"I also had a bad experience with WCP. They did not publish my book until one year after I signed the contract. A month before it was supposed to be published the editor contacted me and I had to rush to look at everything.***
A second editor completely ignored the changes and sent me a galley with errors in it. When I asked if we could correct those errors she called me up and said that I was a horrible writer and she is confused about why the company ever took me on. After berating me for ten minutes she suggested I buy out my contract because I had a bad attitude (all because I wrote a polite e-mail pointing out that a few things were missed.)
She said I was much too young to be doing this. What company accepts a manuscript and then their editor calls to berate the author? Then when it came time for royalty payments, I never got them. They said “We will get you next time around.” Does this sound unprofessional to anyone?"
"One of the members of my writing group says that WCP has been holding onto her four novels, against her wishes, for over two years, and trying to stiff her for $2,000 to get out. During that time, she has received only $34.50 in royalties. That would be unusually low for even one novel, in one year, but for 4 novels in over 2 years, it isn’t possible.
They have never replied to any of her emails, except to demand termination fees. The nightmare began when they edited her stories after the final edits had been done, in a voice that is not her own. Then after all the hard work she did in getting reviews, they didn’t even post them on their site. So obviously they are not interested in promoting the novels, just in the termination fees.
This is from the WCP contract re termination fees of $500 per novel.
The Author may terminate this agreement before the three (3) year period above by means of a contract buyout. The Author will notify the Publisher 90 days before buyout date with a certified mail notice or other receipted or traceable delivery service, of the intent to exercise the contract buyout option. All rights granted the publisher would revert to Author at the time of the buyout, if proper notification has been done. Upon this contract termination through the buyout option, Publisher will remove listing of the Work from its website and all download-based distributors and advise Books in Print that that particular ISBN is no longer in print. The exception to this termination of contract is that Publisher may continue to sell existing stock of physical formats (print books) but may not create new physical copies upon depletion of its existing stock. The Author will pay to the Publisher the sum of $500.00 (five hundred dollars) to exercise this contract buyout option. This fee must be paid to the Publisher by the Author at notification of intent to exercise the buyout option. The Author will be responsible for full payment of damages and customary legal fees as a result of legal action stemming from failure to pay this buyout clause.”
***
"There's a group of disgruntled WCP authors who feel they've been ripped off, and are considering a class action lawsuit. WCP has their books up for sale at Fictionwise and Amazon, but these outlets will not release the sales figures without a court order. At this point the legal route seems the only way to go. Especially, since it's this publisher's policy to simply ignore all communications, except, of course, when they think there's a chance some poor, mistreated and desperate author just might cough up a hefty $500 per book in termination fees."
http://karenknowsbest.com/2012/06/01/whiskey-creek-press-love-their-authors-like-victoria-beckham-loves-complex-carbohydrates-part-1499/#comments
