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There is an article in February's Writers' News/Writingw Magazine about Forward Press stating, I believe, that Bonacia now own Forward Press and Need2Know books and all commitments will be honoured by them. I hope this proves so, as I'm owed two books, which were quite expensive.
I had a childrens poem accepted in October as well, declined the offer to buy the book, thought at about £15 to £17.00( cant remember exact price) it was a tad exspensive. Have not heard anything more from the, but didn`t exspect to
My worry is that there are so many inconsistencies with the stories that Forward/N2K/Bonacia are giving authors - when they do reply of course!
Something that has crossed my mind is that all the time they ahve been in administration the online shop has stayed open on the N2K site - even for books that have not even been published. Unlike Amazon they take the payment at once from the buyer. Will they still honour the sales from the pre buyout time? If books are not published will m,oney be reimbursed?
Quite a few of the books under contract are with first timer authors so it is quite possible that their family and friends have made purchasers. The authors are the ones put in a very awkward postition if things do fold as apart from losing a publioshing deal and royalties they have to face friends and family who have not had their books.
Alas, I too fell prey to the flatterings of Forward Press. I was encouraged by a friend to enter their Poetry Rivals 2010 contest and, blow me down, I got a letter saying that my poem was one of 100 chosen for publication. It wasn't a condition of publication that I bought a copy, but the offer was there for £20.94 including postage and, as an unpublished poet, I was never going to turn down the opportunity to have a copy of my first published poem, even though the price was steep and I secretly suspected this was just a variation on vanity publishing. So I coughed up the dough and placed my order. Publication day was supposed to be 30/11/2010 - 1 day after the Liquidation meeting I now learn! Encouraged by the possibility that somebody might actually rate my work, I entered another couple of their competitions and soon afterwards received a letter confirming one of my poems had been selected for publication in their regional finals. Once again, was offered the chance to order a copy at £20.94 including postage and I took it. Publication due 31/12/2010 they said. Needless to say, I have never received anything from them. Not even an e-mail to explain or apologise. I rang them up after New Year and was answered by a person who sounded a bit uncomfortable and shifty. I had no knowledge of the liquidation at that point and asked what the hold-up was. "Oh.... ermmm , we've had a few production problems. Running a bit behind, that sort of thing. The books should be out soon though." This was clearly a blatant lie, which just adds insult to the injury of losing forty quid for nothing, not to mention the loss of my only chance at publication to date. I had always thought FP to be a bona fide firm, but I would appear to be wrong.
That's terrible Alimilne. Hope this doesn't put you off trying to get published elsewhere. There are always bad apples. 20 quid for a book is pretty steep.
Unfortunately people like Forward Press (there are a lot of them out there) know that poets find it hard to get accepted and play on that. I am sorr4y to know you lost so much money, that's a good deal to lose.
Surely the police should be taking out a fraud case, when they have promised money to charities and have not paid up? Extraordinary they can get away with this, why isn't it illegal to fail with one business and be able set up another without first paying the original debts of?
The good news is: need2know books is carrying on. The directors (who are certainly not lining their pockets) managed to 'save' certain parts of the business. Contrary to the Mail on Sunday report I used all of my personal money, even using my credit cards in an attempt to keep the new Spanish business going. But there are business casualties. Need2know books is now owned by Bonacia Ltd. and all royalties due untill January have been paid. All 1st and 2nd advances have been paid. We will focus on publishing the books scheduled for 2010 and will take a little break on new titles until the middle of the year then start to commission for 2012. There are some nasty bits circulating at the moment about Forward Press in general and myself in particular but one can only do ones best. It is difficult to publish and make a profit in the current climate. We will keep doing our best. Ian Walton.
I cant believe it, this afternoon I received an email from Forward Press inviting me to enter a poetry competition about the Royal wedding, are they still in bussiness??? Needlessto say I will ignore the email
Ian, (I assume you are the Ian Walton who ditched his old company rather than pay people and still had a good Christmas) are you saying that the quote by the N2K author in the MOS is untrue? What about the authors that have had their books published but have not yet seen their second £250.00? Then there is the post on this forum under the N2K thread where someone's cheque has bounced...
Oh and what about your so called publicist who does nothing to promote the author's books apart from take their contact details and sit on them?
I've seen one of my student's very upset when she was let down so badly by your company and will certainly do my damnedest never to let any of them submit to your 'company' ever again.
Further to my post of 21JAN11: I could never get through on the published telephone number for Forward Press, so I fired off an e-mail to them expressing my annoyance etc and for a week or so there was no reply. However, I then DID get an apologetic response from them and they explained that Bonacia had taken on the printing tasks left unfinished when Forward Press went into liquidation. I was assured both of the books I had ordered would indeed be published and distributed as promised. Today the first of them has arrived! So if anybody else out there is still waiting, then hang on a bit longer because there does appear to be some movement now. So I am in print at last..... along with 300 other people it has to be said, but who cares. The bus may be crowded but I'm on it..... If only I knew where it was heading...?
Morning writebag. Sorry to disapoint you but I did not 'ditch' my company. Maybe you haven't noticed but the whole country has been experiencing financial problems for the past couple of years. Thousands of businesses have collapsed, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs. Sorry, Forward Press was not immune. The 'taxman' HMRC issued a writ to close Forward Press ltd. despite substantial offers to pay outstanding tax due. The only way to save any of it was to pre-empt this. Neither I nor Bonacia Ltd. are liable for debts of Forward Press Ltd. However, Bonacia have bought need2know books, getting the paperwork has proved time-consuming but we have it now and all royalties and advances owed by Forward Press at the point of liquidation have been paid by Bonacia Ltd. Actually, I didn't have a good christmas but I am looking forward to a good year.
hi alimilne. Glad you have received your first book. It is difficult for me to comment directly as I don't know who you are but generally I can comment on the position of Forward press Ltrd. Forward Press Ltd. went into liquidation in November. Prior to liquidation approx. 40,000 people had paid for and were waiting for books. In normal cases of company failure these 40,000 people would have lost there money and won't receive their books and that's tough luck. However, the villain of the piece, me, made arrangements with other printers to print all the outstanding books, all 40,000 of them and fulfill all oustanding orders. Neither I nor any other company had any legal obligation to do this. As I type this, more than 20,000 of these books have been produced (including your first one), about 15,000 are being produced in February leaving about 5000 to be printed in March. I, nor my new company, have received any payment whatsoecer for doing this. All the money went to Forward Press before liquidation. We have done this in an attempt to keep goodwill with all Forward Press customers, poets and writers, schools around the country etc. Hope you don't wait too long for your other book. Ia n
Ian, can I ask if your company is behind the My First Poem competitions? There is a link to need to know books on their letter paper.
At the childrens centre where I work, I have several under five year old poets and their very proud mums eagerly awaiting the arrival of their promised paid-for anthologies, and I am wondering if they will be receiving them?
All my little friends' ordered copies of My First Poem arrived today. So glad the publishers' problems didn't prevent this book coming to print. Thank you, Ian.
Perhaps it is all due to a time lapse as a result of the insolvency situation. My book which was due out in October this year is due for publcation in Feb 2012 now. Maybe that is the same for all the poetry anthologies. What do others think? Don't forget that Ian came on talkback to answer our queries a few weeks ago and as far as I can see, books were published and people got their money. I got my advance that had previously bounced and the bank has honoured it.
Unfortunately the laws in other countries often work differentlyto ours, Cath.
He may have had every intention of producing those books now, but under Spanish law an offence may have already been committed- hence the arrest.
Not sure whether to feel sympathy for him or not. As Carol says, he did come on here to talk to us and do his best to put things right. I think it may be best to reserve judgement until the full facts come out and a court decides his fate.
All I'll say is that it isn't a surprise. Must say I'm horrified that anyone still wants to be published with the person after all thats been happening. There are some great publishing companies out there so jump ship and find another company.
Perhaps he will pop back to chat about it and reassure you all...
[quote=writebag]There are some great publishing companies out there so jump ship and find another company. [/quote] that's fine to say but for a new writer like me, publishing deals don't grow on trees!
Cath, you will find another publisher. Sit with a pen and paper and read through The Artists and Writers Yearbook. I bet you will find a long list of publishers that publish your subject. Check through your proposal and email it off.
i received a book from forward press this morning one of 3 that i was waiting for, the 2 others arrived several weeks ago. i have googled forward press after seeing the comments about it going into liquidation and it seems to be up and running after all. when i opened my book this after noon it also had a flyer for poetry competions etc for the future. so dont know what is going on? dont know wether to go with it or not? ideas?
Someone I know on a FB group has just informed us that he was pleased to receive an envelope today from Forward Poetry in Peterborough saying that they would like to publish two of his poems in two anthologies. Does anyone know if this is the same company?
Comments
http://costasdelcrimes.blogspot.com/2010/12/forward-press-europe-ltd-is-spanish.html
Something that has crossed my mind is that all the time they ahve been in administration the online shop has stayed open on the N2K site - even for books that have not even been published. Unlike Amazon they take the payment at once from the buyer. Will they still honour the sales from the pre buyout time? If books are not published will m,oney be reimbursed?
Quite a few of the books under contract are with first timer authors so it is quite possible that their family and friends have made purchasers. The authors are the ones put in a very awkward postition if things do fold as apart from losing a publioshing deal and royalties they have to face friends and family who have not had their books.
http://www.theolivepress.es/2011/01/13/crushed-dreams/
Many more people are now coming forward and the Spanish national media are taking interest so you can be sure this won't be the end of it Kind regards
Follow this link for more info
Oh and what about your so called publicist who does nothing to promote the author's books apart from take their contact details and sit on them?
I've seen one of my student's very upset when she was let down so badly by your company and will certainly do my damnedest never to let any of them submit to your 'company' ever again.
I won't hold my breath waiting for a reply.
Congrats.
At the childrens centre where I work, I have several under five year old poets and their very proud mums eagerly awaiting the arrival of their promised paid-for anthologies, and I am wondering if they will be receiving them?
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=523946&in_page_id=2
So glad the kids' poems made it to print over here.
He may have had every intention of producing those books now, but under Spanish law an offence may have already been committed- hence the arrest.
Perhaps he will pop back to chat about it and reassure you all...
http://talkback.writers-online.co.uk/comments.php?DiscussionID=182055&page=1