All Romance eBooks / OmniLit to close on 12/31/16

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by library addict

The message on ARe's site has been there since early afternoon. But it's shameful they were selling ads on their site up to yesterday when they obviously knew this was coming.

If you know you're not going to be able to honor your end of an agreement, but you accept the other party's payment anyway, are you allowed to keep the funds?

I'm guessing either ARe has a very well phrased loop hole in their terms of sale of ad space, or they are right now hoping that no one will notice they don't... same goes for the authors whose books they are currently selling and making money from, while knowing they won't be able to pay the authors their commission.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

The full letter to authors/publishers can be read here for anyone interested...
http://karenknowsbest.com/2016/12/28...ks-is-closing/

That's really odd. I have a few books uploaded to them and received the annual "advertising ops for 2017" about a week ago (so I know I am on their author list). I never received any notification they are closing or anything about payments.

I'm not terribly surprised at the letter or the payment, but I thought they actually sold a lot of books.

Another one bites the dust.

[ScalyFreak]

Doesn't matter how much they sell, if they're not making a profit. Sadly.

Or not, in this case.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

Doesn't matter how much they sell, if they're not making a profit. Sadly.

Or not, in this case.

Of course not. And it's a very difficult business, but it's pretty disingenuous to be sending out ad solicitations when you might have to close in two weeks (or know you will close). Their ads are not inexpensive either (they're not bookbub expensive, but they aren't cheap either). I know at least one author who sold very well there. It will hurt authors like her the most because she won't be getting paid--and, like you said, it doesn't matter how much we authors sell if we can't make a profit!

[library addict]

Originally Posted by Blossom

It wasn't there when I checked a couple hours ago. There was nothing there or in social media.

Sent from my XT1528

Oh, when we first started discussing it in the romance thread the notice was there for me. Maybe it just took a while to show up for everyone.

I never got an email from them. The site is how I first learned about it. The only emails I got today from ARe were newly added books by authors on my instant notification list. And when I signed in to look I saw the notice.

[cadele]

Originally Posted by Kiya

I just now managed to spend my ebucks. The best is to buy books with them from your wish list, since that way you can be sure that they are still available. Most of my wish list is gone anyway but I manage to use ebucks and that is good thing.
Unfortunately I have two books pre-ordered with them and one already does not show in my library. I presume that this will be lost money since I doubt they will refund them. I did send them email asking about pre-orders. I do not think I'll get any answer, but who knows.

I am in the same boat. I was able to spend my ebucks (not on anything I particularly wanted, grrr) but I have a pre-order that was purchased at the end of November but the book won't now be out until February. I have raised a ticket, but I expect I will have to kiss that goodbye.

I was sad and sympathetic when I received the email from ARe this morning, but that has faded fast.

The loss of bookstore after bookstore has been so painful. None of my books has ever transferred.

If I didn't have Calibre and the tools, I would be lost.

Edit: Hah! The book I had pre-ordered is now showing as being "no longer available on this site" !! I may have to try the Paypal refund route. So annoyed. Book was $4.99.

[Hemmi]

I had an email about it.

I can barely navigate around the site, it's so very slow. I just bought stuff from them last night but at least I downloaded it all and it's in Calibre. This reminds me I should do a Calibre backup.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Too many publishers have shut in the last few years leaving authors high and dry and taking all the money, plus with the Eloras Cave mess ongoing it's surprising we actually have any authors willing to write and sell ebooks any more. I can see a future of only Amazon and only KU, it's a frightening future.

No, not a fun prospect.
But the big boys can't be bothered to actively compete, which leaves it to the b-listers.
(Not that it is solely--or even primarily--Apple and Google's fault at this point.)

This one, though, is shaping up to be the worst yet.

Like, a few authors I've seen commenting say that ARe used to be a sizeable portion of their sales but steadily declined over the past couple of years. Which is what makes the 3 day notice thing so obnoxious. They had to know they were sinking and instead of trying to wind down gracefully for the sake of their partners and customers they arranged for a nosedive. That speaks of either delusion or malice.

I expect a horde of lawyers are scrambling to file lawsuits by Friday, ahead of the unavoidable bankruptcy.

[BearMountainBooks]

Not only is it three day notice--they are still selling books knowing they won't be paying the authors. Several authors have been unable to get on the site and deactivate the books. Over on an author thread a number of authors mentioned it was their second best site for sales.

I concur that sales dropped off severely in the last year. Many authors assume it is due to KU. I've no idea if that is the case, but this is the third fairly large romance site that has shut down (Elora Cave, Samhain and this one. Samhain was supposedly rescued at the last second, but I haven't checked that status.)

[ScalyFreak]

Samhain is alive. I bought from them the other day.

And for the record, they gave plenty of advance notice when they saw the possibility of a shut-down. That's how you do it.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

Samhain is alive. I bought from them the other day.

And for the record, they gave plenty of advance notice when they saw the possibility of a shut-down. That's how you do it.

Wasn't knocking them, although I know a few authors did not go back with them even when they were able to stay open. These days, an author has to see a very clear benefit to being with a publisher (especially a small one). I know that ARe also published a few authors. I hope they get clear statements about getting their rights back (Samhain did this from what I understand). I read on another forum (FWIW--there is a bit of panic at the moment) that the authors published by them won't get paid even 10 cents on the dollar. It's pretty ugly.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I concur that sales dropped off severely in the last year. Many authors assume it is due to KU. I've no idea if that is the case, but this is the third fairly large romance site that has shut down (Elora Cave, Samhain and this one. Samhain was supposedly rescued at the last second, but I haven't checked that status.)

KU is suspect number one in their steady decline.

But there is also the matter of generic epub relevance at retail.

And then there is the mindshare problem.
It takes a certain minimum market presence to be noticed by the mainstream and be able to grow with the market. In a year where it looks like sales have declined for everybody except Amazon maintaining that visibility has gotten a lot harder.

Worse, things have reached the point where (for many authors) the benefits of Kindle exclusivity, limited though they might be, outweigh the benefits of going wide. It's hard enough competing against the Kindle installed base at the reader level but when you add competing against KDP at the publisher level it gets doubly hard. When the catalog size disparity gets big enough, the readers just slowly fade away.

Even without KU, the 3-to-1 Kindle vs epub ratio makes getting notifed a lot harder for smaller players. Add in Apple's walled garden and Google, Kobo, and B&N and there isn't much left for non-walled garden players.

In fact, who is left, anyway?
Scribd?

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I actually check Kobo now before I buy books but tbh as I'm now retired (due to redundancy) I have to buy at the cheapest price and a lot of the time it's Amazon plus I like Whispersync audiobooks so the majority of my purchases are at Amazon. Since the UK tax law came into place two years ago buying from anyone that's adds the 20% tax onto the ebook price is just too expensive now, and that was ARE. Amazon prices are just lower.

Kobo does tend to be more expensive, but it has a price match guarantee that makes the effective cost about 90% of the competitor's price. They claim they'll process the request in 3 business days, but in the last couple weeks it's been more like 5-6 business days. There's nothing like Whispersync audiobooks, though. The price match is in store credit though, so if you want to price match several books that are only on sale at Amazon, it can mean running up a big credit card bill. I was really disappointed that Open Road Media only had their freebie deal at Amazon, I really prefer epubs.

[AnemicOak]

NineStar Press

It seems ARe is not refunding preorders. Send the confirmation email to Raevyn@ninestarpress.com. I will make sure you receive the book(s).

LT3 Press

we've got you covered & will send you the book.

please also indicate the format you'd like: PDF, mobi, epub, or All Formats


we're going to make this easy for ppl: if you pre-ordered an LT3 title on ARe, forward the receipt to service@lessthanthreepress.com

[AnemicOak]

Publisher All Romance Ebooks: Closing Hits New Low In Stealing From Authors