Fantasy writer Richard S. Tuttle has joined two other authors in complaining that eBookAd won’t pay or return phone calls or email. Today he withdrew his books from the eBookAd site. Nothing further from eBookAd has come to me except for a promise that Dustin Revin would contact me. Earlier his partner, John Zakarol, although no longer so active in the firm, assured me that cashflow seemed fine.
Anyone else out there with payment problems involving eBookAd? It’s important to get at the truth here. So please drop me a line and let me know if payment is late and you’re certain you’ve collected enough for eBookAd to pay up.
From the Tuttle site:
All of my books have been removed from ebookad.com because of nonpayment of royalties. Despite repeated requests for payment, we have not received anything from ebookad since April 2004. Emails to them are seldom acknowledged and phone calls are never returned. It is sad to see a company in the forefront of a new technology bite the dust, but the basics of good business practices cannot be abandoned without adverse consequences.
Notice? ’04. Rich, is that a typo?
Update: Further info–given last night and used with permission from Rich:
Hi David,
Yes, we have been with eBbookAd since they started the current format, and we have enjoyed a good relationship with them until recently. I truly hope they get their act together because I think they can make it in this business.
I am a partner in KBS Publishing which is a small publisher in Florida. We do not have a Web presence as yet, which is why I use my own webpage for online sales.
As for minimum payouts, eBookAd requires a $25 accumulation before requesting a cash out. I have requested four cashouts since January amounting to a little over $200. I do not do a great deal of business through eBookAd as their marketing has not generated a great influx of buyers, but I continue to believe that they are capable of it. The majority of my ebooks sales are handled through distributors such as ContentReserve and Mobipocket eBookbase. The distributors are capable of serving ebooks to a wide range of ebookstores around the world, plus they are capable of utilizing DRM which eBookAd is not.
I have to tell you, David, that this matter disturbs me a great deal. It is not the loss of $200 that hurts, but rather a business that would turn its back on its authors. It will take a great deal of work to establish the ebook market, but the results will be worth it to all of us. Authors, publishers, distributors, and retailers need to work together to make it happen. I thought eBookAd was part of that effort, but they appear to be sliding down the slope of far too many ebusinesses. Every business has to maintain a respectful edge with their clients and their suppliers, and that cannot be accomplished by ignoring each other. I hope your efforts to resolve or clarify this problem will bring eBookAd to their senses and allow them to see the folly of throwing away their past efforts. If they are willing to communicate effectively and live up to their obligations, I am more than willing to give them another chance, but that requires a desire to survive on their part. Good luck!
Regards,
Richard S. Tuttle
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Also from Rich:
David,
I see no problem with posting the letter on a blog if you would do me the favor of spell checking it. As I sit here replying the word ‘infulx’ is staring me in the face 🙁
Sometimes my fingers get ahead of my brain.
One stipulation on the posting. My purpose is not to destroy ebookad. In fact, I wish them to survive, so I will allow the posting if you will agree to post the resolution to the problem when and if it occurs. I still do have hopes of them coming to their senses.
As to the April 2004 that is posted on my own site, let me add an explanation to that. The last check we received from eBookAd was indeed written on 04/27/04; however, I did not request another cashout until 01/29/05, so the lack of payment between those two dates is not the fault of eBookAd. I mention the April check because there were sales between April and January that I have still not been paid for. Those sales would have been paid for in the January check if it had ever been written.
Regards,
Richard S. Tuttle
Please note that in a subsequent post, Richard said differences had been resolved and that all’s well again with eBookAd. – DR
I just sent an email to this effect, but didn’t realize I could post here immediately:
I wrote the BreakUp Workbook – which as you can tell – is the # 1 seller on the site. I have not received payment at all – and I have been cashing out since February. I made a phone call to the company on Memorial Day and actually spoke to a real person, who assured me that they were having issues with fraud. He said that my account was fine and that he would send the check “that very day” including interest.
I’ve left messages. I’ve emailed. I’ve gotten to the point where I am sending over 20 emails a day just because I’m so annoyed. I haven’t had time to take my book off the site. I think it’s utterly ridiculous. The only reason I joined the site was due to a recommendation from another e-book author. By the way, David Moody – author of the Autumn Series received his money via Pay Pal over a month ago. I am STILL waiting.
I don’t want to destroy the company either, but there comes a point where when someone lies directly to you, one begins to wonder if this is “business as usual” or if it’s just a fluke – as they claim it to be. In any case, they owe me a lot of money and I use that money to advertise my site, so now I’m not profiting as well as I could be.
Melysha J. Acharya
BreakUp Workbook
Thanks for the info, Melysha. I’ve emailed eBookAd CEO Dustin Revin and requested an explanation. Meanwhile I’d suggest laying off on the 20 emails a day. That could cause Dustin to treat your stuff as spam. Best thing is to do what you’ve done–complain in public, if you’re not getting a private reply. Keep me posted. If I don’t hear in a few days from Dustin, I’ll call him. Jog me! So far yours is the only new complaint I know about. Before reaching conclusions, I want to hear both sides. Thanks again. David
You might be interested in this from ebookpuppy, another on line book seller, also having problems with getting payment or answers from ebookad.
We too have removed our books from the site while we wait for our payment – requested on January 31st. – It’s now June 9th and we are currently owed over $250 – quite a lot for a small business.
Is there anything esle we can do to help get ebookad back on track?
By the way – even though my titles were removed from the system one was still sold afterwards…??
Will be checking back for any updates.
James
Having read all the comments I do not know what to believe anymore. Suffice to say that I do not see how anyone can ever trust these people again. The tragedy is that their site was good and very efficient and we need this sort of operation to get ebooks off the ground so that we get ever increasing sales.
Why do they never reply to emails? This attitude hardly does them any credit. As I mentioned before, if theywere really concerned about their authors and publishers surely they would acknowledge complaints?
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On another tack, I think that what the industry needs is an A5size electronic book reader capable of all formats at a reasonable cost, that is to say, one a little bigger than EBookman from Franklin (which I am never without). Does anyone have any views on this?
Tony Edwards
Here’s the latest. I encourage publishers to keep in touch with me. – DR
I still have not received payment from ebookad. It’s now July. I’m down to being the 3rd best seller on the site, I would assume that is mostly because I can no longer afford to advertise.
Needless to say, I am more than disappointed. A letter, an explanation, a returned phone call – anything would be better than this complete silence.
They owe me over $400.
Melysha
The BreakUp Workbook
I am the author of the book New Wilderness. I have two issues with ebookad that the company seems to have no interest in resolving.
1. I am owed money from a cash out dated June 6, 2005
2. My book, New Wilderness, is listed on the site by a publisher that has no right to sell, market or represent my work.
I have called and emailed repeatedly, and receive no response. I see no effort on ebookad.com’s part to look after me as a customer, and from other things I’ve now seen on the net, I have no choice but to view ebookad as a fraudulent entity.
Brian S. Matthews
We are owed several months of royalty payments. Phone calls have not been returned and e-mails have gone unresponded to. We have deactivated all of our books and sent another request for payment today.