Authors Beware of Authors Arsenal Marketing Campaign Promises
Paying Authors Arsenal upfront to run a marketing campaign for my book was a huge mistake. After The Codagraph assembled my manuscript with illustrations into a graphic novel, under the direction of Anna Grey & her team, completed within the 3-month period of the contract, I ordered 100 copies of the book for myself to sell. I was pleased with the quality of the printing, though I had to bargain hard with Neil Anderson for a reasonable price. Alicia Jackson then took over as project manager. The book was then made available to a variety of online retail platforms through IngramSpark for on-demand sales. For an upfront fee of $1500, Michael Williams as campaign manager promised me a doubling of my investment within 3 months. Nine months later I have received a total of $30 in royalties for book sales. Michael didn’t tell me that my share of sales would be about 38 cents on hardcover & softcover books; I found that out when I received the initial royalties. I would have needed 8,000 sales to achieve Michael’s promise of a return of $3,000. On my own I’ve sold over 130 copies of the graphic novel. When I called the company in July, I spoke with Hazel – I doubt that any of the names are actually those of these people – who told me she would look up my account but then the line went dead. Michael Williams then got in touch, & I agreed to waiting until the end of August for him to generated the sales or his refunding me $1000 of the fee along with an e-mail of his promise. I haven’t heard from Michael Williams. Authors beware.
