Ann Crispin and Ridan Publishing
Update 10/6: Robin Sullivan has contacted Ann and said that Ridan Publishing will work to make this right.
#
I’m pissed.
I’ve had an exhausting week, between taking care of my injured wife at home, trying to figure out my new job at work, conferences for the kids, and more. I was planning to come home tonight and crash.
And then I came across a post by Ann Crispin. You might recall me blogging about Ann’s situation earlier this year. She’s fighting cancer, and her only source of income this year would be through her Starbridge novels, which had been republished by Ridan Publishing.
Or at least that was the plan. Only Ridan Publishing apparently hasn’t bothered to pay her, or do to much of anything publishers are supposed to do. From her Facebook update:
Ridan has pretty much stopped communicating with me. My last two certified letters, which included the contract termination letter, were never picked up at the post office. Even though StarBridge came out on December 5, 2011, I have never received a royalty payment from Ridan.
I know some of you were waiting for books 6 and 7 in the StarBridge series. Those books were turned in months ago, edited and ready to go, but they have never been released.
Ridan Publishing is owned and run by Robin Sullivan. There have apparently been other questions and concerns about this publisher lately over on Absolute Write.
I don’t know if Sullivan is deliberately trying to scam authors, or if (more likely, in my opinion) she’s simply gotten in over her head.
But I do know that Ann Crispin is an author whose work I’ve enjoyed for more than half of my life, an author who has done tireless and invaluable work for other writers. To Crispin’s great credit, she wrote a very reasonable, level-headed post, hoping for a civil resolution to this mess.
I, on the other hand, am feeling rather less than civil. I tend to feel very protective of those I consider friends, even those I’ve only met and talked to online.
So instead of coming home to crash on the couch, and maybe — if I felt ambitious — getting up to put in an episode of Avatar, I sat down to write this.
#
Dear Robin Sullivan,
I don’t know what led up to the problems outlined by Ann Crispin in her latest Facebook post and on Absolute Write. At this point, however, I don’t particularly care.
Based on what Crispin describes, you have deprived her — an excellent author and an invaluable resource to the SF/F community, who is currently battling cancer — from her sole source of income this year. You have ignored her attempts to communicate with you.
Fix this.
Or I swear to God, I will do everything in my power to drop the entire fucking internet on your head.
Yours,
Jim C. Hines
KD Sarge
October 5, 2012 @ 8:41 pm
Ann Crispin is marvelous and this is stupid. I’ll fetch my torch and pitchfork if it comes to that!
Jim C. Hines
October 5, 2012 @ 8:43 pm
I’m hoping that Crispin’s choice to make this public (and maybe my own post here) will be enough to convince Sullivan to do the right thing.
If not, well, that whole “Hugo-award winning blogger” thing means I’ve got a pretty good chunk of internet to drop on her head…
KM
October 5, 2012 @ 9:27 pm
There’s a big post on the Kindle Boards as well.
http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,128742.0.html
I know a couple of other writers caught up this, too. Horrible, awful behavior and I hope you help shame this outfit into doing the right thing.
Genevieve
October 5, 2012 @ 9:27 pm
Writers have been jumping up and down on Robin’s head over at Kindleboards as well.
http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,128742.0.html
I know you don’t know me from Adam, but if you need help lifting the Internet…
Anyway. My hope is that Ridan and Robin pay out the royalties and return the rights to any and all books requested without the need for lawyers. I’m sure no one wants that if it can be avoided.
fractal
October 5, 2012 @ 9:47 pm
You’re good people, Jim.
Jim C. Hines
October 5, 2012 @ 10:03 pm
I hope so too. If this all creates enough publicity from places like the Kindle Boards and Facebook and Twitter and so on, maybe that will be enough to bring about some changes.
Jim C. Hines
October 5, 2012 @ 10:04 pm
While lawyers and courts might be necessary, I really hope it doesn’t come to that, if only because the court process could tie things up for so long, and eat up a great deal of time and energy and money that few people can afford to lose.
Deb
October 5, 2012 @ 10:31 pm
You might start pulling down the internet here. http://nycc12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=1BA0C9
Robin and Michael are both on a panel at NY ComiCon, speaking on “The Brave New World of Ebook Publishing.” They’ve lost their right to be our face.
Deb
October 5, 2012 @ 10:31 pm
This.
Jim C. Hines
October 5, 2012 @ 10:36 pm
Thanks for that. I hate to advocate disrupting or derailing panels, but at the same time, if nothing changes in the next week, that would certainly be an opportunity to ask some very pointed questions… You could probably even tie it into the panel topic. “What do you think authors should do when publishers in this brave new world refuse to pay their authors for all of those e-book sales?”
Deb
October 5, 2012 @ 10:46 pm
I was more hoping someone knows the people at NY ComiCon and can get them off the panel. The Sullivans speak regularly at conferences, talking about epublishing and all the great stuff Ridan is doing. Time for them to lose that right. Maybe they can use the time to straighten out backed-up royalty payments. But failing that, public interruptions might not be amiss. Maybe someone can take Ann’s reversion of rights letter there or to the Orbit booth and get an actual signature on the damn thing.
Steven Saus
October 6, 2012 @ 12:05 am
I want those questions asked on EVERY eBook panel, regardless.
All the better if it makes people uncomfortable. If the question of “Why aren’t you paying people you’re obligated to?” makes you UNCOMFORTABLE, then you need to have stopped.
Period.
Hell, I keep my accounts separate, and lord knows I’m small fry.
Steven Saus
October 6, 2012 @ 12:10 am
Um. Holy crap.
To incur the public, untempered wrath of Jim (and it sounds like I’m being sarcastic, but I’m not) is not an easy thing.
Ia! Ia! Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Jig R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!
(Seriously, though. I’m in.)
Patrick
October 6, 2012 @ 1:35 am
If Ridan was so overwhelmed which I don’t believe why did they publish a new author on 9/19/2012 without taking care of existing business with authors already under contract
Robin published this one when she should have been taking care of Ann Crispan and Nathan Lowell
Engraved on the Eye by Saladin Ahmed Publisher: Ridan Publishing (September 19, 2012)
Angie
October 6, 2012 @ 2:27 am
Let’s please not drag Saladin Ahmed into this. :/ He’s a nice guy and a great writer, and it’s not his fault that the Ridan folks can’t manage their time properly. I know you didn’t mean to slam him, but it’d be very easy for folks caught up in forming the tsunami Jim will/might be gathering to hit every name mentioned that doesn’t belong to an actual Ridan victim.
And it really doesn’t matter what Ridan has been doing; our only legitimate concern is what they haven’t been doing. If they had their act together, they could’ve published Saladin’s new book while still paying their older writers. The problem is that they don’t have their act together, and if they don’t straighten up soon, a few months down the road Saladin will most likely be just one more writer who isn’t getting paid.
Angie
C.R. Trumbo
October 6, 2012 @ 5:04 am
Ho.Ly.Crap.
That is ridiculous and, as an as yet unpublished author, makes me scared as hell.
David Gaughran
October 6, 2012 @ 8:08 am
I knew Robin Sullivan a little, back when we were hanging out on Absolute Write. I haven’t had any contact with her for well over a year, so I’ve no idea what has led to this current mess.
Whatever the reason, the situation is indefensible. I know one author caught up in this mess and it’s a disgrace. The treatment of Ann Crispin in particular is despicable.
I can only hope that the authors get their rights back (and get paid), as soon as possible.
Thanks for blogging about this Jim.
Maggy Cutler
October 6, 2012 @ 8:27 am
I’ve enjoyed Ann’s books for a long while now, and sadly I think using her cancer as a reason to be paid is unprofessional. Ann should be paid according to her contactual agreements because it’s what was agreed upon by both parties. It’s what the publisher is legally required to do. She shouldn’t be paid the money due her because she’s ill. Please don’t take away her dignity, please uphold her professionalism as a writer’s advocate.
C.R. Trumbo
October 6, 2012 @ 8:35 am
Nobody is using her cancer as a reason to be paid.
Facts have been stated that a contract is not being followed. She has tried to contact them, and sent the books as her side of the agreement, and has not gotten a reply.
David Gaughran
October 6, 2012 @ 8:39 am
I’ve lost several loved ones to cancer and I’m not remotely offended by the mention of it here. It’s pretty crucial context to the situation.
EC
October 6, 2012 @ 8:43 am
Dude, I decided to just look around to see what kind of information I could find on Robin Sullivan. I mean, if she’s having some kind of nervos breakdown there wouldn’t be much, right? Wrong. She just gave a discussion at a self publishers conference. http://matthew-iden.com/2012/09/30/a-90-minute-crash-course-on-self-publishing/ and that’s not the only one. She’s gone on holidays, according to her husbands blog, and done more self publishing workshops. Soooooo that means she’s too broken up to pay her authors, or to return their emails or to pick up registered letters from the post office, but she’s not too broken up to pretend she has the expertise to self publish and give newbies advice. P.A.T.H.E.T.I.C.
It’s obvious what is going on here: Robin Sullivan is a thief. She’s getting paid by the internet shops selling those books. She’s keeping the money and going on holidays with it. I will never buy one of her husbands books. I tell everyone not to. He is a thief too. He started Ridan publishing with his wife. He knows what she’s doing.
MP McDonald
October 6, 2012 @ 10:56 am
Read about this on Kindleboards and am thoroughly disgusted. I just tweeted your post.
Janet
October 6, 2012 @ 7:36 pm
If this doesn’t get resolved quickly and completely in the next few days I look forward to seeing the “entire f****** internet” come down on their heads. Good job, Jim.
SMD
October 7, 2012 @ 2:03 pm
I don’t know if anyone has covered this already, but is there any way we can do some kind of donation drive or is there a way to directly help Ms. Crispin financially via an already existing donation drive? I don’t have a lot of money, but I’d be more than willing to send $20 or something. It ain’t much, but it might help…and if a lot of folks send $5 or whatever, that’ll go a long way, I suspect.
Jim C. Hines
October 7, 2012 @ 2:53 pm
I’m looking into it, and should have more information this week.
naleta
October 8, 2012 @ 10:45 am
Now I am ticked! I bought Anns and Nathans ebooks from Ridan and now I find out that the authors of books that I enjoyed very much have not gotten their share of the money I paid. Count me in on the Internet dump on Ridan if they don’t clean up their act.
Tim Ward
October 15, 2012 @ 7:23 am
I just heard about problems with Ridan from the Dead Robots’ Society podcast, and am shocked. I’ve had a handful of conversations with Robin and Michael on my podcast. Based on that, I’d give them both the benefit of the doubt as honest, hardworking people. I’ve read on Michael’s blog that Robin sometimes doesn’t answer email or is way behind. While I have no inside knowledge on this particular situation, my guess is more that Robin is behind than that she is intentionally stealing from her authors. Her father passed away early this year, and I know from talking to her about it that it put her behind, specifically in regards to getting Nathan Lowell’s latest book published. I am confident that Robin will sort this out, and if I get a chance, will ask her about it.
Jim C. Hines
October 16, 2012 @ 5:50 pm
If you check the follow-up, it does sound like they took pretty quick steps to try to address this.
Jim C. Hines
October 16, 2012 @ 5:50 pm
Ridan did go ahead and pay Crispin the royalties they owed, for what it’s worth.
Tim Ward
October 16, 2012 @ 5:57 pm
I did see that. For some reason, the search engine sent me to this post and I didn’t check your home page for an update because I didn’t realize it was a week prior. Without minimizing the damage done to the authors involved, this really is a sad story for all parties involved. I appreciate your heart for the “little guy.”
Chris Moody
October 21, 2012 @ 1:36 am
Hi all,
If your wanting to know Robin’s side of this story, you can also check out a quick little interview she did with me. You can find it here: http://www.podiomediachat.com/2012/10/pmc-ep78-robin-sullivan-speaks/
Mariann Miller
October 22, 2012 @ 9:38 pm
Michael Sullivan and Robin Sullivan have a new book due out (edited by Robin) on Oct. 31. She has been working for SOMEbody. Hmmmmm.
The so-called ‘victims’ of bullying » Readers Have Rights
December 11, 2012 @ 2:12 am
[…] http://www.jimchines.com/2012/10/crispin-and-ridan-publishing/ […]
So-called ‘victims’ of bullying » Readers Have Rights
December 11, 2012 @ 2:13 am
[…] http://www.jimchines.com/2012/10/crispin-and-ridan-publishing/ […]