FifoBooks - out of business

roncallari · 01-15-2011, 08:44 AM

I was informed a few days ago by a form email that FifoBooks had shuttered its site. As a book author who had been pursued by Joubert Nel last year to register my graphic novels on his site - this was a hard blow. There was no warning provide for any of the writers that the site would be closing- nor the courtesy of a grace period so that authors like myself could secure alternate eBook distributors to feature their work.

During the course of the last year, I have posted over 20 blogs promoting both FifoBooks and my books on their site. These blogs now have 100s of links leading to pages that indicate the site has been closed - stay tuned for a relaunch.

In discussing this abrupt and unprofessional site closing with Mr. Nel - I was informed that due to costs - he and his partner had split - and his partner would be proceeding to relaunch the site under another format - but no indication what the new model was - or when this relaunch would happen.

While I understand the difficulty in start-ups - I couldn't quite grasp the idea of waking up one morning and saying you can't pay the bills. It's a decision that should have taken some time for deliberation. And when those deliberations were going on, that would have been the time to alert the authors - who put a lot of hard work into their books and the site - that they might want to start looking for alternative publishing sites. This would have at least given the authors like myself the option to act and not be blind-sided at the last minute.

In retrospect, FifoBooks' business model was doomed - based solely on "if we build it, they will come" it was short-sighted - and I only wish that I had reached that conclusion on my own - versus having to contend with Nel and his partner acting so rashly. When I asked Nel if they could at least keep the site open another 2-3 weeks to allow the authors to secure other options, I was told this "was impossible," that the financial situation was too dire to continue.

My response to them was to keep the money from the sale of my books to defray any work they had done for me to format my books for their sites - because they obviously needed the funds more than I.

This post is to warn others - to be very careful about dealing with Joubert Nel and his partner in the future - whether it be for the "new unknown" relaunch or other business matters. They are not reputable professionals.

lenseman · 01-16-2011, 05:08 PM

I'm sorry to hear about the problems you are having with them. It seems like they handled it in an unprofessional manner. I know how much effort it takes to promote anything on the web. What are you doing now to bounce back from this?

roncallari · 01-21-2011, 06:20 AM

I am having the book re-formatted as an ePUB book for the iPad and Nook, - because the formatting that Joubert Nel did for the book was also not professional. I hired a professional to do the work this time. I should be up on the Apple's iBook Store as well as Nook in another week. But I have lost valuable selling time and more importantly credibility as the result of links that lead to a "dead" site. If anyone has gone through anything similar, I would like to hear how you handled this type of situation?

mr ploppy · 01-21-2011, 07:58 AM

Never heard of them. What did they do?

boxcorner · 01-21-2011, 08:05 AM

RipoffReport.com -> Report: FifoBooks

lenseman · 01-21-2011, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roncallari

I am having the book re-formatted as an ePUB book for the iPad and Nook, - because the formatting that Joubert Nel did for the book was also not professional. I hired a professional to do the work this time. I should be up on the Apple's iBook Store as well as Nook in another week. But I have lost valuable selling time and more importantly credibility as the result of links that lead to a "dead" site. If anyone has gone through anything similar, I would like to hear how you handled this type of situation?

Glad to hear you are still fighting the good fight!

In order to maintain and/or grow your publicity you can try promoting your book on a few forums. Some forums like this one have a special section for authors to promote their titles. There are a few others and if you want I can point you in the right direction.

As for the sites where you already have links you will need to contact the admin/webmaster at each and request that their links be updated to the new location. You should be able to come up with a generic email requesting this and just shoot it off to each admin's email address.

roncallari · 01-23-2011, 12:24 PM

Hi Lenseman, I would very much like to know as many eBook forums as possible to promote my book? Please post LINKS here for myself and other writers incurring the same challenge. For those that are interested in following the progress of our graphic novel, "Facebucks & Dumb F*cks," a satire about Facebook - pls follow us on Facebook and Twitter - thanks!!!

Dr. Drib · 01-23-2011, 02:56 PM

This is the NEWS FORUM, and not a social activities / self-promotion forum.

Everyone, please stay on topic and report about what the OP asked about in post #1.

Don
(Moderator)

01-21-2011, 06:20 AM	#3
roncallari Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: none	FifoBooks - out of business I am having the book re-formatted as an ePUB book for the iPad and Nook, - because the formatting that Joubert Nel did for the book was also not professional. I hired a professional to do the work this time. I should be up on the Apple's iBook Store as well as Nook in another week. But I have lost valuable selling time and more importantly credibility as the result of links that lead to a "dead" site. If anyone has gone through anything similar, I would like to hear how you handled this type of situation?

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01-15-2011, 08:44 AM	#1
roncallari Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: none	FifoBooks - out of business I was informed a few days ago by a form email that FifoBooks had shuttered its site. As a book author who had been pursued by Joubert Nel last year to register my graphic novels on his site - this was a hard blow. There was no warning provide for any of the writers that the site would be closing- nor the courtesy of a grace period so that authors like myself could secure alternate eBook distributors to feature their work. During the course of the last year, I have posted over 20 blogs promoting both FifoBooks and my books on their site. These blogs now have 100s of links leading to pages that indicate the site has been closed - stay tuned for a relaunch. In discussing this abrupt and unprofessional site closing with Mr. Nel - I was informed that due to costs - he and his partner had split - and his partner would be proceeding to relaunch the site under another format - but no indication what the new model was - or when this relaunch would happen. While I understand the difficulty in start-ups - I couldn't quite grasp the idea of waking up one morning and saying you can't pay the bills. It's a decision that should have taken some time for deliberation. And when those deliberations were going on, that would have been the time to alert the authors - who put a lot of hard work into their books and the site - that they might want to start looking for alternative publishing sites. This would have at least given the authors like myself the option to act and not be blind-sided at the last minute. In retrospect, FifoBooks' business model was doomed - based solely on "if we build it, they will come" it was short-sighted - and I only wish that I had reached that conclusion on my own - versus having to contend with Nel and his partner acting so rashly. When I asked Nel if they could at least keep the site open another 2-3 weeks to allow the authors to secure other options, I was told this "was impossible," that the financial situation was too dire to continue. My response to them was to keep the money from the sale of my books to defray any work they had done for me to format my books for their sites - because they obviously needed the funds more than I. This post is to warn others - to be very careful about dealing with Joubert Nel and his partner in the future - whether it be for the "new unknown" relaunch or other business matters. They are not reputable professionals.

01-16-2011, 05:08 PM	#2
lenseman The Avatar Posts: 24 Karma: 1000 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Sony PRS-600	I'm sorry to hear about the problems you are having with them. It seems like they handled it in an unprofessional manner. I know how much effort it takes to promote anything on the web. What are you doing now to bounce back from this?

01-21-2011, 07:58 AM	#4
mr ploppy Feral Underclass Posts: 3,622 Karma: 26821535 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Yorkshire, tha noz Device: 2nd hand paperback	Never heard of them. What did they do?

01-21-2011, 08:05 AM	#5
boxcorner »(°±°)« Posts: 826 Karma: 775629 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: divisive reader	RipoffReport.com -> Report: FifoBooks

01-23-2011, 12:24 PM	#7
roncallari Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: none	Hi Lenseman, I would very much like to know as many eBook forums as possible to promote my book? Please post LINKS here for myself and other writers incurring the same challenge. For those that are interested in following the progress of our graphic novel, "Facebucks & Dumb F*cks," a satire about Facebook - pls follow us on Facebook and Twitter - thanks!!!

01-23-2011, 02:56 PM	#8
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 45,311 Karma: 59447733 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: KINDLE: Oasis 3, Scribe (1st), Matcha; KOBO: Libra 2, Libra Colour	This is the NEWS FORUM, and not a social activities / self-promotion forum. Everyone, please stay on topic and report about what the OP asked about in post #1. Don (Moderator)

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