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Many, many, many months ago, when I started with my long going investigation of Blu Phier, I learned that Chris Manning was briefly associated with them. It was a very brief association. Chris soon discovered that Bare-Nudie was intransigent about releasing the books to the authors who wanted their titles back.
Chris attempted to persuade Mike Bernoudy to turn things around and behave like a normal publisher. All of his attempts failed, because Bernoudy refused to treat the authors like people, rather than slaves he had purchased with a bad contract.
While I cannot share everything I learned (a lot of it was off-the-record), I do want to make it known that Chris became as much of a victim as the others.
Kudos to Chris for making the effort to salvage matters for his friends.
“It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.” That makes Chris a fine man in my estimation.
TOTAL ROYLATIES OWED AND BOOKS SOLD
As of 8/22
This consists of U.S. sales only. A separate sheet will be forwarded concerning UK sales. We shall begin paying royalties as owed in November and December of 2008.
xxx- 189 copies sold $340.20 royalties owed. Print charge on this book is $3.72 with a 55% discount being given. A $3.97 profit is made per book. 190 copies old with 1 with return.
xxx- Royalties paid in 2007 to compensate all prior amounts owed. 38 copies sold. $57.00 owed.
xxx-2 copies sold in 2007, 1 copy sold in 2008. Payment is owed to Publisher for 11 copies given on consignment. No royalties paid until publisher is reimbursed for expenditures. Total amount spent on publishing is $420.00. Print charges on book are $3 and a 55% discount is given. A profit of $3.04 is made per book. A total of 139 copies must be sold prior to royalty payment.
We will continue to spit in the face of critics and go against the grain.
Yes, that is so professional of you, Mr. Bare Nudie. The image is disgusting.
The critics like myself are going to be out here long term, watching what you do. Bad contracts will get you nowhere in the long run. The authors you have are filled with regrets.
I tried to find evidence of your marketing strategies. Guess what? You don’t have any. Where are your ads? Where is your PR? It’s on the backs of the authors.
And you continue to spout off about money. All publishers put money into their writers. You can’t expect them to sell, you have to promote them and cross your fingers.
You act as if it is something amazing that you spend money to publish your writers. Well, guess what? You are not unique.
One of the industry givens is that the publisher spends money. Not that the author owes the publisher anything, especially a return on his dollar.
Does the man who manufactures hammers expect the person he bought the handles from to pay him for making the hammers? No.
Whatever a company’s product is, the investment is from the company. You expect your authors to make you your money back, or to take it from them. That’s not right. Money flows to the writer, not the other way around.
Learn how the world of publishing works or get the hell out, Bernoudy.
How rigid is rigid? How can anyone have a ‘rigid’ schedule of book signings?
Answer: Our current marketing scheme consist of heavy internet marketing, mass emails about upcoming books, a rigid schedule of book signings, obtaining reviews, and forwarding catalogs to book stores. .
Judging from both the contents of Mr. Bare Nudie’s recent email to his authors and the above quote from his website, it’s clear that the bulk of his promotions are on the back of the authors. Book signings appear to be the main form of promotion.
Back when the Moms and Pops stores predominated book sales, signings were easier to come by.
Large chains like Barnes and Nobles have made those independent bookstores an endangered species.
When I was living in Burbank, California, not far from Disney Studios, we had a street that I often thought of as bookstore row. There were nine bookstores within walking distance of our home. Sovay and I used to poke around in them. Well, I did. She was too little to really appreciate them, but they were one of our main stops on our daily walks. Then a Walden’s went in and one by one the little stores died.
With the bulk of purchasing for the chain stores centralized, store managers have only a limited amount of freedom when it comes to what is carried on their shelves. With the rising price of gas and the dwindling number of locations for signings, the author is effectively crippled when it comes to promoting through book signings.
Now, another aspect of Bare Nudie’s marketing scheme that bothers me is the ‘mass emailings.’ It sounds like spam. Who are these mass emailings going to?
One emailing tool that continues to work is press releases. But for press releases to work, they need to be targeted and written properly. Contact must be made with the sites that are going to get them. Don’t send them out unless you have touched base with the site owners and mods first.
There is only so much that an author can do on their own to promote their books. Even with a small press, more can be done by the publisher than by the author. That is, if the publisher does his homework.
For instance, there are many UK sites that will only post information/news about British authors. They are very focused upon promoting the works of their countrymen.
There are sites that will only promote the work of women.
There are sites that will only promote specific genres.
Book Reviews? Sites that will review from a pdf are in the minority. How much money are you willing to put into sending around print copies on the off chance that you might get a review, Mr. Bare Nudie?
Just because you send out review copies is no guarantee that you will get a review. And when you do get a review, there is no way to ensure that the review will be a good one. Those things are very subjective.
‘Forwarding catalogs’ to bookstores? Again, you come up against the limiting selection allowed to managers. These are no longer the days of the Moms and Pops. You need to have a rep get in touch with the central buyers. Preferably in person.
The days of the Jobbers, who picked up cases of books they knew would sell in their area, are long past. They have been replaced by computers. In the old days, the Jobbers provided books to the local supermarkets and drugstores. Now we have big chains of those, instead of local indies. Guess what?
Central buyers.
Space is limited and books are plentiful.
Your authors are not lazy, Mr. Bare Nudie, they are hobbled by circumstances that did not exist thirty years ago.
Wake up and smell the ammonia. You’ve pissed yourself again.
I recieved several copies of this from various authors at blu phier.
It was sent out as part of a group mailing to all the people connected to them.
From: phierstarter@bluphier.com
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDate: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:36:00 +0000
Subject: Final Group Email
As you can tell from the subject, from here out I plan on ceasing with the group emails. I will send out an email each month concerning book sales and pay royalties accordingly. If you have relevant questions concerning your book, or marketing thereof, feel free to contact me.Due to many of the emails I’ve received, I have to reiterate that I need you to limit your communications to relevant issues.
Me owing you money for editing. Relevant.
Your book not appearning on Amazon. Relevant.
Your book not selling to your expectations, yet you have only done one signing in 3 years. Irrelevant.
You wanting out of your contract once your book is in print. Not going to happen.
You needing contributor copies. Relevant.
Over the past year and a half our author base has nearly trippled. We’ve gotten some great authors and great people out of the deal. That being said, we’ve also gotten some assholes. I have no problem dealing with assholes I do it on a daily basis. However, many of you are older than me and have children of your own. I should not have to babysit adults. Especially when the adults are COSTING me money as opposed to making any.
Only two authors we currently have in print can say they responded to ads I placed in 2005 looking for new authors. Only one author can state they have sent a dime towards the publication of their own book. Everyone else, has asked me to spend my money to publish their books.
Some of you work your asses off and make decent book sells. Some of you think because you wrote a book the sells and money just automatically roll in. You feel that if the money is not rolling in, apparently I’ve done something wrong. The simple fact of the matter is, many of you are lazy.
Over the past several months I’ve come to the conclusion that some of you just can’t be helped. That being said, I still have valid contracts with you, I still have expended substantial funds towards your books, and we will continue or efforts. However, if you aren’t going to lift a finger to promote your own book so be it. Technically you’re in breach of your contracts, but I’ll just chalk it up as a loss.
For those of you who are trying, feel free to contact me and I’ll help in any way I can. Many of you have asked for copies on consignment and when the fees were available we have provided. I can’t think of anyone who has asked for money for marketing or had a valid idea we have refused. I will continue to do what I can to support you productive authors.
For you upcoming authors, think carefully about what you are doing with requesting us to publish your books. Once your book is in print we are in bed together, for better or worse.
MLBjr
I want to examine the timing on this because I do not believe that the entire truth has been brought out concerning Chris Manning’s connection with Blu Phi’er.
To make this easier, I am going to use AW as an abbreviation for Absolute Write. All actions take place at the Absolute Write forums unless otherwise noted.
Absolute Write Blu Phi’er thread
The Rusty Nail thread with Chris’s comments
Yesterday, July 28th
1:02 PM Chris announces that he’s the new Marketing Director for Blu Phi’er.
2:14 PM Victoria Strauss expresses her alarms concerning Chris’s decision.
4:05 PM I asked him about the rights to Jane Baxter’s novel
4:11 PM, I get a notification that Chris has sent me a PM from AW.
When I try to reply, I find that Chris has blocked all private messages.
4:37 PM I get an email from Chris, using the marketing email address at Blu Phi’er.
5:28 PM, Victoria Strauss posts a question as to why Chris has his private messages blocked.
6:29 PM, chris posts a comment to TRN about being threatened and now just being a writer for Blu Phier.
6:47 PM Chris says that the warnings from Victoria came after he had been threatened, not before in comments at TRN
7:56 PM, JimmyD1318 posted an announcement that he received an email from Chris claiming that Chris has been seriously threatened at his workplace. The threats were recieved by phone.
Jimmy asked Victoria to lock the thread.
So, in an hour and a half’s time, (the time between when Chris made his post and Victoria replied) Chris had apparently gotten enough threats to make him reconsider being their marketing director.
I can understand people making threats in regard to the fact that Chris would be working for a convicted sex offender. However, I cannot imagine disgruntled authors going to the trouble to locate his private information (unless they had it earlier because they are known to him personally), and then make calls that were threatening to Chris and his family.
Do the math, folks. What is Chris and Bernoudy not telling us?
If anyone has more information to add to this timeline or otherwise, I will be very happy to hear from them.
Apparently, Eric Enck was hired as marketing director for Blu Phi’er. And now he’s been fired, but continues with them as an author.
Our former Marketing Director had great intentions and proposed a number of projects. Without the authority of upper management contracts were sent to numerous individuals. None of these contracts were official whereas they did not bear my signature. Nevertheless there were a number of people out there who mistakenly believed they had contracts with us. Many of them are angry and we’ve done our best to try to appease them. However, we won’t put books into print if it is not in the best interest of the company, no matter how many negative threads are started online.
I have just one question:
WHY THE HELL WAS A MARKETING DIRECTOR, WHOSE JOB IS SALES AND ADVERTISING, SENDING OUT CONTRACTS?
Since Bernoudy has been caught in numerous other lies and semantic games, what was Enck’s real position with the company?
And, before I forget, I would like to point out to Bernoudy that a marketing director at major publishers IS upper level management.
Blu Phi’er has found themselves a new patsy to shill for the company.
The chainstores that dominate book sales are very centralized. The distributor or the sales rep for the publishing house has to take their catalog and samples and pitch their books to the central buyer for their region.
If Mr. Bernoudy were doing offset or digital short runs, I can see sending a sales rep to speak with either the distributor or the central buyer. He is not.
His sales figures indicate that all of his books are PoD through Lightning Source. That is standard PoD.
Furthermore, the figures are bleak and confusing. There are categories there that should not be.
I intend to forward my copy of his sales report to a professional I know for analysis. As soon as I get the analysis back, I will post the findings on it.
Blu Phi’er informed my friend that it cost him $149. to get the book out through Lightning Source.
Not hardly.
The initial digital set up costs $75. The initial proof copy costs $30.
Tell me, Mr. Bernoudy,
The chair leg of truth wants to know.
When did 75 plus 30 come to equal 149?
Bernoudy has just expanded his rant. In it, he claims that he generously gives the author 1/3 of the profits. Sounds great compared to 10% of cover price that is industry standard.
But do the math
Take for instance a $15 tradepaper book produced through LSI. (That’s where Bernoudy gets his books printed PoD style)
Distributors want 55% discount on the cover price
Bookstores want 40%
Basic cost per book at LSI is usually $3.50 to $4.00
Author gets 10% of cover price
Do the math and tell me which author gets the most money?
Industry standard or Blu Phi’er?
Let’s see.
Cover price $15
minus Distributor discount, we are down to $6.45
minus basic cost (taking the lower figure), we are now down to $2.45
Author gets 10% of cover price, ($1.50)
The publisher can pocket $0.95
Now, with the generous 1/3 profit, that $2.45 that the book earned gets the author gets about 82 cents.
Very generous of you, Mr. Bernoudy.
Mike Bernoudy has a new entry on his Publisher’s Corner
1. Why does your company get the rights to an author’s books and never release those rights?
Once I publish a book it becomes a part of Blu Phi’er family and I get very possessive over it.
That being said, in our new contracts we lose our exclusive right to publish after 3 years and if an author gets a new publisher that company more likely than not will negotiate with us to get exclusive rights to the author’s books.
So an author must wait three years after signing with you to find out if you intend to publish the book or not?
That’s not the way that REAL publishers do business.
3. Why do so many of your company practices and even your company’s contract not comply with industry standards?
Once the publishing industry was dominated by a few publishing houses that controlled what was put into print. It was at this point many of the practices that have become common in the industry were established.
Learn your history, Mr. Bernoudy.
At one time there were hundreds of major publishing companies. That is when the industry standards were set. It is only since the late 1980s that the corporate buyouts occured and the number of publishers dwindled.
I’ll also say this. We are FAIR with our authors. I spend money out of my own pocket to get an author’s book into print and to help it become successful. I can’t promise an author will be a best seller but I communicate with my authors on a one on one basis. I conform my contracts and business practices to suit the needs of an individual author when necessary, and I give authors chances who might never get into print dealing with the more established companies. I deal with my staff and authors on more of a friends and family basis, and I think that makes up for us not fitting the mold of all those publishing clones out there
I have not seen anything fair about your contracts or your attitude. Tell me how this is fair? You have not answered the question, but given me a load of bullshit and doublespeak.
Furthermore, fairness should not be judged by comparing a smaller publisher to a larger one or as to whether a company gives an author all the concessions he/she may desire, but fairness should be judged by his, does a company produce a good product for an author and work hard to insure that product’s success.
Industry standard fairness includes a decent reversion of rights clause. I have yet to see one. I have yet to see you demonstrate that you are promoting the books. Actions speak louder than words, Bernoudy. So far I have seen no actions.
Answer: Our current marketing scheme consist of heavy internet marketing, mass emails about upcoming books, a rigid schedule of book signings, obtaining reviews, and forwarding catalogs to book stores. Networking with big names such as Cemetary Dance and Science Fiction Magazine, as well as heavy advertising. Booksignings are always being scheduled.
Show me the ads. Show me what you have done. Show me. Show me. Show me.
12. This isn’t a question, just something I observed. There are actually sites out there dedicated to mindless gossip. One such site is the “rusty nail”. There’s a thread on it about this company http://therustynail.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/message-from-blu-phier-mike/. I attempted to post a reply, but it seems they pay regular visits to my site so I’ll place my reply here.
Reply: I find it interesting that there’s an entire website dedicated to people bad mouthing others behind their backs. 90% of what you people are yapping about is incorrect. Normally I wouldn’t even address BS like this site, but I have a little time on my hands.
We nailed your ass, didn’t we?
