Triskelion has published some very entertaining reads, my favorites probably being Shelly Laurentson’s Pack series which is now available at Samhain. We’ve been critical of its editing but not necessarily of the books. Triskelion has, however, hit some rocky ground. The news is flying today that Triskelion has been disinvited to RWA and therefore there will not be any Triskelion related promotions or editor meetings.
It is also rumored that Triskelion will not be putting out print titles. I find this ironic because when Blog Happy and I were at the bookstore the other day, we both commented on the Triskelion mass markets. (readers like mass markets). I can’t help but wonder whether the decision to not move forward with print titles will void some contracts. Triskelion actually sent print review copies to bookstores to assist sales which might also be why it was able to sell sufficient titles to meet the RWA guidelines to be a recognized publisher.
It was previously announced that RWA would be rethinking its guidelines on RWA publisher recognition status. There’s no word from RWA whether it is tightening its belt or loosening it or whether its move now has anything to do with Triskelion’s purported troubles. We’ll keep you posted if we hear anything more.
Could you let us know the source of this news? Did RWA give a reason for disinviting Triskelion? Have they been merely disinvited to the conference, or are they being dis-recognized (unrecognized?) as a publisher as well?
Karmela – I don’t know if they are going to lose their RWA publishing status. I did email Triskelion for a response regarding that. I had several sources for the announcement that Trisk was being dis invited but the public one is at Absolute Write Forum.
*whistles*
I can’t say it surprises me, given everything I’ve heard by the wayside about Triskelion. As they have RWA recognition, I’m sure authors have complained about the various incidents.
I’m somewhat concerned, though, how the fallout from this is going to affect RWA’s official view towards recognizing e-publishers.
Oh dear, not a good couple of weeks for e-publishers is it? I think Piers Anthony reported a while ago that he’d had complaints of late royalty payments etc at Trisk. I hear a few of the authors have been unhappy with things over there for a while, and have been quite vocal about it. *g*
I’m stunned at how fast this happened, but I do think it was a smart move on RWA’s part.
Unfortunately the divas have been spouting off. Funny how the mistreated at Harlequin never seem to go public.
Maybe the mistreated at Harlequin weren’t completely screwed over, Sloane. Don’t assume that because your experience was good, everyone else’s complaints are petty and groundless.
A LOT of authors are VERY unhappy with Trisk. It’s not like RWA got one complaint and closed the door. There have been rumbings online about them for almost a year now.
Anon, if there are truly so many Trisk authors disgruntled then I am sorry for them. I also think they will never be happy anywhere.
The fact is that there have been complaints about non-payment and cruelty by staff members at Trisk for more than 2 years.
I personally reviewed a letter from a member of staff to an author that left me stunned- completely. I crossed them off my submission list a very long time ago.
RWA did the right thing.
Has no one ever heard about not airing dirty laundry in public? I see no reason to cast stones at a publisher who’s trying to regroup to make their company successful. It makes disgruntled authors seem petty and full of revenge. What a shame.
Yeah, it is petty to complain about not getting paid for your work. What a bunch of silly bitches, don’t they have anything better to do?
I don’t see how this bickering among everyone is going to help anything. Don’t make this a personal attack. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It’s terrible for a publisher to act as Trisk proportedly has. It’s also terrible for those authors under Trisk who were proportedly abused.
I don’t agree with that at all. I have several close friends who’ve gone through hell with Trisk. Print titles delayed over and over, sometimes just before the date–after advertising has been paid for–royalty checks being late, editors changing three times within the edits for one book, and that ebook finally being released not as the final, polished file that was turned in after 8 rounds of edits, but using a much earlier rough version… the list of grievances goes on and on. I don’t think anyone can seriously doubt that there are MANY disgruntled Trisk authors unless they’re just not willing to see the facts.
I urged one of my friends to contact RWA and Piers Anthony because her experience was so horrible, and happily, she’s gotten her rights back from Trisk. I think that the authors who’ve complained have very valid points and insults or name-calling isn’t going to make those points go away.
It’s been clear for quite a while now that there are some authors who have a good experience with Trisk while others are screwed over. I don’t think that makes either group of authors whiners or saints, but it does show a lack of professionalism at the publisher that they can’t seem to treat their authors equally. I haven’t heard of such blatant favoritism since… well, ever.
When I first read the complaints about Triskelion at Piers Anthony, I had that thought too but then I got to thinking about the NY houses and they do things for bigger name authors that they don’t do for the less established authors or for authors they believe in. Kate Duffy put forth a huge promotional effort for Jacqueline Frank which include a tower of ARCs at BEA and a special promotional angle to buyers. No other Kensington author of recent memory has had that push.
JR Ward is getting similar treatment at BEA this year. According to published sources, Penguin is featuring Lover Unbound at BEA which means either an author appearance or tons of arcs (please someone go to BEA and send me a copy of the arc!).
There are frontlist and midlist authors and they get different treatment from in house publicists. I received a special email about a couple of books being put out by Harper Collins but not the entire list. The fact is that all publishers have different heirarchies for their authors and none of it has to do with “fairness” and all of it seems to have to do with getting the biggest return on their dollar. So for all Triskelion’s faults (and who isn’t sympathetic with poor Meyer), this doesn’t seem to be a reasonable accusation.
Yes, but there’s a difference between having different promotional setups for better-selling authors and treating some authors like crap and others like gold. I don’t think anyone disagrees that, say, if a publisher had to choose between giving Nora Roberts a splashy promo package or giving it to Jane Nobody (although that’d be a great pen name, wouldn’t it?), they’d go with Nora every time. One hopes, however, that Jane Nobody would still get her royalty checks on time, receive respectful and professional communication from editors, not have her edits summarily discarded, etc.
I don’t see the issue as being one of treating better selling authors to better promo–it’s one of treating every author professionally.