This post will briefly outline my experiences with Dreamspinner. A follow-up post will enumerate what will happen to my three DSP books.
This will be from the perspective of a small-time author. While I have dreams of hitting it big, and do my best to do that, I was never a big money-maker for DSP. This post will be fairly honest about that, but only to make it obvious that it should have been easy for DSP to pay me. Of course, given how opaque DSP's dealings were, I'm second-guessing everything now.
I published Freshman Blues with DSP in 2015. I got a $500 advance. I never saw money from that book directly--sales weren't good, and any royalties were eaten up by the advance.
I published The Stormlords with DSP in 2017, with an advance of $250--lower than before, but I assumed it was because my sales of my previous book weren't great. However, sales were fantastic for this one, as far as I could tell, and my amazon rankings looked great, routinely under 50k. However, my first paycheck after that was piddling, less than $100. I was pretty crushed and assumed I was misunderstanding Amazon's rankings. It was only the next quarter where I made almost 1k--a big deal for me! I assumed there was some delay and was happy for a while. The next quarterly payment was around $300. I was pretty pleased and began planning my next book with DSP.
It was around this time that I noticed sales being late. There were emails about problems sending payments and payment systems not working, but that it would be fixed soon. I would eventually get my money--not very much--a month or two after I expected it. Trickles from my other books with my other publisher, Extasy, were always right on time, so it became easy to compare their punctuality with DSP's lateness.
I didn't fully understand the danger signs yet, though. I submitted Thrall and planned the Lost Empire series with DSP, and awaited my October 2019 release. I got another $250 advance.
My advance came almost two months after I signed the contract, and I had to email to get it. Twice. I got concerned.
It was around this time I noticed the posts on twitter from other authors--late payments. I got emails from DSP about "not being worried," but naturally I got worried.
Around September the big names started pulling their books, reporting not being paid thousands for months. I got really worried, and I didn't know what to do. DSP promised nothing would happen, and that the situation "would be resolved." But I lost faith--I was owed money from my previous releases I wasn't seeing (and still have not seen). My blog tour and marketing for Thrall were nothing compared to what it had been for Stormlords. While Stormlords had 9 blog stops, Thrall had 4, one of which was a DSP blog post I wrote on request and submitted that never got posted. Not only was I not getting paid, it was clear DSP had no faith in my book. It's also possible that considering all the bad press, reviewers didn't want to work with them.
RWA dropped support for DSP, and my release date came and went. My book sold about 10 copies in three weeks, despite some very good reviews.
I decided to pull my books at that point. Even if I wanted to launch a marketing campaign of my own, the bad press with DSP had readers and reviewers avoiding them, for good reason. Instead of sales and comments on my marketing posts, I got DSP editors complaining they hadn't been paid for their work. I can't market effectively in that environment. I don't know what happened to DSP in between my release in 2017 and now, but it made a huge impact on my ability to sell books. Of course, even if I had gotten sales, I wouldn't have seen the money. So, silver lining?
I do wish DSP the best. I had one successful book with them, and I wish my latest had the same treatment. But it is what it is. I hope for the sake of the authors remaining with them that DSP pulls through, but the risk of bankruptcy and my three books being tied up in bankruptcy court was too high. I didn't write these books so no one could see them.
For now, I am still trying to decide what to do with my three books. In the meantime, if you want to support me, please check out my novella-sized M/M erotica from Extasy books:
If you like steampunky fantasy with a dom/sub twist:
The 10-book Enforcer's series at Extasy books or Amazon
If you like high fantasy in an ocean setting:
The Waterlord Trilogy at Extasy books or Amazon
If you like futuristic sci fi with war and cyborgs:
Remembrance and Perils of Forgotten Pain duology at Extasy books or Amazon
