Dear Airleaf Victims,
It has been a while since you’ve heard from me. That’s because I had nothing to tell you. Allow me to explain two issues.
When we began our campaign against Airleaf, we took action on two levels. We applied for civil charges with the Attorney General’s office for restitution of our money. We also filed complaints for criminal charges with the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution of criminal actions. In Indiana, those are the two government agencies responsible for each of the actions.
My requests to the U.S. Attorney in Indiana regarding the criminal charges against Carl Lau and Airleaf et. al., have not resulted in any determination as of yet whether they will press charges because the case is under “investigation” by the FBI and Postal authorities as it has been for a year-and-a-half. Quite frankly, I’m stumped. I provided these agencies with all the documentation to make the case, but it’s still being investigated. I am tired of waiting for a response with no communication from Timothy Morrison as of late, the Indiana U.S. Attorney, in spite of asking twice for a decision.
In my frustration, I sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney two weeks ago. This is what it stated:
March 11, 2009
Mr. Kenneth E. Melson, Director
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 2242
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear Mr. Melson:
My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of a group of over 600 people who are victims of a predatory publishing and publicity scam by a now out-of-business company, Airleaf Publishing, in Martinsville, Indiana owned by Carl Lau.
As a victim, in addition to being the organizer of the group, I have spent the past year and a half seeking justice for our very upset members by the Indiana U.S. Attorney’s office. The FBI and the US Postal Authorities have investigated this case for well over a year and a half. I have provided extensive documentation to prove that our case is one of fraudulence as opposed to “poor business practice.”
I was successful in getting this company closed by starting an intensive Internet campaign that shut off the cash flow of the company. At that time, I took two routes—civil charges and criminal charges. I had our authors send out complaint forms to the FBI and Postal Authorities of Indiana for criminal action, as well as the Attorney General of Indiana for civil charges. The Attorney General’s office handed down a judgment against the owner, Carl Lau, last spring, months after the company closed. Unfortunately, since he has no money left, we will not see any kind of restitution. However, we are still seeking retribution in the form of criminal charges so that con men don’t feel entitled to rob authors of thousands of dollars with false promises that will never come true.
From the information that I have been able to gather, Carl Lau stole in excess of two million dollars from unsuspecting authors who have now had their hopes, dreams, and money stolen away from them. How is it that one petty thief can go to jail, but a con man of this magnitude can go free? This makes no sense to any of us.
I have spent hundreds of hours compiling files for the FBI to make our case so that the U.S. Attorney of Indiana, Timothy Morrison, can file criminal charges against the criminal. I have had very little by way of communication in a positive way from Mr. Morrison who seems to just “blow us off.” I am writing to you as a last resort in trying to get us the help and justice we are seeking.
You can read our website at www.AirleafVictims.com. As a result of the inaction of the Indiana government, a second company, Jones Harvest Publishing, owned and operated by the former Executive Vice President of Airleaf, Brien Jones, started operating this scam all over again robbing people of thousands of dollars for fake publicity and publishing campaigns. You can see my site at www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com.
Mr. Melson, I know you are very busy, and I am only writing to you in desperation. We don’t know where to turn. Many of our victims are elderly people and disabled people who invested their life savings into this dream that became their nightmare. If action isn’t taken to punish people who do this, it sends up a red flag to other people with no conscience that this kind of fraudulence is not a punishable crime.
Please help us by asking Mr. Morrison to take action against the thieves of Indiana who are robbing people not only in this country, but in internationally as well. It certainly doesn’t make America look good when we allow this type of fraudulence to flourish. If you would like me to send you copies of my correspondence with Mr. Morrison, please let me know.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
I am still waiting for a response from his office. I understand he is busy with AIG, but we have our own personal money woes to contend with due to this fraudulence.
The next step I would like to take is this: I would like to know if you will help me by signing a petition that I will personally deliver in Indiana to the U.S. Attorney’s office with our stories. I will go with Sgt. Don Meyers, Indiana’s most decorated Vietnam War Veteran, as well as an Airleaf Victim, and any other author in the area who is willing to join me. I will call the press ahead of time to announce when I am going, and I will launch my new campaign and website “Indiana Welcomes Crooks” which I am in the process of designing. I’ll send you the link in the next few weeks so you can check it out. I am hoping by taking these measures, I will drum up media interest in our case.
Regardless of the fact that we were able to get the Attorney General’s office to bring a judgment against Carl Lau, we will see nothing. Carl Lau sold his house last year, and the money from Lau’s house went to the IRS for back taxes. He is in debt up the kazoo and supposedly claiming bankruptcy. But don’t feel sorry for him—he’s been collecting unemployment insurance this year. And he and his wife have moved in with his wife’s family. His wife has an excellent job, so they are not suffering, but a lot of us sure are.
If you are willing to help me with this petition campaign, please send me an email at Bonkaye@aol.com and let me know I can count on you. I’m willing to donate my time and money to go to Indiana on your behalf. All I’m asking you for is sign a statement that I will send to you requesting that the U.S. Attorney bring charges against Airleaf for crimes against our authors.
In the meantime, I am working with nearly 70 victims of Jones Harvest Publishing owned by Brien Jones. I have them filing reports to the Attorney General’s office in Indiana. When so many of you told me initially that Brien Jones was the real criminal at Airleaf, I couldn’t understand why. After all, he didn’t own the company. But of course I’ve learned the hard way that he was the one who came up with most of the fraudulent schemes and talked you out of your money as you kept telling me. He’s done this all over again on his own. Many of our victims have been re-victimized, and I will keep fighting on their behalf as well as his new victims who have found me due to my Google Advertising on the Jones Harvest page of Google. Feel free to check it out. We have to let the government of Indiana know that we will not tolerate their lack of action against predatory publishing fraud.
Three other items before I end.
1.Airleaf Victim Tom Barnes called me the other day and told me that if you have lost money with Airleaf, you can file it as a fraudulence loss on your income tax this year. Even if it happened two or three years ago, we didn’t know about the fraudulence until 2008. I took mine off my taxes last year. If you haven’t done that yet, please think about adding it to your return.
2.Keep in mind our Books of Excellence author’s co-op. Please check it out if you haven’t seen it lately at www.BooksOfExcellence.com. We have some wonderful authors, and books are selling and being promoted. We would be happy to have you join our group. Please email me if you would like further information.
3.I’ll be in Connecticut in May at the CAPA conference (Connecticut Authors and Publishing Association) as a guest speaker on Predatory Publishing discussing how we as victims stood up to fight and stop Airleaf. If any of you live in the area, I’d love to meet you. Please let me know if you’d like more information.
Thank you for your patience, support, and hopefully, willingness to keep our battle alive until we see justice. What happened to us is criminal—and criminals need to be punished.
Love,
Bonnie Kaye, M. Ed.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
HORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD
Hooray for Hollywood
Well, Hollywood is revving up for the Indiana Jones family. They are going to Hollywood one more time to give vulnerable authors false hopes that a blockbuster movie could be made from one of their books if they are willing to shell out hundreds of dollars. Usually on these trips, they pack up the family as you can see on the website under the ‘Hollywood” button. It’s sort of like the Clampetts do Hollywood. There’s Brien and Brandy, Brien’s mom, cousin, and daughter. Well, at least it’s a family affair, although I hesitate in using the term “affair” loosely when I speak of Brien and Hollywood.
Anyway, this year’s offer is different than last year’s. Last year, the letter started with “Hollywood For Real.” It stated that “no one is making a movie out of one of our books—not yet. However, we have made three trips to Hollywood and we are closer than any other self publisher has ever been.” Now that’s really remarkable, I must say. I say that because it is now a year later and they are still no closer now than they were a year ago to getting anyone’s book turned into a movie. Even though I was assured by the author of “Rock with Rodney and Party with Perky” that Brien Jones had found four producers interested in her movies, so far, not one taker. Perhaps that’s why the “revised version” of the book has been “under production” for the past five months on his website because it’s now been extended to add a new concept on the cover: Bush’s anti-environmental report. When the author told me about the four productions companies that Jones had interested last summer, I checked them on the Internet and didn’t have any luck in finding them. Me of little faith, right? So then I called the man who is the organizer of the event and asked him if those companies attended, and he said he never heard of them either. When I reported the findings back to the author in hopes that she would wake up to the scam, she blasted me by posting on Brien’s blog that she spoke to the companies herself. That was different than her original story of telling me that Brien Jones gave her the name of the companies. But you know how it goes in Hollywood—fiction is always a big hit.
In last year’s offer, authors were promised that they would have their book, as well as their picture, featured on a site called “booktopictures.com.” When I checked out that website, it didn’t exist; however, it did redirect me to a site called “bootypictures.com.” All of this was available for “just $350.00.” But there was so much more! For a mere $500.00 additional dollars, they were willing to submit your book to one of two Hollywood producers and provide you with a resume and contact information for both executives. I think those of us who survived the Airleaf scandal will remember the kinds of producers the books were submitted to. They ranged from companies like Litestone Entertainment headed by Al Smith which lied about producing 30 books into movies, including his trailer that never became a book “Jessie’s Girl” to a company called Cinemagic which magically disappeared back to Japan. Ask me if I believe that there are not hundreds of scam artist producers waiting in Hollywood for vulnerable authors to shell out money. I’ve already spoken to half a dozen of them while fighting for our author victims. Anyway, that deal must have gone sour because it’s not even being offered this year.
And now Jones Harvest is offering to turn authors’ books into screenplays for free. One of my Airleaf author victims said Brien called her and offered to turn her book into a screenplay for free. This way it might sell better to the film people.
Remarkably, hundreds of emails went out to our Airleaf victims this past week from Jones Harvest offering to sell their books for free. In this letter, Jones states:
No charge, no obligation. No strings attached. I'll put the book on our websites today and even make a few calls. If you send me books, I’ll try to put them in stores. (Again, no charge, no obligation.)
All you have to do is send me a copy or copies of your book or email me the cover. I worked at Airleaf Publishing through 2006, (they closed in 2008) and I just want to help out if I can.
http://www.myauthorspace.com/
http://www.jonesharvest.com/
http://www.starredreview.com/
http://www.authorgifts.com/
http://www.bookwheat.com/
http://www.myauthorprofile.com/
http://www.brienjones.com/
He did manage to leave out some of his other untraveled sites like Great Concept Books, Bargain Basement Books (doesn’t that sound uplifting?), Author Soldier, and his two Christian sites, Perfect Heart and Chosen Few. I keep reminding people that the only one who views those sites is me—trying to reach unsuspecting authors of the outrageous scam they are part of for thousands of dollars.
This short statement in itself was a lie. Brien was trying to put a two-year wedge between his leaving Airleaf and the close of Airleaf. Jones left in the beginning of 2007, and Airleaf closed 11 months later in December of 2007. Actually it was the same year. But that’s Brien Jones—trying to mislead the public again.
I sent out a email blast to my list of over 500 Airleaf victims warning them about working with the King of Con. To say the Brien Jones doesn’t do anything for free is truly an understatement. Brien Jones doesn’t do much for people who pay him thousands of dollars. Look at all the authors that paid him money to be featured in a color catalogue to be given out at the book fairs. There was no catalogue. And when they asked him back for their money, he told them that he doesn’t have money. And why doesn’t he have money? Not because he can’t keep fooling the same victims who were taken once or twice because they realize that they are donating to the Jones family charity and want to redirect their contributions. Not because he screwed so many printers that they won’t print for him anymore. Not because his production and sales crew quit because of his fraudulence. Not because people don’t get their books after waiting for a year or two or have to send back galley after galley. No—he’s broke because of Bonnie Kaye. He can’t afford to publish his books but he can afford to pay for a website called “Bonnie Kaye Lies” where he puts his blog letters of support from five or six authors on there along with his own commentaries libeling me.
But what he forgets is that I am doing this work out of a mission to protect our authors who put their money, hopes, and dreams into a con game, not because I make any money. I have never accepted a dime from an author even though many have offered to support my efforts. He can’t hurt me. I don’t offer anything but the truth and help to authors. On the other hand, I am hurting him by telling the truth. This is why I now have 63 verified complaints about the tens of thousands of dollars that authors have lost and will never see again. You see, in the end, the truth speaks for itself. When authors receive royalty checks once a year for $1.35 or $6.25 after investing so much money, they know that what I speak is the truth. It doesn’t matter how many of the Jones Harvest websites these authors are featured on—no one is looking except me as I mentioned earlier.
Lee Goldberg, the renowned author and columnist, stated in a blog last week written by Victoria Strauss, my predatory publishing guru, about the Hollywood scam that his gardener has more contacts with Hollywood executives than Brien Jones because at least he mows the lawns for some of them. If you want to shell out money, maybe we can ask the gardener to drop off your book while he’s at one of these jobs. He is actually closer to them than the Jones Harvest family will ever be.
Well, Hollywood is revving up for the Indiana Jones family. They are going to Hollywood one more time to give vulnerable authors false hopes that a blockbuster movie could be made from one of their books if they are willing to shell out hundreds of dollars. Usually on these trips, they pack up the family as you can see on the website under the ‘Hollywood” button. It’s sort of like the Clampetts do Hollywood. There’s Brien and Brandy, Brien’s mom, cousin, and daughter. Well, at least it’s a family affair, although I hesitate in using the term “affair” loosely when I speak of Brien and Hollywood.
Anyway, this year’s offer is different than last year’s. Last year, the letter started with “Hollywood For Real.” It stated that “no one is making a movie out of one of our books—not yet. However, we have made three trips to Hollywood and we are closer than any other self publisher has ever been.” Now that’s really remarkable, I must say. I say that because it is now a year later and they are still no closer now than they were a year ago to getting anyone’s book turned into a movie. Even though I was assured by the author of “Rock with Rodney and Party with Perky” that Brien Jones had found four producers interested in her movies, so far, not one taker. Perhaps that’s why the “revised version” of the book has been “under production” for the past five months on his website because it’s now been extended to add a new concept on the cover: Bush’s anti-environmental report. When the author told me about the four productions companies that Jones had interested last summer, I checked them on the Internet and didn’t have any luck in finding them. Me of little faith, right? So then I called the man who is the organizer of the event and asked him if those companies attended, and he said he never heard of them either. When I reported the findings back to the author in hopes that she would wake up to the scam, she blasted me by posting on Brien’s blog that she spoke to the companies herself. That was different than her original story of telling me that Brien Jones gave her the name of the companies. But you know how it goes in Hollywood—fiction is always a big hit.
In last year’s offer, authors were promised that they would have their book, as well as their picture, featured on a site called “booktopictures.com.” When I checked out that website, it didn’t exist; however, it did redirect me to a site called “bootypictures.com.” All of this was available for “just $350.00.” But there was so much more! For a mere $500.00 additional dollars, they were willing to submit your book to one of two Hollywood producers and provide you with a resume and contact information for both executives. I think those of us who survived the Airleaf scandal will remember the kinds of producers the books were submitted to. They ranged from companies like Litestone Entertainment headed by Al Smith which lied about producing 30 books into movies, including his trailer that never became a book “Jessie’s Girl” to a company called Cinemagic which magically disappeared back to Japan. Ask me if I believe that there are not hundreds of scam artist producers waiting in Hollywood for vulnerable authors to shell out money. I’ve already spoken to half a dozen of them while fighting for our author victims. Anyway, that deal must have gone sour because it’s not even being offered this year.
And now Jones Harvest is offering to turn authors’ books into screenplays for free. One of my Airleaf author victims said Brien called her and offered to turn her book into a screenplay for free. This way it might sell better to the film people.
Remarkably, hundreds of emails went out to our Airleaf victims this past week from Jones Harvest offering to sell their books for free. In this letter, Jones states:
No charge, no obligation. No strings attached. I'll put the book on our websites today and even make a few calls. If you send me books, I’ll try to put them in stores. (Again, no charge, no obligation.)
All you have to do is send me a copy or copies of your book or email me the cover. I worked at Airleaf Publishing through 2006, (they closed in 2008) and I just want to help out if I can.
http://www.myauthorspace.com/
http://www.jonesharvest.com/
http://www.starredreview.com/
http://www.authorgifts.com/
http://www.bookwheat.com/
http://www.myauthorprofile.com/
http://www.brienjones.com/
He did manage to leave out some of his other untraveled sites like Great Concept Books, Bargain Basement Books (doesn’t that sound uplifting?), Author Soldier, and his two Christian sites, Perfect Heart and Chosen Few. I keep reminding people that the only one who views those sites is me—trying to reach unsuspecting authors of the outrageous scam they are part of for thousands of dollars.
This short statement in itself was a lie. Brien was trying to put a two-year wedge between his leaving Airleaf and the close of Airleaf. Jones left in the beginning of 2007, and Airleaf closed 11 months later in December of 2007. Actually it was the same year. But that’s Brien Jones—trying to mislead the public again.
I sent out a email blast to my list of over 500 Airleaf victims warning them about working with the King of Con. To say the Brien Jones doesn’t do anything for free is truly an understatement. Brien Jones doesn’t do much for people who pay him thousands of dollars. Look at all the authors that paid him money to be featured in a color catalogue to be given out at the book fairs. There was no catalogue. And when they asked him back for their money, he told them that he doesn’t have money. And why doesn’t he have money? Not because he can’t keep fooling the same victims who were taken once or twice because they realize that they are donating to the Jones family charity and want to redirect their contributions. Not because he screwed so many printers that they won’t print for him anymore. Not because his production and sales crew quit because of his fraudulence. Not because people don’t get their books after waiting for a year or two or have to send back galley after galley. No—he’s broke because of Bonnie Kaye. He can’t afford to publish his books but he can afford to pay for a website called “Bonnie Kaye Lies” where he puts his blog letters of support from five or six authors on there along with his own commentaries libeling me.
But what he forgets is that I am doing this work out of a mission to protect our authors who put their money, hopes, and dreams into a con game, not because I make any money. I have never accepted a dime from an author even though many have offered to support my efforts. He can’t hurt me. I don’t offer anything but the truth and help to authors. On the other hand, I am hurting him by telling the truth. This is why I now have 63 verified complaints about the tens of thousands of dollars that authors have lost and will never see again. You see, in the end, the truth speaks for itself. When authors receive royalty checks once a year for $1.35 or $6.25 after investing so much money, they know that what I speak is the truth. It doesn’t matter how many of the Jones Harvest websites these authors are featured on—no one is looking except me as I mentioned earlier.
Lee Goldberg, the renowned author and columnist, stated in a blog last week written by Victoria Strauss, my predatory publishing guru, about the Hollywood scam that his gardener has more contacts with Hollywood executives than Brien Jones because at least he mows the lawns for some of them. If you want to shell out money, maybe we can ask the gardener to drop off your book while he’s at one of these jobs. He is actually closer to them than the Jones Harvest family will ever be.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE PREDATORY SCAMS
AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2008
Dear Fellow Airleaf Victims and Friends,
Next Sunday is the annual Brooklyn Book Fair in Brooklyn, New York. I am excited about attending the event so I can promote our new co-op, Books Of Excellence. If any of you are in the New York area and would like to meet up with me, please email me at Bonkaye@aol.com and I’ll make arrangements to meet you. We are constantly adding new members to our co-op, so if you haven’t had a chance to look at it lately, check us out at www.BooksOfExcellence.com.
I have been in touch with the U.S. Attorney in Indiana to see how our criminal case is coming along. I have been assured that the investigation is still being worked on and conversations by investigators taken place. I am hoping to have more information for you within the next several weeks.
I would like to take some time to talk about members of our group becoming VICTIMS all over again. This week, I have been working with five of our victims to help them with publishing and publicity scams where once again they have been taken for large sums of money. Omni Publicity, owned by Joe Ullrich in Tampa, Florida, promised one of our authors this deal:
PROPOSED CAMPAIGN
Research & Development
Omni Experts Online Directory Listing (1 year – a $399.00 value)
Press Release Creation
Broadcast (Online) Press Release Distribution
Direct Email
Aggressive Marketing
Twelve (12) Talk Radio Interviews
Any additional Interviews are no charge
Total Investment: $ 2395.00
And then came the GUARANTEE--
OMNI PUBLICITY AND PUBLIC RELATIONS GROUP GUARANTEE
Omni Publicity And Public Relations Group placements are no risk to you!
You only pay for the interviews you receive…period!
We assume all the financial risk! The professional staff of Omni Publicity And Public Relations Group will aggressively market you to talk radio shows throughout the country. Our efforts will yield the desired results of interviews – and you only pay for the interviews you receive!
We strongly recommend this campaign to you with complete confidence as it has been so successful for so many of our other clients. This exact campaign has secured interviews for our authors on a national, regional and local level. Some of our authors have also appeared on national TV as well as in print - most notability Dr. Phil, A Current Affair, Geraldo, FOX News Channel, NPR radio, The Miami Herald and GLOBE to name just a mere few – as a direct result of this campaign! The rates within are guaranteed for 30 days from the date of this proposal!
Our author fell for these smooth talking promises. This happened two years ago, and there was never one interview. When I called the Joe Ullrich on the victim’s behalf, explaining I was the leader of a predatory publishing/publicity group, he was very defensive telling me that the author was “crazy.” Often, disgruntled authors are classified as “crazy” by predatory publishers when they express their dissatisfaction. Good comeback, huh?
Anyway, I told the owner that he promised services that were never received, and that I have emails between the two parties where he offers a lot of “excuses” but no action. He claimed that he sent out emails to the media. When I asked him who the media was, he replied, “We can’t reveal that list.” When I asked him who he personally called as he guaranteed, again, “I don’t give out that information.” Okay, what information do you give out? That’s when the phone slammed in my ear. No doubt there may be authors who are happy with Mr. Ullrich, but that’s irrelevant to our author victim who received NOTHING that she was promised.
The “EXCUSES” need to be a RED FLAG to those of you who are currently paying for services that aren’t being delivered or paying for services that are free like book reviews from Barnes and Noble and Midwest. So now, I will be making a case through the Florida law enforcement agencies to help our victim get her money back.
Another one of our victims recently paid for a “Hollywood Dream” scheme in Atlanta, Georgia. The company, Jigsaw Filmwork, owned by a Timothy Crenshaw, promised her to put together a package for a Hollywood deal. He convinced her that there were investors ready to pay for the production, and the famous key gripper turned producer, Courtney Jones, would produce her movie. If you go on the Jigsaw Filmwork website at the following address, http://jigsawfilmworks-llc.com/mainmenu.html, you can see Mr. Jones as part of the staff. Is he? No clue. I just know this author was scammed. She paid the money, and waited and waited for a production package to be presented to her. In fact, she was supposed to be flown to “Hollywood” next week to meet with the production crew. They even had the nerve to have her make a list of who she would like to star in the movie. And even better—this company was found on the same website as Carl Lau, Go Big Network, looking for an investor. Here’s his profile that I found:
Timothy Crenshaw
Company: Jigsaw Filmworks
Industry: Entertainment
Location: Atlanta, GA (USA)
My Focus: Startup;
Startup Company Profile
Startup Name Jigsaw Filmworks
Location Atlanta, GA (United States)
Industry Entertainment
Year Founded 2007
Legal Status Unspecified
Business Stage Unspecified
Number of Employees Unspecified
Company Description We are an independent film company that produces films for the big screen, television and video releases. Timothy Crenshaw(Jigsaw Filmsorks) has been in the Entertainment field for 15 years working with artists such as JaRule, 112,Black Reign to name a few in the recording field. Now that he has moved over to the motion pictures industry business he has the pleasure of teaming with well know director/producer Courtney Jones based out of California.Courtney Jones has been involved with several motion pictures such as Star Wars, The Bratz, Fronterz plus many others.
Somehow, Mr. Crenshaw has come down with some rare illness called, “Don’t look for me after I get your money, ” and has failed to deliver the goods. I think he would be an excellent partner for Carl Lau or maybe Litestone Entertainment, don’t you?
As of late, some of you know I have been working with our victims who have become victims once again through Jones Harvest Publishing. To address this problem, I put up another website at www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com. I felt compelled to do this at the point when I had over a dozen new victims of this company. Jones Harvest has rallied their select fans to attack me for exposing them, but I stand by my claims that people are being defrauded through this company. At first, people were able to get their money back through threats, but now that has changed, no matter how much they “guarantee” your satisfaction or giving your money back. Well, actually, on their website, they make that guarantee to…“all new clients a money-back guarantee on our publishing, promotional and bookselling services.” Hmmm, what about their old clients who are asking for their money back?
Fans of Jones Harvest (3 to be exact) have written to me directly or via blogs to state that they are thrilled with the services from the company. And for those authors, I am thrilled for them. Remember—Airleaf had clients who loved them also. I wasn’t fighting for the ones who loved the company—I was fighting for those of us who were victims of the company.
When Brien Jones left Airleaf and started his own company, he promised that he would be “different.” He frowned on all of those schemes that made people have dreams that would never come true—or so he said. He only wanted to “sell books.” For that reason, I gave him a chance. I never knew him at Airleaf and he offered to republish my Airleaf book for free in return for allowing him to post my picture on one of his numerous websites, Author Celebrity. Jones also claims that I “forced” him to publish 40 other books for free in various emails he has sent to authors attacking me. Truth be told, I only asked him to publish one book for free—the book of Jason Hubal’s who was a disabled young man near death’s door. Jason and his mom, Gracie, invested $8,000.00 at Airleaf for nothing, and Jason was hoping to see his book before he passed on. I told Brien Jones it would be the right thing to do—and he did it. This was the only book I personally requested that he reprint for free.
Although numerous members of our group complained to me about Jones, I told you that we had to focus our campaign on Carl Lau because he was the owner of the company. When I would tell Brien about the complaints, he would always tell me that he was just a worker—in fact a victim too—of Airleaf. He wasn’t even allowed to open the mail. Whatever. In reality, he was the Vice President. He was the one who came up with the schemes. If you look at his promotions now—as many of you do and send them to me—it’s the same promotions as he did at Airleaf. And the promises:
• Weekly calls with progress reports
• Calls to every newspaper, magazine, and radio station in her hometown with a report
• One television appearance including a DVD version
• Three radio interviews including one on a nationally syndicated AM/FM radio show
• Submission of your book to a film producer for review and recommendations
And best of all, Jones Harvest states in their agreement: Each of these commitments is guaranteed. We will not be satisfied until we place your book in bookstores everywhere and you are a celebrity.
Does this sound all too familiar? Well, it’s déjà vu all over again for too many people.
I spoke to an author this week whose books were turned in over a YEAR ago—along with her money--to Jones Harvest and they are still not out or even corrected with galleys. EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES are all she is receiving.
Wake up authors—there are no excuses for taking a year to put out a book. My publisher, CCB Publishing (www.CCBPublishing.com) does it in a month—4 weeks--and so does Bob Denton from Mountain Valley Publishing (www.MountainValleyPublishing.com). Both of them provide excellent publishing and distribution services and get your book out for a reasonable amount of money quickly and with integrity. Read the testimonials on their website and see for yourself.
As for the Better Business Bureau rating of Jones Harvest let me say this—when over 50 of our victims sent in complaints to the Indiana BBB about Airleaf, and just weeks prior to the shut down, the BBB was still giving Airleaf a positive rating. I called them a few weeks ago and asked how that happens. The woman explained to me that changing a rating takes time—it could even take more than a year. First, the BBB has to do an investigation which can take months. So, just because someone buys membership into the BBB and pays for the top of the line rating doesn’t mean a thing. Trust me when I tell you the BBB has complaints about Jones Harvest. I know. And so does the Attorney General and U.S. Attorney’s office.
The irony here is that I am being blamed for the future collapse of Jones Harvest. Once again, am I to blame that authors don’t get what they’re promised or pay for? Am I the culprit when people are being misled and lied to? I don’t think so. Quite frankly, I would have been very happy to end my predatory activism days with Airleaf. But too many of you are like my extended family. I will devote my time to any of you who are being burned again. That’s what family is about.
I felt the need to write about this now so that in the future, authors won’t come to me and say why didn’t I warn them earlier. I already feel bad that I’ve kept quiet too long in hopes of things changing for the better. Don’t allow yourselves to fall prey to savvy sales con men who promise you outrageous promises that can’t come true. Always do a thorough check first—or write to me and I’ll do a thorough check for you.
If you have any other companies you would like me to check for you, please write to me any time. Don’t allow yourself to be a victim AGAIN!
Love, Bonnie Kaye
Dear Fellow Airleaf Victims and Friends,
Next Sunday is the annual Brooklyn Book Fair in Brooklyn, New York. I am excited about attending the event so I can promote our new co-op, Books Of Excellence. If any of you are in the New York area and would like to meet up with me, please email me at Bonkaye@aol.com and I’ll make arrangements to meet you. We are constantly adding new members to our co-op, so if you haven’t had a chance to look at it lately, check us out at www.BooksOfExcellence.com.
I have been in touch with the U.S. Attorney in Indiana to see how our criminal case is coming along. I have been assured that the investigation is still being worked on and conversations by investigators taken place. I am hoping to have more information for you within the next several weeks.
I would like to take some time to talk about members of our group becoming VICTIMS all over again. This week, I have been working with five of our victims to help them with publishing and publicity scams where once again they have been taken for large sums of money. Omni Publicity, owned by Joe Ullrich in Tampa, Florida, promised one of our authors this deal:
PROPOSED CAMPAIGN
Research & Development
Omni Experts Online Directory Listing (1 year – a $399.00 value)
Press Release Creation
Broadcast (Online) Press Release Distribution
Direct Email
Aggressive Marketing
Twelve (12) Talk Radio Interviews
Any additional Interviews are no charge
Total Investment: $ 2395.00
And then came the GUARANTEE--
OMNI PUBLICITY AND PUBLIC RELATIONS GROUP GUARANTEE
Omni Publicity And Public Relations Group placements are no risk to you!
You only pay for the interviews you receive…period!
We assume all the financial risk! The professional staff of Omni Publicity And Public Relations Group will aggressively market you to talk radio shows throughout the country. Our efforts will yield the desired results of interviews – and you only pay for the interviews you receive!
We strongly recommend this campaign to you with complete confidence as it has been so successful for so many of our other clients. This exact campaign has secured interviews for our authors on a national, regional and local level. Some of our authors have also appeared on national TV as well as in print - most notability Dr. Phil, A Current Affair, Geraldo, FOX News Channel, NPR radio, The Miami Herald and GLOBE to name just a mere few – as a direct result of this campaign! The rates within are guaranteed for 30 days from the date of this proposal!
Our author fell for these smooth talking promises. This happened two years ago, and there was never one interview. When I called the Joe Ullrich on the victim’s behalf, explaining I was the leader of a predatory publishing/publicity group, he was very defensive telling me that the author was “crazy.” Often, disgruntled authors are classified as “crazy” by predatory publishers when they express their dissatisfaction. Good comeback, huh?
Anyway, I told the owner that he promised services that were never received, and that I have emails between the two parties where he offers a lot of “excuses” but no action. He claimed that he sent out emails to the media. When I asked him who the media was, he replied, “We can’t reveal that list.” When I asked him who he personally called as he guaranteed, again, “I don’t give out that information.” Okay, what information do you give out? That’s when the phone slammed in my ear. No doubt there may be authors who are happy with Mr. Ullrich, but that’s irrelevant to our author victim who received NOTHING that she was promised.
The “EXCUSES” need to be a RED FLAG to those of you who are currently paying for services that aren’t being delivered or paying for services that are free like book reviews from Barnes and Noble and Midwest. So now, I will be making a case through the Florida law enforcement agencies to help our victim get her money back.
Another one of our victims recently paid for a “Hollywood Dream” scheme in Atlanta, Georgia. The company, Jigsaw Filmwork, owned by a Timothy Crenshaw, promised her to put together a package for a Hollywood deal. He convinced her that there were investors ready to pay for the production, and the famous key gripper turned producer, Courtney Jones, would produce her movie. If you go on the Jigsaw Filmwork website at the following address, http://jigsawfilmworks-llc.com/mainmenu.html, you can see Mr. Jones as part of the staff. Is he? No clue. I just know this author was scammed. She paid the money, and waited and waited for a production package to be presented to her. In fact, she was supposed to be flown to “Hollywood” next week to meet with the production crew. They even had the nerve to have her make a list of who she would like to star in the movie. And even better—this company was found on the same website as Carl Lau, Go Big Network, looking for an investor. Here’s his profile that I found:
Timothy Crenshaw
Company: Jigsaw Filmworks
Industry: Entertainment
Location: Atlanta, GA (USA)
My Focus: Startup;
Startup Company Profile
Startup Name Jigsaw Filmworks
Location Atlanta, GA (United States)
Industry Entertainment
Year Founded 2007
Legal Status Unspecified
Business Stage Unspecified
Number of Employees Unspecified
Company Description We are an independent film company that produces films for the big screen, television and video releases. Timothy Crenshaw(Jigsaw Filmsorks) has been in the Entertainment field for 15 years working with artists such as JaRule, 112,Black Reign to name a few in the recording field. Now that he has moved over to the motion pictures industry business he has the pleasure of teaming with well know director/producer Courtney Jones based out of California.Courtney Jones has been involved with several motion pictures such as Star Wars, The Bratz, Fronterz plus many others.
Somehow, Mr. Crenshaw has come down with some rare illness called, “Don’t look for me after I get your money, ” and has failed to deliver the goods. I think he would be an excellent partner for Carl Lau or maybe Litestone Entertainment, don’t you?
As of late, some of you know I have been working with our victims who have become victims once again through Jones Harvest Publishing. To address this problem, I put up another website at www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com. I felt compelled to do this at the point when I had over a dozen new victims of this company. Jones Harvest has rallied their select fans to attack me for exposing them, but I stand by my claims that people are being defrauded through this company. At first, people were able to get their money back through threats, but now that has changed, no matter how much they “guarantee” your satisfaction or giving your money back. Well, actually, on their website, they make that guarantee to…“all new clients a money-back guarantee on our publishing, promotional and bookselling services.” Hmmm, what about their old clients who are asking for their money back?
Fans of Jones Harvest (3 to be exact) have written to me directly or via blogs to state that they are thrilled with the services from the company. And for those authors, I am thrilled for them. Remember—Airleaf had clients who loved them also. I wasn’t fighting for the ones who loved the company—I was fighting for those of us who were victims of the company.
When Brien Jones left Airleaf and started his own company, he promised that he would be “different.” He frowned on all of those schemes that made people have dreams that would never come true—or so he said. He only wanted to “sell books.” For that reason, I gave him a chance. I never knew him at Airleaf and he offered to republish my Airleaf book for free in return for allowing him to post my picture on one of his numerous websites, Author Celebrity. Jones also claims that I “forced” him to publish 40 other books for free in various emails he has sent to authors attacking me. Truth be told, I only asked him to publish one book for free—the book of Jason Hubal’s who was a disabled young man near death’s door. Jason and his mom, Gracie, invested $8,000.00 at Airleaf for nothing, and Jason was hoping to see his book before he passed on. I told Brien Jones it would be the right thing to do—and he did it. This was the only book I personally requested that he reprint for free.
Although numerous members of our group complained to me about Jones, I told you that we had to focus our campaign on Carl Lau because he was the owner of the company. When I would tell Brien about the complaints, he would always tell me that he was just a worker—in fact a victim too—of Airleaf. He wasn’t even allowed to open the mail. Whatever. In reality, he was the Vice President. He was the one who came up with the schemes. If you look at his promotions now—as many of you do and send them to me—it’s the same promotions as he did at Airleaf. And the promises:
• Weekly calls with progress reports
• Calls to every newspaper, magazine, and radio station in her hometown with a report
• One television appearance including a DVD version
• Three radio interviews including one on a nationally syndicated AM/FM radio show
• Submission of your book to a film producer for review and recommendations
And best of all, Jones Harvest states in their agreement: Each of these commitments is guaranteed. We will not be satisfied until we place your book in bookstores everywhere and you are a celebrity.
Does this sound all too familiar? Well, it’s déjà vu all over again for too many people.
I spoke to an author this week whose books were turned in over a YEAR ago—along with her money--to Jones Harvest and they are still not out or even corrected with galleys. EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES are all she is receiving.
Wake up authors—there are no excuses for taking a year to put out a book. My publisher, CCB Publishing (www.CCBPublishing.com) does it in a month—4 weeks--and so does Bob Denton from Mountain Valley Publishing (www.MountainValleyPublishing.com). Both of them provide excellent publishing and distribution services and get your book out for a reasonable amount of money quickly and with integrity. Read the testimonials on their website and see for yourself.
As for the Better Business Bureau rating of Jones Harvest let me say this—when over 50 of our victims sent in complaints to the Indiana BBB about Airleaf, and just weeks prior to the shut down, the BBB was still giving Airleaf a positive rating. I called them a few weeks ago and asked how that happens. The woman explained to me that changing a rating takes time—it could even take more than a year. First, the BBB has to do an investigation which can take months. So, just because someone buys membership into the BBB and pays for the top of the line rating doesn’t mean a thing. Trust me when I tell you the BBB has complaints about Jones Harvest. I know. And so does the Attorney General and U.S. Attorney’s office.
The irony here is that I am being blamed for the future collapse of Jones Harvest. Once again, am I to blame that authors don’t get what they’re promised or pay for? Am I the culprit when people are being misled and lied to? I don’t think so. Quite frankly, I would have been very happy to end my predatory activism days with Airleaf. But too many of you are like my extended family. I will devote my time to any of you who are being burned again. That’s what family is about.
I felt the need to write about this now so that in the future, authors won’t come to me and say why didn’t I warn them earlier. I already feel bad that I’ve kept quiet too long in hopes of things changing for the better. Don’t allow yourselves to fall prey to savvy sales con men who promise you outrageous promises that can’t come true. Always do a thorough check first—or write to me and I’ll do a thorough check for you.
If you have any other companies you would like me to check for you, please write to me any time. Don’t allow yourself to be a victim AGAIN!
Love, Bonnie Kaye
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