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.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

A month into unemployment and I no longer feel like I'm simply on vacation. The transition wasn't as hard as I thought it would be – though saying goodbye to the best boss I ever had and my other colleagues was difficult. The extra month of working did a lot for my self-esteem, that's for sure. It was a reminder that I was a vital part of a successful business group who did things others couldn't – and we were one of the leanest-staffed groups and operated in a super cost-effective manner. Sigh. All good things do come to an end.

In any case, I've spent the last month catching up on household chores that had long fallen by the wayside (cleaning and organizing closets, cabinets, etc.), being a SAHM and all the tasks and errands that go along with that.

And writing. I'm back in medieval England again. The intentions were to get started on my planned Viking books, but the third Warrior book, Warrior's Possession, took over instead. My long-time critique partners know this book under a different title, and I never thought I'd ever attempt to get it out there again. But with the last two Warrior books, it made sense to go back and see how it all began.  And that's when all the changes started. I knew I'd have to make some drastic revisions, but it seems I'd forgotten more about this book than I remembered. Not to mention finding a plot point that affected the other two books.

Gillian Marlowe is given in marriage by King Edward to one of his favorite earls. Royce Langley, known as The Panther, wants no part of marriage – he doesn't trust women in general, but in order to subdue the Welsh rebellion for good, he has no choice. And the only way he can gain the estate is by marrying its daughter. Of course, discovering his bride is half-Welsh and is apparently keeping secrets, won't make gaining these lands very easy on him.

In the book's original incarnation, Royce was a much kinder hero. I've toughened him a bit, and given him some very naughty ideas on how to deal with his rebellious wife. Gillian, adept at using a longbow and an accomplished falconer, does not like having her freedom curtailed. Both find themselves attracted to the other, but neither wants to give in. Of course. ;)

Most women in the medieval era were, unfortunately, objects to be used by the men in their lives. But in actuality, there were some very powerful women who made their own choices and gained their own power. Eleanor of Aquitane, queen to two kings and the mother of two more, had political clout of her own and wielded it wisely.  Queen Margaret of Norway was not a woman to be dismissed, either – she united three Scandinavian kingdoms. There was Isabella, the wife of Edward II – she used her position to usurp her husband's power and eventually have him murdered. And there were several other unmarried noblewomen who held land and could wield as much power as their male counterparts – depending, of course, on the benefits their holdings provided the king. Power was one thing, respect another, and the two didn't always come together in a neatly wrapped package.

Gillian is cut from the same mold as some of those women – she will defend her home and her people, to the death if necessary, and fight for her own freedom. Of course, her husband doesn't think she has the right to do so, so this naturally leads to some very interesting confrontations. And if you're familiar with my other books, whether they be the Warrior books or others, you know how my heroes handle their women!

The difference in this book is, I think, that while Gillian was married off without her having any say in the matter, technically, she isn't being held captive, at least in the typical sense. So even though she's strong and capable, in a way, she is still trapped. Often, marriage or the convent were the only choices for many noblewomen, and once there, no way out. So amid the clutter of the contrived and drawn-out plot devices I've been deleting, a stronger Gillian has emerged, and in challenging her husband, she has created a fiery situation that neither may survive. Of course they will, if nothing else, all of my books have an HEA. They're romances! It's getting to that happy ending that's the fun part!

In any case, some very powerful historical women  have helped me shape Gillian into the character she has now become. Even some more modern than just those from her time. Which women inspire you?

Run, Don't Walk, from Noble Romance

Well, here we go again. The CEO of Noble Romance Publishing, Jean Gombart, continues to lie about how he and the company are treating their authors.

The latest comments from Mr. Gombart now appear on Piers Anthony's site. Clearly, Mr. Gombart is not telling the truth in his comments. I am a perfect case in point.

I've chronicled the situation on my blog from the moment the whole mess began last July. Jill Noble left the company abruptly and with many issues unresolved. I didn't realize at first exactly how bad those issues were, having only experienced them for myself. Once the implosion occurred, and I heard from other authors, I realized that there were many more issues, far more grievous than mine.

In any case, I didn't know what to do. Things were going from bad to worse, and I wanted the rights to my two books back. But after continued silence from the remaining management at Noble, save for a "we got your email, understand your concerns and will get back to you" canned response, I was really starting to worry. Jim Noble, the owner of the business, made absolutely no attempt to reach out to anyone. Nothing at all.

In the meantime, Noble authors were subjected to threats and insults and general nastiness by Jill and her daughter on the loops. When it became clear we would not be swayed by these threats, they shut down the group. So we created our own, but of course, we also gained a spy or two who passed along everything that we shared on our PRIVATE loop.

Then came word that Noble hired Mr. Gombart. In his introductory email to the Noble authors, he invited us to reach out to him – he claimed he wanted to hear our concerns and issues and wanted to work with us to build up the business and maximize sales. I thought, okay, let's see what happens. I sent an email. I outlined all of my issues – the general concerns about the health of the business and the ability to turn it around (at that point, the company looked to be in complete tatters), the appalling treatment from existing Noble staff, my contract breaches, and my interest in seeing what his plans were to make things right. I received no reply.

Then I proceeded to hear what Mr. Gombart had to say to those people he did actually take the time to respond to. He was "going to teach authors to behave," and "there are no breaches as far as we are concerned."

I was dumbfounded. Really? Granted, most of my breaches are minor, easily resolved. However, in the case of each book, I am owed back royalties. It's not much, and again, easily resolved. Still, owing an author the royalties due them is a major breach of contract. I began to get angry. So I revised my email outlining my concerns, and sent it off in a certified letter, which the contracts – offered and signed by Noble Management, Jill Noble-Shearer at that time – required in order for Noble to review the issues. The clause also gave Noble 90 days to respond and resolve the issues. If they did not, at the end of the 90 day period, I was within my rights to terminate my contracts.

Needless to say, Noble didn't respond. So at exactly 90 days from the date Noble received my letter (I have proof of delivery), I sent off another certified letter terminating my contracts. Again, nothing. My books remained on Noble's site, Amazon, B&N, ARe and Bookstrand. My piss-poor formatted print version of In the Devil's Arms also remained for sale, though its ridiculous $19 price has ensured I haven't sold a single one of those. Healing the Mage never made it to print – oh, wait, is that another breach?

In any case, I proceeded to follow-up with weekly emails to Mr. Gombart. I quoted the contract clauses, pointed out that I knew he had received my letters, and that he was now required by those contract clauses to remove my books from all sites and provide me with a letter stating that all rights have reverted to me. I reminded him that I owned the copyrights on the books, not Noble, and he was now infringing on my copyrights. Now some authors actually spoke on the phone with Mr. Gombart, but for me, that has been an impossibility. I work full time and have two school-age children. The time I have available to devote to such calls would have to come at hours when Noble's business day is over. That situation will be changing very very soon, however, and I do believe it's time for Mr. Gombart to see that I am indeed real. After all, who wrote the two books that he refuses to take down? Regardless, until now, my only method of communication was sending emails and certified letters.

And I'll admit it, I was angry. The tone of my emails was professional, but there was no question that I was pissed off. I've never had any response to any of my communications. My books are selling next to nothing. I'm a non-entity to Noble.

I'll also admit, I have publicly tweeted about these unethical business practices. I've commented on Facebook, on various Noble-sanctioned loops (though I've since been banned from those for daring to speak the truth – heaven forbid other authors see the reality of working with Noble), anywhere I can. Absolute Write. SFWA. I gave Piers Anthony my side of the story, proving the lies Mr.Gombart is trying to pass off as truth.  I filed a grievance with RWA – Noble ignored their letter too. I've looked into legal assistance, and that is likely where this is headed, though the process is slow because of other issues. But it is far from forgotten or over – Noble continues to infringe on my copyrights by refusing to take down my titles, refusing to respond to me in any way, and refusing to pay the back-owed royalties.

And it’s time that everyone knows the truth, despite whatever denials Mr. Gombart and Noble may state. Noble Romance Publishing and Jean Gombart have treated authors with a total lack of respect, contract clauses are outright ignored and he is lying when he says all letters have been responded to.

There are other things that I've seen and heard as well, and they are just as appalling as the way I've been treated. However, they are not my stories, so I can't speak to them.

Here's a link to Brita Addams' blog, detailing her horror story. http://britaaddamsblog.blogspot.com/p/noble-romance.html?zx=f33f2fca1680bef1

And here's a link to Margie Church's blog talking about her Noble nightmare:

http://authormargiechurch.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/un-noble-behavior/

You can read about Kari Gregg's POD disaster here:  http://www.karigregg.com/?p=1729

If anyone else wants to share a link, let me know and I'll add it – I know there are others who are in a similar, and in some cases, worse situations.