Attacked by the Penguin

I got in touch with Author Solutions by completing their online form. My message to them asked the following question: why is Vesta Publishing listed on Amazon as the publisher of my two titles in paperback when this is not the case?  It also asked: why, since Vesta Publishing is an imprint of AuthorHouse (and AuthorHouse is part of Author Solutions) did AuthorHouse deny all knowledge of Vesta, when I rang them up to enquire?

To date I have received no reply.

I rang AuthorHouse – see previous post – and now I have received an email from them. Marcus Montegrande (for it is he) ignores my issues however. His reply bears no relation at all to the discussion I had with Chanel (see previous post). It behaves as if I have asked to be published by them (far from it). Obviously I can't disseminate the email but this paraphrase is the gist:
OK, Marcus, over to you:

Dear Frances,
Welcome to AuthorHouse, the world's most experienced and trusted leader in the self-publishing industry.

Hello, Marcus.  As you are a senior Publishing Consultant

 and also a Supervisor, I hope that you can sort out this disturbing muddle.

You requested information on publishing  ...

No I didn't.

Based on the information you provided, we were selected as a good match for what you are interested in.

Er... probably so - I'm sure you are a very good publisher - 
BUT -  I rang your number from the website and spoke to Chanel 
and she was concerned at the problem I raised
 and said someone would get back to me and clarify the situation.

AuthorHouse is one of the world's largest self-publishing companies.... AuthorHouse who has pioneered self-publishing for the past 15 years, have earned...

Hang on, your subject is singular and your verb is plural in that last bit, Marcus...

 ...the trust and confidence...

Marcus! Stop! What about my question 
and the issue I raised about Vesta Publishing?

...of over 90,000 authors, giving birth to over 140,000 book titles... authors are first time authors and others have already ...have an undying passion for ...deprived the chance...politicians and experts of their field who want to share...rejected because ...is "not good for our business". AuthorHouse is a self-publishing company. We will turn...

Yawn. I saw this on the website...

 ...your manuscript into...investment on your part...retain full ownership and copyright of your work. You will make the key decision from... the book to look like. AuthorHouse uses print-on-demand technology...

Yawn...

...  books will be delivered fresh to...eliminates the need for substantial ... inventory, distribution and warehousing. Here's what's in it for you:

Zzzzzzz What? Sorry - drifted off there. 
This is nothing to do with what I talked on the phone about, Marcus. 
Chanel said someone would get in touch to sort my problem out; 
the problem that one of your imprints - Vesta Publishing
(well Amazon says so) claims to be my publisher. 
You are not actually sorting it out, Marcus.

• .....personal attention with your own professional team of designers and consultants.

Yikes! Bullet points!

• ...you control and experience you want for publishing.
• ...retain the rights to your work so you are not tied down to any strings...

Good point Marcus! Being tied down to any strings is always a thing I have feared. 

• Your book will be in print forever because of Print-On-Demand technology.

Forever? How ghastly! 

Marcus - they have trained the common sense out of you 

and you have let them do it for the money. 

Wake up and resign and go to work for your local independent  bookshop...

 ...Please let me know when a good time/ date would be to review this information ... with you. Alternately...

Sorry to interrupt Marcus. You mean 'alternatively' there...

...you can reach me through ....

Yes...

 ...email.

I absolutely will do one of those things - no - both of them, Marcus. 
Because why haven't you answered the question I asked? 
How come your subsidiary, Vesta Publishing, says on Amazon
 that it publishes my titles in paperback? It doesn't. 
I am published in paperback by Wordclay ONLY. 
And Wordclay has gone out of business. 
And I have an email from them
 saying that I now have NO PUBLISHER in paperback
 and will have to start again from scratch.

I look forward to speaking with you!

Me too!

Sincerely,

Marcus

So What am I going to do? Why won't they answer?
They can't just carry on saying they are my publisher can they? They are NOT!!
Wordclay is. Was. They have gone out of business.
This is part of Penguin.
That's the thing that is so hard to accept.
Penguin.
Which published all my favourite books when I was little. And when I was at university.
Actually - all my life until now.
So Penguin, in a way, are trying to put one over on me and they won't talk to me about it so far. Sigh.

Wordclay speak to me from the grave

Not from this grave!  - this is Mum's

Last week, having found out that the publishing companies: AuthorHouse, Vesta Publishing, Lightning Source and the now defunct Wordclay, were all part of the Author Solutions empire, I used their online form to communicate the following message:

Re: ASIN: 1604818743 The Glassblower's Daughter 
Dear Author Solutions,Can you confirm you are the publisher of the above item which is one of two titles that I published with Wordclay? I am having difficulty understanding how Wordclay went out of the business without telling me who I now need to deal with to get information about how my titles are selling. Amazon have investigated the mystery and they tell me that AuthorHouse publish my title. But when I rang AuthorHouse yesterday, they denied any knowledge of either of my titles.

I did not get any reply that day or the next and was also busy trying to talk to Amazon and the other players listed above (see previous post).

But today Hurrah! I got a message from Wordclay. The message above had been forwarded to them perhaps ( I am guessing) and they said: to paraphrase:

Greetings Frances,
We were your publisher but we have closed for business now so now you have no publisher. We have asked all resellers to cancel your titles but it might take a while so your books might still be available for a short while. Final accounts will be settled before April. 
Best wishes
Wordclay

Phew - what a relief. So if I want to carry on having a paperback version of my books I will need to sort out some other arrangement. I wonder why Wordclay couldn't have sent a message like that when they made their announcement about closing down, back on December 4th.
But there remains an unanswered question which is this: how come Vesta Publishing and AuthorHouse are listed on Amazon.co.uk and on BooksEtc as being the publisher of my titles when they are not?
Amazon.com, I should make clear, has continued to list Wordclay as the publisher.
I assume that the answer is really simple. But if it is, why don't the companies listed know what it is? They don't even seem to talk to each other let alone to me.

Aaarghhh!! Something weird is going on

I have been on the phone to Chanelle in the USA for 40 minutes now and she is as puzzled as I am.
'I'm gonna put you on hold...'
Chanelle is from AuthorHouse Publishing.... she has gone off to speak to someone. I'm shivering (because I've got a temperature) and I've put the phone on loudspeaker so I can wrap the sofa blanket round me and snuggle while I wait.  I am beyond puzzled. I am disturbed. Is foul play going on?  I have been having an alarming exchange of emails with Amazon. Amazon list my paperbacks as being published by a Vesta Publishing who I have never heard of....
'Are you still there Ma'am?'
Hell yes - and Chanelle sounds disturbed now.
'Ma'am did you say that you have an email from Amazon that says Vesta Publishing are affiliated to us?'
'Yes.'
'Could you send that to me please?'
'OK'.

So I forward the relevant exchange of emails to AuthorHouse. The gist of those messages is as follows:

Me to Amazon 10 January 2013:

Dear Amazon,
I rang AuthorHouse yesterday. They agreed that they were part of Author Solutions but denied that either of my titles was published by them and said my ISBN numbers were not on their records. The person I spoke to did not know Vesta publishing.
Have you asked AuthorHouse if they are my publisher? Who am I to believe - you, who say they are, or them, who deny it?
There is a disturbing lack of transparency here and I am very confused and upset. Please ask them why they deny being my publisher even though you list them as my publisher and see what they say. I would like you to report back to me what the results of that would be. I am not satisfied that you have investigated this fully. There is too much discrepancy. It is suspicious.
Best wishes
Frances

On 10 January Amazon answered. This is a summary of their message:
We can't take down the titles you asked us to remove based on what you've said to us so far.  Wordclay was affiliated to Author Solutions and it has gone out of business. Vesta Publishing is one of AuthorHouse's imprints and both are affiliated to Author Solutions. So your rights aren't being infringed. Contact any of these companies if you want to get to the bottom of this, - or get yourself a lawyer.

Now that IS alearming. Help!