Ocean's Mist Press: very alarming--veinglory

I had assumed Ocean's Mist was down for the count and the return of their website was some kind of error as the content such as 'news' announcements dated, for the most part, from 2006. However it has been brought to my attention that not only is the site still up they are listing a new, May 2008, release. The coming soon page has material with this same author "Essence" mixed with authors (some of whom probably should not be there at all).

In case it needs restating: avoid them, do not buy from them, warn others.

Edited to add:

Karen draws my attention to Author Crusader who says the new author 'Essence' is Noemi, the owner of OMP who sold books but didn't pay authors--she continues, apparently, to write for Loose Id and Siren. She adds: "Why would you know that this person has deceived people, stolen from people and have her around?" Is there an obligation to avoid publishing a writer who has been less than honest in her publishing endeavours? I genuinely don't know. I think publishing her maybe isn't a good look fir them whether it is technically okay or not, but they know the name being signed to their contract so I guess it's their call.

Edited again to add this response from Siren (see comment below)

"Hello, We want to set the record straight with regards to Essence. Essence does not write for Siren Publishing. We dropped her on March 25th once we discovered her legal name in her signed contracts is fake. Unfortunately, we do not keep track of who is who and do not always know who is hiding behind false information, but in this case we considered the contracts invalid as soon as we found out. Rest assured, we do not support misconduct in this industry where we value our authors and our readers. Sincerely, Diana DeBalko (aka Amanda Hilton), Publisher, Siren-BookStrand, Inc., www.sirenbookstrand.com "

Missed Ocean's Press?--veinglory

As of right now Ocean's Mist Press seems to be back online. Some authors are reportedly not impressed. More information as it comes to hand.

From other blogs: Author Crusader.

Boojums--veinglory

It seems to me that e-publishers close in one of two ways, snark or boojum. Snark is the online equivalent of a grenade that goes off distributing blame, acrimony and badly spelled rants in all directions. And boojum? Well, I think Lewis Carroll put it best:

" 'But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day,
If your Snark be a Boojum! For then
You will softly and suddenly vanish away,
And never be met with again!'

So: Boojum [n] an epublisher that softly and suddenly vanishes away. e.g. Ocean's Mist. (or was that one a stealth snark that just stayed off fully public forums?)

The latest vanishing acts seem to be Tree Press? Any ideas what happened there?

Make with the Goss--veinglory

Seriously people, make with the goss.

Ocean's Mist press really is dead, right? The website is down, their books are no longer listed at Fictionwise. They were not considerate enough to make with the online histrionics before collapsing into a messy and protracted bankruptcy (seriously, have they no respect for the needs of bloggers!) but it would be nice to know whether authors were paid and had their rights returned and everything tied up neatly.

And Venus, I know some of you must have the goss on that! I am still assuming the website is a Marie Celeste that reappeared somehow with no one at the helm. But I have learned not to under-estimate the stupidity-slash-audacity of owners of struggling epresses. Has anyone been back in touch with GoDaddy (who yanked the site in the first place)?

Finally, I need the sales figure goss. I need only 1-4 more book sales figures for the following presses before I post their figures: Amber Quill, Aspen Mountain Press, Changeling, Freya's Bower, Phaze, Whiskey Creek Press and Wild Rose. Just email first month's sales figures, and if you have it any higher totals (to date, first year). [veinglory at gmail.com]

In other, other news.

Well bugger me, has Ocean's Mist closed after all?

Fictionwise buys ereader.com

p.s. don't be too surprised if you can't get onto the Smart Bitches blog. The Cassie Edwards plagiarism story has hit the mainstream media and they are probably getting a little more traffic than their server is used to.