Dear J.R. Smith

I am Alan Balter, who, like you, had his book published with LInkville Press. (Different Ways of Being) I wish you well in your book publishing endeavors and sales; however, you should know that Linkville Press never paid me royalties for a two year period. And, when I protested, Amanda Marie cancelled our contract.

Linkville Press is one of many small publishing houses that do not have enough money to do business as a legitimate publisher. That's why they offer no advances, do no marketing, do no advertising, provide no review copies, provide no authors copies, and do not pay royalties unless they are threatened by legal action. In short, they do not hesitate to breach their own contract. Do yourself a favor and find a legitimate publisher for your books.

Alan Balter

Alan wrote: "Dear J.R. Smith

I am Alan Balter, who, like you, had his book published with LInkville Press. (Different Ways of Being) I wish you well in your book publishing endeavors and sales; however, you sh..."

Mr. Balter,
I am sorry your experience is not what you were expecting. So far, in general, it has exceeded all of mine but perhaps our understanding of our own individual situations is a bit different. I started writing and continue to write for the love of the craft. I am under no illusion about making any money at all, let alone an even remotely sizable amount of it. The owner has paid me what little bit I have made over the last few years and has kept consistently in contact with me. There have been sets of extenuating circumstances that have creeped up here and there that have caused delays but they are of no one individual's fault. I also understand it is a small staffed house and one or two people are doing a vast majority of the actual publishing-related jobs (formatting, cover work, etc). This is all okay by me so long as my books hit the shelves eventually.

I would advise you against going onto public forums in attempts to defame, libel, slander or otherwise damage Linkville Press as a whole when your beef is with the owner and the owner alone - not the rest of us authors. You damage Linkville Press as a whole and you damage the limited chances some of us may or may not have in the field. Keep the matter private between the two of you, if you please, and leave the rest of us out of it.
Sincerely,
J.R. Smith

Thank you for your comments and advice. I have no beef at all with the authors of Linkville Press. My concern is indeed with the owner. I'm not concerned about libel, because I'm telling the truth. The truth is she breached our contract for two years, and I think others should know about it, particularly anyone who is considering Linkville Press as their publisher. So, I will continue to tell the truth about Linkville Press and people are of course free to either believe me or not.