Updates and Other News

It’s been a crazy few weeks – what else is new? For those who know me well, the annual July 4^th celebration went off with mostly no hitches and was a rousing success. I enjoyed catching up with those I don’t see often, but who are very dear to me. Wish I had the stamina to do it more often!

In any case, that’s not all the news I have to share. Warrior’s Wrath, book two in the Warrior’s trilogy, has been officially accepted by Pink Flamingo. I’m very excited about this story, as I once again get to revisit characters I have written before and adore. Warrior’s Wrath is about Rowan Langley, Marissa’s brother from Warrior’s Vengeance. Rowan discovers something about himself at the very beginning that makes him question who he really is and his anger at those who have betrayed him affects everything he does. When he encounters Aeron, a thief who stole his coin, he decides to take her as his slave for repayment of the debt. Yet when he learns Aeron is fleeing a murder charge, he finds himself feeling a very different set of emotions. Aeron, on the other hand, is irresistibly drawn to the man holding her captive, despite his harsh treatment. Throw in Rowan’s best friend, who takes a much kinder approach, and Aeron is caught up in their wicked ways and finds herself losing her heart to them.

I’m hard at work on book three in this trilogy too. Warrior’s Possession is more of a prequel to the previous two books, as it tells the story of Gillian and Royce Langley, two characters I brought to life nearly twenty years ago. I’ve re-written the book extensively, and have also come to discover that Royce’s already dominant personality is perfectly suited to the changes I’ve made. I can’t wait to finish that and send it off. I’ve really enjoyed writing in this time period and I definitely have plans to visit it again in the future.

Additionally, the third Marchand book, Regine’s story, has been accepted by Sizzler Editions. I am STILL lost as to a title for this one, but I’m sure I’ll figure one out well before the release. Regine is a domme, but encounters a man who makes her want to submit. It throws her whole sense of self into turmoil, but what fun it was to write her story and have her discover new things about herself. Being an Enchantress from a powerful magical family has given her a healthy dose of pride and confidence that is shaken in many ways, and reinforced in others. Cameron McIntyre is the perfect man for her, she just has to realize and accept it. It’s a fun ride, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading their story as much as I did writing it.

Summer vacation has taken its toll on productivity, but the routine is settling now, so I’m hoping to step up the pace again and get working on my Vikings tales. Researching these books has been the most I’ve done on these stories so far, but once Warrior’s Possession is complete, I should have enough to get started. Until I find other things that need clarification, as is usually the case. The toughest thing is getting the language/dialect down. I’m going to need to re-watch Vikings from the History Channel to remind myself of a few things. I don’t think I’m going to mind that!:)

Keep an eye out for further release information, and covers and the like - I'll share all that the moment I have it!

Lies and More Lies

So here we go again. I feel like all I’ve been doing lately is complaining about Noble Romance. Not that I don’t have good reason, as has been outlined many times in previous posts. This time, though, things are a bit difference.

You see, about a month ago, Jean Gombart, the CEO of Noble Romance Publishing finally responded to me. TEN months after my first communication to him outlining my contract breaches, which included non-payment of back-owed royalties on both titles. But that wasn’t what spurred him to respond.

What prompted him to finally respond to me was the fact that he sent my royalty statements for May to someone else. He actually sent personal financial information that was for my eyes only to someone else. The carelessness of this action raised some very troubling concerns. Noble plays fast and loose with authors’ personal information. I have very real concerns that my personal identifying information is not being secured properly, leaving me vulnerable to some very real threats, such as identity theft.

In any case, once he responded, I immediately shot back that he had yet to address any of my breaches and other concerns. Do you know what he had the balls to respond with? That they researched my claim of owed royalties and found nothing. Yet, somehow, he never felt the need to tell me this. If he had, which I pointed out to him, he would have known the facts he had were incorrect, and this I place squarely on Jill Noble’s shoulders. All of the communications Jill and I had regarding the owed royalties was in Jill’s possession, and she never turned over any of her records to Noble Management when she flew the coop. However, I am a pack-rat and I save EVERYTHING. I pulled out all of the royalty statements, the email trails and all the proof I had that I was never paid.

I got another email, one I was not supposed to see. Gombart sent the email to his accounting staff to research and made the comment that if I was right, he’d have no choice but to return my rights. I knew I was right. However, in typical Noble fashion, they looked up one title and not the other and dared to tell me they’d give me the rights back to that one title only.

I don’t think so.

Needless to say, I once again provided him my proof that BOTH titles were owed royalties, and that all I would accept was the rights to both books back. Lo and behold, he admitted I was right. Here is the email trail where he admits I am correct and that he will return my rights:

From: Jean Gombart [mailto:jgombart@nobleromance.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2013 4:06 PM
To: Gianna Simone
Cc: renata@nobleromance.com; mary harris
Subject: RE: Status Update

Dear Gianna,

Renata did process all the # for In the Devil’s Arms also comparing your revenues against your advance and you are absolutely right. Faith in June 2011 did a mistake.

After reviewing all your accounts, we now show that we are owing you $10.40 royalties for “ Healing the Mage” and we are owing you $11.33 for “ In the Devil’s Arms”

Would you like to receive these amounts by PayPal or with a check to your attention.

We are very sorry for you to have to wait such a long time.

Please do accept our most sincere apologies.

Best Regards,

Jean Marc Philippe Gombart
CEO
Noble Romance Publishing
PO Box 467423
Atlanta, GA 31146

(e) jgombart@nobleromance.com

From: Gianna Simone [mailto:giannasimone@optonline.net]
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2013 5:16 PM
To: 'Jean Gombart'
Cc: renata@nobleromance.com; 'mary harris'
Subject: RE: Status Update

Thank you for your prompt response.

I do not want any payments or adjustments – I only want the rights to both titles reverted to me ASAP, a letter stating that the rights have been reverted and both titles removed from all sites where it is currently being sold. I believe I mentioned June 25 would provide ample time for that to be completed, though sooner is better.

Gianna Simone

From: Jean Gombart [mailto:jgombart@nobleromance.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2013 5:22 PM
To: Gianna Simone
Cc: renata@nobleromance.com; mary harris
Subject: RE: Status Update

Dear Gianna,

Thank you for your answer.

We will pay you anyway because this is contractually our obligation.

We will soon be sending you the paperwork for your release for both titles.

Best Regards,

Jean Marc Philippe Gombart
CEO
Noble Romance Publishing
 PO Box 467423
Atlanta, GA 31146
(e) jgombart@nobleromance.com

I love how he blames this on the woman who handled the royalties. Technically, it wasn’t her fault, she was never provided the information to make the adjustments (thanks again Jill Noble), and she left the company, no doubt because of all of this BS. But if he had bothered to respond to me last summer, he would have known right away, and he could have locked me into those contracts for their duration. Instead, he ignored me, and now he has to pay the consequences. I also love how he decided NOW he’s contractually obligated. What, he wasn’t bound by the contracts until I pointed out his error in sending my personal information to someone else? That’s not how business is done.

I gave Mr. Gombart until June 25 to provide my reversion of rights letters. Needless to say, I didn’t get them despite my repeated requests for updates. Since he once again refuses to respond to me, I began the process of advising vendors of DMCA copyright infringement, and I included both his email and my termination of contract letter from November of 2012. Almost every vendor complied without hesitation and removed my titles from their sites. I am still waiting to hear from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I realize they are slow with this sort of thing, so I anticipated they would take longer. However, I was advised to contact Ingram, as they supply many of the sites.

I contacted Ingram and they responded informing me they had to confirm with Noble first. Do you know what he did? He told them I am still under contract to them. So now it has been proven beyond any doubt whatsoever that Jean Gombart is NOT a man of his word. For someone who claims to be a Sorbonne-educated businessman, I find him to be unethical, unprofessional, arrogant and ridiculously stubborn. He has agreed to return my rights, yet continues to once again ignore me and pretend he made no such agreement. I have it in writing though. He cannot squirm out of this, even if he continues to drag his feet. In the corporate world, that email agreement is binding. He can stall and bury his head on the sand all he wants, he put it in writing that he would give me my rights back. Whatever games he tries to play, he cannot weasel out of the fact that he made a binding agreement, and put it in writing. That he refuses to once again uphold his end of the agreement only reveals his lack of morals and inability to speak the truth.

I urge any authors out there to avoid dealing with Noble in any way. You will only set yourself up for aggravation and lord only knows what else, not to mention, you could find yourself a victim of identity theft because they will not safeguard your information.

Not Conducive to Writing

When I started this blog, I wondered what I would talk about, and felt weird using it to talk about me. Yet, that seems to be exactly what happened. Guess I'm not as wary of sharing as I thought I'd be! :)

In any case, I suppose the title of this post could refer to any number of things. For me, it's the actual number of things going on that causes it. Since November, my average per day is running around only several hundred words a day, though I've made some editing/revision process on both WIPs. But the crazy life has gotten in the way – my two hours at night have been lackluster, both because I have other, more urgent things that need my attention or I'm so exhausted.

First we had our Disney trip, which is recounted elsewhere on the blog, then my son's birthday, then the holidays were upon us. Usually a tough time to get writing done between working and prepping for all that, but I tend to make up for it during the week my office closes for winter break. Not this year.

This year's winter break consisted of prep for my daughter's Sweet 16 party (which is a few hours away now!). These days, a Sweet 16 is much like a wedding – you rent a hall or catering facility, get a DJ, photographer, flowers, favors and the like. We're having a candle ceremony, so you need a fancy candelabra (thank you Name With Flame – you bailed my ass out big time!). There's invitations to send, and logging response cards, then seating arrangements, picking out specific songs (for each candle recipient, the video/photo montage of daughter's life, and the father/daughter dance), deciding on the menu, and so much more. At least, this has given me some experience for when the day comes to plan a real wedding!

Since January, I've made several trips to the pediatrician with both kids – recurring bronchitis, stomach issues, etc. That's been weighing on me a bit – this season, we've so far avoided the flu (only half of us got flu shots) but seem to have been hit with everything else. Was just there again last night and wouldn't you know, day before the big bash, she's got bronchitis AGAIN!

Add to all that, the turmoil at the day job. Again, I addressed this in another post, but as each day passes, the fact that I will be losing my job at a company I worked at for 24 years becomes more of a reality. And while I do have excitement about the possibilities, especially as they pertain to my writing, I am also dealing with great sadness. My boss is my friend as well, and has been the best boss I think I've ever had. My "little group that could" has been a family outside of the home and we truly enjoy working together (with the exception of a couple batshit crazy ones. I'm sure many of you have seen my tweets of pure frustration and aggravation). It's a bit freaky knowing that comfort zone will soon be gone. That's where I go to keep my sanity and my brain sharp – it's sort of an escape from the home insanity, and the 8 hours a day are just enough to keep a sort-of balance between my various worlds.

So my progress has been minimal on the writing front (I know, in some ways I let it be that way, but my head can only handle so much without exploding), but I am consoling myself with the fact that it IS progress, no matter how slow. One by one, various obstacles will fall away, leaving me with less turmoil to deal with. I've lived through periods like this before, and I know how it ends up on the other side – usually with a book or two finished and another one or two underway.

Now THAT's something to look forward to!