Getting Paid Your Due Royalties by Publishers Is Not Always Easy

[Ernie Zelinski]

I am amazed by the number of publishers that I deal with that have so little excellence, integrity, and class in the way they operate.

I get particularly annoyed when the publishers are North American.

Now don't get me wrong; there are a lot of publishers that operate with class and integrity but surprisingly the best ones are not North American.

One of the things that I have to deal with is getting paid my royalties.

I often have to get heavy-handed and send a notice of the cancellation of the Agrement.

In fact, I have done this many times over the last few years.

Below is an e-mail I just sent to a publisher whose people refused to even answer my e-mails.

For the record, I sent this e-mail at 3 AM in the morning and there was a response within about 10 minutes.

To Groupe Librex:

I have contacted three different people on three different occassions about the unpaid royalties for the French Rights to How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free and I still have NOT received the monies outstanding along with an adequate royalty report according to the Agreement.

Given that the Agreement states that the royalties are to be paid by January 30, and that the monies are still not paid with no responsible reply about this matter, I can say that the arrogance of your company is only exceeded by its lack of class and integrity.

Perhaps I should point out that whenever I owe money to printers, suppliers, or other companies, I pay them promptly, usually way ahead of what they expect. For example, just yesterday I received from my graphic designer, which I have already prepared for payment. Whenever I get bills in the range of $10,000 to $20,000 from Transcontinental Printing for printing the English version of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free. I pay the same day even though Transcontinental Printing allows me up to 30 days to pay. It's too bad that your company doesn't have the same integrity and class.

YOUR COMPANY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE DECENCY TO REPLY WHY THE ROYALTIES ARE UNPAID! — THIS IS NOT ONLY A SIGN OF A LACK OF EXCELLENCE AND DECENCY BUT TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! The people that I dealt with at Alain Stanke had so much more class and integrity that you people have.

For the record, even my publishers in Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, China, Czech Republic, and other countries have much more class and integrity than people at your company given that these publishers send the royalty reports in English, state exactly how many books were sold during the year, and pay the royalties on time - ALWAYS!

Since the royalties have not been paid and there has been no response to my request for payment and a proper royalty report according to the Agreement, I am cancelling the Agreement for the French rights to How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free effective today.

I am also sending letters to the President of Quebecor and President of Quebecor Media Publishing with copies to Publishers Weekly, Quill and Quire Magazine, the New York Times book editor, the Montreal Gazette, the Globe and Mail, Book Marketing Update, and other publications regarding this matter.

What's more, I will be notifying Amazon.fr and all other places where Vive la Retaite is sold on websites that your company no longer has the rights to this book. If your company continues to sell this book, it will be a fraudulent act.

I will be doing everything within my power to notify the French book industry both in Canada and France, including book distributors and book stores, that your company no longer holds the rights to this book.

Since I am working on an updated version of this book, I am now offering French rights to How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free to other publishers in France and Quebec.

Also be very clear that your company must still pay me the full 2008 royalties of over $3,513.14 plus GST and the royalties for the sales up to March 27, 2009. There must be an immediate and totally accurate reporting to the sales and royalties. These outstanding royalties for 2008 and 2009 must be received by April 3, 2009.

Ernie Zelinski
Author of the International Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 100,000 copies sold and published in 7 foreign languages)
and Career Success Without a Real Job





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