We tell some strange tales here on the Writer Beware blog.
There’s scam agent/vanity publisher Martha Ivery, noted for harassing authors and for impersonating herself with her alter-ego, Kelly O’Donnell. There’s scam agent/writers’ conference promoter Elisabeth von Hullessem, who had a similar mania for aliases and, it turned out, was wanted by the police for a crime much worse than relieving writers of their cash.
There’s Christopher Hill, another scam agent who created elaborate forgeries to fool his clients and then used a fake name to out himself on a popular writers’ message board. There’s the guy who tried to get people to pay him $1 per word to add to his collaborative novel. There’s the literary agency that wanted writers to bid for representation on eBay. There are the literary reality shows. The list goes on.
As strange as anything we’ve ever covered, however, is the tale of vanity publisher Diggory Press, which has been explored in a number of posts at Mick Rooney’s excellent POD, Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing blog. From Mick’s most recent post about Diggory, put up today:
It is a story of intrigue, deception, fraud, defamation, theft, forgery, religious persecution, death threats, hatred, subterfuge and much more, culminating in investigations by the British Police Force, Scotland Yard, An Gardai (Irish Police Force) and I have even encountered unsubstantiated claims of Interpol being involved; resulting in, at first, small claims court actions, and now, potentially, a civil court case early next year.
I couldn’t say it any better than that. Check it out, especially the links. I’ve heard from most of the parties in the dispute, and I think Mick’s analysis is spot on.
Another account, from the company that acquired Diggory Press’s defunct web domain, is here.
ooh er, Diggory did my book in 2005 and I was very happy with the result. Damn, missed out on all the scandal!!
Sorry for the delay folks, here is the link to the full report of the Court appearance..
http://checkpoint.ie/TorquayReport.pdf
Kind regards to all
Stephen
Hi Folks,
At the Nov 9th Court hearing in Torquay, UK, the remaining claimants against Mrs Rosalind Franklin / Diggory / Exposure etc, won a categoric victory..
Details will be forthcoming..
Kind regards
Stephen
Just a very quick update folks; a 'new' company under the name 'Author's Chance Ltd' has recently surfaced as the publisher of several hundred Diggory Press / Exposure Publishing titles??
Apparently, a dormant company has been activated in the UK by a company specialising in 'offshore businesses'. The new director of ACL holds at least 51 other directorships, and Mrs Franklin appears nowhere on official records..???
Full details can be found on the Rogue's Gallery page: http://checkpoint.ie/roguesgallery.html
http://checkpoint.ie/roguesgallery.html
Also, another Court judgement has been awarded against Diggory in a Liverpool Court. Mrs Franklin didn't attend..
Meanwhile, Mrs Franklin remains active online in one of her other personas – here she poses as 'Miriam' the end-times-prophetess..
http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/
Next UK Court date is Nov 9th in Torquay..
Lots of screenshot evidence and various links regarding Diggory Press / Mrs Roslaind Franklin and her numerous decptive aliases at http://checkpoint.ie/roguesgallery.html
By the way, the Interpol connection was first quoted by the British Police because the crimes reported were international in nature.. But we don't know if they still have an 'active interest' in what's going on..
Latest reports indicate Mrs Franklin may be on the receiving end of a civil restraint order by a County Court Judge for generally misusing and abusing the court system.. More on this when we get confirmation..
still curious about yorkshire publishing got any info on them?
What a freaking train wreck. I've added a new request to the Great Cosmic Muffin; please Big Guy, let this nightmare end with the guilty party breaking rocks in some obscure jail wearing designer prison stripes.
No author should have to be put through this kind of travesty. Publishing is hard enough without the scam artists screwing with the mix.
It's posts like this that always make me smile… There is such a thing as bad publicity!
Interpol involved in a literary scam? That sounds a bit far-fetched.
…and it would take a whole book to cover every detail of this case.
Ummmm…sounds like a pitch for a new novel. Could be a fun read/write!