Remember Circle Dark Publishing? I briefly mentioned it in a recent blog entry as a platform to flog my self-righteous but so pretty horse to death but for some reason two of the people behind the publishing house decide to storm the castle gates with their Encyclopedia of Ways on How to Look Stupid, all six volumes of them. I don't want to make fun of them because I'm sure they are earnest in what they do, but really, I think people should know what they are getting into when they get published with these fellows. Their responses reveal that they at the very least behave online like every other small minnow fools in the epublishing business out there. Bringing up personal issues in what is supposed to be a professional business matter? It's here. Putting words in other people's mouth to make them come off the like bad guys? It's here. Not even reading properly my blog entry before imagining that I am hating on them? It's also here.
This is "CDP Sabrina" in the comments section:
It's always amazing to me how people's first reaction is to insult and belittle. You don't know us. You could have asked for an interview. Instead, you choose to demean what we're doing without trying to know us as people, or as business people. In the end, though, that’s all right, because we are going onward anyway, and you getting the name of Circle Dark Publishing out there will only help.
Oh honey, if that is the case, Gail Northman and AP Miller will be superstars by now.
But most worrying is the response by big boss "Heidi McVay", whose attempt to portray the company in a positive light by insisting that there is a business plan instead backfires and makes the whole thing seem even more like a house of cards standing in the way of a hurricane. Thankfully, the word count limitation cuts off Heidi before she ends up stuffing her leg into her mouth right up to the knee.
It stuns me the lengths you will go to in order to make your point. Not once did CDP receive any contact from you regarding this matter. Thus, you don't know the reason why we have dayjobs or why we used money out of our own pockets to start the company.
To assume that we are in the to rip people off, is a slanderous accusation at best, and a blatant lie at worst.
To set the record straight, we pay out of out own pockets so that when that first book went live for sale, we started off in the black. How many small businesses can say that they did that? Every dime we make, according to our rather detailed business plan, goes back into the company for the first five years. This means we have no loans to default on, no credit cards to pay, and no investors to disappoint if we fail save ourselves.
Honesty and integrity are intrinsic to our mission, and yes, in our eyes, it is a revolution. If we succeed, we do so on our own merit. And if we fail, we know we have done our very best. And that is more than some small publishers can say in this world. To assume ill motive is natural I know, but to infer such without even attempting to get the truth is not only insulting, it's also just plain wrong.
As to the topic of dayjobs, yes, we do work. We do not rely on others to support us. Sabrina works in the health industry and I have taken this year off to deal with matters of an intensely personal nature. Namely, two failed adoptions. So I'm sure you can see how delicate a balance we must maintain, and I believe that any of the authors who work with us will agree that we maintain it well.
In the future, I'm sure that other companies would agree, that criticism is not only acceptable to a new business, but it's also craved. However, criticism is not what you have done here. Here, you have painted us as thieves who are only out for profit. And that is simply not true.
I wish you well and certainly hope that you will do your research a little more thoroughly in
You've been warned, people. They are operating on a "delicate balance". They said it, not me. And judging from their "professional" responses, I don't think they know what they are doing, at least when it comes to doing things professionally. But I can be wrong. Who wants to place bets as to how long these guys will be around?
Bravenet Blog 
Blog Community
Get a Free Blog
Manage your Blog
bravenet.com