The Little Engine That Couldn't

After a long hard debate, a miraculous effort on my part to be patient and understanding, I have come to the end of my rope and will be silent no longer about the train wreck that is Cacoethes Publishing.

First, let me say I have all the respect in the world for the bold upstarters of ebook companies. It takes a lot of courage, hard work, dedication, and insight into the publishing market and its readers. There are a lot of fly-by-night companies that have to close their door almost as soon as they open. Dreaming is nice, but you have to have a plan. Cacoethes was built on sandcastles and fluffy clouds. It was too hollow to hold up under the pressure and now the CEO won't even own up to the dream that turned into a nightmare.

I say it is a nightmare because what else could you call such unprofessional behavior? In the following list I will break down the things that have gone on in this company since signing my contract.

1. The first sign I naively ignored was bad editors. Back in 2007 they hired a woman who helped me edit my first book Torn. If anyone has ever read Torn they may find it an enjoyable read, but it is littered with grammar and continuity issues that should have been caught in the editing process. I even had to go back and have books pulled off the virtual shelves to have more editing done. What you are seeing is 'actually' vastly improved.

2. Firing and Hiring. The CEO, Denise Mosely, has gone through at least four personal assistants, who knows how many editors,two bookeepers(as far as I know) and even about three web masters.I have had a different editor--fresh off the hiring block--for all four of my releases with them.

3. Late issues. Cacoethes has never been on time with book releases, sales reports, or payments. As a matter of fact they owe me about four or five checks if not more right now. Cac has also been late in delivering orders on paperbacks for customers and authors who had book signings. I never would do a book signing as a author for them for this very reason.

4. Hidden Fees. Cacoethes released a notice to all their authors almost a year after they opened their doors to tell us about these new fees that would come out of our paychecks.(Our nonexistent paychecks)

5. Site upkeep. Take a look for yourself at the poorly organized site(The banner at the top is a St. Patrick's banner.They used it in March, but now they just turned it gray and white and posted it again.) There used to be author bios but I don't know what happened to them. There used to be a guest book but the customers and authors posted so many complaints on it that they had it removed.

6. Cac used to have a (virtual) magazine called Lotic back in 2007 and early 2008 but the magazine only had about four issues. I suspect it was too costly for them to keep up. I won't begrudge them the fact that the few issues they released were pretty nicely done, if as poorly edited as their books, but having a outdated magazine on their site about six months after its release did not make us look professional at all.

7. No customer service. I cannot tell you how many customers emailed me about not being able to get in touch with anyone when they did not receive their orders or they could not navigate the site well. I usually pointed them in the All Romance Ebooks direction--who also distribute my ebooks.

8. Inconsistency. At first Cac had a model for book prices according to their length which they NEVER stuck by. However, the prices have become more outrageous--jacked up by fifty cents to a dollar or lowered by the same degree. There is no ryhme or reason for what they are doing. They notify no one about their changes.


With all this said I ask that any readers of my books do not hand another dollar to this company. I cannot ask for other authors because I don't know if they are getting paid. I'M NOT GETTING PAID! Cacoethes has a sale going on for $2 right now on EVERY book, no matter how long or short. Folks are calling it a firesale and maybe it is, but I urge you to not pay them a single dime of your hardearned money. I do not begrudge you readers who have already purchased my books any of your enjoyment. I thank you for your support and appreciate every one of you. You can expect to see me under honest and reputable publishers from now on. I'm over at Total-E-Bound if you need to find me.

Me and Cac are through.

You can also find out more about how bad it is over a Cac on Writer's Beware.