Non-returnable Book Scam Widens
by Kevin Howell -- Publishers Weekly, 3/30/2007 12:40:00 PM
An apparent scam that PW exposed in a story yesterday has turned out to be widespread, with booksellers from around the country and in Canada saying that they too were tricked into ordering non-returnable copies of a vanity press title.
The book is The Shortcut: 20 Stories to Get You from Here to There (Author Identity Press, $17.95 978-14243-2797-3 ). Yesterday PW reported on a bookseller who said a man identifying himself as Michael Evers called to request the book, leaving what turned out to be a fake phone number and credit card, and sticking the bookseller with the unwanted copies of the book. That article prompted more than a dozen other booksellers to come forward with their own stories of similar experiences with this title and the mysterious Michael Evers. Debbie Sporich, owner of The Bookstore in Dillon, Mont., took an order for two copies of the book just 10 days ago and recognized the customer’s fake name from the PW article. "I keep telling myself at least it wasn't 100 Bibles destined for Nigeria," she told PW. The book is a short story collection edited by Danna Curran. It features 20 short stories—most of them public domain tales from classic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Charlotte Bronte, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker. Sprinkled in this mix is a few current novice authors hoping to attract attention by being in such good company.Emails to Author Identity Press (the only way to contact the press) were not returned in time for this update. PW also tried to contact but got no response from Kevin A. Fabiano. Fabiano is one of the living authors in the short story collection. He is also the author of a POD novel that features a main character named Michael Evers.
Public relations managers for both Barnes and Noble and Borders said they hadn’t heard any complaints from stores. But a helpful bookseller at one B&N location in Manhattan was able to look the ISBN up and find out that seven nearby B&N stores had the self-published title in their inventory. The title was flagged on the bookseller’s screen as "Do not order." It was not found in inventory at three random Borders locations.
There has been confusion over whether Ingram will allow booksellers to get their money back on the title. Earlier today, Laura Lucy, owner of White Birch Books in N. Conway, NH, said she'd been in touch with the distributor and was told by a customer service agent she could return the books. She posted the news on a NEBA listserve, but was later contacted by an Ingram official who said booksellers were not being allowed to return the title. Contacted by PW, Ingram spokesperson Keel Hunt was unaware of the title or the apparent fraud.
