Update on Iris Print: Now with Bounced Royalty Checks

Jane — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:29:20 +0000

We blogged a couple of weeks ago about Iris Print and the speculations that it was closing its doors. One of the more prominent authors, Rebecca Day, had encouraged people to still buy her book Thaw that was published by Iris.

Tina, I wouldn’t say things are resolved – just that I’m reasonably confident that I’m eventually going to get some royalties from copies of Thaw that might sell as a consequence of any reviews.

Ms. Day has made a new announcement on the status of Iris Print.

The royalty check I received last week was returned by my bank for insufficient funds. I wrote Kellie yesterday, asking her to make good via Paypal, and have heard nothing.

It appears that Ms. Day will be able to get her rights back as soon as Kellie officially announces the closing of Iris Print but at this time asks people to not buy new copies of Thaw as there is no guarantee that Day will see any royalties from those sales.

Yaoi/Manga Publishing Issues: Iris Print and Tokyo Pop

Jane — Sat, 31 May 2008 03:30:17 +0000

I received two publisher alerts and want to share them with the community. One relates to a Yaoi publisher closing shop and the second is Tokyo Pop’s Manga Pilot draconian contract.

Iris Print:

Iris Print is a Yaoi publisher who apparently closed up shop and failed to tell its authors. Giapet.Net first reported this on May 17:

Something I didn’t mention in my Yaoi Press report was that Yamila Abraham, when asked about publishing yaoi novels as well as comics, said that it tends not to work very well, and pointed to Iris Print as an example- saying that the company has actually closed up shop.

Emails to the owner of Iris Print have seemingly gone unanswered. From an Iris Print author:

Well isn’t that swell? Iris Print closes up shop and doesn’t bother to tell the creators they have under contract. Nice. So what about our books? What about our titles? :/ I don’t know what to say about this, except that I’m truly disappointed. I’m beyond pissed; I wonder though, where is Amazon getting their re-stock if Iris is out of business? What about all those people who paid pre-orders for Queer Magic? It would’ve been nice to know if she was filing for bankruptcy.

Another author hasn’t had her first quarter 2008 sales report even though she’s written 3 times now.

I can’t get through to my publisher. I haven’t heard anything about my first quarter 2008 sales, so I’ve written 3 times now. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Not even a "I got your email, am working on it, please be patient.’ Not even bounce messages, so I can only assume my email is getting through and being ignored, or that something very awful has happened to my publisher. I can’t express how frustrating that is. Seriously, any response is better than silence. Even "eff off and die, you annoying author b***h’ would be an improvement. "Nuff said for now, but there may be more on this topic if things don’t improve. -Rebecca Day

Doesn’t sound good. A non responsive publisher is not a good sign.

Toyko Pop

Tokyo Pop has a Manga Pilot Program wherein an aspiring author or an established author can create a 24-to-36 “pilot” of a manga to convince Tokyo Pop that it is worth continuing into a full fledged manga. The contract for the program has the comic world up in arms over this. Some of the terms are draconian and some of them seem very standard to me (i.e., the indemnification clause). What is unusual is that you sign over your rights to the Manga Pilot for a flat fee (no royalties) and only get your rights back if TP rejects you.

Dear Author » Iris Print

Update on Iris Print: Now with Bounced Royalty Checks

Yaoi/Manga Publishing Issues: Iris Print and Tokyo Pop