Piracy comes in all shapes and sizes these days and is a
means for one group unfairly and often unlawfully to extract money from
another. The rise in self-publishing has been seen as a great opportunity by more
than one very dodgy outfit. But it’s particularly sad to see that hitherto
respectable organisations are now allying themselves with these shysters.
Author @DavidGaughran takes the lid off the collaboration between the notorious Author Solutions and
Barnes & Noble in an excellent article entitled Barnes & Noble’s Dirty Little Secret.
Author Nate Hoffelder, editor of @InkBitsPixels raised concerns
last autumn in his article about Barnes & Noble in which he listed the
clues to Author Solutions' involvement along with Barnes & Noble’s shyness
in admitting who their partners were in this venture.
David Gaughran and Nate Hoffelder weren’t the only ones
raising concerns. Lawyer and blogger David Vandagriff also wrote last autumn about
the shortcomings of Barnes & Noble’s new scheme, noting that the ‘add-on
packages’ which started at an eye-watering $999 caused him ‘to think of Author
Solutions’
Barnes & Noble’s coyness in admitting who they were
dealing with rang alarm bells from the start. Author Solutions didn’t even get
a mention in their press release about their new author services. Could they have been unaware of the class action that has been running against AuthorSolutions since 2013? An unforgiveable lack of due diligence if they were.
No doubt Barnes & Noble have been feeling the pinch, but
scamming the authors who are the foundation of their business is not the way
forward.
