PageTurner Press CEO agrees to $48.7 million restitution
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R. S. Breed Founder
Via a guest post on Writer Beware: PageTurner Press's CEO signed a plea deal and agreed to an order of about $48.7 million in restitution. The case involved nearly 900 writers and more than $48 million.
Nearly nine hundred writers. That's not one bad actor picking off a few unlucky people. That's an operation.
Agreeing to restitution is not the same as people getting paid back, and the guest post itself doubts much will be recovered, since most of the money went offshore. But a plea deal on the record counts for something. It makes it much harder for the next outfit to wave off complaints as a few disgruntled authors.
For everyone else, the rules haven't changed:
- Money flows to the author. A publisher, agent or marketer who needs a big payment up front is selling you a service at best.
- A company that has "discovered" your book and contacts you out of the blue is a red flag, not a lucky break.
- Search the company name alongside "scam" and "Writer Beware" before you reply. Not after you've paid.
If you were caught up in PageTurner: this isn't a character flaw. These operations are professional, and they're good at what they do.