10

By David Rothman

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

/////////////////

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

 
10