ChiZine Publications looks to be finally cleaning house after a string of recent allegations of late and non-payments to authors and harassment of both authors and staff.
We won’t go through all the details here, but you can check out the great work collating the story by File 770.
Finally addressing the problems, ChiZine Publications have announced that both Sandra Kasturi and Brett Savory “have made the difficult decision to step down”.
ChiZine have a great history in the industry, being previous winners of the British Fantasy, World Fantasy, and HWA Specialty Press Awards.
It’s great to see them taking actions to change the culture that has led to these accusations.
The full statement from ChiZine can be read below:
Sandra Kasturi and Brett Savory have made the difficult decision to step down, effective immediately, from all publishing-related duties at ChiZine Publications. We know it has been a very hard week for all of ChiZine’s stakeholders. After discussions with key individuals we have decided that the best solution for everyone concerned is for us to step back immediately.
Christie Harkin has taken over as interim Publisher. Ms. Harkin has been involved with trade publishing for several decades. She will take care of author requests: status of books or contracts, requests to revert rights, author copies, and so on. She can be reached at christie@chizinepub.com. There will be a bookkeeper and accountant handling financial matters. A separate person will be overseeing royalty statements and determining remaining payments owed. Ms. Harkin will be working with the principals to ensure all parties are fully paid amounts that are due.
It is important to us that we clear all outstanding arrears as soon as possible; before the end of 2019 is a goal we feel can be met. Until the next distributor cheque arrives, we have taken a short-term personal loan to bring payments up to date, and to expedite the conclusion of this matter. Fitzhenry & Whiteside will continue to be responsible for distribution and order fulfilment in Canada, with Ingram doing so in the US.
Ms. Harkin’s priority is fulfilling all contractual obligations, including settling contracts with authors whose books are scheduled for release soon. Ideally, CZP’s authors who wish to, can move forward with their work, unencumbered.
Brett Savory & Sandra Kasturi
https://chizinepub.com/blog/statement-from-chizine-publications/
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