LR Price has contacted Writer Beware to dispute the contents of this post, and to state that “there is no evidence that L.R. Price Publications Ltd has engaged in any dishonest or unlawful behaviour or conduct.”
Their response can be seen as an update, below.
This is a developing story with frequent updates. Check back often.
LR Price has closed its business, and has applied to Companies House to be struck off. See the 6/18/25 update to this post.
For a suggested procedure for reporting fraud to your bank and possibly getting your money back, see the 11/24/24 update to this post.
Founded in 2013, per its listing at Companies House, UK-based publisher LR Price Publications Ltd. (LRP) describes itself as “dedicated to publishing books by new and unknown authors”.
FEES, DISTRIBUTION ISSUES, LIMITED BOOK FORMATS
LRP is a fee-charging publisher. It offers three publishing paths: fully author-funded; “shared publishing”, with LRP saying it contributes part of the cost; and publisher-funded (“Choose this option if you would like the publisher to pay all of the publishing costs and if you do not mind losing ownership or the rights to your book”…hmmm). All of the LRP authors who’ve contacted me (more on that below) signed up for the shared publishing option, with payments ranging from around £900 to around £1,500.
Unusually, LRP doesn’t feature its books on either of its two websites. Instead, it provides a link to Waterstones, where 99 LRP titles are listed (many with cover images missing). There appear to be distribution issues, however. Only a fraction of the titles are actually in stock online; most have to be ordered from the publisher, with a delivery lag of 4-5 weeks.
By contrast, Amazon (both US and UK) shows LRP books as “in stock”–but not all of them (Amazon carries approximately 55 of the titles listed by Waterstones), and not always the same ones (at least 7 books published in 2023 aren’t sold on Waterstones at all).
Also unusual: most LRP books are only available as paperbacks, with just a handful having ebook editions (which in some cases appear to have been published by the authors themselves). LRP contract wording on ebooks has varied over time, with early contracts promising an e-edition and later ones qualifying that by stating that the work “may” be published as an ebook “if suitable”; regardless, it’s an odd business choice, given that ebooks represent the bulk of sales for most small presses.
Over the years, LRP’s annual output has varied widely, from as few as 3 titles in 2018 to a high of around 44 in 2022. 2023 saw a significant dropoff: combining Waterstones and Amazon listings, only around 15 books appear to have been published so far this year. The most recent pub date I could find was August 2023. There’s no indication, on either retailers’ or LRP’s websites, of more titles in the pipeline.
UNHAPPY AUTHORS
Over the last year or so, I’ve heard from multiple LRP authors, all of whom signed contracts between 2020 and 2022. Most reported an initially positive experience: friendly and responsive communications, detailed forms to provide marketing and other information about their books.
Once fees were paid and publication was in process, though, things began to change. Authors say they encountered a variety of issues, with most experiencing most or all of the below.
(UPDATE: As of the end of June 2024, I’ve heard from 87 LRP authors, and there are somewhere between a dozen and fifteen more whose social media posts I’ve seen but who haven’t contacted me directly. I hear from a new LRP author at least once a week. Their reported experiences are remarkably similar.)
Lengthy publication delays. This was the principal complaint of the authors who contacted me. LRP’s contracts promise to publish within 12 months (you can see examples of this clause in the Contract Evolution section below), but authors reported delays of months, or in many cases well over a year, beyond that deadline, without adequate explanation for the delay. Some signed as far back as mid-2021.
Anxious authors seeking updates as the deadline drew near told me they were met with silence, or brushed off with claims that editing was still in process. Some said they received letters activating the force majeure clause of their contracts (a force majeure clause relieves the publisher of its contractual obligations when circumstances beyond its control make performance difficult or impossible–usually catastrophic things like flood, fire, war, and the like), with no explanation for why the clause needed to be invoked. In some cases, the force majeure letter arrived only after the 12-month deadline had passed. (UPDATE 6/24: An explanation-free force majeure notice continues to be LRP’s main strategy for sidestepping its contractual obligation to publish within 12 months. Multiple authors have told me they received one of these notices.)
Silence on the editing process. Authors told me they weren’t given progress reports or opportunities for input as editing progressed, with editing timelines sometimes extending well past the 12-month publishing deadline. Authors who requested editing updates were informed at first that things were “on track” or “progressing well” or “it’s a long process”–and then, if they kept asking as the months went by, got no response at all. (Here’s a glossy editing explainer some authors received; note the claim that “the normal time” for book publication is 18-24 months).
I’ve seen an example of LRP’s editing (presented to the author well past the publishing deadline). In addition to incorporating new phrases, sentences, and even paragraphs into the manuscript, the editor’s “corrections” included grammatical errors and didn’t remedy formatting mistakes. (UPDATE 6/24: I’ve now heard from multiple authors who cite the same formatting and other mistakes inserted into their supposedly edited manuscripts–or, conversely, say that virtually no editing was done at all.)
Refusal of termination notices. Several authors whose books hadn’t been published by the time the 12-month deadline passed sent notices terminating their contracts for breach. LRP refused to acknowledge these, with responses such as “there is no breach whatsoever” and “publication will proceed with or without you”. (UPDATE 6/24: Based on the very large number of complaints I’ve received since publishing this post, refusing termination attempts is LRP’s standard response. Dozens of authors say they’ve tried to no avail.)
Lack of communication/refusal to communicate. It wasn’t simply that questions went unanswered and requests for updates were ignored. Authors who mentioned the lengthy publishing delays or attempted to complain reported that they were simply cut off, told to submit a “formal complaint” to LRP’s board of directors at a special email address, or that LRP would not communicate with them except through a solicitor. (UPDATE 6/24: This too continues to be LRP’s standard M.O.)
The aforementioned distribution and absent ebook issues. I’ve documented at least one case where the contract promised an e-edition but none appears to have ever been released. Given the tiny number of LRP titles that are available as ebooks, I’m willing to bet it’s not the only one. (UPDATE 6/24: LRP continues to fail to publish ebook editions. Compounding LRP’s distribution woes, Waterstones has removed most LRP titles from its catalog.)
Retaliation. LRP’s contract gives authors “the power of veto”, which is defined as the power to say “no” to any edit or change they don’t like (again, you can see examples of this clause in the section below). However, LRP has used the promised veto power to punish authors…by revoking it.
This letter, which was received by an author who at that point was nearly a year beyond their 12-month publication deadline, should give you a sense of the tone of such communications, as well as the kinds of arguments LRP musters to claim it’s not in breach (I’m sharing it with the author’s permission).
Intimidating legal letters/threats of legal action in response to complaints. I’ve seen a number of these communications, but here’s a representative example: a reply from LRP’s legal officer to authors who’ve requested refunds and/or tried to terminate for breach (it’s a form letter; I’ve seen multiple examples, all of which begin “Dear Sir” regardless of the gender of the recipient). Framed as information-sharing, it paints a worst-case scenario that is clearly designed to encourage authors to give up: We’re going to win regardless, and oh yeah, we’ll publish your book anyway. Notice how the final paragraph cuts off communication. (UPDATE 6/24: I’ve now seen many other examples of this sort of intimidating communication [scroll down to the 6/27/24 update, below, to see one of them]. These are not empty threats: I’ve confirmed that LRP has filed retaliatory small claims court actions against several authors.)
If you’re looking at the “following outcomes” part of the document above, and thinking Surely a publisher can’t claim the right to publish even after the contract terminates!….well, LRP can and does. Behold this clause:
The authors who contacted me–and, I suspect, most LRP authors–are covered by Item ii, since all chose the “shared cost” option, in which they’re said to be paying half the cost of publication.
I ran this language by people with legal and copyright expertise, and the consensus was that, while the clause is poorly drafted–and the presence of something like this in a publishing contract should make you run like hell–items ii and iii could be sufficient to meet the requirements under copyright law to effect a rights transfer, at least in the USA. Preposterous as that seems.
Additional complaints about LRP can be seen online–along with LRP’s responses (it seems to be vigilant about such things). The Alliance of Independent Authors currently gives LRP a “Caution” rating, and I’ve confirmed that this will soon be downgraded to a Watchdog Advisory.
I reached out to LRP for comment last week, but as of this writing have not received a response.
CONTRACT EVOLUTION
In light of all of the above, it’s interesting to look at how portions of LRP’s contract have evolved over time, in ways that suggest efforts to insulate itself against author complaints. (Bear with me: I know this is wonky, but it tells a story.)
Here’s how the clause addressing publishing timelines looked in 2020 (sections 6-9 refer to turning in the manuscript and revising it on request).
This one is from 2022:
The 12-month publication deadline is the same–but notice how the later version attempts to qualify it by claiming a longer “normal publishing time”, imposing an additional condition that must be satisfied before the 12 months starts to run, and carving out unspecified pauses related to editing that are attributed to actions by the author. (Also note the change in language regarding ebooks.)
Here are clauses addressing the author veto, from 2020:
They have grown considerably in 2022:
The author now must follow a procedure to invoke the veto, which is reasonable enough–but note how the publisher has given itself an out: it will make the requested changes “if it is legal to do so”. Also, in Clause 15, the power of veto now specifically doesn’t apply to cover or other art provided by the publisher (and “legal disclaimers”? Huh?) And the publisher is allowed to ignore the author’s veto if it isn’t “properly exercise[d]”–and since “properly” is not defined, the publisher is effectively free to interpret it however it pleases.
On matters of breach, LRP includes an unusual clause that appears to indicate that it anticipates bad behavior by authors. This is the version from 2021 (there’s no such clause in the 2020 contract I saw):
Here’s how the clause looked in 2022. Note the escalated language, including reference to revoking the right of veto:
The contract’s “reputation” clause prohibits the author from various activities that are deemed “defamatory” or “disparaging” (authors take note: where you find such language in a publishing contract, it often suggests that the publisher has some experience with public complaints). A 2020 contract I saw did not include this clause at all. It does appear in 2021, though (mistakes and all):
Here’s how it had been expanded as of late 2022, with the author now required to guard not just the publisher’s reputation, but their own (aka a morals clause, very much frowned upon by professional authors’ groups), and to agree to a potential financial penalty:
Clause 43 is new–and also redundant, considering that Clause 42 already prohibits authors from contacting retailers and distributors. One wonders why LRP felt the need to forbid authors from communicating with retailers.
Finally, LRP has changed its policy on termination. The 2020 and 2021 contracts I saw allow authors to terminate “by summary notice in writing” in the event of the publisher’s “material breach”–no reference to a timeframe, or any restrictions on when the notice can be sent. But sometime in 2022, that language was replaced by this:
Paired with the 2022 expansion of the Publishing of the Work clause, this reads to me like an attempt to close off authors’ ability to terminate their contracts for publication delays–the “anticipatory breach”, presumably, being failure to publish, which because it hasn’t happened yet, can’t be cited as a breach. Kind of a catch-22 (pun intended).
UPDATE 12/9/23: The Alliance of Independent Authors now gives LRP a Watchdog Advisory rating.
UPDATE 12/18/23: LRP has contacted Writer Beware to dispute the information above. I’ve noted this in a boxed disclaimer at the top of the post, and have once again invited them to respond.
UPDATE 2/11/24: As sometimes happens when I write about a troubled publisher, additional victims are coming forward. Some have left comments here about their experiences; a number of others have emailed me in confidence.
All cite the same set of problems: lengthy publication delays (explained in some cases by claiming non-receipt of forms and approvals authors had already provided–some authors signed contracts as far back as 2021, and are still waiting for editing); little or no communication once the contract was signed, including in response to questions about production schedules and publication dates; poor editing, including the insertion of errors into the manuscript; and threats of legal action and demands to only communicate via a solicitor. Several have asked for refunds and/or attempted to terminate their contracts for breach, and have been ignored or refused.
LRP has also filed retaliatory small claims court claims against several authors who allegedly left negative reviews, or attempted to terminate their contracts for breach.
Since I published this post, LRP has managed to publish just one book (the most recent previous pub date was August 2023), and has one other scheduled. Distribution confusion appears to be ongoing: the published book is available on Amazon (in paperback only) but not on Waterstones, while the upcoming book is available on Amazon (as an ebook only, pub date 2/14) and also on Waterstones (as a paperback only, pub date 3/31).
UPDATE 3/16/24: In a likely effort to evade the stern eye of the internet, which serves this post high in the results of any websearch, LR Price Publications Ltd. has changed its name to LR Publishing London Ltd. The March 11, 2024 resolution can be seen here.
As of this writing, the original company name still appears on LRP’s websites and social media (not to mention its logo).
UPDATE 4/25/24: LRP appears to be making at least some effort to function as a publisher, with four books released in March and four in April (all on the same date). The newly-published books are available on Amazon…but for the most part, not on Waterstones, which has removed most LRP books from its online catalog. When I first put this post online, a search for LRP books on the Waterstones website yielded approximately 99 entries; now there are just 24 books listed, most of which are not available for order. Those that are orderable have a shipping delay of 5-8 weeks.
Do the new releases mean LRP is turning things around? Somehow, I doubt it.
Right now, the tally of LRP authors who’ve contacted me with complaints and documentation, or who have left a comment below, stands at 70. And I’m aware of seven or eight more who haven’t contacted me directly, but whose complaints I’ve seen on social media. All have pretty much the same story: looooonnnng delays, refusal to communicate, nasty responses when there is communication, atrocious editing or no editing at all, legal threats, and more.
That’s nearly 80 authors whose intellectual property rights LRP is currently sitting on, in some cases as much as two years beyond the contractually-promised 12-month publication window. It should also be noted that. thanks to their refusal of refunds, they’re sitting on thousands of pounds of publishing fees.
UPDATE 6/4/24: An LRP author has given me permission to share their experience, without divulging their name or book title.
Several years after signing with LRP, having experienced the lengthy delays and lack of meaningful communication that are the complaint of nearly every LRP author who has contacted me, the author filed in small claims court for breach of contract. Long story short, and despite LRP failing to show up for either mediation or the court date (LRP’s failure to show has been reported to me by several other LRP authors who’ve brought claims or have had claims brought against them), LRP was found to be in breach and ordered to pay costs (guess whether it did).
Then–plot twist! The author discovered that LRP had published their book (it’s part of the trickle of releases that started in December), with no notice to them…and it did so while the court case was pending. The author acknowledges that this might have made their breach of contract claim harder to prove…had the court been aware. But since LRP didn’t tell the author, and skipped the court date, neither the author nor the judge had any idea.
It’s a mix of malice and incompetence that seems to characterize pretty much everything LRP does. By the way, the tally of LRP authors who’ve contacted me is up to 74.
UPDATE 6/6/24: Writer Beware and ALLi aren’t the only organizations receiving complaints about LRP. The Society of Authors notes the following:
UPDATE 6/27/24: LRP is now falsely claiming that it has “successfully sued two of the authors of the WB blog.” It hasn’t sued us, successfully or otherwise. (I wonder who it thinks the other WB blog author is, since this post carries my byline only.)
Below is an email that makes the false claim as part of a legal threat against an LRP author for allegedly making public comments about LRP. The author has given me permission to publish the email, but I’ve omitted their name, as well as the name of the LRP staff member who signed the email.
The content and tone of this email are by no means unique to this particular interaction.
UPDATE 6/30/24: I’ve now heard from several authors whose books LRP actually did publish, who say that they have never received royalty payments or reports.
Also, several authors have now received termination offers from LRP…but this is much less than it seems, as you’ll see below. (Notice that, despite having officially changed their name, they’re still communicating as LR Price Publications).
Framed in LRP’s standard “we’ve done nothing wrong, it’s you who’s being unreasonable” tone, this “good will” offer not only enables LRP to retain the author’s money and publishing rights, it imposes a gag order with (theoretical) financial penalties. Yes, the contract’s exclusivity is lifted, which–again theoretically–allows the author to publish elsewhere…but since since no traditional publisher is going to accept this never-published manuscript on a non-exclusive basis, the only path that’s open is self-publishing.
In other words, an apparent concession that’s actually a total win for LRP: it keeps cash and rights and doesn’t have to publish anything unless it wants to. Money for nothing, indeed.
The tally of LRP authors who’ve contacted me with complaints is now up to 87.
UPDATE 7/21/24: The number of reported LRP victims is now well over 100.
In a couple of the updates above, I’ve noted that LRP has been publishing at a trickle since December (the first pub date following the August 2023 hiatus mentioned at the start of my post). If you search Amazon for L.R. Price Publications Ltd–the moniker under which LRP is still operating, despite the purported change of the company name–you’ll see that between December and now, a total of 11 books have been released. Enough to present the appearance of a working publisher, but not enough to make a dent in LRP’s eyepopping backlog of unpublished titles.
The other day, though, I made an interesting discovery. LRP authors’ books are being published not just under the L.R. Prince Publications Ltd name, but under several others. Since April 2024, 20 books have been released by “LRP Publishing”, one book has been published by “L.R. Price Publications” (no Ltd.), and at least three titles have been released with no publisher name at all: on Amazon, they show as “independently published”, with free KDP ISBNs.
In other words, LRP has at least four publisher accounts on Amazon. Why? Is it trying to publish without authors finding out? Or is it just carelessness and/or incompetence?
Several of the releases appear to be retaliatory, their authors among those who’ve attempted to terminate their contracts or challenged LRP in some way.
UPDATE 9/8/24: Make of this what you will: it looks like Russell Spencer of LRP is also doing business as The Cambridgeshire Publishing Group (CPG). Here’s the company listing on Companies House; you can see that it has changed its name several times over the course of its existence, from Amex Group Limited to Cambridge Amex Publishing Group Ltd to Cambridge Publishing Group Ltd to its current name.
I’ve been aware of this company for a while (as have LRP authors). But until just recently, it existed only on Companies House. Now it has a website (just 8 days old as of this writing). Note the claim to have “begun in 1998 as as an unincorporated business focussing on publishing periodicals”, despite the fact that the Cambridgshire name has only been in use since August 9 and the business as a whole was only incorporated in November 2023.
CPB claims to publish under four imprints: New Author Publishing (NAP), Amex Publishing, CP Publishing (there are at least two other publishers by that name), and New Child Books. Of those, only NAP appears to be active. Here’s its website. It uses two email addresses: @new-author-publishing.com and @author-appraisals.com (if you plug that URL into a search engine, it defaults to the NAP URL).
NAP has published one book to date as of this writing, with several others scheduled in 2025, per listings on Waterstones and Amazon UK. I’ve heard from an author who received an offer requiring them to pay £1500, which was described to them as half the publishing cost. Sound familiar?
Down at the bottom of the CPG site is a little box with “about us” info (my bolding): “We are a group of publishing businesses based in Cambridgeshire. We are not affiliated with any other publishing company with any similar name and all of our imprints are our own. We are not associated with any university or college in anyway [sic]. All of our imprints are our own.”
Okay then.
UPDATE 11/13/24: LRP is sending out a version of the email below to at least some authors. I’m including a screenshot of the whole thing so you can savor the smarmy tone and roll your eyes at the boo-hooing over how mean everyone is being to poor LRP, but what I’m really wanting to flag to your attention is the section I’ve boxed in red.
Other versions of this email I’ve seen also mention the “alternative” publisher possibility, but this one is the first I’ve seen that actually names it.
So what, or who, is Book Trade Ltd? There’s no website at the domain used for the email address, possibly because it was only registered 54 days ago. Nor could I find any indication of the existence of a company by that exact name.
I did find a Book Trade Limited, which has a single-page, typo-ridden website declaring it “a small indepdent [sic] traditional book publishing company based in London” but makes no mention of any books. According to its Companies House listing, Book Trade Limited was established in January 2022, and as of this time last year, was a dormant company; its SIC number, which indicates the nature of the business, is for “Other service activities not elsewhere classified” (in other words, not book publishing). Its accounts are currently overdue.
How, you may ask, might LRP make things worse for authors on whose rights and money it has sat for months or years? Maybe like this.
Authors who’ve refused the offer of transfer, but confirm that they want their rights back, receive this form–which, totally unsurprisingly, attempts to absolve LRP of liability:
CONTRACT TERMINATION FORM
- I have previously entered into a publishing contract with LR Price Publications which is the trading name of LR Publishing London Ltd.
- Under the terms of this contract LR Price Publications had exclusive rights to publish and sell my book.
- I have been informed that due to circumstances outside of their control they are no longer able to publish the book, or that there will be significant delays to the publishing of my book.
- I understand that since the circumstances are outside of the control of the company that they are not liable.
- I have been offered the opportunity to publish my book free of charge elsewhere with another company, but I have declined this offer.
- I wish for all rights to my book to be returned to me so that I may publish the book elsewhere.
- I understand by terminating my contract all publishing work on my book will cease and all rights assigned to LR Price Publications will be relinquished and returned to me.
- I understand that by terminating my contract voluntarily I cannot take legal action against LR Price Publications or its staff for the cancellation, termination of my contract and should I attempt to do so, then this will be just cause for summary dismissal.
Author Name:______________
Signature:_________________ Date:__________
UPDATE 11/24/24: A growing number of LRP authors are successfully getting full or partial refunds of their fees by filing complaints with the fraud divisions of their banks. One of these authors compiled a guide to how to go about this; you can download it here.
UPDATE 12/12/24: For some time now, signs have been pointing to the probability that Russell Spencer is preparing to abandon LRP. In addition to receiving emails like the one above, whining about persecution by an eeeevil cabal and offering to return rights, LRP authors report that emails are bouncing and phones aren’t answered. I’ve also been told the company’s bank account no longer exists.
Additional indicators: both of LRP’s websites (lrprice.com and lrpricepublications.com) have recently vanished. Its X account has been deleted. Its Facebook page is still up, but hasn’t been updated since last April. Ditto for its Instagram page.
Per Companies House, LRP is up to date on its required filings and hasn’t filed the necessary forms to strike the company off. But nearly all the company’s officers except for Leonard West terminated their appointments in September and October, including Russell Spencer (though this seems largely to be a paper adjustment, as authors report receiving emails from him after those dates).
Deadbeat publishers rarely declare bankruptcy or make official closure announcements: it’s easier to dodge creditors and angry authors if you simply vanish. I’ve thought for some time that LRP would choose that option, and it looks like that’s what is happening.
In my opinion (and remember, I’m not a lawyer; this is practical and experience-based advice), it’s unlikely that LRP will voluntarily return anyone’s rights before it vanishes forever. So I think it’s important for authors to create a paper trail proving that they took what action they could to terminate their contracts and revert their rights. It’s something you’ll be able to show if your rights status is ever challenged (by a new publisher, for example).
This means either sending your own termination notice citing breach of contract (if LRP failed to publish your book within the promised 12-month timeframe) or filling out one of the rights return forms LRP has been sending out (such as the example above). Send your notice or form to all the LRP email addresses you have; as noted above, most are bouncing, but one still appears to work: transfer@lrprice.com. Keep copies. Don’t worry if you get no response; the point is to be able to show you tried.
UPDATE 12/26/24: BBC Watchdog has done a segment on LR Price. You can watch it on YouTube. It doesn’t really convey the scale of the situation–over 200 authors and still counting–but it does cover the essential points.
UPDATE 12/31/24: I think that LR Price is functionally defunct at this point. However, there’s still someone home, with some authors getting new emails or responses to their termination notices. As far as I know, the transfer@lrprice.com email address still works.
In one case, the author sent a termination notice and received the form below to complete and return. It’s different from previous versions LRP has sent out in that it just mentions return of rights from LRP, and leaves out the option of “transfer” to Book-Trade Ltd….but look at the email address for sending it back. For anyone guessing that Book-Trade is LRP/Russell under a different guise, that certainly does suggest it’s the case.
![Transfer of Publishing Rights form:
To be completed by the author, saved using the authors [sic] name and returned to: authors@book-trade.co.uk](https://writerbeware.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LR-Price-Transfer-form.png)
UPDATE 1/19/25: LR Price has finally closed its doors for good–or so it says. On January 18, multiple LRP authors received the following email. (To avoid further spread of disinformation, I’ve redacted false and defamatory claims about a former staff member. Suffice to say that nothing has been “stolen” from LRP and there is no “police investigation”–just LRP toppling of its own weight thanks to author complaints and public exposure of its malfeasance.)
From: Charlotte Lungisani<transfer@lrprice.com>
Date: Fri, Jan 17, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Subject: IMPORTANT EMAIL
To:Dear Sir / Madam,
Over the last twenty four months this company struggled financially despite apparently having a large turnover of sales.
[false and defamatory content redacted]
All former members of the board have resigned and are cooperating fully with the police investigation. I have been appointed to oversee the closure of this company.
I am sorry to say that we are not able to refund any author money because it would either have been spent legitimately on publishing activities or it has been stolen. But we are taking civil action to try and recover the funds prior to liquidation. All creditors will be contacted about this in due course.
Since we are no longer able to publish your book, the previous owners negotiated a deal with another business called Book Trade Ltd who have said they will take over your publishing contract. They will do this for free and without charge. However, if you feel like you wish to take your book elsewhere you can have all of the rights released to you.
Attached to this email is a form and I would kindly ask that you complete it and return it to me or send it to Book Trade at the following email: authors@book-trade.co.uk
We apologise for the stress and anxiety that this set of circumstances has caused you.
Mrs C Lungisani
Interim Director
The Book Transfer Form attached to the email offers the option of requesting that book rights be returned to you, or transferring your contract to Book Trade Ltd. (For an analysis of Book Trade Ltd.–an extremely dodgy-seeming venture that among other things has never actually published any books and, in Writer Beware’s opinion, should be avoided like the plague–see the 11/13/24 update to this post.)
If you didn’t receive the email, you can download the Book Transfer Form here. And for possibly getting your money back, don’t forget to check my 11/24/24 update, which links to a guide for contacting the Fraud department of your bank.
UPDATE 5/14/25: Book Trade is no more; it was dissolved via compulsory strikeoff on May 6.
UPDATE 6/18/25: LRP’s application to be “struck off and dissolved”, dated June 14, 2025.
UPDATE 7/16/25: Despite the strikeoff application reproduced above, there’s as yet no indication that LRP has actually been struck off, and its Companies House filing history does not show that the application has been submitted. As of this writing, both LRP’s accounting report and confirmation statement are overdue.
Thanks to an email from an author who signed with New Author Publishing (see the 9/8/24 update above), I can also report that the websites for both Cambridgeshire Publishing Group and New Author Publishing have vanished, with no notification to at least this one author (who reports a familiar roster of problems: difficulty getting responses, or responses that are vague and unhelpful). I don’t yet know the number of authors who’ve been left high and dry, but I’m guessing I’ll hear from more of them.
Companies House shows that Cambridgeshire is delinquent on its confirmation statement, which was due June 28.
L.R. PRICE PUBLICATIONS RESPONDS
On January 12, 2024, LRP provided a response to this post, which I reproduce in full below exactly as written, with typos and other errors intact. (UPDATE 1/14/24: You can see additional LRP responses in the comments section.)
Rather than provide a single statement, they’ve chosen to respond paragraph by paragraph, which not only makes the response very lengthy, but also hard to follow. I’ve therefore added notes (in bold) to indicate which parts of my post they’re referencing, and I’ve also inserted notes where I have documentation that conflicts with the statement’s assertions.
L.R. Price Publications is one of the few independent traditional publishing houses left that actually publishes physical books and sells them in bricks and mortar stores as well as online. It is the only independent traditional publishing house that specialises in publishing books by new authors. As such, it is sad to see the genuine efforts of our staff and the real achievements of authors tarnished with this article.
Whilst we do not doubt the sincerity of the writer of this article or the website, we do question the honesty and integrity of the very few authors who have provided information to this website in the form of confidential contracts and documents. The disclosure of this information does not protect past or future authors who would see the contract anyway and who are given legal advice, but it does allow nefarious agents and competitors to find work around the very legal protections we provide to our authors.
Responding to paragraph 1 (LRP’s options: fee-based contracts or non-fee contracts where authors “[lose] ownership”):
LR Price Publications is an independent traditional publishing house and like all traditional publishing houses that pay for and fund the entire cost of publishing it is quite normal for the publisher to assume full rights and ownership, after all the publisher in this traditional model is buying the manuscript from the author.
Despite being a traditional book publisher, we recognise that this model is not suitable for some authors who wish to maintain control and ownership of the book, so we offer other publishing options including a shared publishing option and an author funded publishing option.
However, it is up to the author to choose which publishing option is best for them and we advise all authors to seek independent advice before making any decisions.
Responding to paragraphs 2 and 3 (apparent distribution problems, delivery lag of 4-5 weeks):
LR Price Publications is proud to be an independent traditional publishing house. This means that we publish physical books and sell them through retailers, so our books are sold in physical book stores like Waterstones or online at Amazon.
Since we are not a self-publishing company and because we are not a retailer we do not print books and sell them ourselves nor do we print books and give them to our authors to sell. All of our books are sold through book shops.
But of course just due to the number of books that are released each month means that not all book shops in the UK can stock all of our books at all times, so it is quite normal for these book shops to order books form other stores, or from our distributor or from us directly.
Responding to paragraph 4 (few ebook editions):
We are proud to be a traditional book publisher. Whilst we do publish some books as e-books the majority of our books are published as paperback and physically sold in book shops in the UK and online.
Responding to paragraph 5 (wide variation in annual publishing totals):
Between 2022 and 2023 the method of registering books for distribution and passing these to retailers has changed in the last year. What this means is that sometimes a book is listed for publication after its release date and sometimes it is listed for publication before its release date.
However, we have been publishing and releasing books each year since 2011.Responding on publication delays beyond the 12-month window promised in the contract:
The normal publishing time for a normal traditionally published book, where the author’s input is not required is 18 – 24 months. The normal time frame for publishing a book with the authors input where editing is required is 36 months.
These are not our time frames they are time frames supplied by Writers Digest and The Society of Authors. This time frame includes the time it takes not only to edit and design the cover of the book but also to physically ship the book to bookstores across the country.
LR Price Publications on average publishes a book in twelve months which is considerably quicker than most other publishing companies. However there may be times when this time frame is longer, especially in cases where the author’s contract provides them with control over their manuscript and they wish to make substantive changes.
In additions delays may occur due to the requirement to secure extra agreements with some book shops and retailers prior to the book being released.
Responding on silence in the editing process, evidence of editing errors, and invocation of force majeure:
All of our authors are provided with direct access to an assistant editor whose job is it to communicate directly with them, so at no time should any author be met with silence.
The only time we have used the force majeure clause is whereby there was a genuine event which was outside our control which prevented us from publishing our authors books. The most recent one was covid. In the UK all books shops were shut and businesses were closed so it was physically and legally impossible for us to publish our authors books. For this reason we activated the force majeure clause. (NOTE: The most recent force majeure “activations” from LRP that I’ve seen are from 2023. One also wonders what legal barrier to publication is created by bookshop closures.)
Some of our authors have specific clauses in their contract that prevents the book being published without their explicit signed approval. In such cases that clause in the contract would be activated if the author did not provide their signed approval for their book and their lack of approval meant the time for publication would extend beyond the usual time limit. However, this clause is to protect the author and to ensure that their book is still published.
A few of our authors also unwillingly breached their contract through some mistakes they made and in those cases, we activated force majeure in order to protect the author.
All of our editors are highly qualified and experienced but they are only human. So sometimes they will make mistakes. Unlike some publishing or editing companies we do not use AI or other artificial editing software. Even still our editor accuracy rate is around 97.8% which is considered high in the industry.
We do receive some complaints from some of our authors about the editing that is done to their work. About half of the complaints we receive from our authors are that say our editors have edited their books ‘too much’ and the other half of the complaints we receive are that our editors have not edited enough, but this is part and parcel of having an independent publishing company and editor work on your book, you may not like all the changes, but it will make your book better and more successful in the time run.
Responding on refusal of authors’ attempts to terminate for breach:
For a legal contract to be terminated under English law, it needs to be agreed by both sides or by a court. This quite normal and is to protect both parties interests. There is nothing unusual in this.
It’s worth mentioning that if a publishing contract is breached then all parties; the author and the publisher and book distributors and book retailers who have placed orders, will stand to lose money.
Responding on lack of communication/refusal to communicate:
All of our signed authors are provided with a dedicated assistant editor in order to communicate directly with them. In addition if for any reason any author (or anyone else) wishes to make a complaint then they may do so directly to our board of directors and it will be fully investigated and resolved.
It is quite normal and proper for a company to have a dedicated complaints procedure. There is nothing unusual about this and is an example of good company governance.
Responding on lack of ebook editions:
We are a physical book publisher and we are proud that all of our books are published as paperback books and distributed to book shops and online retailers throughout the UK for sale.
Whilst we do also publish books as ebooks, the profit on these are very low hence why we do not focus on selling them. However, if one of our authors wish for their book to also be published as an eBook – we do indeed do that. We are not aware of any author who has not had their book published as an ebook when they have wished for it to be so. (NOTE: I’ve documented at least one instance in which a LRP author who wished for an ebook didn’t receive it. The author made a public complaint, to which an individual identifying themselves as an LRP editor replied.)
Responding on retaliation by revoking authors’ “power of veto”:
Most traditional publishing companies do not allow their authors to have any right to review or approve any changes made to the manuscript or the cover design of their book. This means most traditional publishers can publish an authors book without their approval once they have signed a contract.
LR Price Publications is different. We strongly believe that the author should have, where possible as many rights as possible to review and approve changes made to their book which is why we have special rights including the right to approve or the right veto. These rights are to be read in conjunction with other rights such as the right to receive royalties or licensing fees. Where there is a potential clash, one or more right may be set aside to prevent loss of money to the author.
In the case of the letter above, the authors book was ready to be published and a large number of book orders from retailers had been placed. In order to prevent these orders being lost and to stop the author and the publisher from losing these sales, the right to veto was set aside to allow the book to be published and sold. (NOTE: the letter, which cites actions by the author as the cause of the veto revocation, does not mention any of this important information.)
It is entirely wrong and shows a misunderstanding of these rights to suggest that there is any retaliation or punitive measure in the use of these rights, quite the opposite.
Responding on legal letters and threats of legal action in response to author complaints:
In the last eleven years there have only been three legal cases that involve us and an author in any form of litigation and two cases were resolved amicably and one is pending. In all cases the authors had their books published and sold in book shops and in all cases the cause of the litigation was that the authors wanted a higher share of the profits that were being made. (NOTE: I’m aware of multiple small claims court claims against authors made by LRP in 2023.)
In this an author threatened legal action against us and under English law, a threat of legal action counts as part of the litigation process under the Civil Procedure Rules. Therefore we are legally required to respond to the legal threat with a legal defence, which is what in this case we did.
Anyone who wishes to bring legal action should seek independent legal advice. There is nothing improper about reminding people of this.
Responding on LRP contract clause claiming the right to publish even after contract termination:
LR Price Publications as traditional publishing company publishes books which are then distributed and sold in book shops. Since we do not write the books ourselves, our authors need to give; us, distributors and retailers the right to publish and sell their books. This right needs to extend past a certain point so that third parties such as book shops and retailers are not disadvantaged.
For instance if an author were able to cancel a traditional publishing contract at any time, then any books that have already been shipped to distributors or to retailers or even on the shelves of bookstores would need to be recalled. This would cause financial losses for the publishers and retailer and would make book shops very hesitant to accept any books from us. For this reason we as the publisher retain certain rights to publish and sell books after a contract has been terminated.
LR Price Publications is a respected independent traditional publisher and so to make sure that our authors books are accepted and sold in bookstores throughout the country, we have to have contracts that provide the necessary rights and protections for all parties including authors. All our contracts are carefully drafted and written by leading literary lawyers from the industry so we disagree that any part of the contract is poorly drafted, if they were then they would not meet the requirements under copyright law.
We are proud that our contracts have strong protections for all parties.
Responding on ALLi Watchdog rating:
LR Price Publications is an independent traditional publishing house and is not part of the Alliance of Independent Authors. There is nothing unusual about this. Their rating system is not supported by a single mainstream publishing house. Despite this we have reached out to the Alliance of Independent Authors for comment and have not received a response.
Responding on evolving publishing contract clauses:
LR Price Publications is an independent publishing company and because our authors books will be sold in bookstores it’s important that our contracts are thorough and legally sound. So, all of our contracts are drafted by leading literary lawyers in the industry. Whilst there will be large parts of the contracts that are very similar if not the same (such as rights allocations) no two contracts are exactly the same.
As a responsible company it is entirely proper for us to stay up to date with the latest developments in the publishing industry and changes to any law that affects the publishing industry. As such, overtime some standard terms in our contract may change.
On contract wording honoring authors’ power of veto “if it is legal to do so”:
LR Price Publications is a traditional publishing company that publishing and sells books in book shops mainly in the UK but also in Europe, Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Because of this we have to make sure that a book does not contain anything that may breach local laws in the countries where the book is to be distributed and sold.
There is nothing unusual or improper ensuring published books comply with the law.
On contract wording barring authors from contacting retailers and distributors:
There is absolutely nothing in any of our contracts that prevents authors from promoting their books or communicating with retailers.
LR Price Publications is a traditional publishing company that publises physical books and sells them in bookstores, we have to ensure that nothing is done inadvertently that would harm the success including sales of the book.
An example of this is that one author contacted a local bookstore and negotiated a 65% discount for them to sell their books, the problem with this is that we already had an agreement to supply the books at a 56% discount via their distributor. This meant that all parties lost money including the author who also lost money.
On changing termination policies:
LR Price Publications is a respected traditional publishing company and uses leading literary lawyers in the industry to check and draft our contracts. And whilst there will be large parts of the contracts that are very similar if not the same (such as rights allocations) not two contracts are exactly the same.
Some authors have termination clauses when they can only terminate the contract upon a material breach, whereas other authors have termination clauses which they can activate at any time, and some have termination clauses which can be activated after the book has been published.
All of these terms are subject to negotiation and agreement with the author and none of them are improper or unusual.
Responding on updated ALLi Watchdog rating:
LR Price Publications is an independent traditional publishing house and is not part of the Alliance of Independent Authors. There is nothing unusual about this. Their rating system is not supported by a single mainstream publishing house. Despite this we have reached out to the Alliance of Independent Authors for comment and have not received a response.
The following comment was also left on Reddit but was subsequently removed by the Moderator(!), an edited version has now appearedr:
“Author-Gate.co.uk (not Author Gate.com) is Russell Spencer’s (formerly of LR Price Publications Ltd / LR Publishing London Ltd) new company although you wouldn’t / couldn’t know it!
To press, Author-Gate.co.uk says it has published five books, granted all five have ISBNs but the first three appear unavailable and are likely to be A.I. generated fakes. The other two are real but ‘Obsession’, a potentially enjoyable read, has been butchered in the edit and formatting (I speculate by RS himself – I feel sorry for Bob Jope) whereas ‘Footsteps of the Dead’ is grammatically better (probably edited by Stacey Prachides (freelance editor at ‘Stacys Book Corner’ – her grammar!)) but the story should and could have been shortened.
Author-Gate.co.uk is believed to be the trading name for Kensington House Publishing Ltd (a company that appears to have submitted fake accounts for 2024/5 (i.e. with the 2025/6 accounts) – a time the company was not trading – you work it out?) or, potentially Author First Ltd. Kensington House Publishing Ltd and Author First Ltd were set up by Russell Spencer using ‘proxy’ company officers who are paid to do what they are told to by Russell, via his go between administrator (i.e. Jenna Tia Ward Isaac – or a shortened combination of those names) who works out of a satellite ‘office’. All communication between parties is completed by e-mail and none of the ‘proxy’ company officers has met or knows who Russell is (N.B. the proxies have even set up bank accounts in their names that they have handed over to Russell) nor how to contact Jenna ecept by email.
Kensington House Publishing Ltd and Author First Ltd are run from the shadows by Russell Spencer. Russell tries to avoids direct communicating with the ‘proxy’ company officers but does so when his admin struggles (N.B. all communication is done by email). Russell also uses the ‘proxy’s’ names when he communicates with other third parties (N.B. he uses the name of Kaldip Biran), again by email only.
Author-Gate.co.uk has a business like website that portrays the company as established with many staff (also refer to the company house accounts recently submitted). However, the office shown in the photographs is a function suite (Ellis Room) at the Association of Anaesthetists, hired for the purpose of taking photographs and the people shown are actors/models from the Star Now agency (e.g. Spencer Simmons (Publishing Manager – the older man who reads on the YouTube shorts), Nicole McClean (Editing Manager), Tracey Lushington (Submissions Manager) and Kerry Sargent (author (pah ha ha!) of ‘Quantum Drive’)) whom were paid for their attendance.
I am writing this now because the ‘traditional’ (pah ha ha, again!) publisher Author-Gate.co.uk is starting to ramp up their marketing (e.g. on Business Mondays and they have refreshed their website to show ‘staff’ (including Kaldip Biran (shouldn’t this be a photograph of Russell?)) and anyone signing up to this ‘business, needs to know what and who they are getting involved with. Consider this post a public service for due diligence purposes. Be aware that all that I have written is verifiable and can be fully evidenced and that I have the ‘shield of truth’ on my side. Also, a full dossier verifying these details has been submitted to the relevant authorities.
Also, you might ask ‘why has Russell Spencer assumed PoSC and Director status at LR Publishing London Ltd?’
Could it be now that Leonard West has been classed as too infirm to stand trial that Russell Spencer will now blame Leonard West for all of LR Publishing London Ltd’s misdemeanours – will Russell say ‘He (i.e. my dad, Leonard) made me do it your honour’? I am waiting for the LR Publishing London Ltd’s apology to confirm this assumption.
If there is an apology those affected should expect full disclosure showing where their money went and how control was exerted, as without scrutiniable information going back to 2020 any apology will be hollow. Also, given that the clandestine nature of Author-Gate.co.uk and the lies it tells can be directly linked to Russell Spencer; he cannot justify the coercive control argument because if he does, it is evident that Leonard West must still pulling Russell’s strings (i.e. with regard to Author Gate) so Leonard cannot be as infirm as he says he is.
Finally, if your New Year’s Resolution is to get published, I would, on the basis of the above advise that payment only be made on receipt of goods that are to a satisfactory standard. Also only pay by credit card”.
I find that the authors@lrprice, contact@lrprice, transfer@lrprice and creditors@lrprice addresses no longer work. These have obviously been cancelled and Charlotte Lungisani, who was liquidating the company, seems no longer to be reached anywhere. If anyone has a contact address, especially for Russell Spencer I would love to have it. I have found a Russell Spencer who has the company Russell-Spencer Limited by Guarantee, of Stone House, Hele, Taunton, TA4 1AJ, who claims he is a different person from the one at L R Price, which is quite a coincidence, especially as his company engages in publishing. He says he was born in 1928, unlike the L R Price guy who was apparently born in 1941.
As far as I know, Russell-Spencer Limited has no connection to the Russell Spencer who ran LRP.
But Charlotte Lungisani uses that address for Russell-Spencer Ltd (Stone House, Taunton,) in her email correspondence! There has to be some connection here. Anthony Spencer of that company denies all knowledge of LRP so why is his home address attached to liquidation papers of LRP?
On the Reddit page ‘Is Author-Gate legit?’ the following comment has been left:
“Avoid Avoid Avoid. This is the new publishing company of Russell Spencer, he of LR Price Publications. If in doubt see Writer Beware.
He has now changed his name to Kaldip Biran [corrected from Brian] or you might be dealing with Tia?
Cheques payable to Kensington House Publishing Ltd maybe?
A rip off merchant currently being taken to court for similar offences.
You have been warned! Do not sign up”.
There is more but I have not copied.
Interestingly the Author-Gate.co.uk website is a ‘facsimile’ of the one used to promote Russell’s other ‘proxy’ company ‘Cambridgeshire Publishing Group Ltd’. I have looked into Kensington House Publishing Ltd and find that one of the company officers works as a pharmacists assistant and the other a singer, clearly they are not who they say they are.
Having complained to the ombudsman about LR Price, I have had a reply from a senior financial advisor that they are not going to refund (my bank was NatWest). They state that when I did the cash transfer to LR Price in Feb 2023 they had every intention of publishing my book. They didn’t do anything and I formed me in December 2024 that they had no intention of publishing my book and I couldn’t have my money back as they had spent it working on my book??
The financial investigator has stated I can appeal to the ombudsman which I intend to do.
My question is, has anybody else had a refund from NatWest in relation to LR Price?
Yes, under the Term “Push payments.” In the UK, a new mandatory reimbursement regime for APP fraud came into effect on October 7, 2024, requiring Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to reimburse victims in most cases. Your date of knowledge is after the legislation came into force.
I’m going to be honest though, when I got my money back, they were not permanently closed. They were still showing as opened. This could impact the decision in your case and is probably why you have received the response.
The Ombudsman are a free service but time consuming. Very rarely do they overturn the decision, but this could affect your relationship with your bank. Try and contact them again and tell them about the first paragraph in this message.
Hope that helps
Earlier this week (6th May 2025), the so called “Book Trade Ltd” was struck off the Companies House Register for failing to update and file their annual statements. It’s fake website features a stolen address photo from Regus (at another place), and has an AI generated industrial bookshelf as its main banner, as well as many typo errors such as “We are small indepdent book publishers in london” (sic). I knew it was fame from the start.
I have been told that the company has been wound up and my rights returned to me. However Russell Spencer took my money and signed me up AFTER (it now transpires) that the company was in financial difficulties. I gather that I have a case against him in particular but I don’t have a private address for him. Can anyone help? Does anyone know his home address please? Thanks, Clive Tickner
Have recieved a refund from my bank, Nat West, paid by PayPal, surprised, full amount.
Anyone else in the same boat ?, give it ago, nowt to loose . Just need the rights to my book, but I guess, this dispicable bunch are on the run now, one way or the other.
So they have zero claim to any rights, through fraudulent trading.
Dear Robin, well done on getting funds returned from NatWest. NatWest refused to help me and they chose to classify this as a dispute and said I couldn’t state it was fraud as they remain classified on companies house as book publishers. Any help you can provide will be appreciated as NatWest have refused to support me .
I got my money back through my bank’s fraud division, but I have had no luck on getting my copyright back. All I get from ‘transfers’ is an automated reply stating that because of understaffing I will have to wait 30 days – each time I write it’s the same automated response : 30 days, even if I say that I will have to involve a solicitor. I think I have no recourse except to send a letter from a solicitor, which will cost me £400
Hi Philip, it’s worth keep emailing and try emailing BookTrade now as I eventually received an email confirming the rights back for my book. I hope this gives you some hope, but it did take months of waiting and persistent emails.
mailto:transfer@lrprice.com
The transfer@lrprice.com email address is bouncing, per reports I’ve received–but I just saw an email from the figurehead who’s supposedly in charge of closing the business down, and the address is creditors@lrprice.com. I’d use that one.
Hi Grace, I’ve been emailing Charlotte Lugisani for several months now, having emailed to her my completed form requesting the return of my publishing rights. Still no reply from her, but I will keep chasing.
One question I have is: as LRPP did not honour the contract we both signed [back in 2021] and did not publish my manuscript within the 12 months stated in said contract, does this mean that my publishing rights revert to me automatically? Especially as LRPP have closed. Anyone with some legal knowledge of publishing able to answer my question?
The company is just a waste of space, they printed my book through Amazon self publishing system.
They did absolutely nothing. Except drag and dropped a file I sent them.
Fake and fraudsters, is what LRPrice are.
And I paid them £1.500 for them to scam me.
Like many others I paid over 3 years ago. I have received nothing nothing but la legal warning, numerous excuses and unanswered emails. Book Trade seem to be L R Price in a different guise. All I want is the return of my full rights as the author but I am unsure how to proceed. I do not wish to consult a solicitor as it would probably be throwing good money after bad. I would be grateful for any suggestions. Thanks Gary
Hi Gary, send an email to this: transfer@lrprice.com, download form: Return of rights from LRP. Which Victoria uploaded on this page on 19/01/2025. I did that and they returned the rights back to me. And contact your MP to contact MP Burton Sampson Parliamentary Office. I am in that process now.
Anyone in U.K. please contact your MP and ask they contact the MP Burton Sampson Parliamentary Office. He will be calling a meeting with other notified MPs in the coming days about this. He holds the case file. He knows what it is about. He wants to raise this in Parliament. It’s that serious.
I contacted my MP, and now her team is working on my case in liaison with MP Burton office. Hope they will be able to do something about it.
LR Price is now in liquidation. A person has been appointed to wind up the company.
A former director embezzled between a£40,000 and £90,000 and has now left the country.
All authors can regain total rights for their manuscripts.
Hey. Do you know this for fact?
It takes a company 12 months to liquidate- a liquidation specialist company is usually appointed- not a person. How do you come by your information- are you an insider?
There is no former director who “embezzled” between 40 and 90k…another lie in the long list of many…
Hi Glenn….you might remember me from the David Widdowson group the year before last. I was of course another L R Price scammed author and like you hit a brick wall every time l sought clarification on the progress of my book. I just wanted to say what you and others have done in exposing this company as the scammers they are has done such a service to all those disgruntled authors who fell into their trap and is greatly appreciated. I do hope you have managed to find an authentic publisher for your children’s’ books and all the effort you put into creating them is well rewarded.
Cheers
Ross
My Bank are saying exactly the same thing. Hours spent listening to unhelpful taped messages and then finally speaking to a scam adviser at Nat West led to me being told that because Companies House were showing LR Price as still trading meant that they could not assist unless I got in touch with Trading Standards and managed to persuade them to contact them (Natwest) to state that LR Price were a rogue company in which case they might look at matters again.
The telephone number I was provided with by the bank was for Citizens Advice – so far, despite numerous attempts I have not yet been able to speak to anything other than a recorded voice/
So it looks as if the bank are requiring proof/evidence that it is a scam – I wish they would just look in to it further, or have the means for us to submit evidence, because there’s plenty! Keep trying with your bank, I’ve called twice and I’ll call again. I have questions – others have managed to get their money back. I’ve contacted Companies House, they’ve sent some links with options for reporting the behaviour, you might want to give them an email too.
My concern is that for those of us who do manage to get refunds – will this make things more difficult when it comes to getting our book rights back? From what I’ve observed, they are vindictive.
Your rights are yours- if they never published your book within a year- walk away with your rights- as told by the bbc watchdog lawyer x
My bank looked in to helping me recover the money but have informed me that because LR Publications are still showing as active on Companies House, they cannot verify it as a scam. I gave them as much information as I could and they looked in to it, but Companies House currently show them in a good light so they can’t do anything….
This is a question we have actioned our MP to ask the relevant Minister- why are Companies House so lax providing false information. If you’re in the U.K. I urge you to contact your MP and tell them to contact the Office of David Burton Sampson regards this whole ugly affair
Hi, I have also been scammed by this ‘company’ and my bank have said they can’t refund the money (£1,487). I have requested my book rights to be returned to me, and explained that I will not be signing their scammy contract which absolves them of responsibility in order to do this. I’ll be keeping up with this page, glad it exists.
It would be good to know whether anyone else has success recovering their rights. There is no way that I won’t be publishing my book.
Good luck everyone.
I will never sign that ridiculous form that they have tried to set up to get them off of the hook.
I will never advise anyone else what to do in this situation as I’m not a lawyer so I don’t want to give legal advice to anyone.
This is my personal stance.
There is no way LR price owns the rights to my work.
They know that.
They have breached their own contract about 10 times with me….they never published my book for a start!…they told me lie after lie all that I have proved… they now have 200 authors who they have scammed and they are involved in legal battles all over the place.
If they want to pay to take it to court then be my guest.
They know as well as I do that no sane judge in the land would award them anything.
I haven’t paid someone £1487 for them to give me nothing at all but then own the rights to MY work.
Why do they think that’s how it works?
That’s not how it works dispite what that awful bottom feeding contract says.
Totally agree with everything you’ve said. That’s my thoughts on it also. If they don’t agree to return my rights, I’ll be publishing my book anyway. They don’t have a leg to stand on.
When did you sign ?
In the last email they sent me the said “We are no longer able to publish your book”, and so are in contractual breach. I wrote a letter of termination explaining that under British law, as they cannot rectify this breach, it will be as the contract never happened, and my rights are returned to me.
My bank refunded me on the grounds of fraud and that many other people had complained about them being fraudulent.
That’s great you managed to get a refund. Did your bank ask for any specific details to prove that it was fraud?
They asked me for details initially about what happened and the contractual publishing agreement, however once they reviewed it they said that they had multiple other people contact them about LRP and their fraudulent activities and agreed it was fraud.
HOWEVER, if you received the last email LRP sent, saying that they cannot refund you because they had “money stolen” then you can tell your bank that due to a criminal act (your money being stolen, as stated in their last email), then you are liable for a full refund. This is because LRP’s statement of criminal activity allows the bank to recover their money.
I called my bank again and gave them all the details…they said that because it’s a Ltd company, even if it is a scam/theft, it needs to be pursued through the courts. Hopefully others can be successful with their banks.
Review: LR Publishing London Ltd – A Warning to Fellow Writers
Dear Fellow Writers,
I submitted my manuscript to LR Publishing London Ltd November 2023. Initially, I was informed that the editing process would take 9 months. After 12 months, I was told that the editing was completed but needed a final review by a senior editor.
A few months later, I received an email stating that one of the directors of the company had embezzled funds, leaving them unable to publish my book.
Based on my experience, I believe this company operates dishonestly. It is deeply concerning that such companies are allowed to have bank accounts and operate officially despite causing harm to authors and their work.
I hope this review serves as a cautionary tale for others considering working with this publisher.
Best regards,
Mako Sawin
Has Companies House been informed to the nature of LRP and that they are seemingly no longer trading?
The last book they “published” was in July.
Companies House could force the LRP to close if this is the case.
Russell Spencer has shut up shop at L R Price but has opened up at
Book-Trade Ltd
The Cambridgeshire Publishing Company Ltd
Russell-Spencer Ltd
Annie, I’ve documented connections between Cambridgeshire Publishing/New Author Publishing and Russell Spencer–that definitely appears to be Russell’s new bag–but I have yet to find anything specifically linking Russell with Book-Trade Ltd., apart from the rights transfer thing. I don’t doubt that somehow the rights transfer offer was intended to benefit Russell, but to me, everything suggests that Book-Trade Ltd. is otherwise unrelated. I’m open to correction though–do you have documentation you could share with me that proves a connection?
Russell-Spencer Ltd is NOT related to Russell and LRP. It’s an entirely separate organization: per Companies house, officer names and addresses link it to an organization called The Pastoral Research Center, which publishes demographic and other works on British Catholicism. Russell-Spencer Ltd is the PRC’s publishing arm.
Hi Victoria & All the victims of LRP,
I just noticed this news on X – Twitter. Does anyone has any info? See the link below….Thanks
LR Price Publications (@lrp_publishing) · X
X (Twitter)
https://twitter.com/lrp_publishing
Following an investigation, former legal officer Kudzaishe Pamela Chiriseri has been named as a suspect for theft of author funds and is currently wanted by police.
All senior staff are cooperating fully with the investigation and have provided statements to police. pic.x.com/i00vkZjREV
Twitter · 4 hours ago
I have a little bit of insight into Kudzai and her relationship with LRP/Russell, and my strong hunch is that this is complete bullshit, probably precipitated by the BBC Watchdog episode. How convenient, after you’ve been publicly outed for taking money from authors for books you never published, to blame your situation on a former officer. I don’t think there’s even a grain of truth here.
I am another author who received the ‘bad news’ email and was given a choice to transfer to Book Trade Ltd.
Started researching and found previous email and phone contacts with LR Price don’t work anymore, and their website is gone.
Found out about this blog – hello everybody. Nice not to be alone in this.
I am still in shock about it all.
I emailed Book Trade with a few questions about themselve and received the following:
Book Trade
You
If you are an author from LR Price Publications it is essential for you to submit a signed contract transfer form.
We kindly request that you allow a period of 30 to 90 days for the transfer of your file to the new company and for us to respond to your inquiry.
Regards
Helga, would you forward that email to me (the one you got from Book Trade)? My email is beware@sfwa.org.
I’m not sure yet what/who Book Trade is (though I have my suspicions) but there is zero–nil, nothing, zilch–to suggest it has ever actually functioned as a book publisher. Avoid like the plague.
So now they have a new Director Charlotte Lungisani! I hope she is aware of the debt that she has taken on with these thieves!!!
At least my Court Case will not fall through!!
I think it maybe a tactful move. The people that have stolen the money reign and assign this idiot to dodge the money owed!! They may be thinking about going down the route of Pedo Spencer owing the money and not LR Price, therefore the Lungisani does not have to pay the money back!! Not a loophole- she should have been aware of the debt before becoming the Director!
What a joke
Companies House says that the person LR Publishing are claiming stole the money, terminated their contract with the company on 26/03/24. Are they saying that this person stole the money after this date? If so, how did they get access to these funds? If it was prior to this date, why did they continue to sign up authors after being aware there was clearly a problem?
A Google search shows this individual was a witness at a High court trial in 2019 for a brutal murder. She received money after her boyfriend savagely murdered a guy for his cash.
LR Publishing are trying to say that this theft was due to circumstances out of their control? I think there is sufficient evidence to the contrary. They are using this to relinquish responsibility, I don’t think it would hold up in court.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AJoBEWmVi/?
See Facebook link for BBC Watchdog programme Re
L R Price/Russell Spencer
That was me on the show Annie.
They only touched on the surface there.
The lies and threats mr Spencer (west) has told me are absolutely ridiculous. There are just so many. (I can prove all of them) the show would have been on all night if they said it all!!!!
But it said enough to show what he is actually doing.
I gave him the opportunity to pay me back and return the rights to my book.
He refused.
I told him I was going to do this.
I told him I would expose him for what he has done to me and so many others.
I made it clear I wasn’t going to roll over and accept being lied to constantly and scammed. Never ever.
We all entered this agreement in good faith in what we believed was a real and legitimate publisher.
The hurt he has caused so many people is just despicable.
The show only told a fraction of the story but it has exposed LR price for what there REALLY are
Keep fighting everyone x
Hi Glenn
I noticed on the show they said that your rights to publish were “leased, not transferred”.
Would you mind if we compared contracts to see if this would apply to me also? I assume you have have more information on this now, so if there’s anything new, please do let me know
Thanks!
Well done Glenn 🥰🌷
Hi Glen
I am another of LRP/RS’s victims and a member of FICS
The Watchdog ‘expose’ was somewhat disappointing but it is a start to outing them except to say they have set up 3 more scam companies
BBC Watchdog @ 7pm this evening exposing L R price /Russell Spencer
If all Websites, emails and contact has been removed from the Internet, we are out of contract without having heard back from them regarding contract termination, does that mean that all rights are automatically returned to the author as the publishing house no longer exists. Again assume that this means that we will not recover our money. I have already reported them to the FraudAction Website.
Trading Standards putting it all
together to proceed to Crown Court. Plus MPs will now raise this in Parliament. This is only the beginning.
Sorry, what are Trading Standards and what can they do about it?
Is there anywhere I can follow these developments?
I notice LRP filed another document on Companies House today, terminating Leonard West as a director. Not sure if that is significant.
Aaron – Please get in contact with Victoria with your details. There is a group effort to support LRP authors.
Thank you for all the work you’ve done. I have accepted that I won’t get my money back as I was living in Greece at the time and getting refunds from the National Bank is complicated, especially at a distance. So, write it off to experience. I’m very unwilling to use the form provided to transfer to an unknown “publisher” or retain copyright as I’ve lost all trust in this company. What I’d like to know is, if I don’t complete the form will I still be able to find another publisher without comeback from L R Price if they still exist? Surely, if they have clearly broken the contract they have no further rights. If this course is too dangerous, I could change the title of my book and use a pseudonym. Advice please.
It helped me to think of the money as a gable. There was no guarantee I would sell any copies even if my book had been published. The moment I paid that money, it was unknown if I’d ever see it returned.
Not sure if anyone’s noticed that LR websites are now GONE. We think they (he) is now not operating LR anymore. Bob, we know who you are so please kindly stop piggybacking my comments with your false accusations. We have only ever helped everyone.
Oh my God !!!! Glory seeking again !!!! Will you rein it in ! I don’t care if you know who I am – I did nothing- you attacked me and you are manipulating the narrative to make yourself out to look good. I know the truth. It was the weight of many voices that brought this company down- not your single voice.
None, I’ve left this comment from you, and Bob’s response to it (point/counterpoint: now you both have a nasty remark), but have deleted subsequent comments from you both. This is not a forum for personal arguments and insults.
I am also very confused. A little while back, you ordered me in no uncertain terms to remove all of your comments, because you were angry over my reprimand about you using a different fake username nearly every time you commented (we’re talking 78 comments under 50+ different usernames). As I said at the time, I have no problem with fake usernames–I totally understand why authors want to use pseudonyms or remain anonymous; all I ask is that commenters stick to ONE username, and not constantly create new ones in an effort (I presume) to make it seem like more than one person is commenting.
So I deleted your comments, just as you asked. I assumed this meant you no longer wished to participate in the discussion–but apparently I was wrong. Not only do you continue to comment, you continue to use the changing array of fake usernames (such as Me, Me who has been called NONE, and Me Me Me) that you got super pissed off at me for flagging in the first place. And now you, and one person who appears to be allied with you (and who is ALSO using different fake usernames), appear to be trying to foment a flame war.
Sorry, no can do. I’m fine with you continuing to comment, but I’m asking you to stick to ONE fake username (None, the name you used for your very first comment) and to keep the discourse civil. Or I can delete your comments again. Your choice. Thank you.
❤️
Well said .
Have a good Thanks Giving.
Hi everyone, I am also sadly a victim of L.R Price. They eventually published my work on Amazon after I sent a letter of termination of my contract. However, they did not have my permission before publishing it as I had not seen the final version. It was full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. I sent them another letter to terminate the contract after giving them a month to try and resolve the issue for which they failed to do so. I have received no response from L.R Price since. I am now emailing them to ask for an email back or a letter to confirm termination of the contract and that as I paid for half the publishing cost that I own the rights to my work again. I wish to make amends to the book myself and self-publish, however I think I need confirmation from L.R Price first. I am struggling to get any response. I am so appreciative for the updates on this page and I am sorry everyone else is going through this.
It was a clever and even simple scam Meganne. I panicked and paid to get my MS back. I think the scam was one thing, but the sheer unpleasantness of the exchanges was alarming. I am thrilled Victoria Strauss has been such a committed campaigner and I salute her.
I’m sorry to say that I can be added to the list of those scanned by this ‘publisher’. Like so many others I have lost £1487. My bank won’t help as they say that more than 120 days have elapsed since I signed the contract and made payment (19 months ago). Citizens Advice sent me a list of potential sources of help. The Ombudsman was no help at all. Next step – a Student Law Office – as I cannot afford a solicitor. Any other suggestions?
Your date of knowledge is not 120 days old. You couldn’t have known therefore the 120 days does not apply. Keep using the term push payments. I got my money back from 2022.
Does anyone here live in Scotland?
Yes, why ?
Hi Paco
A local Scottish newspaper which previously covered Russell Wests fall from grace may take up the Russell Spencer/LRP fraud story. It might require someone who lives in Scotland to present the story to them as they may not be willing to commit with someone from elsewhere. This is an opportunity to let other authors in Scotland know about the scam and warn them about it. Also a chance to publicise RS as a fraudster and bring him to justice.
Would you contact me, please? beware@sfwa.org. Thanks.
Can you give me the details of this please ?
Can you contact me and confirm who you are and why you are interested? Thank you. beware@sfwa.org
Hello Annie,
I received the email quoted from LRPrice today, 17th Dec 2024, very surprised.
I am from Scotland and I too, like many others, paid LRPrice £1000. After the money was transferred, all communication ceased, and Emma, who had been my point of contact, ceased being polite. I went online and read the uncomplimentary comments on the supposed Publishing House. My only worry was they still had my manuscript. However 18 months, 2 years has passed, and I have just put it down to experience. Three books published now, changed the titles and I write under a different name.
Thank you Annie and Victoria Strauss and to all those who are fighting back. I hope the truth will out and those at fault will get their comeuppance.
Thank you Victoria, for this email transfer@lrprice.com, I emailed them, and I received this reply:
“This is an automated message.
If you have questions please note we have very limited staff resources and it may take up to 30 days to receive a reply.
We are sorry for any and all inconvenience this is causing but we are doing our best to protect your rights as an author.
If you wish to transfer your contract to Book Trade Ltd please complete the form and email it to: authors@book-trade.co.uk”
Which I am not going to do it with these scammers. After disputing my card payments, asking for refund, my bank now is investigating the issue with ‘Scam/fraud department’.
At least it’s confirmation that the email address is active.
They are really pushing this Book Trade Ltd. transfer–a company that has a website with multiple typos, does not appear to have ever published any books, and is late on required reporting (per Companies House). There’s got to be something in it for Russell…but what? Hopefully we will find out.
Best of luck with your fraud report.
Thank you for your support on this matter Victoria. Without this page, I wouldn’t have realised how corrupt this company were.
I read your update on obtaining a refund from my bank and successfully managed to get my money back.
I am now still in the process of proceeding with a case at the Small Claims Court in a bid to obtain the rights back for my book and obtain compensation for the distress caused.
I read somewhere online that Russell Spencer is on the Sex Offenders Register, not sure how true this is, but it has strengthened my case as it was not information I was privy to, prior to signing my contract.
For anyone taking them to
Court and going down the Banking refund route, it’s worth mentioning that Russell Spencer is on the sex offenders register, especially if your book was a children’s book.
P.s. The company will not have successfully sued any Authors for exposing them. This is another lie, just like the threatening emails they initially sent Authors about taking legal action. The tone changed once the emails failed to have an impact. I haven’t had an email offering me any settlement, but had I been sent this, I would have seen it as a mere attempt to shift liability.
☺️
You’re welcome and I’m so glad you got your money back! Best of luck with the court case.
Google “Russell West” + Essex.
I feel sick. Oh my gosh, he was actually convicted.
So he is Leonard West too?
How hard will it be to sue a Sex Offender? I hope the courts take this very seriously. It would genuinely make a good documentary to raise awareness on fraud.
I have spoken to a “Russell Spencer” and he didn’t have an Essex accent. He sounded shady as hell though and out of desperation to sign a publishing contract, I overlooked his obviously bad traits.
Once again, thank you. I am going to see my court case through and bring this up in court too. If it gets to that! The idiot should just settle, outside of court. He is too stupid to realise this and I can see the matter going the full way.
Leonard West is Russell’s Father.
Hi
I too am a victim of LRPrice. I have tried getting money back from my bank but with no success. May I ask what bank you are/were with who returned the money. I’m with the Natwest so if you are with them I’ll have another go. Even if you are not a Natwest customer I would be grateful to know who you are with.
Thanks for your help
Paul Williams
Thanks Vitoria, I am afraid the bank/Scam team were not very helpful. they can’t get the money bank, as they say it’s a transfer money from one bank to another!!! Any other suggestions? Than you
Keep trying! Several authors succeeded on their second, third and even fourth try. Just keep talking to new people until someone listens.
Hey I’m also a victim of LR price, just wondering if there’s any advice on what I should do regarding the email and whether to get my rights back to my book or just wait for the potentiality they get sued? (In the email they have offered to give me my rights back to my book or transfer to a different publisher called Book trade ltd, I will under no circumstances be signing with this other publisher)
My lawyer’s advice is to ignore the email entirely and definitely DEFINITELY do not sign: they are attempting to absolve themselves of all legal responsibility for non-delivery, which will weaken the legal case being raised against them. You have grounds to reclaim your rights already. Contact Victoria if you need support.
I’m in the same boat as Robin Dicker. I’ve already paid more than £600 in solicitor fees (on top of the £1500 joint publishing scheme) when LRP falsely accused me of threatening to take them to court and were only prepared to deal with me through an independent solicitor and their own legal department. Can’t say the person who claimed to be their legal rep was impressive in terms of response or legal qualifications.
I had signed a contract las year with my completed manuscript and paid the £900. The following months i was told this is the progress (Next to nothing) however i left it a few months and emailed and was assured everything was fine, As time past something did not ring true. I have checked companies house and noticed mostly if not all people who was named in the business has been terminated. Except the company director. Now the address is not listed and the telephone number does not connect. Is there anything we can do as a group to resolve this ? they still had their company accounts on show.
Hey there, I’m having the same issue. I can’t get through to the author updates email at all. It’s ridiculous.
Sadly guys these people are not going to be getting back to you….and if they do…it will be with many (very provable) lies.
Drop Victoria, (the creator of this blog) an email, and when she gets 5 mins spare she will be able to point you in the direction where you can get some support at the very least x
Hello Keira, Yes I have the same issue, it looks like that all wed sites to contact LRP have been shut down.
In 2020 I had a book published by LRP and I must say that I was happy with the result. However, I did not have a copy of the editing or the front cover not only that I was not even informed that my book that the book was published. I only found out by a friend of mine that my book was on Amazon.
I too, like many here, have been at the mercy of LRP.
During the last few months however there has been email communication between me and one of their (many fictitious) assistant editors. I’ve just received a response copied below to my latest request for information about my book.
I have a slither of hope that if the company has folded, we can all regain the rights to our work.
FAILURE NOTICE
Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.
:
550: 5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try
5.1.1 double-checking the recipient’s email address for typos or
5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. For more information, go to
5.1.1 https://support.google.com/mail/?p=NoSuchUser a640c23a62f3a-aa50b517d86si377307266b.381 – gsmtp
Please send me any information you have on West I have a a plan to expose him.
Dear Derek
Do you know whether anyone have contacted the Police fraud department or even the Bank fraud department?
Multiple people have done both. See my latest update for a link to a guide for reporting fraud to your bank and possibly getting your money back.
Hi Victoria
I’ve contacted you about my experience with L.R.Price, I’m mainly looking for information to get the rights to publish my book back, and see if I need to take legal action.
I’ve been following this blog for almost a year, and while I was sceptical at first, this week L.R.Price have shut down all their contact emails. As such, I am left with no other options than to contact you for help.
I once again thank you for all your dedicated research into this matter. Unfortunately, none of this information as available to me when I signed my contract with L.R.Price. Rest assured you’ve undoubtedly stopped many aspiring authors fall into the same trap I did.
I’m in exactly the same position, having just received a ‘Failure Notice’ from LRP to my last email, which confirms their email address doesn’t now exist. I have some hope that if they’ve stop trading (if you can call it that) altogether, we may get the rights to our work reinstated. I dearly hope so, as I’ve since self-published two books and want to do the same with the manuscript I foolishly put in the hands of these scammers. We live and learn …
Try the email address they used to send out rights-return offers: transfer@lrprice.com
Like so many other people on this website I am in a similar situation. I have been waiting for over 2 years to have my manuscripts published and feel ashamed at the way I have been sucked into this scam. I started writing as way of a therapy after being confined to a wheelchair due to cancer and it was my only hope. I have read some people on other websites saying that we were foolish for being scammed but at the.time.there.didnt seem to be any complaints. With a bit of luck now the so called.publishers look like they have folded some.justice might be done!
Exactly! At the time I signed my contract they were in good reputation. Hosting events at the British Library, publishing books, getting their authors publicised, good reviews, operating for over 10 years… It all seemed completely legitimate and I even had them recommended to me by one of their authors.
A part of me wonders if they just got so behind with their workload that they stopped being able to publish books in time? Either way, it doesn’t excuse they way they have handled this, to treat us like this in complete silence and then abandon the hole they’ve dug themselves in is criminal in it’s own right. It’s either gross negligence or a complete scam.
Well somewhat confused today checked on LRP last night and it said online that they were permanently Closed, yet today it says they are open for business very confusing, not sure what to believe anymore, companies house also says there is just 1 director Leonard West.
I wouldn’t put too much stock in anything you see online; it’s not like LRP is operating as a genuine business. I just checked the Google listing and it still says “Permanently Closed”, which may or may not mean something; and I wouldn’t try to interpret what’s on Companies House: that’s really just paper. As for websites, LRP has long had two: the lrpricepublications.com website is still online and has been all along, but the lrprice.co.uk website is gone.
Recent developments do suggest that Russell Spencer is preparing to abandon the company, but there’s been no announcement and I doubt there ever will be. I’ve covered a lot of beleaguered small publishers over the years, and in most cases, they find it easiest to just disappear, avoiding any reckoning with unpaid creditors and angry authors. We shall see.
There is actually 2 Google listings Victoria.
The one with the address “Jeff Wooller college” says permanently closed.
There is another one. (This is the one with all of the reviews on) this is open.
I have no idea why there is 2 but there is!
How weird. Though no weirder than two websites, one of which is now gone.
I received this email yesterday and after reading everything on here will be asking for all the rights to my book that they told me would be published a year ago all i got back from them was I had not sent a form in which i had as I had email proof.
Dear Author,
I wanted to share some bad news with you.
Over the last twelve months our company has been the subject of a negative online blog. The people responsible for this article who include a disgruntled author, a competing publisher and a fraudulent lawyer have conspired together to stop us from publishing and selling our authors’ books.
Normally a blog would not be an issue but its writers have undertaken other action and have contacted Waterstones and other retailers as well as our distributors and told them a series of lies. All of our offices are fake, our authors are fake and not real and that it is some elaborate scam where we pretend to publish books with fake authors. Whilst this is obviously nonsense, the negativity has turned away retailers. This has meant that retailers have stopped selling our books.
In addition this group has:
• Threatening the freelance editors, designers who work with us.
• Making false allegations against our staff.
• Sending abusive and harassing messages to other authors.
• Leaving negative reviews on our published authors’ books.
• Hacking our company accounts.
• Attending our offices and abusing our reception staff.
Without exception the actions these individuals have taken are illegal. We have secured legal action against one of these individuals but the other two are just continuing the same activities albeit under numerous anonymous names.
We want the best for your book, however it is becoming increasingly apparent that this may not be with us; because the things that are happening to our company are severely restraining what we can do. It is hard enough to publish a new author’s book anyway, so trying to do it while other people are actively preventing us is impossible.
We are not able to offer you a refund since the money that you have given us has already been spent on the publishing activities required to bring your book to publication. Furthermore the contract does not allow for refunds.
Normally we as the publisher have exclusive rights to publish and sell your book, but if you feel like you wish to take your book elsewhere we are more than willing to return all of the rights to you for free and without any conditions.
Alternatively we have found a company Book Trade Ltd who have said they will take over your publishing contact if you wish to and publish your book for free without charge and take over the rest of the publishing responsibilities including retail.
Attached to this email is a form that you may complete in order to release your rights back to yourself or to transfer the rights and publishing responsibilities to Book Trade Ltd.
Please forward the completed form to: authors@book-trade.co.uk
We apologise for the stress and anxiety that this set of circumstances has caused you but we are doing our best to protect your rights as an author, protect your intellectual property and to publish your book.
Yours faithfully,
L.R. Price Publications
27 Old Gloucester Street
London, WC1N 3AX
*LR Price Publications is a trading name of LR Publishing London Ltd and this email and its contents is strictly private and confidential and may not be copied or published except for the purposes of receiving professional legal advice or with the express permission of the sender.
Hi, Mark, see the latest update to my post, where I discuss this letter and “Book Trade Ltd.”, a company with no obvious track record as a publisher.
I have been following all of this for a while and it’s clear that this man is a dangerous predator. People are getting emails citing posts from people using multiple identities. So he is clearly reading everything. What I don’t get it why you had to savagely attack someone gentle and decent who came here feeling safe and spoke. You must have made that person feel very attacked and unsafe. And I can’t, for the life of me, see what they did to deserve it. It is unacceptable. Posting on here in different names would be a way for someone scared of this monster to feel more secure. It’s not sinister or controversial. I could understand the weight and unpleasantness of this attack had there been any genuine evidence of it being merited. Shame on you. West must be laughing into his cool aid.
Listen… I’m not here to have a go at anyone or get involved in any kind of argument. I don’t think that is helpful at all.
But… maybe having a go at Victoria isn’t the best thing to do.
She has shown the world what LR price are really doing.
Everywhere else is full of fake reviews and many of the real negative ones LR price somehow get removed.
But is the place the full truth is spoken, with full proof…for all of the world to see.
Where many have used fake names and hid etc, Victoria hasn’t.
Why I can’t speak for everyone, I personally am hugely grateful for her efforts.
I agree entirely, Victoria is doing a wonderful job.
Thank you, Alec.
Thank you, Glenn.
Is this supposed to be for me. I have been reading for some while but my child was killed and I felt sick and didn’t want to comment because I feel sick already. That’s why I was moved to comment here. Read back what you wrote. It’s an attack on someone who didn’t merit it. It’s unnecessary. Life can be very hard. Hard enough. Save your ore for that predator.
Thank you. I hope that she apologised to you and shows some
Empathy
At times there seems to be something almost gratuitously sadistic in LR. Price’s responses. What he seems to have captured is the impotence of those fooled and fleeced. Although the experience was grotesque for too many (myself included) he has triumphed and the world was ever thus? Sickening as he is and remains? We have all been thoroughly shafted. As he giggles then whines he knows he has perpetrated a massive con and we can do nothing about it. Steadily he drained relatively ‘small’ amounts from aspirational writers and although greedy he is also vindictive. Sure he wanted to keep the ruse going as long as possible and now he claims others “off-side.” The real reprisal would to be to collectively write a blog about the experience and also pursue any other cunning he may conceive off?
We’re not impotent. We uncovered his whole fraud and real identity last year. Trading Standards will now take him to Court. We now also have seven U.K. MPs looking right at him in Parliament. He won’t get away with this.
You asked me to delete all your comments. I did. Yet you keep commenting. I’m confused.
Seeking the glory for yourself ? Looks like it
What- under a name that no one recognises? Hardly glory seeking is it. More plain fact.
As you were.
What do you mean by ‘as you were’? You’ve been very vocal not me. You’ve exposed the hand to the enemy – a foolish thing to do- if not to seek glory then why else. Russell has heard a lot from you.
Can somone please get a lawyer to take LR Price and russel to court to get everyone money back. I would take them to court if I were closer but in in New Zealand so it would cost me to much to go over there to get it delt with. If any lawyers are interested, you’d make a lot of money getting justice against these scum bags who lie about making books
I’m with you. I’m in Australia so going to the UK isn’t an option for me
NA has made contact. Please email me on writers4justice.com
We’ll take down these bastards!
No one has been checking out metadata–other than me, the owner of this blog. Stop with the paranoid conspiracy theories. Writers4Justice has contacted me; I know who they are and I know who you are too. You’ve been using fake names all along to post comments here, and honestly, I don’t appreciate being gamed in that way. You may notice that your multiple fake names now are all changing to the same fake name (which is the one you used when you posted your first comment); that’s how Writers4Justice identified your many, many comments. Not by any seekrit metadata scouring superpower.
You could hide your identity by choosing ONE fake name and using that consistently. By using a new fake name almost every time you comment, you hide not just your identity, but the frequency of your comments. I don’t know if that’s your intent, or if it’s just carelessness. Regardless, I totally understand why people want to be anonymous here and I completely support that–but own your comments. Pick a name and stick with it.
I agree with you Victoria. It is blatantly obvious this person has been creating fake alias to comment on your blog. They are doing this to either whip up hysteria or because they enjoy trolling others. They use heavily emotive language to try and get a reaction. It’s quite petty.
On a far more useful note, I’ve contacted The Guardian newspaper and a few others with this story and I am hoping investigative journalism may be our answer!
Please contact me via email if you have any ideas how we can take these swindlers down.
Yes I agree, yes I am one of many writers who have been scammed by LR price
I wonder whether there is a direct link between Russel Spencer aka LR Price aka L R Publishing and its possible reincarnation as New Authors and Cambridge Publishing (with a faux address in Cambridge). I was struck by the similarities in the terminology of the contracts and some of its silly errors. Fortunately, I am a better contract reader than an author and did not sign their contract. I requested several amendments which would have made the document more equitable including stage payments in accordance with work completed by the company (again, for some reason, unacceptable to them). Unsurprisingly, New Authors did not wish to proceed with my book and I have the benefit of not having lost any money. A close escape as the urge to be in print is strong and my sympathies therefore go to all those caught up in this awful scandal.
I suspect there might be some kind of link twixt all the aforementioned companies I have mentioned in this comment.
Lenny, will you send me that contract? As well as any email communications you’ve gotten in connection with the offer? It’s for my own research, not to be published. Thanks. My email is beware@sfwa.org . (And by the way, you’re not wrong–wink)
If, like me, you have been scammed by L.R.Price and want to do something about, send me an email on writers4justice@gmail.com. Let’s team up and take down these fraudsters!
To everyone….
Don’t reply to this.
Any issues or questions, email Victoria who runs this blog and when she can and has time she will reply with the correct information
I signed a contract with L.R Price in 2022 and am among the many people who have been conned by this shameful company.
I am keeping my name anonymous at the moment as I have heard they are to harassment and intimidation.
I am trying to coordinate a response as we are stronger together.
I’ve messaged the blog creator and she hasn’t replied.
The internet has clearly made you
paranoid.
Everyone is complaining about the same thing so I am simply trying to galvanise our efforts. I have no malicious intent.
I answer emails in the order received, and I’m more than a week behind right now thanks to a huge volume of questions and complaints. (Keep in mind that Writer Beware is a volunteer effort done in its staff’s spare time.)
Thank you 🙏🏽 I appreciate it
Writers4Justice has contacted me, and I’m satisfied they really are a LR Price author. So enough with the conspiracy theories. I get that everyone is mega-pissed, but this bickering is a waste of time.
That said, Writers4Justice, you are trying to reinvent the wheel here. There are already efforts in train, and they are quite far along. Given that, as well as LRP’s reputation for sleazy tactics, I’m sure you can understand why your effort to recruit for your own group is being met with suspicion and hostility.
My impression is that you’re well-intentioned, so I’m not going to remove any comments that have already been made. But I’m not happy for you to use my blog post as a recruitment tool, so please, no more replies to new commenters. I see you have a pretty robust social media presence; perhaps you could use that to share your LRP experience publicly and connect with other authors.
That is completely fair enough. I did not realise there are groups of people coming together to try and take down this company. My intention was not to recruit anyone merely connect with people in the same boat, however I will not post my email again as, unlike some, I respect your blog.
Please let me know if have any groups I can connect with via email. I will keep fighting.
I too am experiencing exactly the same treatment that it appears everyone is or has been. So disappointing. I was in publishing for years in another country so I have a small understanding of what should be happening and when.
Is there anyone who has had a positive experience with Russell and his “ghost” team?
If, like me, you have been scammed by L.R.Price and want to do something about, send me an email on writers4justice@gmail.com. Let’s team up and take down these fraudsters!
Says the person who has 100s of comments on this forum and is still going by an anonymous tag. Very suspicious!
I’ve already had 3 authors message me who want to take joint action against LR Price. We have a group chat and are discussing how to proceed. It really makes no difference to me if you think I am Russell Spencer, however I do suggest you join me and help take down these scumbags.
What on earth are you talking about ?
We have been reading through everyone’s post on here and we are sad to say that ours is very much the same as a lot of testimonials on here.
Back in 2022, my daughter finished writing a novel that took her two years to complete and we began the process of finding a publishers. A few different companies came back to us, but we decided to go with L.R Price as they had been the only ones to say it needed work but had a lot of potential.
Like everyone else, we researched them to ensure they were reputable and went as far as we thought possible to ensure that they were a legitimate company, and eventually signed for the 50/50 contract.
From here on in is where our story is the same as many others. We heard nothing, when chased we got the standard replies of ‘leave us to do our Jobs’, ‘its with our senior editor’, ’its in the final stages’, ‘we’re extending the contract to 18-24 months’.
To date we have not heard anything further and feel totally stuck. We cannot get out of the contract without legal support, and even though we are now at the end of our contract, due to their clause 44 under Termination we cannot request to terminate the contract as they have not published anything and as far as we can see, they have no intension of ever publishing her work.
After reading through all these experiences, we are not sure where to go from here to get the exclusive rights back for her book.
We welcome any advice as to what our next step should be.
Hello,
After working tirelessly on my novel, I stumbled across LR Price last year and was sucked in by their online presence. It appeared they had good reviews, some decent publications and a positive customer feedback. They also made me believe paying half of the publishing share was necessary. After paying the amount, they gave me a 12 month deadline and I waited patiently.
16 months have passed and they are refusing to reply to my emails or pick up my calls. I have tried to make contact many times but to no avail.
I was devastated when I stumbled across this website and discovered it is most likely a scam and there are nearly 100 authors in the same situation.
I feel so stupid to have been duped by this immoral company.
It seems like there are some people on here who have a lot of information on this fraudulent outfit and I would be grateful if you could answer these questions:
Has anyone filed a small claims? If so, what was the outcome?
I noticed on companies house nearly everyone had a resigned, does that mean the company is going bust ? If so, will we get our intellectual property back? How long should I wait before filing a small claim?
It took me 4 years to complete my manuscript and poured my blood, sweat and tears into it. I will not stop fighting until I get it back!
Any advice would be hugely welcome!
Thank you.
Alic J Kenney says
November 1, 2024
I have been published by, L. R. PRICE PUBLICATIONS Ltd.
I paid £1,487 and signed my contract on 11/07/22.
On the 14/9/2023, That is 14 months into my contract, I received my edited manuscript. The script didn’t have notes or structural alterations, therefore, I had no rewriting to do. It was presumably edited by a professional editor? So, I approved it. For 13 months I inquired and waited for the final proofing stage. It never happened, but … I was told that my book had been published.
I checked, Kylla Si Vengo by Kenneth Walford, and, Kylla Si Vengo, by Alec J Kenney, my pen name. I couldn’t find it on line. I checked Amazon’s, Erotic Romance genre. If I wasn’t searching for it by the title, I would never have found it. It is buried, and competing with thousands of other erotic books. The date it was published on is 6 weeks before I was told that it was published. The cover is a plain, orange colour, with the title and author name. The blurb tells the reader that, Kylla Si Vengo is a porn star: That was the hook, the shock I was building up to in the story: The reader would have found out who Kylla Si Vengo was, when Andrew the male protagonist was told by a rescue worker. Andrew’s shock reaction would have been experienced by the readers shocked reaction. A big moment in my story, revealed, wasted.
There has been no banking details set-up to pay royalties: Not a big problem…The hard to find, poor-quality book, will not sell enough copies to worry about royalties.
So, there we are!; L. R. Price, has published my book. They are a leading independent publishing company dedicated to publishing books by new and unknown authors. (That’s me folks) They have honoured the contract.
I’m not a writer, I know nothing about writing, however, my badly written, badly presented book is out there . . . Thanks to the dubious, but apparently legal methods of, LRP.
I think that I am a good story teller, and hopefully, a few people will find it, read it, and like it. It would be wonderful to have some reviews: good or bad.
My dreams of renting the town hall to celebrate the launching of my banned, controversial erotic romance, will have to be downgraded to a sobering can of lager, acknowledging that I achieved my un-shakeable belief. It is still possible to write and publish something unique, something different from all the other same-old-same-old, formulated stories being demanded by publishers of every genre: because it sales.
L R Price Publications appear to be scammers. They took my money (£1487) over 2 years ago after I had submitted my book (A Model for Better Governance) and numerous forms and despite promising publication within 6 months have done absolutely nothing. I have sent at least 25 complaint emails and just get automated responses and the occasional excuse about them still editing the document. They do not answer the phone and they refuse to refund my money. The book contents are now completely out of date. I really don’t know what to do to get any recompense. Avoid at all costs.
Please email me: beware@sfwa.org
Hi
Sorry to say but you’re wrong about your note. LR Price DID redesign as LR Publishing London, but a thorough google search shows that New-Author-Publishing and Cambridgeshire Publishing Group are in no way affiliated. It’s always worth taking into account that not every single hybrid or money-grabbing publisher out there is affiliated to the other. It’s also worth researching before publishing.
I have to say though that while I understand there are people demanding payment, some of these same people have actively posted the addresses and personal details of some of the staff online, which led to what appears to be a mass walkout. What this company did may have been considered unethical, but what these doxxers have done is illegal. Are you going to justify the danger that presents as equal to what the authors are going through? I got lucky myself – submitted after sh_ hit the fan – but have to be honest, looking at their website, I knew exactly what to expect because they were just another company like Publish America. Again, not a scam.
This is a stereotypical standard Russell west response to everything.
Always pretending to be the victim, always everyone’s fault but his.
Despite stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds from hundreds of people, he likes to make out it was all “our fault he stole our money”
But if this is a genuine person weirdly defending Russell and LR price I suggest you do one of 2 things.
A) do some research on who and what it is you are publicly defending and then decide if this is who you want to be associated with.
Or if you already know all of this and you have still posted in their defence…..
B) give your head a wobble. Your moral compass is clearly very broken.
I would also like to again say as others have, your comment of a “mass staff walkout” is beyond ridiculous.
There is no staff. There never was.
Company accounts show NO ONE on the pay roll.
That just confirmed what we all already knew.
These are lies we have all heard a thousand times before.
So nice try but totally wasted as the truth has been known for along time.
The people on the pictures are actors. You can find most of them on star now
good morning.
In a similar position here. My wife signed a contract in may 22 for a children’s book. The contract clearly states ‘The publisher agrees to publish within twelve (12) months, except where the author has failed to comply with sections 6-9, the work in a paperback. ‘ We have been scrupulous to ensure that we followed every step of their procedure and always within requested timeframes, yet here we are approaching 2 1/2 years later and still no sign of a published book. We have agreed artwork, cover designs, everything but still get fobbed off with every enquiry, constantly being told that it is ongoing and getting emails ending ‘thank you for your cooperation thus far’ .
This was a shared costs contract so we paid up front £1487, however this is not so much about the money, this is about exploiting people’s dreams of becoming published authors. We can only sit and hope that maybe one day , eventually, we will finally see a finished book … living in hope !
Thanks you for your replies None & Victoria. I have a 100% professional record of winning work related court cases. I don’t fear anyone. I hope I can help as a group case. The truth always wins. Fraud is fraud. Still wake up every day gutted though. Jackie
I do wish I could get onto your facebook group – the link I have just wont let me in…can anyone help with that. I would love to be part of any group case. My own case is due with Small Claims court soon.
Email me: beware@sfwa.org
Hello,
I am in an identical situation.
Do you recommend filing a Small Claims?
Please let me know how it goes?
Jackie Martlew
I am another new author who has been a victim of this LR Price scam. Having read this article and other authors stories; I am devastated to find out that LR Price have now got my book too and I don’t have a clue how I get the rights back? Anyway with all the directors resigning who is in charge at LR Price ? If they go out of business does that mean that all our contracts are voided? Its so confusing. They stole my dream with false promises.
I signed a contract in December 2022 on a shared cost like most. Unlike many others I have received answers to my emails right up to a few weeks ago. I had completed all the editing myself, so there was little to do but they changed a few words. In doing so they made important mistakes on 2 words that I asked to be changed!!. This they say has caused the huge delay. As with others I was asked to resend forms etc. I was sent an apology for not publishing in the 12 months and told it could in fact take up to 36 months.
I sent them my photos that were to be included in my book in 2022 but only a few months ago was told that the book cover stage (final stage) was delayed due to the pictures not being the right quality. It took them 2 years to tell me!! I got them professionally edited and resent them late July 2024. So the book was good to go. It is now approaching 3 years, as of 28/12/2024 that I signed my contract. I was told by Russell in an email that they were publishing my book! Promises promises.
I am ashamed to say that I did not put a comment on this site sooner; for fear of legal action or reprisals from LR Price. Many of you have stated this is what they do when challenged. I stupidly thought my book was being published imminently and they would have cancelled the publication. I do not care now if they read this as its the truth. For all of you brave enough to make your story heard I sincerely apologise. I should have come forward sooner. I urge anyone in the same position to come forward. We have to be heard as a group, individually I fear we may not be heard!
Today I told my husband that even if my ‘only dream’ was realised and my book was published by this scam of a company; I could NEVER have gone public to say what a wonderful supportive company they were. I could not sleep at night thinking I had encouraged other new authors to invest in this scam, like all of us have.
At least if the company L.R. Price is going to collapse we will all be free to get our books published elsewhere. Lesson learned everyone. thank you for your posts…it really helps to re-assure us to forge forward. And thank you again to Victoria for setting up this blog. You have helped so many people.
Hello,
I am yet another victim of LR PRICE. If a small claim is filed, is it quite likely to win?
If the company goes bust, will we get our manuscripts back and payment?
Any advice would be really helpful, thank you.
Unhappy Writer. I have just visited Companies House site and checked out L R Price. I am sure all those affected by this company will be pleased to read the following information, in particular that of Russell Spencer. Yes, the rats are leaving the sinking ship, do you think they are headed for Cambridge to set up shop?
LR PUBLISHING LONDON LTD
Company number 08593584
Follow this company File for this company
• Company Overview for LR PUBLISHING LONDON LTD (08593584)
• Filing history for LR PUBLISHING LONDON LTD (08593584)
• People for LR PUBLISHING LONDON LTD (08593584)
• More for LR PUBLISHING LONDON LTD (08593584)
• Officers
• Persons with significant control
Officers: 8 officers / 6 resignations
SANGANOO BA (HONS), Tasharn
Correspondence address
27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX
Role Resigned
Secretary
Appointed on
1 May 2023
Resigned on
25 September 2024
SPENCER, Russell
Correspondence address
27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX
Role Resigned
Secretary
Appointed on
2 July 2013
Resigned on
23 September 2024
NOTE: No personal information
RICHARDS, Stewart Gregory
Correspondence address
27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX
Role Resigned
Director
Date of birth
December 1985
Appointed on
1 May 2023
Resigned on
23 August 2024
Nationality
British
Country of residence
England
Occupation
Director
I fed this back below on 25 September as breaking news..! Copy and paste is useful. I was just as happy when I discovered this.
😊
II have today got a email saying LRP will not answer any questions and get a solicitor to speak to their solicitors .
I have been waiting since august 21 for my book but been met with lie after lie to no reply at all this has got to be brought out in the open and this scam stopped. I paid around £900 and got nothing in return not even a editted copy .
Please email me: beware@sfwa.org.
The solicitor email is one of LRP’s standard responses to questions or complaints. Like most communications from LRP, it’s bogus; the real intent is to get you to shut up.
Also, the legal crap is sent by law graduates not lawyers!! There is a difference! They do not have qualified lawyers working for them! No lawyer in their right mind would work for them.
Breaking news*** Russell Spencer has resigned!! I wonder if it’s my on- going court case with these idiots!!! They literally have two employee’s left on the Company’s House website. The shoddy lawyers have resigned too!!! Something is working..! Clearly..! Maybe, I am acting a little prematurely happy here, but it does mean that he is a fraud!!
I think they will try and shift liability and claim “the employee, no longer works at LR price.” However, if they still exist they do carry the debt forward, legally. Scum bags!!
Oh, I can’t wait to take them down!!! Feel gutted to have been scammed as I have a legal background and should have known better!!!
Maybe he resigned because he has realised that he cannot operate his fraudulent activities from a Prison cell?! It’s possible 😂
Sadly my gut feeling is he is just off to start again somewhere else.
Same scam, same disgusting tricks.
Check out the latest update in this blog…….(08/09/2024)
So to anyone who comes across the company mentioned…be aware as it’s just the same crooks doing the same thing just under a different name….
I experienced the same treatment. All seemed OK at the beginning but after that – put off, put off, put off – delay delay delay. At 12 months a declaration of “Contract Protection” so the supposed deadline became irrelevant. I see from others that is standard for them This was signed by “Stewart Richards, Publishing Director”, a new name I haven’t seen before. Previously it was Russell Spencer.
Editing is supposed to be “in progress” but what professional editor works without reference to the author?? I presume no editing whatever is happening.
Here’s an important question – If LRP has taken money from 87 + authors (Now 88 with me) and most of those have paid £1487, then they have received approx £130,000 over 2-3 years. Or more if more authors, like me are yet to come forward, they must be surely handing in fraudulent accounts to the tax man?? Anyone know how to look those up?
I was taken for £2500 to get my MS back. I guess I was not alone and hired a lawyer who told me they/he had me over a barrel on clause 44 of the contract. I think the number mention he scammed was extremely conservative. He was drip fed thousands of pounds. It is curious how he preyed on perhaps optimism and possibly vanity but mostly innocence. He is in a desperate state as a human being and time will not treat him well. A grotesque human being that makes you feel repelled and revulsed to have been in contact with.
Hi Leo, same here. I signed in 2021. The same MO: at first something was happening, but then they started sending my manuscript with ridiculous mistakes one could not possibly authorize. And even if I did… the book would not be published. However, I understand why they do this with these ridiculous mistakes. In the contract it is written that they will publish the book within 12 months unless the author vetoes the publication… This way they are not obviously in breach. I have not received any email from them in a very long time. I am ready for legal action by all means. I sent an email to Victoria, hopefully she can get back to me and put me in touch with the rest of you people. Thanks for sharing your experience, which encouraged me to share my own.
I got your email–thanks.
My daughter is a barrister and more than willing to help. Please contact me on 07772 700 105
I’ve only just discovered after reading this article, I too am in the same situation as many. I paid for a hybrid publishing contract with LR Price almost 2 years ago & have had similar experiences. It’s really distressing and I’m at a loss to know what to do.
Please contact me: beware@sfwa.org
So yet AGAIN today LR price managed to get a number of reviews from scammed authors…who was speaking the TRUTH about their experiences with them on YELL…removed.
They constantly do this. They also replied to some on Google with yet more lies.
They can’t keep hiding and covering this up forever.
Keep telling your truths everyone.
I suppose it makes a change, a non white man getting one over on what is mostly white people, white people have been getting one over on non white people for hundreds of years .
And I say this as a victim of this person.
Irony I guess ?.
Oh dear, I seem to have put the cat amongst the pigeons .
By the way my name is Robin Chainey as written, scammed “would be author?”, exercising his right to free speech, what’s yours?.
I’m disgusted at this post. Why an earth are you talking about race here??
I happen to know for a fact that people of all races and cultural backgrounds have been scammed by this “publisher”
As the previous person stated crime is crime and it has absolutely nothing to do with the colour of someone’s skin, and to suggest it does it a huge insult to every single person here.
I can only assume that you are intoxicated some how to
even suggest something so outrageous
Can you be more clear! Your post is too complex for the average reader. Are you saying Russell Spencer isn’t white and only scammed white people? Or are you making an even more oblique point about colour where white people oppress darker skinned people? At any rate for me you see to have merely placed a confusing comment. Were you scammed by RS? I fail totally to comprehend your garbled contribution so would welcome more transparency. Nothing is ever ‘black & white’ that notion is outmoded and the territory of the less able.
How do you know he is non white btw? Do you know him? If you were a scammed writer you would be so aggressive against fellow victims
I signed a contract in July 2022 and like the other authors in the chat, had speedy replies until I paid. It then took them 10 months to send back the first draft and it was riddled with mistakes they should have picked up on. It was then back and forth sending amends until April of this year, when I finally approved the final draft. But then I was ghosted. I’ve had no reply since. I’ve sent countless emails and haven’t gotten a single reply. I’m afraid I’ve been scammed out of my hard earned money, good nature and my dream is truly broken.
I could have published my book on Amazon in less than a month if I hadn’t have gone with LR Price. I regret it every single day.
They deserved to be taken to court, because they’ve taken the money off so many people with no intention of publishing.
My dream is broken and I’m more stressed than ever. What can we do?
Wish I knew. My son is in the same boat. He just wants his book back as never going to get the money returned.
Hi everyone. Although Victoria knows about me, i.e. I’m included in the stats etc, I’ve been taking a back seat until now. However, after reading some of the recent comments, I thought it would be worth informing you of what’s happened/happening in my world:
Feb 2021: Contract signed with an outcome that reflects everyone else’s experiences – including the threat of libel action and withdrawing my right of veto (using the exact same letter).
May 2023: Action Fraud Report submitted – no action, insufficient evidence.
Nov 2023: Small Claims breach of contract litigation initiated. LRP failed to attend the mediation session, failed to submit defence paperwork to me or the court, and failed to attend the court hearing.
Apr 2024: LRP published an unedited version of my novel on Amazon without my permission or knowledge – and without informing the court!!! Didn’t find out until June, and that was only because I followed my gut instinct after reading about LRP’s recent publications on this blog. Additionally, LRP claimed copyright ownerships of the cover art – they certainly didn’t produce it.
Apr 2024: Notified that my Action Fraud Report was being reviewed in connection with other fraud reports.
May 2024: The Court finds LRP in breach of contract and LRP instructed to pay costs etc. To date, LRP have still failed to pay, i.e. they are in contempt of court but are the court doing anything about it????
Jun 2024: Two further Action Fraud Reports submitted – failure to pay costs and copyright infringement.
Jun 2024: Amazon remove my novel from their listing after submitting evidence of LRP’s breach of contract. Amazon confirm that no copies of my novel were sold – not surprising given that they gave the paperback a £14.99 price tag.
June 2024: LRP ignore all attempts at contact – phone calls, emails.
June 2024: Action Fraud notification that my reports have been sent to the Metropolitan Police for review.
Jun 2024: The Met decide to close my Action Fraud reports without further investigation, and despite me providing the “reviewing” officer in question with further facts. He considered that the case is a civil contract issue and suggested I take civil action against LRP – breach of contract and bailiffs!!! Hmmmm!!! They forwarded my details to Trading Standards but TS haven’t been in contact yet.
Jul 2024: Four page letter of complaint sent to the Met Police. My complaint is currently being investigated.
Although it would be nice to recover my costs, my aim is to put this “company” and its management out of business for good – and I will do everything I reasonably can to achieve this. My main concern now is, should I find another publisher for my novel(s), and despite the breach of contract outcome (and the judge considered that the contract was now void), LRP will cause problems by claiming that they still have non-exclusive rights to publish.
Based on my experience, I recommend:
• Totally ignoring any threat of litigation against you. Effectively, that’s what LRP are doing – ignoring legal action taken against them. After all, given their circumstances , why would they wish to raise their collective heads above the parapet and attend court?
• If you haven’t done so already, submit an Action Fraud Report against LRP, citing the entire board as defendants.
• If the Met have closed your Action Fraud Report without further investigation, send a letter of complaint in which you detail how LRP have meet the requirements under Sections 2 and (possibly) 3 of the Fraud Act 2006. Don’t limit yourself to the online form. Google “Met police complaints”.
• Continue any Small Claims litigation on the understanding that it’s highly unlikely that you’ll never recover the costs.
• Not bothering about engaging bailiffs unless you know the home address of any of LRP’s board. Bailiffs will not be able to recover anything of significance from LRP’s business address.
Take care.
This is great to read Richard. I am happy to read that you have been relentless in your approach, and saddened to also read that I may not ever obtain the outcome which I am seeking.
I currently have an on going Small Claims Court case and I am waiting for the outcome. I have also approached Action Fraud and received the same “No Further Action” email on the basis that this is a Civil Matter.
I still remain hopeful and I will also keep pursuing this matter until the Court deem my contract void and I am able to retrieve my money, which is owed by this hideous group of individuals. If we all keep trying, this scam has to stop. Surely. Contempt of Court is not a small issue, and I am shocked that this is being overlooked by the Courts. If we all continue collectively, we may not get immediate results, but we will Win this battle. Their behaviour towards you and the Legal System Richard implies that they are hoping the rest of us give up. LR Price cannot continue to be in Contempt of Court, otherwise the Courts will start to look like a Joke!
Hello Richard C..thank you for all your effort. I applaud your courage. My route is to find an investigative journalist who will be willing to write about this gross level of blatant corruption. Many people have been casued distress by this company not the least by virtue of non communication. I have made my application to Action Fraud and will use all of my communication with the company as evidence. Like you…I believe the company should be closed because they are causing harm to people. I am also writing a complaint to Company’s House about this company. Stay strong everyone.
Hi Richard,
Do you contact details of anyone you have spoke to directly at the Met Police?
S
Hello Richard C thank you for helping us by sharing your experience and offering advice. It has given me the confidence to proceed to the Small Claims Court. I have also submitted a notification to Action Fraud which has been acknowledged. Like you I wont rest until this company is closed down. I am also writing a complaint to Companies House about this organisation. Thank you again.
Hi Richard, your experience is hugely informative. Like you, I signed a contract in 2021 and received more or less the same communication. The last email from LRP was May this year confirming final edits and cover design were approved. I’ve self-published another book which kept me busy, so I wasn’t too concerned and had been waiting patiently for LRP to publish. I feel like a victim of theft, and I really want the rights to my work back. Thank you for the information, and thanks to Victoria Strauss for highlighting the issues.
Please contact me: beware@sfwa.org
It’s great to see you have won your case in court Ano. I am also having a horrible experience with this scam company like many of you are with my shared agreement with them. We should make a documentary or something to expose this fraudsters and parasites. I wish you all keep on fighting and let them know we will push them all the way. I intend to not let them bully me anymore. They should hang their heads in shame, taking peoples hard earned money.
Absolutely agree.
They have made all kinds of threats to me regarding “taking legal action” (this is their favourite saying) and suing me for £30k etc etc if I go public with what they have done to me.
They scam people, betray people lie to people then try and gagg them into silence through fear of court.
I will NEVER allow myself to be bullied by these scammers and I will keep telling people what they are doing until they stop!!!
Spot on! I agree with you wholeheartedly. I’ve had enough of being lied to and being led to believe somehow, I’m in the wrong and not them. I’ve repeatedly asked to speak to someone on the phone for 2 years, and always been denied this. Oh I forgot, takes courage and a backbone to hear someone’s honest opinion and anger, through what they’ve put them through. Keep on fighting!!
Well done Glenn. Allowing these bullies to silence us is never going to happen. I am willing to make a lot of noise if needed, even if it is only to protect others falling into the same trap. Their arrogance will be their undoing. They may have won a few battles, but this war is far from over!!
Suky, I’ve emailed you.
Thanks Victoria.
Suky there should definitely be a doco on this!! It’s such a big scam I had no idea the extent of it all until I read this article! I was so naive when I handed the money over, busy with work etc just thought this would be the easiest option, worst mistake ever!! And what an absolute mess they kept sending back of my already edited manuscript! This was over a 2 year period, in the end I looked into them and it’s so surprising they are getting away with it. Listing an 83 year old as their director, no response when challenged about their ‘legal officer’ … I wonder how exactly how many people have fallen for this. I’m submitting all my info to action fraud and the police etc and am also sending to investigations and enforcement services
Hi
I had a very recent court hearing where the court ruled in my favour to get my money back and return of manuscript. Whether LR do this or not is another story, but I hope this gives anyone else further hope to keep fighting
Hi Everyone,
I finally received the email reply below from L R Price today. Considering this is a book publisher, the English and grammar is far from great. I asked a simple question.
Where is my book or any sign of the could they give my any sign of the service they sold me on November 2022?
I guess any chance of seeing my book ever published as they were contracted to do is for the birds. Unlimited delays, no correspondence unless you press them, and a bank account over a thousand pound lighter, I am at a loss for words. I was contracted for a 12 month publication date like many any others. 20 months in with absolutely nothing but delay tactic emails, I feel like I have been mugged.
As my father gave me the money as a last wish to see my book printed before he died, I cannot begin to tell you how unhappy I am. My father passed away a few months ago from cancer. He never got to see his last wish, it was not even my money I sent them.
I have sent a reply email to the below, but in all honesty, I don’t think they will either return the money nor publish the book. I should have cremated the money alongside my late father.
Sorry if I sound bitter. That’s because I am. If L R Price read this post, then rest assured, I / We are not going away anytime soon. You have cornered a honey badger!!!
My question to you all. How long is too long?
Reply below they sent me.
Dear
Thank you for reaching out, I hope this email finds you well.
As we are already mentioned in the final stages of publishing letter, there has been occured a delay in the process of publishing your book and this can take up to 9 months, but even so we can not provide an exact date when we are going to publish the book.
In this circumstances, we please ask for your patience and understanding as otherwise we do not want to rush the things up, which would create a favorable situation for errors to be made.
Best wishes,
Assistant Editor
Just a quick update. I was asked today to deal through L R Price’s solicitors from now on as I mentioned breach of contract in my email. Perhaps I should have said you have not done what was legitmately paid for?
No goods, no estimated timescale, no correspondence and they have had my money and done nothing for 22 months. This is going to be interesting.
That’s a standard reply that I’d say most of us have received at some point so please do not worry.
LP Publishing Company agreed to publish my book last December but its been 7 months. I paid them. I have asked them if everything is ok and they said yes. But they not sent me anything now I am getting worried. What should I do? My email is sharonstarauthor74@gmail.com
HI,
This is all very sad and scary. After taking an age to pluck up the courage to publish my first novel, I paid the full amount to Russell in November 2022 for the split publication with LR Price. After chasing them some 15 months later, I have only received standard replies stating delays, like many others are explaining. The money to pay for this publishing contract was a gift from my late father who died earlier this year and never got to see me get a book into print. I am still waiting for a reply from LR Price as I have seen nothing on the cover, manuscript edits or anything originally paid for when I signed up. I came across this website when I had almost given up all hope of ever seeing anything for my money. I am so embarrassed to have wasted the only savings my father ever had. I can see a few books have been published this year. Am I being too hopeful that I, like many here have just been victims of a scam?
Steve, I’ve emailed you.
I have 3 books with LR Price. The last 2 seemed to have disappeared as LR Price cannot locate them. Can anyone tell me if I can now resend them to a legitimate publisher ( in view of the contract I signed).
David, I’ve emailed you.
Can’t locate your books? What does that even mean??? Anyway, and without knowing the details of your situation…as long as the contracts you signed for those books are still in force, a new publisher won’t want to take them on: they need your rights to be free and clear, and with an existing contract, they aren’t. Even self-publishing is problematic, and could result in a cease-and-desist from LRP.
Dear Sirs/Madams,
My name Suzie Greco, an author to be published under the pen name Maria Saveria Zizzo, and I am reaching out regarding the pressing matter concerning the explotation by LR.Price. In 2021, I entered into a contractual agreement with LR Price for the publication of my book, THE STONE SPHERE, a narrative non-fiction about child sex abuse, and domestic abuse, religion, pyschology and more. I paid a fee of 1,500 in 2021 and my book has not been published.
Throughout the process, I have encountered significant issues, including substandard editing quality, persistent delays in publication, and inadequate communication. Notably, I was asked by Matt Spencer if LR Price could post photographs of myself alongside Pope Francis on their Facebook Page – December 2022, for promotional endeavors for my forthcoing book.
Yesterday, June 29, 2024, I formally requested the immediate removal of these images from LR Price Facebook page. LR Price DOES NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION TO DISPLAY THESE IMAGES, which I believe misrepresents not only my values and beliefs, but also that of THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND POPE FRANCIS, particularly our strong stance against the explotation of children and any form of explotation.
In response to my request, I received an email from a respresentative named Mary, indicating that she would investigate the matter and provide feedback. I replied back, that my request was not for feedback but for prompt compliance with the removal of the aforementioned images without delay. Now I have received a second email stating. “Agplogies for mentioning that I will correspond with you about the status of your request. I have relayed your request to the team and WILL NOT provide any feedback as you have stated.”
I urge LR Price to immeditaly take action to remove the unathorized imaged from their platform per my request and consider the implications not only for their business reputation but also the complications this will cause for them with The Catholic Church.
Sincerely,
Suzie Greco
Maria Saveria Zizzo
Suzie, I’ve emailed you.
28.6.24
I signed a contract with L R Price on 11.11.22 and paid my share of the costs. This is for an illustrated book of limericks. They subsequently accepted a second and a third book. which make up a trilogy To date Ithere is no sign of publication happening. I did receive the edits for approval of the first two books . These were horrendous. All they did was add countless unnecessary , wrongly placed commas,and changed a cople of singular words into plural. They also left out one picture. Their punctuation was a disgrace to the English language. This was not a professional editing job. After countless emails to “Dear Russell” reecently he has simply stopped replying. In July it will be 2 years with still no sign of a book. What can I do – I am an 88 year old lady who will probably die withoug seeing any books in print.
Pamela Fowler
Pamela, I’m so sorry for your experience with LR Price. I’ve emailed you.
Hi, I’m in the same boat as all of the other unfortunately writers detailed in the messages that have been left. The vast majority of the comments made relate directly to what I too have experienced during my dealings with Mr. Russell and Emma (his cohort assistant editor). After over 6 years of writing I sent out submission to a handful of publishing agents. I was eventually approached (and flattered) by Russell Spencer and offered a contract. Up until I received my contract I thought the whole process was very professional and my research into them had showed no problems at all (other than usual trolls). But when I read the contract my opinion changed slightly. I found it almost totally bias in their favour and so declined to sign it.
I was surprised when Russell Spencer quickly responded and said I could amend it. I re-wrote my contract and sent it back and was even more surprised when it was almost instantly accepted without any changes at all. The process went smoothly until I was informed my manuscript was to be edited. I received a ‘Work Progress’ chart that detailed the rest of the procedure up to the 12 months publishing date. I knew time would be tight when I read the editing process was to be that of 9 months and so left them to it. Having not heard from them by 10 months had passed I requested an update, but instead of receiving the professional email I had previously received I was shocked to receive a cursory comment that it was in the hands of the senior editor.
I wrote back to ensure the book was on time to be published but the response was a complete change from the professional way I had grown to expect over the moths (the same as I’ve now seen in the remarks from other writers). I was informed (tersely) that I would receive a response in four weeks time and given the address of their ‘complaints department’, to be warned not to threaten legal action (which I hadn’t) otherwise I would be passed to the legal department. After 7 weeks without reply I wrote to Russell Spencer explaining my concern but to date there has been no reply and now there are just 6 days left in which they could complete it. However, I haven’t received the edited manuscript for authorisation, or the details of the cover design, which I had already provided. With no way of retrieving my payment or my rights to the book I find that I am standing in line with the others, wondering what to do and feeling a complete fool for being duped.
I too would be willing to take part in any civil/court action if it is thought it would be of help.
SOA told me to be very careful not to upset LR Price too much over 2 years ago. I was astounded.
I have just contacted you via email Victoria! Please add me to any ongoing discussions regarding legal and small claims court actions!
LR Price is a fraudulent scam.
LR Price got me to contribute 50% to the costs because Russell Spencer wrote that the manuscript needed extensive editing, which didn’t surprise me. I trust people which is why I paid him. I signed a contract when I shouldn’t. It was fill of errors, such as “The Author may to provide to the Publisher …” and “The Author agrees that during the term of this contract thereafter they …” I should have been more wary.
It was over a year later, 19-Apr-2023, that LR Price sent the revised version of “Domestic Harmony.” They had repaginated and made changes to the font and paragraph styles, a task that would have been completed in 30 minutes or so in Word. But basically the manuscript was the same as I originally submitted. Obviously LR Price hadn’t edited it.
LR Price probably is a “one man band,” Russell Spencer, whoever he is. If there are 50 suckers like me who pay LR Price there is only enough income to support one person and all the others are probably figments of Russell’s mind, including the mysterious Laura-Jayne Humphrey and Emma Collins, assistant editors.
I’ve lost my money, but that is minor to my embarrassment to being duped by a cretin.
Sorry to hear?, join the club, not a club anyone would choose to be in, but never the less were in it, looks like we have all fallen for this Charlatan’s lies, namely one ‘Russell Spencer,’ whether that’s his real name, remains to be seen?.
This has been a bit like the post office scandal, no one knew about anyone else in this Scam, but thanks to this wonderful revealing web site, a light has been Shone on LR Publishing, formally LR Price Publishing.
For all his Scamming, planning, threats,I bet he never factored that in?.
Unity is Strength.
All the stories here have a Very similar method of operation .
The Writing is on the wall for Mr Spencer, (no pun intended).
He banked on us, not knowing about each other, but now we have found each other, justice will prevail.
It may take time, but Mr Spencer and his cohorts will see justice. Just a case of
Watch this Space?.
Something you sometimes find on the bottom of your shoe after a pleasant walk through the park sadly comes to mind .
Oh dear, looks like I have been ‘done’ as well! I was told 12 months publication from November 2022; now an email (looks like one that has been used to send to others) saying that issues beyond their control will mean 18-24 months (if at all) and that the force majeure clause in the contract has been invoked. What a lovely world we live in!!
If there is to be a group to formed to address this apparent scam then count me in.
Hi,
My manuscript was submitted and accepted in November 2021with a promised publication date of November 2022.
As late on as 22nd June 2023 I was informed that my manuscript was being progressed to the final proof stage prior to printing, and some months later after hearing nothing further from them I contacted their Assistant Editor, which led to my being informed in November 2023 that my work was being sent to the printers.
After hearing nothing from them for some months after, until February 2024 (with a nudge), I asked them to just proceed with publishing as I had approved everything, including their draft cover (No.5) which I liked very much.
After all this time I am left wondering if I will ever see them publish my novel, as it is now May 2024 and I am still waiting for my book.
Looks like Our Mr Russell Spencer has just filed a Cessation of Major control at LR Publishing, on the 5th April 2024 according to Companies House ?.
Leaving a sinking ship with his ill gotten gains no doubt? .
I suspect that’s just a paper change.
Hi,
My manuscript was submitted and accepted in November 2021 with a promised published date of November 2022.
As late on as 22nd June 2023 I was informed that my manuscript was being progressed to the final proof stage prior to printing, and some months later after hearing nothing further from them I contacted their Assistant editor, which led to my being informed in November 2023 that my work was being sent to the printers.
After hearing nothing from them for some months after, until February 2024, I asked them to just proceed with publishing as I had approved everything, including their draft cover (No.5), which I liked very much.
After all this time I am left wondering if I will ever see them publish my novel, as it is now May 2024 and I am still waiting for my book.
I have written to Russell a couple of times as he is a ‘well-respected publishing house.’ My main pride-filled concern is the amount he ripped me off, as others seemed to have paid less! I was asking him to at least give me back £1,250. Either he is on a sabbatical from his industry in a prestigious part of London, or he is unwell. At any rate, I know he will get back to me at his first opportunity.
No hope and little hope is the sad answer, sorry, read all the dreadful stories here, the whole book publishing business he and his cronies were running was a SCAM, all involved need to see the inside of a court room quickly .
Can I please be added to any group that will consider fighting this, what do I need to do and who should I contact, I’m also a victim of this scam .
I’m with you on this and beginning to understand I have been scammed too. To say I feel like an idiot is an understatement!
Sent my documents last week to the small claims court, but looks like someone has already beat me to it.
https://caseboard.io/cases/a09850f8-edc4-474b-a5ca-8fa975a4c425
Contact me at beware@sfwa.org. I’ll need to know your real name and the details of your experience (anything shared with me is confidential). Thanks.
Check out the recent Endole financial report for this publisher, which seems to indicate that the game is up. “The Endole Score predicts the probability of the company becoming insolvent in the 12 months following the date of calculation. (March 18 2024).”
What are the chances of Mr Spencer and cohorts disappearing ?, notice he has refrained from pushing his idiotic defences on here ?.
Still, he can run, but he can’t hide !.
If the company has that amount, then it has assets to reimburse monies Stolen from us, and just shows the level of his fraudulent deceptions.
This will make a good story in media too .
Company shows 70k in asset now? Wonder where all that money came from hmmm
“Mr Russell Spencer CEASED
Correspondence address
27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX
Notified on
2 July 2016
Ceased on
2 April 2024
Date of birth
August 1983
Nationality
British
Country of residence
England
Nature of control
Has significant influence or control”
This is from HMRC website (Companies House) on LR PUBLISHING LONDON LTD. Is he bailing? Is this a result? I am very grateful to this website for highlighting this scamming and bullying man.
I was scammed out of £2,500 should we be contacting HMRC to advise of payments that he may not have declared?
I agree with you Susan because, like you, I checked LRPrice out at Companies House two years ago when I had my doubts about publication of my first book. Now I have checked it out again and found they have changed their name to LR Publications London, and Russel is now a secretary and the director is 84 year old. I have submitted a second novel sized book since then, and am regretting it and feeling a fool for trusting them. They are clever people, and clever is not necessarily a complement.
I have been caught out too. Contract signed in January 2022, stating 12 months until publishing. Manuscript came back three times, with laughable mistakes, I found myself doing the editing for them. Felt very suspicious about this. Third time, the manuscript went back all good, in November 2023, told it would be one to two months before further and final progress. Nothing from them at all, nearly six months later. Also, nothing from them at all for the book cover, which I put much effort and time into myself. I paid them £900, and feel totally ripped off. The lack of professionalism is unbelievable. They are obviously, after my own research, ripping off lots of people, finalising just a few books, in order to kind of cover their backs. If you really look at their website, and so-called book events, which appear to be hardly any, they have a strong element of fake. To be told that if further emails of enquiry are sent regards progress then your manuscript will be delayed further, has an air of threat and scaremongering. I really hope that time and karma catch up with them soon. I feel like ripping up the contract. It means absolutely nothing. They have changed their company name, from what I can gather, they did not inform any of their budding authors of this, which is in itself deceitful and throws more light into their darkness.
I have emailed Victoria to get Amy’s details, so I can contact her about the group action, which is mentioned in comments below. Not heard back from Victoria yet. Can you direct me in any way, to find out some truth in all of this. Would really appreciate more clarity if there is any out there. I sense there is more.
A note to the person posting from IP address 46.69.224.31: stop trying to game the comments by posting under different names and fake email addresses. I’ve unapproved five of your posts so far, and will continue to do so.
Feel free to email me under your real name and email: beware@sfwa.org.
You give them hell .
I did some contract work for LR Price during 2023 as an editor, and this confirmed a few of my concerns. I’m not surprised to hear authors express uncertainty about the opaque editing process; the pipeline on my end has been such that I was unsure how to viably communicate with the authors whose work I was editing. With a one-month deadline, and very variable response times whenever I did contact the publisher, I simply hoped authorial concerns would be relayed to me through the senior editor.
I would also like to note, the publisher currently owes me over £500 in back-pay from work done at the end of last year.
Oh gosh this is awful. Did you take any form of legal action?
Would love to chat with you about your experience as an editor, as the everything I’ve seen is so full of errors that it can’t actually have been looked at properly. I don’t understand this part at all: if you’re hiring editors, why aren’t the books properly edited? Are they putting errors back in after you guys are done with the manuscripts? Message Victoria via this site if you’d be willing to connect.
Hi, I’ve also been editing for them and we basically have the exact same experience, been chasing them up about payment but get nothing back!
Have too been scammed, paid £1,248 signed worthless contract March 2022, told book would be published in 12 months, nothing to date .
The only time I had any correspondence with them was when they were after my money, after that, Nothing, just mug me contacting them, and them telling me the book had been sent for final edit bla bla, but, Nothing Ever happened.
Then finally sent them a email, stating I did not think they were going to ever publish my book, and I would have to consider what actions to take next?, they sent an intimidating email back saying I had threatened them with legal action, which I did not, and they were only going to deal now with me through their legal department?.
I thought it was just me, a bit like the post office scandal, having read good reviews about them, before choosing them, but it seems there are many?.
It’s not so much the money, they make fools out of people, who have spent so much time on their books, it can put a would be author of for life .
I guess they know most cannot afford to take legal action against them. I hope something is done to shut them down and return author’s rights and funds, Russel Spencer needs to see justice? .
You can take legal action. Fill out the N1 form for the Small claims court and EX160 (help with fees form). Send them both with your emails and signed contract to:
Civil National Business Centre, St Katharine’s House, 21-27 St Katharine’s Street, Northampton, NN1 2LH
It’s really not difficult.
Does this work only for the residents of UK? I live in EU.
I have a number of novels in the process of being published, I don’t mind the two years waiting, that is, up until now, but Russell is not answering my emails, and I can’t see me continuing to write for them as I’m unable to wait such lengthy periods just to get the process going. It does worry me when a company doesn’t reply to emails, having sent three with no reply, it can’t be a scam as I have spent very little, are they just incompetent?
Staff issues I think …I see a rat has jumped ship.
I won’t use the word “scam” as I want to stick to factual information and not make accusations.
But the FACT is the majority of us have parted with a hell of a lot of money and got absolutely nothing in return.
We have literally paid them a large sum of money for them to never publish our book.
So I guess label that whatever you feel necessary.
But the very thing you suggested it “can’t be” very much springs to mind!
Hi is there any where that shows a court has stated this? From a fellow unhappy author?
“Incompetent” was my word when I went to their “annual book launch” (that they’ve only had two of since 2013…) at the British Library in 2022: no media, no press release, no meet and greet, no books to peruse or buy, no information, a tv backdrop that shut off halfway through, a hostess that knew nothing about the books or the authors, WAY too many readings – my author friend left halfway through because he couldn’t stand it another minute. The people doing the readings were for the most part good to excellent though, so, authors, having trusted them enough to sign with them does not necessarily mean lack of talent on your part!
Please could I encourage everyone to report this scam to Action Fraud. I have already.
I’d like to suggest that all of us who’ve been on the receiving end of L R Price Publications’ games have a meeting somewhere central in the UK – with a view to a group legal action. I have tried to communicate with one or two contributors here, but have heard back from no-one apart from Victoria Strauss. (I very much applaud Victoria’s efforts, but she is based in the States and it’s we in the UK who now need to move on this.) Please contact me if you think a meeting is a good idea. Victoria has my contact details. Colin Crow.
Or a Microsoft Teams meeting. Meanwhile, please could I encourage everyone to report this scam to Action Fraud. I have already.
Hi Colin
I would be up for this.
Please keep me posted on any progress.
Best Regards
Anne Pritchard
Yes Good Idea
I’m in
Hi,
I am going through the publishing process with this organisation and fear, having read the blog, that I will be in the same boat. Please can you let me know how I can be part of any action that may be taking place?
thanks
Is anyone else going to down the Small Claims Court avenue? Or has anyone pursued this form of action?
There are multiple open claims against LRP presently, and several judgements against them to date.
Excellent. Has anyone had any money back though? A small claims court route for the amount which I have paid costs £205. I don’t want to fork out more money. I am already nearly 2k down.
Ah You beat me to it!
I was just about to leave a post to let any potential authors who maybe looking to sign with them, that even though the name is different please don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a different company.
It’s the same people, the same company and I think we can all assume that they will still be doing the same things.
Try as you might, you can’t hide behind a “new name”
I’ve updated my post to reflect the name change. So far, it isn’t fooling a websearch.
Me too, “Scam and Lies” sounds like a book title, paid £1,248, what a mug I have been, how can this Russell Spencer be allowed to do this?, treading budding authors dreams into the dirt for gruppy money.
Your a bright lady, alright I know your a yank, haha, can you not fight for all the scammed authors?, there could be a few good ones emongst us who have had their will crushed and dirtied by this man, and lost the will to write anything more . Your in the USA, but distance is no problem in this digital day and age .
So this blog post–which, in addition to providing a public warning, has enabled dozens of LRP authors to connect–doesn’t count?
Your in the Business? .
DEREKCANNING@AOL.COM. Give me the reference numbers and I will supply them to the right person.
Hi All,
I am a signed author with LR Price Publishing and I have been reading the blog with great interest.
I paid monthly payment to a lady called Susan Woodward. She was director at LR Price publishing and resigned in February 2022.
My 3 payments amounting to £1,900 were made in:
August 2022
September 2022
October 2022
This was after she resigned. I was told to pay this person under false pretences. Please could you post this on the blog? I think other people may have also paid the same person, who was meant to be a director but resigned.
I will be making an official complaint to: https://reporting.actionfraud.police.uk/login
This will build momentum and the more reports submitted the better.
It took me 25 mins to complete but it’s worth a shot
L R Price have £1,487 of my money, the publication rights to my book and no intention of publishing. I cant publish elsewhere with this still ongoing, so they’ve had 2 years of my life plus however more it takes to deal with this. We are taking group legal action (at least 21 of us so far) and if anyone else would like to be involved let me know.
Yes please
I have passed the 14 days notice I sent them by post which has been ignored the next stage is proceedings
Hello Amy
I would be glad to take part in the group legal action if that’s still possible. I was assured that my book would be ready by Easter but I have not been able to speak to anyone. When I ring someone takes my message but no-one calls back. Occasionally my message has been taken but there is nil response. I paid them £1,300 in good faith.
Best
Ruth
Amy, I’d be interested in taking part in group legal action. I signed contract with LR Price Publications in 2021 and paid them just shy of £2k. Since then, publication permanently stalled. Am giving you secondary email address and not using own name for the moment, as honestly not sure what the bloke in question is capable of.
Colin, do I have your permission to pass your contact information on to Amy? Thank you.
I’d like to take part in the Group action. Please could i Request for my information to be passed to Amy?
I paid £1,950. By the sounds of it – I got ripped of the most. I have printed all my email correspondence and contract. Happy to send this over.
Purplerain, could you email me, please? beware@sfwa.org.
Yes, Victoria, please do. Also – hope you don’t mind – I’ve posted above that people interested in meeting to plan a group legal action can get my contact details from you. So please feel free to
pass on my details to trusted people.
Hi Amy
I have paid L R Price £900 on 11.11.22 Fir a 1st book, followed by a second £900. on 25.7.22 for a continuation book. Received edits on these 2 books December 23, My 8 yyear old done a better job, so had to be sent back tor re-doing. . Paid another £900 .24.21.23 for the third follow on book. I sent back finally approved edits 14.3.24. Absolutely no action to date. No indication of a publishing date.
Hi Amy
I am in a similar position to yourself and would like to be a part of, and contribute to, any legal action. I have emailed Vicky and asked her to pass on my message.
Thanks
Lee
I,m with you .
I started the process of working with LR Price last year in September. At the time the company looked fairly legitimate, and even internet searches done by myself and family members turned up nothing suspicious or questionable. We proceeded with publishing agreements in the amount of nearly 1,500 pounds for my portion of publishing costs, to be paid over the course of one year. As chance would have it, I was given a donation from my social circle to pay off costs early, and so I contacted the company right away to see if my payment schedule could be changed. They wrote back quickly and sent a new invoice, and I paid off the rest thinking they would respond just as quickly to begin the next stages of publication.
However after several days with no response, I began to get a strange feeling in my gut. I decided to voice my concerns to my boyfriend, and after some new research we discovered this page and several Reddit posts regarding these very problems and more. I now find myself in the same position as many others have where my book is under contract to a company that I am sure has no intention of publishing, and instead will make off with my funds and claim innocence as they continue to do.
Not only that, but I have lost a year that I could have spent searching for legitimate places to have my book published.
I hope that in time we will see justice and compensation for the deceptions we have endured.
You are not alone. There are many of us now and we are taking legal action. Email me via Victoria if you’d like to be involved (no cost involved)
Thank you for what you are doing. I have sent an email and will do whatever I can to help.
Another Disgruntled Author.
14 days ago I sent this bunch of fraudsters a recorded letter requesting the return of my money and full rights to my unpublished novel, as they have broken their contractual obligations by not publishing within two years.
As stated in my letter no response will equal court action.
I signed in 2021 and I too have had enough of their idol threats and broken promises.
I think joint action from many of us is the way forward and as a union person it’s a route we take against bogus self-employment status with much success over the last few years.
Let me know your thoughts.
You are not alone. There are many of us now and we are taking group action. Email me via Victoria if you’d like to be involved (no cost)
Thank you Amy I have asked Victoria to do that
Best
Simon
Just sent an email.
H
Dear Amy, I am one of many writers who have been taken up the garden path with LRPRICE and I would like to be Involved in taking Group Action
Not a Fan of Bullies.
My involvement with LR Price came about due to throw away comment I made to my optometrist last year sometime. I have a most distessing affliction made worse when exposed to bullies and theives. This rather severe condition flares up when I find someone falling victim to these reprobates.
When I mentioned this diificulty I had in response to the obligatory “What do you do?” question, I then had the standard “story/issue/difficulty” that everyone seems to have, ande must share the moment they find out I work in a legal capacity.
I directed the eye doc to check out the home insurance policy first, and offered to have a nosey should that not come to anything. Some 7-8 months later my phone rang, and the moment the caller mentioned he was my optometrist I knew wht was coming.
I have since looked through all the contracts, correspondence and complete and utter mess that is LR Price, and after writing to their in-house legal person, and after being ignored, I have issued proceedings with the county court.
I will of course be happy to update here later, when the matter is closed, but after failing to attend the mediation opportunity they asked for, I cant promise this will be anytime soon. That being said, I am more than happy to have a look at other peoples matters should you wish.
Happy to be a witness, should you need one. You can add this in you statement when completing the forms with the County Court
I tell you what I don’t like, not being able to edit the typos, I wrote that on my phone.
I did try to do find out as much as I could on the background of this mob, finding myself in New Zealand courtesy of Google Earth.
I do think they will not be around for much longer, popping up with a new brand, new name and just as many poor souls falling for their poor service.
Happy to share what I have, but wont be putting it on here just yet as I do not want to jeopradise the matter I am working on.
This is me, responding to my first comment, and under a different name again, I think, ohhhhh how exciting, I wonder if thats how L.R. Price comes up with its names, luck of the draw etc.
As it is, I have filed a claim on behalf of an author to which L.R Price did respond the very next day by harassing the author.
I responded reminding them that it was them that had said they would not discuss matters unless it was through a Solicitor, so they must Cease & Desist, which they have done.
On Companies House there has been a lot of too’ing and fro’ing, lots of name changes terminated secretaries, new secretaries etc, and their new accounts have been filed.
Off the top of my head their original accounts showed very little, where as the latest accounts show £70,000 ish.
There has also been the change of business name, I have added this, with supporting documents to the court documents, and other than an email from them when I asked if they were ready to exchange documents asking “who I was?” I have had no responses from them for months now.
The difficulty will be tracking down the relevant directors to try to enforce and successful claims, as they all have the London Address as their primary contact, but I look forward to that fight later.
I will of course keep you all appraised, and good luck with each of your own actions.
Russell Spencer has run a very successful scam for a long time. It this almost an admiring tribute to his ruthlessness and cunning. He won’t cough up any damages, but what would be useful is his exposure in a media sense to warn off any other unsuspecting innocents (I was one.) Perhaps we should concentrate on a shout-out from the various programs about scammers. There is a narcissistic quality to him where he becomes incandescent with rage if he is taken to task. Forget the police. They are busy, and organisations for writers seem helpless or uncomfortable with any approach to them as to his malpractice (tried it.)
I have been caught up in this scam. Will be emailing the facilitator of the website in detail, but I have several emails and a contract stating that my book will be published within 12 months.
I have a legal background and I also asked for my contract to be amended before I signed it. I am hoping that all the issue Authors have faced will not apply to me.
Literally sent the email today. Received a threatening response from the complaints team, instructing me not to communicate with anyone.
I will be communicating with both the press, police and solicitors. Whilst many people on this website have been threatened by LR Price and have been advised to take legal action, it is not as daunting as it seems. Most people find the Court process daunting, hence why they mention “instructing a legal advisor.” It’s my playground and I am not saying this in a smug manner, but more to encourage everyone to step forward.
Small Claims Court is a good option but I would advise paying a Solicitor to support you when and if you attend Court. This is the route that I will be taking if they refuse to terminate my contract and do not refund the funds contributed. I have every intention of closing the business which is not fit for purpose. As mentioned they are a “business” therefore the Consumer Act does not apply. That’s even better, what a bunch of dimwit’s. As a business you cannot operate illegally and in ill faith.
Can you email?
I’ll be emailing the facilitator of the website on the weekend.
Go you
I’m currently in legal proceedings with them too
Feel free to get in touch via Victoria and il share where I am
Thank you – I work full time, so will be sorting through all my emails, going through my contract with a fine tooth comb and emailing all the relevant authorities on the weekend. They haven’t even replied to me yet. I have only made a complaint to “Author Complaints” but judging from all these comments, I am already expecting a shoddy response.
The difference is I don’t take threats too well and I know my stuff!
Will keep everyone posted.
HI Ano,
Please can you give us an update of where you are with legal proceedings?
I’m happy to leave my name as I have nothing to hide or fear.
Today I posted on the LR price Facebook page trying to get a reply from them as my book is now 8 months overdue and I have had my last 20 emails and 2 phone calls totally ignored.
I was very careful in what I said and made it clear it was not an accusation, I am simply asking where my book is.
Within 10 mins my post was removed and I was blocked from all of their social media.
So with that please make you own mind up on what kind of company they really are.
I’ve been waiting nearly four years for my manuscript to arrive. And no now no one at lr price publications is talking. This can’t be coincidence that so many people have a serious gripe about their lack of professionalism and out of nowhere they’ve suddenly clammed up. Perhaps Russell Spencer’s mailbox is too full of angry authors responses? Or maybe he’s too busy learning to be a proper editor for a change!
I have since found out that LR price are telling authors than a certain illustrator refused to work for them and then set out an online campaign of hate towards them. This is completely false. RS also stated that the illustrator was going online and setting up fake accounts as an author to try spread more supposed lies about lr price. It’s all false. Just be wary people keep talking with eachother and we’ll quite quickly see the truth
Dear all, do be careful. I signed a contract with LR Price publications and soon realised I could not publish as they required £1248. Approximately 6 months later I published with Amazon for FREE. Within 10 days I received a court writ. The company took me to court for their share £1248 and my share £1248 plus court costs. A CCJ was also added to my credit record. With court costs I now know £2600 and am in a complete state. I have asked LR Price for a breakdown of costs and how they lost £1248 – without reply. 2 writs were sent to me. The first landed for £1248, and soon after another landed for the increased amount of £2600. I live in Essex, if anyone wishes to meet and discuss I am happy to do so.
Hi, Mark,
I’m very sorry to tell you that, based on what you describe, LRP may well have the law on its side in this case, given that LRP’s contracts are exclusive, and it sounds like you published on Amazon before the 12-month publication window had been breached. I can’t provide legal advice, but I’ll be glad to take a look at what LRP is claiming and give you a more detailed opinion; please email me: beware@sfwa.org.
Hi Victoria, I have emailed you. Regards. Mark
LR PRICE do not have the law on their as they people have been misled by misleading reviews and so on.
Mark, I have writs too. How can I find you to talk?
Nowway, where are you based? I am happy to meet, if I am able.
Mark
Dear Victoria, I was wondering if you had received my email Regards. Mark
I have gone with LRP and had my edited manuscript in November and Approved it and was told it would be 1 to 2 Months before I will get the final edit, I have also approved the cover, after reading the comments here I am very concerned now, I did email and was told because my manuscript is In the final approval stage I was told I could be given no update.
The refusal of updates is unfortunately a pretty common response from LRP, based on what I’ve been told by LRP authors. If you continue to experience delays, could you come back and let us know? Or feel free to contact me directly: beware@sfwa.org. Anything shared with me is confidential.
Same – I had the same and I was also worried after reading the comments on here. They will ruin your chances of success. As mentioned in my above comment (purplerain8) I have only requested to terminate my contract today.
PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN YOUR EXPERIENCES OF LR PRICE PUBLISHING LTD, THE POLICE WANT TO JOIN THE DOTS. DEREKCANNING@AOL.COM. I AM ALSO INTERESTED IN ANYONE THAT KNOWS THE ACTORS IN THIS DRAMA AND THE BACK GROUND INFORMATION. IT CAN BE DONE ON CONFIDENCE.
After reading all of the comments and going through it all myself It is my strong opinion that the contracts that LR price set, as well as their behaviour throughout the “publishing process” is all done in such a way so that eventually the Author will terminate his/her Contract, and end up having to pay them again to regain the rights to their work.
So the process goes something like this.
Step one.
They will basically tell you everything that you want to hear.
They Convince you they will do everything they can to make your book a success and persuade you to part with your money.
You also sign a contract giving exclusive rights of your work to LR price.
Step 2.
At the beginning they will reply to your emails and questions, but as time goes on the replies become less and contact slows down.
When you do here back from them you are fobbed off with countless excuses.
Things like “the editing is going well/your MS is currently with the senior editor/it will be with you soon.
You are never actually given any facts or dates, just time wasting excuses.
In the end they will simply ignore you all together.
Step 3.
Around about the time when your book is due to be realised, they will then issue you with a “force majeure” clause. This is basically something that they claim is due to “unforeseen circumstances” and it seems to give them an infinite amount of time to publish your book.
Step 4.
Now, when you ask questions about what is going on you will be met with some if not all of the list below:
.Continued to be ignored
.Spoken to Rudely
.Abused
.Threatened with legal consequences if you dare to speak about this publicly
.silenced/gagged through fear of the legal threats they make regarding your contract.
(I have also heard of threats of violence)
If you do actually get to the stage where your book does get edited, (mine never even got this far) every single comment I have ever seen regarding this says the editing is very very poor, and full of very basic spelling and grammar mistakes.
All or some of the above will usually be enough to make the author want to terminate the contract.
LR price then demand that you pay them again if you wish to regain the rights to your work.
If you don’t, they will demand to keep your work and yet again threaten legal action should you refuse.
It is my opinion that they set they whole thing up so you end up paying them twice, and they never have any intention of actually getting your work published.
This is only my opinion of course but it seems way to coincidental that so many people are sharing almost identical experiences.
I will say, not in their defense but in the spirit of full truth, that they DO publish books occasionally: with little editing, little to no marketing, and in the case of three authors I’ve spoken to, without paying out the royalties owed. The books I’ve purchased from them are published as Print on Demand via IngramSpark (LightningSource) or Amazon, and as such most (none that I know of but I’ve not spoken to all of them!) bookstores – including Waterstones – will not stock the physical books by definition. The publishing contract never expires, no matter how long it’s been since there was a sale, and there is no clause in the contract that enables you to pull it off sale. You will get approval of their edits and cover but you will not get input or inclusion.
In short, if you keep your mouth shut and wait patiently for months and years, you may well get a physical copy of your book, but it won’t match their candy-coloured promises of interviews and promotion and mutually-beneficial collaborative success.
In extra short, they will do for you for anywhere between £900 and £2000 what you can do for yourself for about £200 – and that’s if you spring for a professional cover designer and buy your own ISBNs.
Yes, the MO you’ve laid out certainly approximates to my experience. I’d be interested to hear specifics re threats of violence. Some of the emails I received from LR Price Publications (after I paid my money) smacked of classic psychopathology.
I just discovered that Russell hates Google Map One-star review more than anything.
I’m slowly coming to terms with all the horrors I’ve experienced with this awful company. The only thing making me feel better is that evidently, I am clearly not alone in this mass scam. I received my manuscript back after what I can only describe as a lengthy hiatus to only discover page after page of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes that were never in the original. I hardly hear anything from them, in fact months go by and there is no news at all. The legal team advising me have explained they’ve lost count to the amount of people having similar issues with such a despicable company. I wouldn’t mind but clearly lr price know what they are doing! I was vulnerable and desperate to get my work published, believing that it was the only way to make ends meet. Now I fear, I will never have an authors Career and I have no idea as to, if and when it will ever be published. So sorry to see other people’s broken dreams on here as well. Why hasn’t this company been brought to justice?
Amarake, which legal team are you using? Thank you. Mark
It will. Someone just needs to fight against all odds. Which I will. It will take one person to take this to Court. I’ll be contacting the Facilitator of the website and will be requesting for everyone to step forward.
You are able to provide witness statements as part of a court process.
Hope that helps
I’ll do this.
Thank you
https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/108382908782643251351/place/ChIJR9yXmDYbdkgRuSaeuInFl3w/@42.9587323,-38.3272949,3z/data=!4m6!1m5!8m4!1e1!2s108382908782643251351!3m1!1e1?authuser=0&entry=ttu
The link leads to my review of LR Price, which has now become a public debate. It is informative. The photos and report are relevant to the matter and the cannot be posted here.
I’m an illustrator who is at the start of a court battle against him. Sorry this has happened to many people but I’m a wierd way feels good that I’m not alkne
Illustrator, would you please contact me? I’m interested to know more about your experience. beware@sfwa.org (your name and other identifying details are confidential).
Please contact me as I have something important to say?
Please contact me I am preparing a case derekcanning@aol.com.
Russell is an awful man and I’m so happy it’s being bought to light publicly like this for the first time. A whole manuscript returned with ridiculous errors and then demanding money if I wanted to terminate contract.
Scaremongering in his pathetic ways, bullying and causing hurt and stress to so many people. He thinks he’s smart and clever but solicitors, watchdog and trading standards will be notified now. I have solicitors who are willing to work pro bono to stop this awful pathetic man
Please contact me as soon as possible.
I have emailed
It is vital that people stand up to Russell Spencer with their real names. My forensic team need as much information to work on as possible from genuine complainants. derekcanning@aol.com.
I am willing to provide information, I have filled my own civil claim against Russell, if you need me to contact you please reply
I would love to speak to you regarding this if possible, could you message [phone number redacted]
I’ve removed your phone number–leaving your phone number on a public forum is not safe.
I have filled my own civil law suit against Russel, I would like to discuss with you if you like, is there a way we can exchange email privately?
Yes I don’t know how to exchange email? I left a number that wasn’t actually mine but I don’t know how to communicate without putting my email here
Dear Derek, I am intrigued by your forensic team piece. What exactly is that? I have written above about my problem. Regards. Mark
Oh Russell, enough with the lies! I have been so scared of you for over two years but you have been caught out, it’s over, and I could not be happier. I’ve read several of the books by authors you’ve signed and they were GOOD: if you spent half the time and energy actually publishing and promoting books as you do policing reviews and writing long, elaborate, fictitious replies to authors who were willing and happy to pay you THOUSANDS for your actual help, you’d have an excellent, viable business model. Instead you persist with these fantasies of a bustling wood panelled office in Bloomsbury – I’ve been there and spoken to Monomark, it’s a mailbox service – while delivering next to nothing, including to your published authors and your creative team, and keeping us all in constant fear with legal threats riddled with actual UK law errors and lies. My solicitor – because I have one now, that’s what this has come to – called your contract “bottom feeding” and “parasitic” – definitely not the basis for a healthy, happy collaborative relationship. I beg you, stop now. You have hurt so many people and we finally have a voice. It’s over.
P.S. My eBooks earn me twice the royalties as my print books and took an hour to format and upload.
I paid £1,248 in 2021 and I have absolutely nothing to show for it apart from stress. When you dare to question this bully of a man he turns extremely threatening and passes you over to his legal team, who inturn whacks the innocent party with a court claim and costs. He puts all of the blame on you and will tell blatant lies. Keep all emails for proof. He also threatens you not to post anything negative about him as this will incur more costs to the innocent party. He is a very manipulating man, a typical bully. Avoid at all costs.
Yes very true
100% and well said. Shocking that a high majority of this fake company are Law Graduates..! He should have known better. I have a law degree, two of that matter but I don’t specialise in Contract Law. If it makes anyone feel better, I got caught up in this rubbish
If you have questions about the status of your book you are encouraged to email your designated editor. I am not sure who you are so I could not tell you what stage your book is at. We have two physical offices which our signed authors are able to meet us however these meetings need to be booked in advance as we are very busy. It is important to us that our authors understand the contract they are signing to ensure a positive and productive working relationship.
No one managed to talk to “the editor.” There is only Russell, who cannot spell the name of his legal rep
Unfortunately this article sums up my experience with LR price.
£1487 paid in June 2022.
My book was due to be published in June/July 2023.
I was told this was to be delayed but I was never given a reason why or was I told how long the delay would be.
I am now just getting totally ignored. Every call and email is met with silence.
So basically I have paid them nearly £1500 for absolutely nothing.
I have no doubt, now I have written this publicly I will now receive some kind of legal threat, as everyone who speaks up about the treatment they receive from LR price does.
This seems to be what they do. Take the money, do not publish the book as agreed but then threaten people with legal action if they dare to mention it.
But all I have done here is tell the truth.
You can’t expect to give customers a poor service then not get bad reviews! (Well in my case they have given me no service, I just paid them £1487 and in return they gave me nothing at all!)
In my opinion they are not a reputable publisher and my advice to any authors who are looking to publish a book or books is to stay well clear of them.
Do not join the long list of people who pay them for a service that they do not deliver!
We had three authors whose books were supposed to be published around that time last year. Two of them have been so we think we have a good idea of who you are.
Your book has not been published yet as we are waiting for your approval and we simply can not go ahead without your approval and sign off. We have done all the work we agreed to do such as editing, formatting, market research etc however without your approval we can not publish your book.
You have been given an editor to email and communicate with however you have not done so.
Please email your designated editor with your approval, that way we can get back on track publishing and selling your book.
To everyone reading this.
This is a blatant and compete lie. I can prove this.
So when they go on about breaking contracts and all of that other nonsense I can prove through all of our email communication that what they have just said here is a lie. So who’s the one breaking Contracts??!!!!!!
My last 15 or so emails have been totally ignored.
I have never ever been sent any edits to approve.
That has never happened.
That is exactly what I have been asking for.
The last email sent to me I was told there is no information for me at this time.
I can prove all of this.
This ladies and gentlemen sums up LR price.
I had never heard of an author who managed to speak with an LRP Editor. There is only Russell (who cannot spell the name of his legal rep)
I am currently in a legal battle via my solicitor to win back the exclusive rights to my first novel. They have taken £1,247, and in return, issued me with three years plus of utter misery, despondency and anxiety. I am now encountering legal fees to challenge them.
They say I have lost my veto but all they ever did was not act at all on needed edits or add more of their own in order to delay the publication process (removing capital letters to start sentences and adding random full stops mid-sentence). I’m an English teacher so these are not basic grammatical errors that I would make. It’s a clear tactical move on their part. They have threatened me with legal action and abusive emails saying that if I asked about the progress of my manuscript then I would be placed at the bottom of the editing pile. This is not normal publishing action of a reputable company.
Public exposure is what will bother them the most. Watchdog provides a public service and I think our collective experiences need to be voiced and shared in order to protect future writers from their fraudulent claims and empty promises. An utter nightmare of a company that I will be much pleased to see the back of.
I am so sorry for everyone here that have been taken advantage of by them. There are no words to express my level of sadness and regret.
• On Thursday, 12 October 2023 at 09:44:58 BST, Russell Spencer wrote:
•
•
• Dear Derek
•
• Thank you for contacting LR Price Publications and for sending us your work.
•
• Your manuscript has now been appraised by our senior editor and I have discussed it with him at length.
•
We do like your book, it is interesting and of a very important topic. It is important for people to understand police corruption. It is fairly well written but it does need some editing, and more than we would expect from a first time author.
•
• But in terms of publishing the book, we have to base this on whether your book would sell enough copies and generate enough income in a quick enough time to justify our publishing and marketing costs.
•
• Based on our research, the market for this type of book is very crowded and the sales tend to go towards books that aren’t as in depth as yours. We feel that it would need editing and a lot of marketing in order to make it into a financially successful published book.
•
• We estimate that it would cost around £3000 to publish this book and around £1000 to market it, so a total of around £4000.
•
• We do not believe that we would recoup this money in sales in a quick enough time frame in the short term. Therefore we would not be able to fund the entire cost of publishing this book.
•
• However, we do believe the book would make money over the longer term so we would be able to pay half the cost of publishing and we would also be willing to pay the marketing costs, but we would want 50% share of the sales from your book.
•
• You would however keep full rights, ownership and control of the book. It would mean you would need to fund the other half of publishing of around £1500.
•
• The alternative is if you wanted to keep 95% of the sales of the book that you would fund the entire cost of publishing yourself.
•
If you are serious about getting your book published and are interested in either of these options please let us know and we will send you a publishing proposal with an exact breakdown of costs and more information about our publishing company.
Please note we are aware that this is alot of money so we would be able to accept payment in installments if that would help you.
If none of these options are suitable for you then we thank you again for sending us your manuscript and wish you the best for the future.
Yours sincerely,
•
•
• Russell Spencer
• Managing Editor
•
• LR PRICE PUBLICATIONS
• 27 OLD GLOUCESTER STREET
• BLOOMSBURY
• LONDON
• WC1N 3AX
•
• We are an independent publisher that is proud to have been hosted by the British Library.
• http://www.lrprice.co.uk/british-library
•
• *This email and its contents is strictly private and confidential and may not be copied or published except for the purposes of receiving professional legal advice or with the express permission of the sender.
I guess this is a standard letter?
Russell Spencer
To:Derek Canning LLB [hons]
Fri, 15 Dec 2023 at 15:40
Dear Derek
Thank you very much for making payment.
I can confirm that we have now received it and I attach your updated funding statement and invoice as your receipt.
As you know we are looking forward to publishing your book and have everything we need to get started, but before we begin do you have any questions?
Best regards
Russell Spencer
Managing Editor
LR PRICE PUBLICATIONS
27 OLD GLOUCESTER STREET
BLOOMSBURY
LONDON
WC1N 3AX
We are an independent publisher that is proud to have been hosted by the British Library.
http://www.lrprice.co.uk/british-library
*This email and its contents is strictly private and confidential and may not be copied or published except for the purposes of receiving professional legal advice or with the express permission of the sender.
All they need to proceed yet nothing was done.
I ended up giving them the full amount to buy back my MS. My solicitor felt that was my only sensible option since the contract had me over a barrel. LR run a patently poisonous operation and there was some relief in ending the abusive correspondence. I wish we had a way of making their undesirable motives more public.
We encourage all of our authors and prospective authors to seek legal advice if they do not understand the contract. We also encourage them to read through the contract and request to make amends to ensure both parties are protected and happy. Once you signed the contract, work had started on your MS and therefore you were unable to just pull out for minor reasons. As you wanted to terminate the contract it would only be fair that you paid for the work that had already been poured into your MS. If we let authors randomly terminate the contract we could just have authors that use us for a free editing service which we are not.
What work poured into MS???????? The editing, if any, is a joke, and LRP publishes books on KDP – which is free.
I really hope your team continues the fight they are ridiculous and the woman who is not even a solicitor will continue to send threatening letters but keep going
Exactly what has happened to me, you would expect this sort of thing in a third world country, Not the UK, how does this “man” get away with this?, he must have made absolutely thousands and thousands? .
My experience with LRPrice was soon after they agreed to sell my book on a splitting costs basis, I changed my mind before signing their contract and received a vitriolic letter from the publisher accusing me of time wasting! I was so glad I never used them. That was in 2020.
We all need to complain together. Send me your complaint to derekcanning@aol.com. Lr price already has court judgement against him.
Hello Derek,
I agree, we need to complain together. I’ve been done over also.
Angela
I too have had a very bad experience with LR Price. I paid them $3000 in November 2021 and for the last six months they have not even bothered to reply to me emails. Russell Spencer was the initiating spokesperson for this firm.
LRPrice are seriously bad news. They seem to be headed by a rather angry man named Russell Spencer, who is in the habit of threatening anyone with his “legal department” when they don’t step into line and take whatever he’s dishing out. I know of one other author who unfortunately signed a contract with them, whereupon Mr Spencer apparently attempted to strip him of the rights to his own book and then sue him for complaining about it on Twitter. I could talk at length about my own experience with the man, but that’s a whole other story that can easily be shortened to; “He’s a bully and a scam artist. Avoid.”
I sent them a MS in 2020 and after the initial positive responses, I signed their contract and paid the 50% share of publishing costs.
A year later, I finally received a sample of their proposed front cover, which had my name incorrectly spelled, plus another spelling error of ‘Traveling’, instead of ‘Travelling’.
6 months later, in 2022, they sent me what they called a proof, of my 250 page book, but the proof was only 55 pages long. When I pointed this out, they apologised and said a senior editor would deal with it urgently.
Another few months went by, when they finally confirmed publication was available and for sale at Amazon, from August 2022. Apparently all the work they had to do, used up the 50% share I paid them, although, I couldn’t see they’d made any editorial changes and in fact, it looks like they used the free Amazon service to publish the book. I have since published 2 books using the Amazon free service and the quality is the same.
Although I’d sent them colour photos from the book, only poor quality black and white pictures have been put in, the same quality as I obtained from the free service on my other books
.
They then asked my to get friends and relatives to buy the book and get at least 3 reviews, which I did.
When no sales ensued or any signs of publicising the book appeared, I referred them to the contract about their promised procedures, but got a stroppy reply, saying everything I’d alleged was false and in fact Waterstones had the book on their sales site-although not in any shops.
When I checked, with Waterstones, it was listed, but when I ordered a copy, to see how it worked, they said it was unavailable.
3 years later, I made a request for my share of the royalties, from the purchases made by my contacts, but haven’t heard from them since, plus no reply to an email 6 months ago, as to why Waterstones weren’t able to provide a copy.
David, I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. Thank you for sharing your experience.
I received an email from their ‘legal department’, from a Ms K Cherisi LLB, asking me to withdraw my review. As I am concerned about being involved in unnecessary legal costs, I might ask to delete my comments and just give the matter up , as part of another of life’s experiences. They asked me to submit a complaint , vis their complaints department and we’ll see how that goes. They say my review adversely affected any sales, although the review was made in January 2024 and the book had been published in 2022, so how were any sales affected during the whole of 2023?
Hi David, we are sorry to hear that your overall business relationship with us was negative. As you are aware we did edit your book and there was genuine error in it which was made by one of our editors and as you know as soon as you informed us of this we rectified it. Your book was then published and sold online at Amazon and in book shops including Waterstones. However the sales were unfortunately low (we believe that a travel book about China was affected by negative media) and Waterstones declined to keep the book in stock, although they can order it from us. This was disappointing to us as we are sure it was to you, but we are still actively selling your book as we do believe that it is timeless and will pick up sales over time especially online as tourism to China increases.
Hello Victoria
I was contemplating this writer since getting a reliable ghost writer is at a premium.
This is his company name. robert at AT3company
Thx for your time
Charles
Hi, Charles,
I’m afraid I don’t know anything about this company. Looking at the website, ghostwriting doesn’t appear to be what they do; they seem to be more about web design and ad copy. Also of concern: though there’s a page of “the team”, there are no bios or last names, so it’s impossible to check experience, credentials, or bona fides. I also suspect it’s very expensive.
Hi,
That explains exactly the journey that I’m on. The manuscript was submitted in May21 accepted in September 21 with a promised published date of September 22.
We are now in December 22 and still have no book.
The final manuscript was agreed in June and then all went quiet for a few months,with emails being ignored ( or being told sending them would slow up the process)
I then started ringing and eventually got a response,though one email mentioned draft cover designs which were sorted over a year ago.
So i don’t know quite where I stand, and frustratingly I’ve two more manuscripts ready to submit but want to see how the first book 📖 does first,so I sincerely hope that they do eventually publish it
Hi Nigel, We are not clear about the timeline you have described but we are looking forward and excited to publish your book. If you think there has been a delay please contact your editor to make sure that we have all the approvals and information we need to proceed.
LOL!!!
Some good news – my book has now been published, the title is Pitchfork by Lester Boyd and is available on Amazon and Waterstones at present.
The delay in publishing has been due to normal publishing problems but we’ve got there in the end.
Hopefully the book will be well received and sell well.
Thanks WriterBeware! I almost went with them earlier this year. Their comments on my manuscript and follow-up emails seemed quite credible but I was suspicious of their pricing policy and contract. So good there is some collective voice here to share experiences…
I notice there’s nothing about them on TRUSTPILOT, so I presume they have the ability to veto negative comments, though I’m not sure how they can do that! has anyone tried contacting the BBC programme Watchdog?
Trustpilot isn’t a reliable resource–it’s easy to buy reviews (both good and bad) to game the ratings. Many ghostwriting scams, for example, have multiple five-star ratings that, on examination, are clearly fake.
They were exposed on Watchdog on December 17th 2024
Hi
I have been in discussion about a children’s book but having looked at the company’s accounts and read the above decided not to go ahead. Most books of theirs seem to be ‘available from the publisher’ which suggests print on demand – which I could frankly do myself. so thanks for this site – it has confirmed my doubts.
We are a traditional publishing house. This means that we publish physical books and sell them through retailers, so our books are sold in physical bookstores like Waterstones or online at Amazon. However, we cannot publish every single book that is sent to us. With regards to your book our records show you wanted us to publish a children’s book however it did not have any images and we did explain to you that a children’s book cannot be published without images as no bookstore would sell it. It was for this reason your manuscript was declined. However if you wish to publish your children’s book without images by yourself using print on demand then of course you can do this.
As usual – defensive excuses and zero of unprofessional accountability
My experience with LRP last year made me very ill
I’ve always found ebooks a lot easier to format than paperbacks. The production costs should be far less too, so I’m not sure why they’d want to focus so much on paperbacks instead of ebooks.
These reprehensible human being prey on newbie authors who don’t know any better until it’s too late. They need to carefully read their contracts, and if they don’t understand them, pay an attorney to read them and interpret them. What they pay the lawyer will be much less, in the long run, than they’ll lose with these shysters. Thanks for this and for all you do, Victoria!
We always encourage everyone to seek legal advice if they do not understand the contract as this is the foundation to a positive working relationship. We also encourage authors to request amends where they deem necessary as no two authors are the same so why should their contracts be?
I wonder if they will be holding another one of these so called events at the british library any time soon?
I personally think there would be a really good turn out!
I am sure there would be at least 80-90 people who would love to see Russell and demand some answers as to what he has done with their money and where their books are!!
Russell was terminated from the company 23/24th September this year. I paid for the full thing and am freaking out after finding the above! There didn’t seem to be anything bad when I signed the contract so I was hopeful. Now I’m at a loss. Can anyone advise if they have been successful in getting their money back and rights to their book??
Russell wasn’t terminated; the Companies House information is just a paper departure. He’s still running the show. However, it’s my belief that he’s preparing to abandon the company in favor of his new operation, New Author Publishing.
Apparently most LRP email addresses are bouncing or don’t receive a response, but try sending a termination notice to the email address Russell is using to send out rights return offers: transfer@lrprice.com.
Also see the most recent update to my post, which provides a link to a guide to possibly get your money back by filing a fraud report with your bank.
Hello everyone I’m so glad to meet other people who have been through the same thing as me. Can I propose that we find some way to connect? I have often sat awake at night wishing I could do something about this or meet someone else who is going through it too. I understand there are over a hundred of us now. Add me to the list. Can we form some sort of group legal action? Because I cannot afford a lawyer (ironically the price quoted to me by a law firm was the same that I paid for publication).
I would also like to be informed of any intended collective action against the so styled ‘publishers’ L R Price. They have made my life a misery with their false promises; missed deadlines and finally disappearing with my money. Please let me know of any group that might be formed to take these shysters to task. I’m in. Big time.
I’m actively following the situation, so check back often for updates. Also, please email me: beware@sfwa.org
Dear Dr. Gerard,
I recently received a disappointing email from LR Price, and unfortunately, I too have lost money to them. Since November 2023, I have been waiting for the finalization of my manuscript’s editing, but it seems this may no longer happen.
Have you managed to find any solutions or alternative steps to address this situation? If so, I would greatly appreciate your advice or assistance.
Thank you in advance for your time and understanding.
Best regards,
Mako Sawin