Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Noble Romance

All,

Several of my friends have books with Noble Romance, and have been informed that Jill Noble has left the company. Due to the uncertainty, and until their royalties are ensured, please do NOT buy their works until such time as it's resolved.

There are many writers affected, and many outstanding works. But I want to make sure they get paid for their works. Among these are Sue Brown, DC Juris, KevaD, Margie Church.

Thanks.

Tom

29 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this, hon! I hope we hear something within the week.

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  2. Hope this is resolved quickly and happily.

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  3. Thank you Tom--I was literally poised to buy from them today--and then saw this--thanks for saving me from keeping money from dedicated and talented authors!

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  4. The name is Noble Romance - don't boycott the innocent! :-)

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    1. Sorry - changing the name. And I am not calling for a boycott. I am just reminding people that there seems to be an issue, and authors may not get paid their royalties. It has been expressed in open conversations that it is a concern.

      Please forgive me if you thought I was somehow being unfair to authors OR Noble Romance.

      Tom

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    2. Buying books from authors who will never get paid for their work is wrong. Until those authors know they will get paid, all you are doing it cheating them out of their money. No, you don't have to boycott those authors, find other places where they are published, just not Noble until the publisher promises to pay the authors.

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  5. Thanks for letting me know! I like staying informed and the only way I tend to hear any news like this is through others.

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  6. Noble Romance is not keeping Royalties from anyone. The Authors will be paid as usual. The ONLY thing that has happened within Noble Romance is simply that a Employee has resigned. Bottom line. The company is financially stable and will continue on with business as usual. Some should not slander such a company by what a "Few" of Noble's Authors have gossiped and spread around the internet. Be aware, once written in cyber world, it most commonly will never go away.

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    1. Hi Natasha. We haven't been paid as usual. It is now July 29, and no payment yet. No word from corporate as to when that will happen or anything else for that matter. Promises made and not kept, as usual.

      No one is gossiping. Why demonize authors who only want what is rightfully theirs? Keep thinking it's a "FEW" authors. I wish I could see your face when you find out how many of us it really is.

      Thanks for the warning, Tom. I've taken all links to my Noble books off my website, too.

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  7. "Anonymous" - I leave my blog open with no moderation so anyone can post about the reviews I do. However, I must insist that if you want to continue to post, that you identify yourself if you are going to make accusations towards me of slander of gossip. I post my name - please give me the same consideration.

    If you are making statements on behalf of Noble Romance (yes, you can teach an old bear new tricks), please identify yourself and your capacity within the organization. Otherwise, there is no weight behind what you say.

    I would ask that Noble Romance Management make a formal statement regarding the matters, and "gossip" will stop. I was told that royalty payments WILL be delayed, so please feel free to set the record straight. But only if you identify yourself. Any further "Anonymous" postings, I will have to consider removing.

    I am a concerned reader. I vote with my money, and I want to see it go to the writers as intended.

    Thank you.

    Tom

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  8. Being a reader and fan of quite a few authors I'm glad to have read this. It's important to me to support them and I would much rather DELAY a purchase to ensure everthing is ok. Granted an employee may have left Noble Romance however that person was not just anybody so it seems reasonable to wait to see if there might be an impact to a writer. Just my opinion.

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  9. Tom is absolutely correct. Noble Romance Publishing authors have been formally advised in writing that royalty payments will be late, which we already knew as the period during which payments were usually received has passed.
    That is documented fact.

    The company is blaming the tardiness on Jill Noble's unexpected departure. Again, documented fact.
    Yes, hopefully, Noble Romance Publishing will push forward once a new management plan is in place. Until then, "business as usual" does not aptly define the current status of Noble Romance. Jill was Noble’s leader and public face. She was also the central figure for ensuring the company’s, customers’, and authors’ needs were met. Her abrupt departure has left an as yet unfilled void – a very large void.

    Tom is trying to help his friends, of which I am proud to be one. No one asked or suggested he post this information. He did it out of concern. I respect him for that.

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  10. I am a Noble Romance author. I have yet to hear from the owner of the company as to the status of the company. So, Anonymous, unless you are THE OWNER OF THE COMPANY you have absolutely nothing to contribute on the subject. And by my count, there are FAR more than "a few" of us who have concerns/issues. I've said it on my own FB profile and I will say it here now - UNTIL the issue is resolved - IE until I hear from THE OWNER and I receive a royalty check for the monies owed me - I DO NOT wish for anyone to purchase my Noble Romance works. PERIOD. As a side note, Jill's resignation was not "simple" - as is evidenced by the content of her "farewell" post.

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  12. All,

    I received a posting from Anonymous. This person has chosen, for reasons that are very legitimate to him/herself not to honor my request for an identity before I allow the post to stay up.

    I allow open, respectful discourse here. However, I will not provide someone who may or may not be associated with Noble Romance to have a "bully pulpit" to post information that may or may not be factual. I am transparent, and ask you be the same to have that privilege here.

    If you chose, you can email me and let me know how you came about your information and why I should allow it to be here, and I will respect your request for anonymity. Without that, I am afraid I cannot allow any further postings, especially those questioning my integrity or that of writers who HAVE shown me the letter which went out to them regarding the resignation of Jill Noble and the delay of royalties.

    Thank you.

    Tom

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  13. Tom, I, too, would ask for a delay of purchase, but please don't forget about all of us! It could take awhile for things to get on level ground again and many of us, myself included, use our royalty money to pay bills. We also work our rears off trying to punch a hole in this huge industry and put our name out here. This is a setback. I thank everyone who has bought my books and plans to buy them in the future. I have a number of campaigns in motion. I intend to see them through. I am trying to protect my brand on the market.

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    1. Margie,

      Excellent point!

      I invite you all to post your alternate links for purchasing your works here. I will honor them.

      Tom

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  14. Thank you, Tom!
    Here's my Amazon author's page with all of my Noble Romance published books.

    http://www.amazon.com/KevaD/e/B004S44WI0/ref=sr_tc_ep?qid=1326321181#/ref=la_B004S44WI0_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_82%3AB004S44WI0&ie=UTF8&qid=1343334452

    Barnes & Noble:
    http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/kevad

    ARE:
    http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=KevaD

    Thank you again, Tom.

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  16. *sigh* There always has to one in the crowd! Thanks for the info, Tom, I will be very aware of my purchases! To all the Noble authors, let's hope for a speedy resolution!

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  17. David's books are also here, and there's a sale going on right now!

    http://www.rainbowebooks.com/store/advanced_search_result.php?osCsid=u06528h6trfdtm0g2sbfq1s702&keywords=kevad&x=0&y=0

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  18. Hi, Tom,

    Hope it's okay for me to comment. I'm a little gun shy at this point because I have been very open about the situation and would rather avoid further recourse. However, I needed to tell you I appreciate your post. I've asked my readers to hold back on buying my books from Noble as well until things are resolved and fully support anyone who expresses the same. I shared your post on my blog, but I'm hesitant to post it here because of emails threatening legal recourse (which I will share with you in private if you'd like) and I don't want your blog associated with whatever may come of it.

    Just had to tell you, you're really cool in my books. And I love my readers. And...ugh...time for more beer! lol! This hit me hard and I'm a little emotional. I will get back to writing soon though! I'm just not the type of person who can handle a situation like this sitting down.

    Warmly,
    Bianca

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  19. Hi Tom, I'm new Noble Romance author. I agree with everything Marcy, David (smooches) and DC have stated above. Thank you posting this. It's a great help in light of what is happening.

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  20. Hi, Tom!

    First off, my thanks for this blog. No author wants to say "DON'T buy my work!" but as it stands right now, until this debacle is sorted out to the authors' satisfaction, there doesn't seem to be much of a choice. I removed the covers for all but the two works I'm NOT requesting rights reversion for from Noble from my blog, and I cannot in good conscience push sales of my work through a company I no longer have confidence in.
    Anonymous: Do NOT start up the libel/slander business with me. Everything I've said here is either documented fact or my own personal opinion and I'm in no mood to deal with cowards. Show yourself or sit down and let the grownups talk.

    Best,

    J.S. Wayne

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  21. Hi Tom,

    Thanks for looking out for us authors. I'm inclined to agree with what Marcy, David, Margie, DC, and Bianca have said. In times like these, where our voices have been mostly ignored in professional and private discourse and correspondences, it seems it takes events like this to allow us to see the skeletons lurking in the closet.

    What vested interests would consider gossip is actually the private sharing of facts and experiences. And even though many of us have tried to keep our conversations in a private or semi private forum this Anon and Anonymous has repeatedly taken excerpts of our private correspondence and posted them in public, out of context. This person has also manipulated the wording of her statements to imply deeper malicious intent. We know who this person is so the only anonymity they're claiming is with the readers and not actually with the authors who were subjected to working with her.

    My experiences with Noble Romance Publications are such I wish to never repeat with this company (or any others but hey that's the risk we take in this business, isn't it). It's not simply about being paid but the climate in which we were required to work. Since Jill Noble, this simple "employee", resigned abruptly leaving her authors, editors, and her family business in the lurch we've been able to compare notes and see just how wide spread these problems actually were.

    If management can get it together and work with the authors who are willing to stay, then I say that's really great. But I don't wish to have a future with Noble Romance. I would rather submit my business to a company who I feel can treat me with the professionalism and respect any new author deserves. I simply wish to put out a good product for my readers and I'll go with any company who will allow me to do that.

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  22. I have kept quiet publicly so far, but I am rapidly losing faith and patience. Noble could alleviate many of our fears with regular communication. Instead we are left with the illiterate rantings of Anonymous who is well-known to us all.

    All we are asking is for the company to talk to us. Jill is gone. We don't need a mouthpiece for Jill. We need a voice from the company management. I cannot understand why this is taken as the authors being unreasonable. Surely, as each author makes their unhappiness evident it tarnishes Noble that bit more.

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  23. These poor authors! How can a publisher play with people like this?

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