They've had a short story of mine under contract since 2005 and it remains unpublished. Originally it was signed under the idea that Mundania would be putting out short stories by authors with other titles, so when I secured a release for my one book with them I assumed it'd be easy to get a contract release for the short story.
Sheryl, I assume your contract says nothing about when the book was supposed to be pubbed. This is standard contract language. All contracts MUST stipulate when they the book will be published. That way, if the publisher drags their feet, the contract becomes null and void because they blew the release.
Keeping your book for 6 years without publishing it is outrageous. It would be appropriate for an attorney to inquire when they plan on pubbing it, and why they haven't. Since there is no language in the contract, how long is too long? They certainly can't keep it forever, can they?
In truth, I think they're keeping that short because they deem you a troublemaker and want to see you suffer. It's Mundania's immature version of payback, and unbecoming someone who claims to be a professional.
This, alone, should be an object lesson as to how this publisher works. If it happened once, it'll happen again. The underlying tone here is, "Do NOT rock the boat. Play nicely, or we'll sic ourselves on you." Shades of Publish America, if you ask me.
The royalty report said that Mundania had sold an ebook copy recently, years after returning the rights to me.
When I contacted them I was told that it was an error, a sale had been made from an old web page link.
This is illegal, and no court of law would side with a publisher who did this. They MUST remove all links to your book. If they don't comply, they're committing copyright infringement.
The contract I signed with Mundania had no reserve against returns when it came to the print copies.
Then they have no leg to stand on. It's their neck on the chopping block. They must pay you all due royalties. If they suffer returns that puts them into the red, then they need look no further than their own stupidity. To basically steal money owed you won't make them very popular in a court of law.
I wrote back that this still didn't justify the sale of illegal ebook copies and was told that I was lucky they weren't pursuing legal action to regain the lost money.
You're right. This would never stand up in court. It's blustering by a bunch of bullies. They are counting on you not having the $$ to haul them off to court. And this is why abuses continue. Simply put, they know they can get away with it - and they have been for a long, long time. It's shameful.
Others may have different experiences, but these are mine.
The only reason I'm bothering to comment here is that you are far from an isolated case. I've talked to quite a few of their authors who contacted me at writer's conferences or via my blog site, wondering if their treatment by Mundania was standard of all publishers. I assured them that real publishers are too busy selling books to the stores and libraries (and not to their own authors) to waste time being bullies. Besides, there's no reason for it.