Do you know what a craw is? I didn’t. Not at first, anyway.
If you don’t know, but I used the expression “stuck in my crop” instead of “craw”, would you know then?
A craw is a small, pouch-like organ resembling a stomach which birds use to help them mash up their food. It’s also called a “crop” – a term I’ve heard before. But I never exactly knew what “craw” meant. Always felt like throat or gut, though, didn’t it?
So now you know what having something stuck in your craw is all about. And I have to tell you, this criminal activity by a gatekeeper is just more proof of how little you can trust that industry, that set of individuals. Someone who calls them “professionals” really needs to reconsider what the word “professional” means and how it’s being applied. Are they “industry pros”? I don’t agree.
And let this be a lesson to any and all who think traditional publishing in NY might be crappy but small presses are still important and valuable. Bullocks. Full stop. Bullsh!t. We, writers, don’t need them. Readers don’t need them. And if they’re not needed, if they aren’t providing something useful worth paying for, why are they “professionals”?
They’re not. Check that story – that should tell you all there is to know about small press publishers. Let them die like the other dinosaurs.
The quicker the better, I say.
Good riddance.
-JDT-
DarcKnyt 
Wow, that certainly looks pretty deeply questionable. Sympathy for authors stuck with zero royalties and zero communication for months at a time.
You should see the whole thread from the former employer, Charlotte. It’s terrible, tragic and stupid how bad this has gone, and the company’s owner doesn’t seem to care she’s subject to serious legal action.
Well, but are they ALL like that? I know some authors that are very happy with their small presses. Have never had a problem with royalties and feel very supported marketing-wise. I’m not saying that they’re all great either, but for the ones that do right by their authors, maybe they’re trying to make a difference and do some good.
I think it’s impossible to say ALL of ANYTHING is a particular way, VR. I don’t know if that’s a valid argument. Saying you know people happy with small presses is like me saying I know people who are happy with their cars. Of course some are, and others won’t be. The point is, many, many people (you?) believe small press is exempt from the corruption and BS of traditional publishing for some reason. The size of the publisher is irrelevant. They’re still there to keep the writer’s work filtered, to keep control over the intellectual property of authors, to make a rights grab under contract to benefit lifelong from a writer’s work…just like big press publishing. Why are small presses any better? They’re doing the same things on a smaller scale, and while most of those employees at AMP weren’t crooked or evil, they were part of something that was. What does “do right by their authors” mean — paying them what they’re owed? That’s only part of what’s right, IMO, but as you’ve no doubt seen over the last several months on my blog, I’m not a fan of gatekeepers, big OR small. (BTW, the biggest difference ANY publisher could make for a writer is to get out of her way and let her find her readers. That’s my opinion, of course.)
I felt horrible that the owner of that publisher is a Christian as well. As if there weren’t enough crappy images of Christian deeds. =(
I’m not convinced she’s Christian; not that I’m a judge or anything, but let’s look at her actions. It would be one thing if she really were destitute, losing her house, unable to come up with the funds, etc. But hiding behind Bible verses doesn’t make her any more a Christian than just showing up in church. I’m not convinced; she’s not acting like she’s feeling too poorly about screwing her employees AND her authors. How Christian is the lying/hiding? Under these circumstances? Again, it’d be different if she weren’t doing things like, oh, say, redecorating her house. Which costs money. 😦