My books have been pulped!

Nefertari

I had my first book Scarab Eyes published in 2005 with a firm called Manuscript publishing in Somerset. ( they were also known as Mallams) I had entered a competition that they had advertised in Writer's Forum.
I hadn't heard from them with my usual royalties cheque in May and when I phoned yesterday I was told that they had closed down last September and all my books have been pulped. The woman said I should have had a letter. Well, I didn't have any letters ( they have my email address as well) and I am angry as I would have liked the books. I could probably have sold them myself somewhere.
Is there anything I can do about this? I am trying to find out who the receiver was, but not having much luck.Is there somewhere I can write to get more info?

Stirling

Unfortunately, this is a normal procedure in publishing (it actually happens much quicker than three years).

You could maybe approach the Society and Authors, see what they say.

Jay Mandal

What a shame! If they went into receivership, there's probably not much you can do. Is there anything on Google about it?

I wonder if any Talkbackers know who might publish it - you've got details of sales to show a potential publisher. I don't think BeWrite does children's books.

montholon

What a sickener! I can't offer any advice, but you have my deepest sympathy.

Highland Midge

Do you have an agent Katyanne? Or am I being naive thinking that one might help with advice and re-selling?

Rosalie

That's so sad, Kateyanne, and so annoying for you when, as you say, you could have sold them yourself. It seems most unfair that they did this without even letting you know. I'm really sorry and I hope you manage to salvage something from this debacle.

Author Online

I am so sorry to hear this and can imagine how you feel - I had that threat hanging over me at the beginning of the year, but I did have the option of buying them back. I doubt if there is much to be done, and it wouldn't bring the books back anyway. Best thing, as others say is to use those sales figures to try and get someone interested. Childrens publishing is not my area of expertise though, so I wouldn't know who to suggest. Good though can come from bad, so don't let it get you down too much, you never know, if you get a publisher interested, then it might not be as bad as it at first seems. These things very rarely are.

Stan2

Sorry to hear about this Kateyanne.

Carol

Try checking through Companies House- I would of thought it would list who the receiver was in the register.
It is a great shame that your books were pulped without you getting the chance to get hold of them.
But at least the book can be offered elsewhere now.

Amanda

Oh Kateyanne i'm so sorry to hear of your news. You must take a small comfort that the book was worthy of publication and perhaps you should try selling the book again (perhaps to an american publisher if its not there allready). That was totally mean that you didnt get the chance to buy them and the receiver is at fault as their duty is 'to mitigate losses by sourcing every available income' - including authors having the chance to buy the books. Not sure what out come you will get, but i would send a very heavy letter stating their failures.

Nefertari

I couldn't find anything on google, I have sent an email enquiry to Companies House, thanks Carol.
I'll let you know what happens.

midia

Hi Kateyanne,
I know the company you are talking about because they are/were based in a Hewish, which is about two miles up the road from me. I contacted this company a few years ago with a novel which they wanted to take on, but they wanted £300+ for 'costs', so I declined. I think the lady who owns/owned this company was on talkback in Feb of this year under the name of Christine1 - something about a book about slugs if I remember rightly. I'll have a look through the records and see if I can find it/or any more info for you.

dorothyd

I think Dun and Bradstreet are the company people, try them as well. This is such a shame, books should be passed on,not pulped.

Mutley

Kateyanne I can't tell you anything helpful, I just wanted to say how sorry I was. Good luck following it up.

midia

Kateyanne, I've just emailed you with what I know about this company.

Island Girl

Really sorry to hear this, Kateyanne.

heather

Very sorry, Kateyanne. That must be so upsetting for you.

TaffetaPunk

You must be devastated, Kateyanne, I'm so sorry.

Tracy

Sorry to hear about this Kateyanne, but I wouldn't hold out much hope for recompense. I'm still owed money from a film I worked on years ago after the production company went into receivership.
I think whoever suggested the Society of Authors is right, they might be worth a shot.

Woll22

Appalling Kateyanne, there is a terrible cavalier attitude these days within society as a whole - people just do not care less and I am sorry to say this is attributed to the likes of Alan Sugar and our "friends" across the pond, feelings and sensibilities take second priority - not much comfort I know but this is the sort of world we live in. Maggie Thatcher was no help in her recommendation of 'look after number one" and this applies no more than in business

Nefertari

Thanks everyone. I have emailed you Midia.
I am so sad about this happening. Scarab Eyes was my first book and special to me.I hate to think of any books being destroyed and I wish I had known about this.

Daisy

I would be very upset too. Assuming you had a contract with that publisher you should have had warning of at least a few weeks if they were intending to pulp your books. I suppose it would be difficult to prove that the letter of warning wasn't sent and that they broke contract terms. You are definitely free to send it elsewhere though. I hope it has lots more success with another publisher.

Nefertari

Thanks Daisy.
Apparently the firm did not go into receivership just closed down.
Authors were sent letters, but as I say I didn't get mine.

HPRW

kateyanne, as I see it, your main concern here should be with retrieving your rights from the defunct publisher. Without them you will be unable to offer them for publication elsewhere, or to consider self-publishing.

Do check the contract you have with the publisher, to see if rights would automatically revert in this instance. If not, then you do have some chance of getting them back as the publisher is no longer in operation, assuming you can, of course, track down someone from the publisher who has the legal authority to deal with that for you.

HPRW

I hope my post above doesn't seem too stern: I have to use DragonDictate because my hands hurt when I type, but I haven't quite got the hang of using it on this forum yet, and made one or two rather erratic choices!

Just in case anyone is wondering, I did used to work as an editor at a commercial press and have some experience in negotiating contracts. Although that was some time ago now. Good luck in getting your rights back, kateyanne.

Nefertari

Hello HPRW and welcome to talkback.
Thanks for your help on this.
I have found out today that the company has applied for voluntary strike off. ( last December) They are not in receivership or liquidation. Not sure what that means!
I think I still have time to find out about my royalties last year etc and will continue to check this out.
Watch this space!

Nena

Good luck, Kateyanne. I hope you get all your rights and royalties etc. It must be very upsetting.

HPRW

I'm not sure, but "voluntary strike off" sounds like something to do with Companies House, and company law, rather than publishing law. You do need to check your contract and find out what it says should happen in this eventuality. Do it as soon as you can, as if the company disappears completely then your rights to the book could disappear completely too.

Jay Mandal

Fingers crossed that you can salvage something.

Tracy

Sounds like sensible advice from HPRW. Hope you get it all sorted.

Butterfly

Oh, Kateyanne, this is horrid. Good luck with getting some closure on it. You must be deverstated.

dorothyd

When a company is struck off the register, its debts die with it. It also means that you can reclaim your rights simply because the company no longer exists and you are free to do with it as you will.

caro

So sorry to hear this. I really hope you can get it sorted out.

HPRW

Not exactly, Dorothy, I'm afraid. Publishing rights are different to debts. If an editor or publisher can't see a clear, legal release of those rights, in writing, then they too are likely to die with the publishing company.

To be honest, it is unlikely that the book will be picked up by another reputable publisher (speaking generally, with no knowledge of the book or publisher). The book's already been published, so that's its first rights gone. It would be difficult to promote it effectively without a rewrite, as it has already had it's one bite of the cherry. I've seen a blog post about this recently, and will try to find it.

Jay Mandal

Slubberdegullion was published by er ... a publisher. We decided to part company, and BeWrite published it - after they'd published some other stuff. I took some of the adverbs out, and we added four new stories. Not quite the same, I know.

Odd thing about the original publisher - he wouldn't mention the reviews I'd had. You'd think he'd jump at the chance to drop names such as Sir Ian McKellen, Ned Sherrin, Sir Alan Ayckbourn, Hanif Kureishi, Russell T Davies, Fay Weldon, Graham Norton, Matthew Parris, Julian Clary and Kevin Elyot. Well, I would. :-)

Jane - you've probably spotted what several of these names have in common!

HPRW

Well, yes, Jay, of course I have--several of them appear in my address book.

:)

Jay Mandal

The ones I've mentioned!!!??? Or generally?

HPRW

You are SO EASY, Jay. If I weren't so new here I could have kept you going for weeks with this.

(I do have at least one phone number, though. Of the list you gave. And no, I won't hand it over, you might not be his type.)

Carol

Well Ned Sherrin has since died, so that reduces the list. :)

Jay Mandal

Well, Matthew Parris works/worked out of The Times office at the Houses of Parliament, so his might be an easy one to acquire. I may even have it myself. And Serena wrote back from his home, but I'm not sure he mentioned a phone number.

Why does 'so easy' ring a bell (apologies for pun)? Must try to track it down, but Coronation Street's on in 20 minutes.

lexia

Who's Kevin Elyot ? No SERIOUSLY.................... !!!! ;)

Stirling

So Jay are you easy? (lol)

HPRW I would just like to point out that Dorothy is a editor for an Independent publishing company - and an extremely good one at that!

lexia

And as for Matthew Parris - I really don't think he works out at all ! I mean, did you see that programme where he didn't wash his hair, like, ever? No one into work outs would have dirty hair :)

Jay Mandal

Found it!

"You're impossible, you know that?"

"Oh, most people say I'm quite easy!"

From The Dandelion Clock. With an 'l for leather'. Just in case I've mistyped it again. Freudian slip. Which no one wears nowadays.

Stirling

Well there you have it . . .

HPRW

Stirling, I've just peeped at Dorothy's profile and have discovered the most important thing about her: she lives on the Isle of Wight! Wonderful place. I lived there years ago. (Who does Dorothy edit for? I'd ask her privately but can't find a PM thing here.)

I shall now return this thread to its original topic. Sorry to have, once more, steered it so far off course.

Carol

(We used to have a private mail system on the old Talkback, but now it is easier to make initial contact by a whisper, or start a private whisper thread.
Dorothy usually isn't here Monday evenings, so it may be tomorrow before she could answer your question.)

HPRW

(Thank you for that, Carol. I'm sure no one can hear us if we type in brackets.)

:)

Carol

We've tended to do brackets if we want to add something off general main discussion, or as an aside to everyone. :) We've created a whole system- which we often ignore!

lexia

(you just totally made that up, Carol! )

Carol

(well some of us do that- haven't you noticed? ;) )