[EDITOR’S NOTE]
This post comes from a difficult time. There were many misunderstandings, none of which were helped by the geographic distances between all the parties involved. Anchorage – New York – Seattle isn’t always the best route to anything.
The good news is that everything was resolved quite to the satisfaction of all parties. Please see Getting to Go for the latest update.
This guy Flip Todd up in Alaska is quite the character [Ed. note: He’s a great guy, actually. You just have to get to know him, as I had the chance to in November 2013.]
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You may recall that a week or so ago, our literary agent asked him to cease & desist in his publication and sale of the October 2011 edition of “Butcher, Baker.” He replied the same day and, you know, it sounded hopeful.
From: Flip Todd <Flip@toddcom.com>
Date: January 4, 2012 10:59:27 PM EST
To: Robert Lescher <rl@lescherltd.com>
Subject: RE: Butcher, Baker
Thank you for considering our proposal.
I will tell our sales staff at our sales meeting on Tuesday (1/10/12) to stop all sales of Butcher, Baker.
Well, today is January 10th, so let’s review his follow-up report (see below for full text).
On close inspection, you will note some curious language in the last paragraph: “The authors, through their agent, have declined our offer to sell the book and pay them royalties…” I am having trouble reading this as anything but an attempt to get out of paying us royalties, on the grounds that we didn’t reach an agreement with him. Nonsense. We told Flip Todd to quit selling our book. How he interprets that to claim that he doesn’t owe us royalties is beyond me.
And of course, there is also the small matter that, as of today, his edition of “Butcher, Baker” is still on offer on Amazon. Yeah, I know there are lots of moving parts.
[Ed. Note: The books on offer from Amazon are all from wholesalers who purchased the book from the publisher, Todd Communications. The publisher no longer controls sales once the wholesaler makes the purchase.]
I want to give this guy the benefit of the doubt.
From: Flip Todd <Flip@toddcom.com>
Date: January 10, 2012 6:18:26 PM EST
To: Todd – Entire Staff <EntireStaff@toddcom.com>
Cc: Robert Lescher <rl@lescherltd.com>
Subject: Cease sales of Butcher, Baker mass market book
As a follow up to the announcement in our sales meeting this morning, let me repeat to the entire staff, we are to cease all sales of the
Butcher, Baker mass market paperback book immediately.
We have been informed that the authors have taken back publication rights to the title from Dutton, the publisher from whom we obtain sub-publication rights for Alaska several years ago.
Please do not sell any copies of the book, as was earlier announced, and inform anyone inquiring that we have lost the right to publish the book. The authors, through their agent, have declined our offer to sell the book and pay them royalties, so we may no longer sell the book.
Thank you.
Flip Todd
Todd Communications
611 E. 12th Ave.
Anchorage, AK 99501-4603 U.S.A.
(907) 929-5503 Fax (907) 929-5552
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