Wait time for submissions is now over 180 days, and almost that high for current authors too. No review copies of books went out to reviewers all summer long. Royalties have been consistently later and later for the last 3 months, with various excuses ranging from fictionwise error to computer viruses. Computer viruses also blamed for review copies not going out. Either the company is lying, or they are incredibly unlucky. Either way, work's not getting done. Questions and concerns by authors are completely ignored. On the rare occasion they're answered, it is usually curtly. Most authors afraid to speak out or complain publicly because both owners have a reputation for getting vicious. A lot of bad warning signs, which is sad to see in what was such a great author-friendly publisher.
Our review coordinator had a problem with a virus over the summer, but is fixed and has been fixed for sometime. She has caught up sending out review copies.
My business partner got hit with a spyware problem about seven days ago. Due to the confidentiality issues-- we took her computer out of the picture to avoid problems while it's being cleaned. This is just good business sense.
Our submission time has increased because we receive more submissions, it's the nature of growing larger.
We answer all emails sent to our business emails within 48 hours of receiving them and encourage authors to follow up if they don't receive a response.
We have never once failed to post royalties on time. Contractually, we have 30 days from the end of the month on Cobblestone sales to pay and
never once have we missed that deadline.
We have a transparent process and we communicate to the best of our ability. I would hope that any author contacted with Cobblestone would have no problems coming to me or Sable with a problem.
I can't and will not comment on the Fictionwise problem because it would be inappropriate to do so due to our contract with their company but we were assured the problem was being addressed by Fictionwise.
It is disheartening, to see to confidential information being posted on a forum but that is the nature of the Internet.
Hope this answers any questions and ANYONE reading this may feel free to email me personally if they have questions.
[email protected]