This article was previously published in Westword Magazine. We reprint it because we believe that her experience can help others. We also ask you how ArtsKeeper can help artists protect their rights.
The saga began with unusual weather, the kind that causes a person to reassess her life. On June 23, 2010, while traveling in southwestern Ontario, I experienced an earthquake and, less than five hours later, a tornado. That night, the power was out, and as I lay in the hotel bed, I thought about my daughters, my priorities, the things I wanted to do before running out of time.
When I got home to Calgary I was in a carpe diem frame of mind. Seize the carp, I told myself. So I took a chance. I had finished a new book a couple of months earlier and decided to approach a new one-man publishing company that had started up in Calgary, and had put out two books by respected authors. I had talked with the owner/operator at several literary events. He seemed bright and sincere. He told me that he wanted to do publishing differently. He offered to meet me for a beer
to pick up my book manuscript; four days later, he phoned and said, “I think it’s quite good and I
think we should publish.” We signed a contract. The book, Key in Lock, came out in October
2010 and many copies sold at the well-attended launch.
So all was well, and I was happy.
But not for long.
In a few months the owner/operator became harder to reach and pretty unresponsive to emails
and calls. I was sympathetic and worried for him personally. I was also getting worried about my
book. Why weren’t reviews coming out, from the usual suspects? The owner/operator and I had
talked about where to send review copies and he said he would take care of that. (According to
an accounting he gave me later, he sent out nineteen review copies—more than I had requested.) As the months wore on I checked with a newspaper that had supposedly been sent a review copy. No; never received. Then I checked with a magazine. Same response. After four, I stopped. A pattern had emerged and I was becoming too sick at heart to continue checking. Maybe some review copies did go out and some did not. That is possible. I know, though, that to the extent my book got any attention at all, it was mostly through my own belated efforts to get books to reviewers. Two of the four publications I checked with told me that it was just too far into the book’s life for it to even be considered for review. I knew they were right. I did share all this information with the publisher but the owner/operator fluctuated between not responding and insisting that all the review copies had definitely been sent out.
In 2011 I decided to buy 100 copies of Key In Lock from the publisher, to give myself some
sense of control. I made repeated vain attempts to reach the publisher, mostly by email. I could
not figure out why on earth the owner/operator would not answer me, sell me copies of my own
book, take my money. Although I felt reluctant to do so, I finally lodged a grievance against the
publisher with The Writers’ Union of Canada. All I requested was that I be allowed to buy copies
of my own book and have my emails and voice mail messages answered in future. Eventually I
got a call from the owner/operator. He said, “I received a letter from the writers’ union saying you
wanted to buy 100 books. Is that still the case?” Under the circumstances I found the question
disingenuous.
The owner/operator did sometimes answer correspondence, so the situation was confusing for
me. I was torn between fretting about his state of mind and wishing I could rewrite history so as
never to have entered into the contract.
In the happy days of summer 2010, we had talked about producing an audio book of Key in
Lock and in March, 2012, again on my initiative, we recorded the book. With my acting
background, I was able to do all the reading, while the owner/operator recorded me and said he
would take care of everything on the technical side. I asked to hear the audio files. He said he
would send them to me after editing them. I asked when he anticipated putting the audio book
on the market. His answer was May, 2012. I have never received the audio files. There is no
audio book on the market.
As far as royalties go, I have received no statement or money for any period following the first
quarter of 2011. I did make written requests for statements of account and payment of royalties
as tax time approached in 2012 and again in 2013. No response either time.
Finally, in May 2013, out of respect for work and self, I decided upon a reversion of rights. I
scrutinized the contract we had entered into in 2010 and it was clear that if the publisher were to
default in one of two respects—either by not publishing, or by not paying royalties even after
written requests—I was entitled to take all rights back. The publisher was in clear default in the
second respect and I had indeed sent written requests for statements and royalties. I followed
the requirements of the contract by sending a registered letter stating that I was exercising my
right to a reversion of rights, giving the reasons, and asking for a meeting to settle certain
practical matters. As a professional courtesy, I followed up a few days later with an email. The
letter was not claimed and was returned to me after the designated period. The email went
through but I received no response.
I was lucky to have a contract that allowed me, in clear terms, to take my rights back as long as
I followed the steps set out. The contract did not call for an acknowledgement by the publisher. I
showed the contract to a lawyer with over thirty years of practical experience and that person
interpreted the contract the same way.
Once again I asked the union for advice and help. They agreed I had done everything
necessary to bring about the reversion of rights and that all rights were now mine. The union
wrote the publisher a letter, in addition to sending an email, asking the publisher to do certain
things such as removing my book from the company website, pay me royalties owing and so
forth. All my concerns were mentioned in the letter. It was an excellent letter. It was returned to
the union with the notation MOVED/ADDRESS UNKNOWN. The email went through but was
not answered.
I made new arrangements with Calgary’s independent booksellers and I am, as of the date of
reversion of rights, the vendor of Key in Lock for all of them. They have all been a pleasure to
work with.
I am not finished. I have pretty well given up on ever seeing my royalties but I do need to get
the electronic versions out of the book on amazon, smashwords, et cetera, into my own hands. I
don’t know exactly how to do that and have been playing an avoidance game with myself. But I
will get to it.
The publishing company appears to be, for all intents and purposes, dormant. No new books have come out or been announced lately. Yet the website is still up, complete with a call for
manuscript submissions. My book is still on that website. The only hint that anything has
changed is on the owner/operator’s Facebook profile. He used to give his occupation as “Editor”
of his publishing company; he now calls himself “Former Editor.” I think the owner/operator
should do the responsible thing and either resurface or wind up his company. I do not want other
writers to suffer.
Throughout the saga I’ve been conscious of role-modeling for my daughters. They’re grown up
now; both are strong and independent. Still, it doesn’t hurt for them to see their old ma take
positive action when something is not right.
Rona Altrows, April 13, 2017