If you’ve encountered Green Shore Publishing, you might be intrigued by an enterprise that describes itself as “The UK and Ireland’s New Standard in Book Publishing,” and touts both its success and (in the little video on its home page) its extreme selectivity.
But wait: Green Shore Publishing isn’t exactly what it seems.
First clue: the Packages page, where you learn that you must pay between £300 and £1,500 for the privilege of publication. OK, so not really a publisher, then.
Misgivings growing, you move on to the Testimonials page, where three video clips from authors who provide neither their surnames nor the titles of their books carry an unmistakable whiff of canned ad script.
On to the Catalog page to check out the books. But wait–there’s no catalog page, even though the home page verbiage, as well as the “testimonials”, suggest that GSP has been releasing books for several months, if not longer. The only books that are even referenced on GSP’s website (on the Publish With GSP page, ostensibly in order to demonstrate GSP’s superior cover design and innovative marketing skills…hmm, not so much) do not appear to exist. In fact, if you search on the various Amazons, you will find that there are no Green Shore Publishing books at all.
Pay-to-play. Unverifiable (and probably fake) testimonials. Nonexistent books. Ready to run away?
Good. But you still don’t know the worst thing about Green Shore Publishing, and that is this: it’s run by Adam Salviani, owner of “thumbs down” vanity publisher Raider Publishing International.
In 2012, I blogged about the Raider complaints I’d received, and the many more that could be found on the Web (see examples here, here, and here). Since then, complaints have continued to mount, both in my Inbox and online. Authors–many of whom have paid four figures–report loooooong publication delays (as much as 18 months), lousy quality of finished books, nonpayment of royalties due, broken marketing and other promises, and total silence when they try to get the company to address their concerns. Authors have tried taking legal action, contacting the FBI, sending petitions to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, filing local police reports (despite his fondness for giving his businesses London addresses, Salviani is rumored to live in Newark, NJ), and speaking out (there’s a whole Facebook page devoted to warning about Raider). None of it has made a difference.
At the time of my 2012 post, Raider had an “A” rating from the BBB. Now, thankfully, it has an F. I don’t put a lot of stock in BBB ratings–that “A” is a good example of why–but people do check them, so I’m glad to see a rating that matches reality.
There are no staff names or other identifying information anywhere on Green Shore Publishing’s website to link it with Raider or Salviani. So how do I know that GSP is him? Well, I have copies of contracts from both publishers (the GSP one was supplied by the author who tipped me off to GSP’s existence–thank you!), and there’s fair bit of overlap in language and terms. But the kicker is the signatures:*
Identical, right down to the dotting of the “i’s”. You’d think, if you were going to start a new author-fleecing operation to dodge the bad publicity over your old author-fleecing operation, you’d have the sense not to use a) the exact same scan of your signature, or b) your real name.
Salviani is no stranger to new startups. Previous satellite publishing ventures include Purehaven Press (which acknowledged the connection with Raider) and Perimedes Publishing (which didn’t). Both are now defunct. As for Raider, it may be in trouble. Over at TIPM, Mick Rooney–who has been covering Raider and its offshoots since 2008–reports that only one book has appeared under the Raider imprint since November 2013, likely because Ingram has de-listed Raider from its catalog.
* To see the full contracts with the signatures, click here (Green Shore Publishing) and here (Raider Publishing).
UPDATED 7/24/14 TO ADD: The “testimonials” posted on the Green Shore website are indeed fake. Author and educator Jurgen Wolff has discovered that these supposed Green Shore authors are in fact actors who hawk their video testimonial skills on Fiverr.com for $5 a pop.
UPDATED 8/3/14 TO ADD: As a result of complaints to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, Green Shore Publishing has been referred for a formal investigation.
Thank you, writers beware- I always do my homework before investing anything big (say a £600 publishing fee???) and what a wonderful thing it was that there are good people out there exposing dirty low-lifes who prey on unknowing, young writers. Greenshore is ridiculous, and there's just so much unscrupulousness oozing out of their dealings that hopefully other new writers can avoid falling into their trap too.
I realised something was up when they offered to publish my work after reading only FOUR CHAPTERS of the entire book- and in the space of six days. What's more, they rarely correspond within normal office hours.
There have been a few changes on the GSP website, no doubt due to pressure from the Advertising Standards Authority. The three bogus testimonials have vanished, as has the reference to 'partnerships' with Waterstones, W H Smiths and Eason. However, the new wording isn't much of an improvement:
"Through our distribution with some of the largest bookselling chains in Europe, when you publish with us, your book is guaranteed to be available all over the UK as well as the rest of the world."
What the heck is this supposed to mean? A distributor makes books available to retailers. Is GSP trying to imply that the company can achieve bookstore placement (remember that one of the bogus authors claimed to have seen his book on the shelves at Waterstones)? Putting your company's books on the websites of Waterstones, Smiths etc isn't distribution.
The GSP site is still blatantly misleading. References to their five imaginary books are still present, as are claims that GSP is a well-established company:
"The British book market is thriving and for the past ten years, we’re happy to say that we’ve been a part of that success…This is all of course in addition to get [sic] your book into the hands of people in the media, who we have been working with for years."
GSP's Facebook and Twitter accounts are dead but the company hasn't given up yet. They've accepted two 'sting' manuscripts in the last couple of weeks!
Elyas,
Writer Beware isn't about helping authors to get published. It's about helping authors to protect themselves against the amateurs, predators, and other pitfalls that threaten them both before and after publication.
Have a look at the About Us tab on this blog for more on what we do and why.
I'm trying to understand, how exactly do you help authors get published? You tell us all these ways to avoid other publishers and middle men but what are you doing to help us?
Patricia, I'm delighted to hear that you didn't fall into Salviani's clutches. May I ask WHEN you saw GSP's website? It should have been altered or taken down after the Advertising Standards Authority contacted GSP but it's still there in all its misleading glory.
By the way, Hackney Trading Standards are also investigating GSP!
Thank you for the warning. I was tempted by the low cost first package, glad I checked it out first.
Patricia
It looks like now they're trying to divert people from the genuine warnings by setting up dead-end sites. Googling Green Shore Publishing, this came up on page 2 of results:
Warning Green Shore Publishing – Site.co.uk
http://www.site.co.uk/Warning-Green-Shore-Publishing
Latest Warning Green Shore Publishing News, Updates from Twitter, Images, & Videos from across the web. Ask Questions related to Warning Green Shore …
If you click on that, you get this link:
Writer Beware®: The Blog: Warning: Green Shore Publi…
14 hours ago … If you've encountered Green Shore Pu…
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2014/07/warning-green-sho
But if you click on it, it says site.co.uk is undergoing maintenance and you should check back later. I have a hunch it's always going to be undergoing maintenance…
Thanks for the tip and the link, Julia. I've added it to my post.
The men who made GSP's author testimonial videos have been identified. They are indeed 'actors' who sell their services on fiverr:
http://timetowrite.blogs.com/weblog/2014/07/beware-green-shore-publishing-and-view-their-fake-testimonials.html
Well spotted, Jurgen Wolff!
I had to look. I had to see how bad the trainwreck was.
Their third "author," Richard, looks like the kind of person I don't follow back on G+. I'm betting all three are actually social media guys they paid to do this.
Their packages, oh, fun. Their cheapest package doesn't even include editing, just "layout/internal design" (the stuff a competent self publisher should be able to do him/herself) and they're taking out of your royalties as well as claiming money up front. "Extensive press release campaign." "UK & Ireland based promotions" – any bets that means a few tweets? Oh, and their package #3 promises online reviews…the only way you can do that is if the reviews are fake! Their top package has an "Advertising Campaign Guaranteed To Reach One Million Potential Readers." So, pay for their top package and they'll…spam. How else are they going to claim that.
Wow. This is..just… It triggered me ranting on MY blog about how these people never offer good deals.
Amy,
It's interesting that you mentioned "Watchdog". I wonder if they might be interested in your narrow escape from GSP? If I were you I'd consider getting in touch with them. This would make a great story for the Rogue Traders spot!
Re: Facebook, the alleged GSP authors also seem to have posted all their "we're so happy" comments at the exact same time, which was very, erm, helpful of them.
GSP now has a twitter account too: @greenshorepub. Only three tweets so far, but possibly worth keeping an eye on.
Oh dear, scammy spammy, Salviani. 3000 likes on his FB Green Shore page in 24 hours, and every one of the dozen authors posting there just happens to have posted the same shared links on their profiles!
Adding clickability to Julia's link to the GSP discussion at Absolute Write. Well worth checking out.
Wow. How did GSP's Facebook page get over 3,000 likes since Monday? I'm getting a definite odor of rat.
Amy E,
Congratulations on doing your homework! Too many people don't bother.
GSP is now on Facebook. Since they don't really have any authors they've had to invent them – if you click on the names of their satisfied customers you'll be taken to Facebooks with identical content and photographs lifted from ads (most of them came from autonichecash.com/.
There's more about GSP here:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292778
Hi!
Just today I received an acceptance of submission from Green Shore Publishing for my recently finished novel. Since I've had a few rejections I was a bit excited, though I did know about the money part of things so was quite wary. Was watching Crimewatch, which mentioned looking up sites like this to see if someone had already complained about it, so my mum told me to try it.
Thank goodness for you! Thank you very much for being a good human being and posting this blog!
Can't believe there are people like that out there. I owe you one 🙂
Amy E
Cheers for the link, Victoria. All we can do is nip this one in the bud from the start. Alas, as Michael indicates, authors green will still get sucked into this spiraling mess.
You're almost certainly right about no books having yet been released by Green Shore. Advanced search on Amazon US and UK gave no hits for Green Shore as a publisher.
They've picked a clever name though. Two generations back, colors such as red (Marxism), brown (Nazi SA) and black (Nazi SS and Italian fascism) caused some to turn off their critical facilities and blinding join. Now its green that creates zombies.
Thanks for the careful research and the warning. Hopefully other news outlets will pick it up. Unfortunately, its the neophytes who're most likely to be taken in and they often have few news sources to warn them.
–Michael W. Perry, Inkling Books
Victoria,
Thank you for posting this warning about Adam Salviani.