@bookstodon Read a letter from authors affected by the collapse of Unbound in The Bookseller this week:“What Unbound’s demise has shown, to a quite alarming degree, is how little tangible, active advocacy is available to authors in this situation … As authors, all we expected was for our books to be published in line with Unbound’s stated mission – and for their sales and profits to be honestly and accurately reported. Readers simply expected the bare minimum any customer expects from any business; delivery of the product they had paid for.”
#unbound #Boundless #publishing #bookstodon
https://www.thebookseller.com/comment/the-unbound-authors-view?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Bluesky#Echobox=1751031854

#PSA: authors and writers, If you don't follow the Writer Beware blog, you may want to start now: Victoria Strauss is a great source to learn about the scum looking to defraud you--from bogus 'marketing' packages that cost you money and do nothing for you, to outright fraudulent publishers--like Unbound has proven to be.

#Unbound #UnboundPublishing #Boundless #Scams #PhoenixScam

https://writerbeware.blog/2025/06/06/bankruptcies-of-unbound-and-albert-whitman-co-put-authors-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place/

Laura Kate Dale says there are rumours that Unbound was expecting a big investment and decided to pre-spend it by dipping into author royalties.

Chuck, author of Bird Brain, didn’t even get the email telling them they weren’t getting paid.

Brian Bilston, poet, is owed an unspecified amount.

Daniel Hardcastle, author of The Paradox Paradox

Tom Cox, author of many books, published seven through Unbound.

Small Robots, who I think published a picture book of their art work

Russell Jones, who wrote The Decade in Tory: An Inventory of Idiocy from the Coalition to COVID

Alex de Campi, who wrote The Scottish Boy

Laura Kate Dale, who wrote Gender Euphoria

Aaron Reynolds of Effin’ Birds is owed £75k, including royalties paid by a US publisher to Unbound.

I supported several books through Unbound, bought others, and borrowed some from my library. Seeing how they’ve shafted so many people out of so much money, I’m really feeling like I participated in this scam. It’s awful. I’ve lined the coffers of management at the expense of the authors.

That leaves authors having to choose between:
A. Playing nice and letting #Boundless keep selling their books, hoping they’ll someday get some of the money they’re owed (while allowing that figure to increase daily); or
B. Claiming rights reversion on the basis of nonpayment, thereby cutting their losses to an entire year’s worth of income and having to start fresh on their own.

And #Boundless are stringing these authors along. Saying things like: We feel terrible so we’ll make goodwill payments of as much of your outstanding royalties as we possibly can.

I know it's bad form to post links to Bluesky, but one of the authors owed several thousand dollars by #Unbound has found a clause in their contract that means the new (and ever more fucked up) #Boundless doesn't own their work.

Please read this thread by Alex De Campi:

https://bsky.app/profile/alexdecampi.bsky.social/post/3lqf5xjkqok2u

And if you were thinking about working with #Boundless or its principals: don't. #Scam

@romancelandia @bookstodon