An Impotence of Communication

(Yes, I chose that word deliberately)

Well, as many may have heard, Noble Romance Publishing is going through a shake up. I am not going to directly talk about my opinions on that, except to say things are still in flux and nothing is resolved.

What I am going to talk about is the communications surrounding the situation. Particularly communications between authors at Noble Romance.

For many, the announcement that the Chief Editor was looking to take over the business was the first they realized that perhaps it wasn’t just their little bit of interaction with Noble which was not working the way they understood publishing companies work. One thing you have to understand is that, from what I’ve seen, for many of Noble Romance authors, it was their first, or only if they stayed with the company, publishing experience. They didn’t have anything to compare how they were being treated.

However, the announcement that someone realized things weren’t going quite the way they should and was seeking to remedy it, while raising awareness, also calmed down some of the concern. See? It’s going to get handled.

Then came the news that, no, there would not be a buyout, in fact the main contact for all of the authors was leaving.

Which lead to a variety of responses. And questions. Questions about who to contact, when royalties, which were already later than they typically are (but not as late as they sometimes have been) would be paid, and what was the plan going forward.

During this time, as authors expressed their dismay and concerns to each other, it became clear that many people were having various level of issues with responses from the company, most via their main contact with the company.

Suddenly all these authors realized that they were not alone in having communications issues with Noble Romance. Suddenly it’s no longer ‘just me’, it’s her, and her, and her, oh and him, and… a significant number. But not all, I don’t want to give that impression. There were definitely people with whom the company had maintained good communications.

It seems, though, that a lack of communications with many of its authors was not the only issue here. The parent company, from the lone email I’ve seen, was also left scrambling due to lack of notification of intent by their employee.

I’m sure both sides are feeling angry and mad and sad about the whole thing. Many authors took their voices and created a group where they could air their grievances, compare notes and discuss possible next steps. Steps which some took right away, while many collected the information and waited to see how the parent company would be handling things before making any kind of decision.

(For some reason someone in that group thinks it’s okay to share the venting people are doing, like this is high school and showing they know what the other group is ‘saying’ is cool and will win them brownie points in some adolescent vision of the world. It’s not high school it’s these people’s livelihoods, however whomever is doing this doesn’t have even have the guts to use their own name, so I can’t see them having the maturity to stop.)

So, for many of us it’s a wait and see situation. Will Noble come out whole on the other side? Will their stable of authors remain with them?

Rumor has it there will be an announcement Monday. While it might not be a crystal ball into the future, at least it’ll be a communication. Hopefully one of many going forward.

And I’ll be staying in touch with my fellow authors. Being out of communication with them has led to ignorance in the past, I’m not willing for that to happen again.

So, along with the majority of authors (or at least that is my impression), I’m waiting.

In the meantime, for those interested, links to some other blogs talking about the situation. I’m sure there will be more:

ETA another:
 Gianna Simone

I’m No Angel

Vacuous Minx
– also talks about posting information from the private authors group.

Brita Addams

Casey Harris
– nice hearing from someone who didn’t have problems.

J.S Wayne’s An Ig-Noble Letter