Garrison Keillor and Authors Guild insiders lament decline of New York literary elite

Author, satirist amd radio personality Garrison Keillor just had a humorous column lamenting the decline of the sacred New York literary elite printed in the . . . Baltimore Sun: “When everyone's a writer, no one is.” The funniest part of Keillor’s anti-self publishing piece is the opening:

"In New York the other night, I ran into my daughter's favorite author, Mary Pope Osborne, whose "Magic Tree House" books I've read to the child at night, and a moment later, Scott Turow, who writes legal thrillers that keep people awake all night, and David Remnick, the biographer of President Barack Obama. Bang bang bang, one heavyweight after another. Erica Jong, Jeffrey Toobin, Judy Blume. It was a rooftop party in Tribeca that I got invited to via a well-connected pal, wall-to-wall authors and agents and editors and elegant young women in little black dresses, standing, white wine in hand, looking out across the Hudson at the lights of Hoboken and Jersey City, eating shrimp and scallops and spanikopita on toothpicks, all talking at once the way New Yorkers do."

What was the “rooftop party in Tribeca” that Keillor attended? The annual gala of the elitist Authors Guild, which Keillor conveniently neglects to mention. And who was the “well-connected pal” to whom Keillor refers? None other than the prairie homeboy himself, a longtime director of the affiliated Authors Guild Foundation who has contributed more than $20,000 to that organization since the year 2000.

[via Charles Tan of Bibliophile Stalker]

Legal dispute between "Ludington librarian" and PublishAmerica headed to civil jury trial

According to legal documents issued by the Circuit Court for Frederick County, Maryland, a contract dispute between Sally Stern-Hamilton, the notorious “Ludington librarian” who was fired from her job as an assistant at the public library in Ludington, Michigan, in the summer of 2008 after writing The Library Diaries, an unflattering book about the quirky and disreputable patrons with whom she interacted, and PublishAmerica, the infamous vanity press located in Maryland, is scheduled to be decided by a civil jury trial in late October 2010. Presumably, the dispute revolves around Stern-Hamilton’s book, which was written under a pseudonym and published by PublishAmerica in June 2008.

Self-publisher Lulu postpones $50 million IPO

Main Street readers interested in a share of the risks and rewards of the self-publishing explosion will have to wait a while longer. The Wall Street Journal and other sources reported last week that Lulu Ltd, a privately-held self-publishing company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, that maintains the popular Lulu.com website, has postponed its $50 million initial public offering (IPO). Financial losses, poor share pricing and a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange were among the main reasons for the postponement. Lulu is the brainchild of Bob Young, co-founder of Red Hat Inc, the well-known open-source software company.

PublishAmerica guy invented hexadecimal abacus, qualified to work at Goldman Sachs

Lawrence A. Clopper III is not only co-founder and co-owner of PublishAmerica, a controversial vanity press based in Frederick, Maryland, he is also co-inventor of the hexadecimal abacus. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Clopper and a colleague were granted patent number US4812124 in March 1989 for inventing the hexadecimal abacus. Here’s the abstract from the USPTO:

Hexadecimal Abacus

This abacus is an accurate instrument that is capable of performing complex arithmetic functions in the hexadecimal number system. Primarily, it consists of a frame having a multiple number of rods extending through a cross bar member, and eight beads are provided below the cross bar and three beads are provided above the cross bar. The value of the beads above the bar is eight and the value of the beads below the bar is one.

Presumably, inventing this revolutionary financial instrument means Clopper is well-qualified to work at Goldman Sachs.

POD dispute between PublishAmerica and Lightning Source will go to jury trial in 2011

According to a legal document issued late last month by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, the “Print on Demand Agreement” contract dispute between PublishAmerica (PA), a vanity press based in Frederick, Maryland, and one of its vendors, Lightning Source Inc. (LSI), a print-on-demand printer located in La Vergne, Tennessee, will be decided by a jury trial in September 2011. PA’s complaint (pdf) against LSI, filed on February 1, 2010, includes seven counts and asks for nearly $1 million in compensatory damages, punitive damages, costs, interest and attorney’s fees. LSI answered with a counterclaim (pdf), filed on February 25th.

Author Solutions executives trying to re-write personal horror stories into fairy tales

In a recent conversation about why just being good at your job is not enough, Keith Ogorek, senior vice president of marketing for the high-profile, Indianapolis-based, self-publishing firm Author Solutions Inc. (ASI), told CNN that more people are using self-publishing as a way of promoting their personal brand. Ironic, considering that two top executives at Author Solutions, president and chief executive officer Kevin Weiss and chief financial officer Kevin Gregory, are trying to re-write their own personal horror stories into fairy tales. You see, both Weiss and Gregory were accused of financial fraud in earlier chapters of their respective careers. To make a long story short:

• Kevin M. Weiss was fired as president of famed antivirus software maker McAfee in October 2006 in a scandal over accounting discrepancies in stock options grants. Weiss was exonerated of any wrongdoing and named as CEO of Author Solutions in December 2007.

• Kevin G. Gregory stepped down as chief financial officer of well-known information solutions company ProQuest in November 2005, shortly before a class-action lawsuit accused him and several other top executives of improperly editing the company's financial books. The lawsuit was settled and Gregory was named CFO of Author Solutions in October 2008.

Presumably, the personal stories that Weiss and Gregory are trying to re-write have similar plots: Grow Author Solutions. Avoid financial horrors. Accumulate fairy-tale wealth. Good luck, guys!

Sales consultants file lawsuit against Author Solutions Inc. over compensation

According to documents filed earlier this month in United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana, three inside sales consultants have filed a lawsuit against Author Solutions Inc., one of the country's largest self-publishing book operations, and its subsidiaries, AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, Trafford Publishing, and Wordclay, alleging that the defendants refused to pay them overtime compensation. The plaintiffs' complaint was filed on March 4, 2010, and the case is entitled Slavik, et al. v. Author Solutions, Inc., et al.

Notorious “Ludington librarian” in legal dispute with infamous PublishAmerica

According to legal documents filed with the Circuit Court for Frederick County, Maryland, Sally Stern-Hamilton, the notorious “Ludington librarian” who was fired from her job as an assistant at the public library in Ludington, Michigan in the summer of 2008 after writing The Library Diaries, an unflattering book about the quirky and disreputable patrons with whom she interacted, is involved in a contract dispute with PublishAmerica, an infamous vanity press located in Maryland. Presumably, the dispute revolves around Stern-Hamilton’s book, which was written under a pseudonym and published by PublishAmerica in June 2008. Stern-Hamilton’s initial complaint against PublishAmerica was dismissed by the court in December 2009, but she has just filed an amended complaint.

PublishAmerica sues Lightning Source Inc. over POD contract dispute

According to documents filed earlier this month in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, PublishAmerica (PA), a vanity press based in Frederick, Maryland, is suing one of its vendors, Lightning Source Inc. (LSI), a print-on-demand printer located in La Vergne, Tennessee, in a contract dispute over a “Print on Demand Agreement.” PA’s complaint (pdf), filed on February 1, 2010, includes seven counts and asks for nearly $1 million in compensatory damages, punitive damages, costs, interest and attorney’s fees. LSI answered with a counterclaim (pdf), filed yesterday, February 25th.