Author Complaints at Clear Fork Press

In early February, author Vanessa Keel published a long, cautionary blog post about her experience with one small publisher. It was not a happy tale: an absent editor, little marketing support, a non-standard wholesale discount that discouraged bookseller orders, problems with royalty statements and payments, and much more. The result: few sales, crushing disappointment, and, ultimately, a rights reversion.

Vanessa didn’t name the publisher, but she did mention the title of her book. So it was easy to confirm that the publisher in question was Clear Fork Press (CFP), a children’s book publisher that publishes under four imprints: Spork, Blue Whale Press (formerly an independent publisher, acquired by CFP in 2020), &MG, and Rise. Per Amazon, CFP has a catalog of around 150 titles, most released via the Spork imprint (though you’d never know it from looking at the CFP website–more on that below).

I first heard about Clear Fork Press (then Clear Fork Publishing) way back in 2016, thanks to questions from authors who’d received contract offers. At the time, CFP had no imprints; its (poorly formatted and unprofessionally-worded) contract was quite brief, but included one significantly author-unfriendly provision: royalties paid on net profit (actual sales income less printing and shipping–for why this can be a contract red flag, see here).

Also concerning: an apparent lack of book publishing experience on the part of the company’s owner, Callie Metler-Smith (she now goes by Callie Fred Lovvorn), and reports that the company was recruiting in Facebook author groups and had signed a large number of books even before establishing anything like a regular publishing schedule.

It all sounded pretty shaky, in a way that’s unfortunately quite common in the small press world, where impulse startups often lead to grief–but on the other hand, small presses with shaky starts also go on to do well. And indeed, I heard nothing more about CFP until 2018, when I was contacted by an author who reported a range of unprofessional practices (such as using beta readers to assess acquisitions and soliciting editing on an anthology by contributors themselves), along with more troubling issues, including late royalty payments and an author-unfriendly practice of deducting the full cost of Ingram returns from authors’ royalty accounts (Ingram charges the wholesale cost of returned books back to the publisher; many publishers choose to eat that cost, or pass only a portion of it on to the author).

I don’t generally write about publishers based on one complaint: it can be difficult to know whether the complaint represents a pattern or a single bad experience, something that can happen even in the best of circumstances. I kept the 2018 complaint on file, as I do all complaints I receive, assuming that if there were wider problems, other reports would follow.

They did–though it took a while. Over the past few months, I’ve heard from multiple CFP authors and illustrators who report problems similar to those identified by the 2018 complainant and also by Vanessa Keel. These (all documented by contracts, emails, Facebook posts, and more) include:

• Late and/or unpaid royalties. This appears to be a chronic problem at CFP, with some authors and illustrators reporting that they had to make repeated requests for royalty checks, or discovered that checks they should have received hadn’t been sent.
• Incorrect royalty reports/reports with missing information. One author reported a discrepancy of over 100 books missing from sales reports. Royalty statements for one author-illustrator duo showed different sales numbers for each member of the duo for the same royalty period. Other authors received royalty statements showing just dollar amounts–no sales figures. Still others confirmed the practice noted above, of charging the full cost of Ingram returns against the author’s royalty account.
• Questions about the status of charitable donations. One author-illustrator duo, whose contract requires a portion of book sales to be donated to UNICEF, said they have been unable to get a response from CFP owner Callie Fred Lovvorn on how much had been donated or to confirm that donations had been made at all.
• Ordering problems. Multiple authors and illustrators reported that books they ordered for book fairs and other events did not arrive on time, even when ordered weeks or months in advance. Others said they received their contractually-required free copies only after repeated requests.
• Distributor issues. In late 2023, Callie informed authors that CFP was pulling its books from Ingram, claiming problems with sales reporting, and was looking for a new printer and distributor. This reportedly resulted in significant availability disruptions, with many books unavailable for order at retailers like Barnes & Noble for several months (per posts in the CFP Facebook group, these problems still existed, for at least some authors, as of May 2024). As of today’s writing, around 150 CFP books (as near as I could tell) are listed on Amazon under CFP’s various imprint names; most can be purchased, though many of the older ones appear to be out of print or otherwise unavailable, and overall the listings are kind of a mess: for example, some editions of books that are available in multiple formats show as “independently published” rather than under a CFP imprint name.
• Breach of contract. CFP’s contract requires the publisher to register copyright “on behalf of Author”, and to provide registration certificates post-publication. Two authors told me that when they requested their certificates, they were ignored (in one case) and told that the certificate was “in storage” (in the other)…but in fact, their books were never registered at all. I confirmed this via the US Copyright Office’s search portal. I also spot checked 20 Spork titles; only one of the 20 was registered (apparently by the author).
• Poor communication. Authors reported that emails were routinely ignored, or answered only after being repeatedly sent, and that updates on company problems (such as the distributor switch) were frustratingly slow to arrive.
• Chronic website issues. Ongoing problems with the functionality of the website, starting in 2023, resulted in it falling offline completely for a time in May 2024. Despite repeated promises of “close to being done”, it’s still not fully functional; currently, only a handful of CFP authors and illustrators have profiles on the site, and most CFP books aren’t there either. For example, here’s the (poorly proofed) &MG imprint page (at least two books have been published under this imprint, or at least that’s what Amazon tells me). The Shop Now button doesn’t work:

Here’s what happens when you click the Available Now! button for Hank’s New Pack, one of only two books featured on CFP’s homepage:

CFP is a long-time member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ PAL program (children’s publishers that meet criteria set by SCBWI). Per Vanessa Keel’s blog post, CFP and its imprints were de-listed from PAL as of February 4, 2025, following authors’ complaints.

CFP is currently closed to submissions.

I reached out to CFP’s founder and CEO, Callie Fred Lovvorn, for comment on the issues detailed above. Below is her response, which I publish exactly as written. The original internal message she refers to is substantially similar, and can be seen here.

Callie deserves credit for admitting mistakes. But she also admits that the original internal message was posted on Facebook in early February–and I have to note that we are now more than halfway through March, with the same set of promises.

Victoria, this is a copy of an internal letter sent to Autors and Illustrators in early February this last month.

I want to be completely honest with you—I haven’t been the leader you deserved this past year.

My communication has fallen short of what you, our amazing authors and partners, should expect. From the bottom of my heart, I’m deeply sorry.

I’m truly grateful to those who’ve reached out with concerns and feedback. While I’ve tried to respond promptly, I know I could have done better in addressing your needs.

If you have any unresolved concerns or questions, please reach out to me directly. Your thoughts matter immensely, and I want to ensure you’re heard.

Let me be clear—while this year has been challenging, I take full responsibility for these issues. No excuses.

Running a publishing company is like conducting an orchestra—there are many pieces to coordinate, and as your conductor, I dropped the baton.

I acknowledge that things slipped through the cracks, and that wasn’t acceptable.

Here’s my promise to you: I’m committing to make real, meaningful changes. I know you need actions, not just words.

I’ll have a detailed roadmap for every single book ready for you in the next few days.

• I’ll have a detailed roadmap for every single book ready by April 1, 2025
• I’m setting up one-on-one meetings with each author to review every penny of royalties owed
• If any authors want their rights back, I’ll make it quick and simple—no hassle

I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions below—they’ll help shape our path forward. The goal of Clear Fork has always been to help kids see not only kids like them, but kids that were different. That is still our focus and will be moving forward. We have so many beautiful books left to share with the world.

CFP writers, please let me know how the company is progressing on fulfilling the promises above. Post a comment here, or email me. I’ll update this post as I receive information.