for instance where it comes to children’s books, religious books, teen novels and other very specialized genres where I have less experience than I do in non-fiction, medical, and historical areas. The subsidizing I do puts our company at risk, so I have to be selective as to which books go into print through ARTSHIP at our own cost— we are NOT Random House! But I’m glad to consider them all, give my honest advice, and offer what services which would be appropriate.
For those who — like all of the authors who approached AIRLEAF— are seeking a publicity agent, I have surveyed over twenty of the most prominent book-publicity houses and publicity departments of publishing houses, and the information is contained in a detailed report— it covers who does what, specifically; whether they take your book online and to reviewers, etc, or sell you the tools so you can do it yourself; which ones offer services for flat fees or customize campaigns; and so on.
I also communicate with over 25 printers; I have a report on which ones offer digital vs. offset, at what quantities, their fees, which are P.O.D., and so on.
Either of these reports can save an author literally, weeks of lost time and speed up that part of the learning-curve.
The role I fill most frequently is the book-designer and publishing role. I get the book formatted with fonts, visuals, size, page layouts, etc. as appropriate and in a way that will enhance the content of the book.
Good luck Bonnie, keep up your amazing work.
My best— Helen Compton
http://www.ArtshipPublishing.com
So, the bottom line—I wouldn't panic if your book is not copyrighted. If it gives you peace of mind, get it done for the $45.00 fee either by yourself or through Fideli Publishing who is offering to do it free as a courtesy to our victims (just for the cost of the fee).
Also, Helen brought up an IMPORTANT POINT that I will now reinforce. If you do go to a new publisher, MAKE SURE YOU RECEIVE A SIGNED CONTRACT. I hate to tell you how many of us did business with Airleaf without having one. And I'm not trying to make you feel stupid—I'm at the top of the list. I sent them back my signed version of the contract, but never received a signed copy back. Even though I've been told that this still stands as proof of a contract, I would feel much better having the signed copy. So make sure that you ask for this first before anything else when you republish. Interesting—I never had to ask my new company CCB Publishing for a copy. It was sent to me immediately, and after I signed it, a copy was returned to me quickly with the owner's signature.
New book share
This week, our group member Sharon Licht's new book was released. I asked Sharon to tell us about it.
MAGIC MARMALADE A Tale of the Moonlight Fairies by Sharon E. Licht
Magic Marmalade is a new and exciting story about a little girl who wanders into an enchanted woods and discovers a magical world of fairies and elves and a place where dreams come true. This book is perfect for children of all ages. Anyone intrigued by fairies, elves, adventure, magic, and happy endings will adore this story. Description: Soft cover, 84 page book, 7 - 1/2" x 8 - 1/2", written in rhymed verse, with full color illustrations by Artist James Browne.
The book was written by Sharon E. Licht, a local Bucks County, PA writer who has penned this delightful story for the enjoyment of young and old alike.
Books can be ordered on the web at:
http://catawbapublishing.com/ Bookstore, Children's Books or through the author by sending email to: caganne@verizon.net Please type book order in subject line. PayPal is the preferred payment method. Money orders also accepted. Price is $20.00 each plus the cost of shipping when ordering through the author.
We all wish you the best of luck, Sharon. All of our authors can appreciate the hard work that goes into producing a book, and when you see it come to fruition, it's a most exciting moment to be celebrated.
If you have a new book out that you would like to share with the group, please feel free to share it with me.
Have a good week, and please feel free to send me any issues or questions you have.
With love and hope,
Bonnie
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