Brien Jones is a desperate man. His new attacks on me and the other truth sayers show he is trapped like a rat in a maze. His distortions and lies are typical of his methods of operating in life. So let me set the record straight about his latest attack.
Jones states:
I thought I understood Bonnie Kaye’s lies completely. (I have BOXES of her hateful books, after all.) With Bonnie Kaye it’s all about the money and always has been. It’s also came as no surprise that Bonnie Kaye prefers the women that worked at Airleaf when it closed to the man that left 18 months earlier. Now I’m the mastermind of Airleaf? You decided that two years later?
I have no idea what he is referring to in this paragraph. Since I have not had to lie about anything, I’m not sure which lies he can understand. If Brien has boxes of my hateful books, he must be secretly reprinting them because I have no idea why he would have them. I’m not sure which “women” he is referring to at Airleaf when it closed. And as far as leaving 18 months earlier, Jones is on record of leaving on January 19, 2007, less than a year before the close of Airleaf. In a letter sent to me and many of the other authors on January 30, 2007, he states: Despite what you may have heard, Friday, January 19th, 2007 I resigned my position at Airleaf Publishing. As far as being the mastermind of Airleaf, well, he was. He was the one who thought of all the grand schemes to make people “celebrities” if they were willing to depart with their money. If you look at the promotions printed by Airleaf and the promotions printed by Jones Harvest, the only real difference is the logo.
I really thought I had Bonnie Kaye figured out. For example, the day she shook me and my company down I reserved the domain name Jonesharvestvictims.com. I saw THAT coming a mile away. That’s why her attack site is jonesharvestfraudvictims.com—quite a mouth-full. When Bonnie Kaye ordered me to publish her and her friend’s books for free I already knew how it would end. Bonnie Kaye would eventually figure out how to make even more money.
Brien Jones keeps saying I shook him down or blackmailed him into printing books for 30 people for free. How could I have “ordered” Brien Jones to do anything? What kind of power did I have to “blackmail” him? He asked me in May of 2007 if he could take my book Straight Wives: Shattered Lives and republish it for free and leave Airleaf. I accepted his offer as did some of his other friends and disillusioned Airleaf authors whom he republished. In return, I allowed him to showcase me in his Author Celebrities and other bogus sites for 3 months until I asked him to stop publishing my books because I went with a different publisher whom I preferred to pay for publishing services because I saw the handwriting on the wall, and I didn’t want to be associated with it. I did ask him to do a good deed and republish the book of a young dying man who had been scammed by Airleaf for eight thousand dollars. I told him it would be good karma to do something to show he was trying to help authors. Short of that, anyone printed for free was his way of stealing Airleaf authors to start his own business. I have no doubt that he published some of his friends’ books for free because I know who they are. But they were his friends—not mine. The one friend I referred to Jones Harvest in June of 2007 paid for her publishing services like everyone else.
However I underestimated just how nasty Bonnie Kaye could be. I never would have guessed she’d confront my wife at the Brooklyn book show, or insult my Mother in a letter to all my clients - my Mother for God’s sake! Both women were genuinely hurt. I thought Bonnie Kaye championed all women. I hope Bonnie Kaye understands why I don’t tell her which school my daughter attends.
Now as far as confronting his wife Brandie at the Brooklyn show, that is not the case. In fact, a free-lance reporter who was there will verify that for you. Luckily I have his contact information and called him to “relive” the moment when Brandy walked up to me as I was viewing the booths at the Brooklyn book show and handing out information about my Jones Harvest victims group to help divert new victims from being sucked in. I had several interviews that day, and this reporter was following me to do a story when Brandie came up to me and asked if I was Bonnie Kaye. She said she recognized me from television. I told her I recognized her from the Jones Harvest website. She confronted me and asked me why I was trying to destroy her and her husband’s business. I told her the truth—I was only trying to get what they promised people. I explained to Brandie that people were paying for services they never received. She seemed quite surprised. She said that if I have authors who have complaints she would personally take care of them and refund their money. However, when I gave the authors that information and they called her, it was a run-around as usual or Brandie justifying all the work Jones Harvest did for them even if they didn’t do anything for them. At the end of our lengthy conversation, I offered to be there for Brandie on a personal level, and we both hugged goodbye. If you need verification of that, the reporter will be happy to provide it. He even has a picture of it. As far as attacking Brien’s mother, I just state that she works at Jones Harvest. That is not an attack.
I also understand cowardly women like Victoria Strauss, Julie Neidlinger and Lee Goldberg and their lies. After all they’re not saying anything bad — just repeating what they were told. And what do you know! They all have their own publishing companies too! I won’t say which publishing companies (here’s another new word for the idiot Ken Pullen, “Actionable”) but you can figure it out in less than 30 seconds yourself.
I’m not sure what publishing companies Victoria, Julie, and Lee have. By the way, Lee is a man, not a woman. And as far as Ken Pullen being an idiot—well, Jones is just upset because it’s hard to fight the truth and the facts. Victoria, Julie, and Lee have been instrumental in exposing predatory publishing and publicity scams to warn writers about scam artists—like Jones Harvest. Victoria is my predatory publishing guru. I am in awe of her and her work to stop publishing fraudulence. What can any of their motivations be other than warning authors? No one is making money from telling the truth about Jones Harvest—especially me.
The people I don’t understand are the people that used to work for me. Those betrayals don’t make any sense at all. I wonder what kind of mental acrobatics those people have to do to somehow turn me into a villain. What, I didn’t pay you enough? I didn’t loan you enough? I didn’t take you on enough trips? I didn’t bail you out enough? What? Are you telling me that you had an inalienable right to get paid to sit at home?
The key word here is people that “used” to work for Jones Harvest. If all of his employees except one have left, what does that tell you? Very simply they were sick of the fraudulence and lies they were put in a position to keep telling authors.
Well I have news for my former employees, Bonnie Kaye, Victoria Strauss, Julie Neidlinger and Lee Goldberg. We’re not going anywhere. Nobody is investigating us. Bonnie Kaye has contacted all of our clients and her 50 “victims” actually total 3. The Better Business Bureau has already ruled in our favor in all three cases.
As far as nobody investigating Jones Harvest, that is not the case at all. I tell people not to bother with the Better Business Bureau because they are totally ineffective. Even when Airleaf was getting ready to close and over 100 complaints were filed, they still gave Airleaf a positive rating. This was six months after the Attorney General had filed an order against Airleaf. If you pay dues to the Better Business Bureau, it takes a mountain to move their molehill. However, I am having the authors file complaints with the appropriate government officials who will take the necessary steps to stop the fraudulence. It takes time, but it does happen. Just like Airleaf had a judgment filed against it by the State of Indiana, no doubt Jones Harvest is moving in the same direction.
Sure Bonnie Kaye, it shouldn’t take more than 90 days to publish a book. That is unless you don’t read it, charge for corrections, use print-on-demand and take on one new client per month. Otherwise it can take longer.
Actually, most reputable publishing companies complete books in less time than 90 days. According to your former staff, you never read the books. How many of your authors have received repeated galleys that were incorrect time after time? Plenty of them. I’ve had authors tell me that they just signed the galleys after three and four rounds because they needed to get their books out. I’m not sure which company you are referring to that has one new client per month, but that’s typical of not knowing what you are referring to in most of your attacks.
Here’s something I have that you never will. Last week we received more than $600 from a large bookstore chain that starts with a “B”. (The only reason I don’t say which bookstore chain is I know that Bonnie Kaye would call them instantly as she has our other bookstore clients.) Do you people ever get those? I didn’t think so.
It's true I did call the one book store that Jones Harvest advertises on their site showing a rack of books from their company to verify that books were actually in a store. The store, Books 'N More told me that the books had been removed in July of 2008. As far as receiving $600.00 from a large bookstore chain, that’s great. That can pay someone’s salary for the week. I am sure your family will be happy.
Brien Jones has blamed me for all of his failures. And now he has a convenient scapegoat. He plays on authors’ sympathies for his non-completion of their work by blaming me. He claims it’s due to me that he doesn’t have workers, printers, money, and business. He might be able to blame me for business, but he needs to be honest with himself about his workers, printers, and money. He bemoans to his authors that he is almost bankrupt which is why he can't return their money for bogus promotions like a catalogue that was supposed to go to the book fairs but was never published. So while it's true that he may be staying in business, it doesn't change the fact that authors are paying for something that doesn't happen and won't happen.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
In Response to Carol Fosdick's Attack on Me
The Jones Harvest blog site posted this new attack on me from their author Carol Fosdick. Then Carol asked Brien to forward the letter to me. This is my response to her:
Hi Carol,
Brien forwarded your email to me. You can always feel free to write to me directly in the future. I would like to respond to your comments.
Dear Brien, I would like to reiterate my support of you in the face of Bonnie Kay's last attack. She must indeed be a very vindictive, bitter woman.
Carol, I am not sure why you would think that I am vindictive and bitter. I resent the fact that so many of our Airleaf victims became Jones Harvest victims. They reached out to me for help in the beginning when they saw they were being defrauded again, this time by JH. I took on the Airleaf campaign, and it would be ridiculous for me to ignore their pleas for help a second time or ignore them. In the beginning, I had them write to Brien and the first five did get their money back, but then it stopped because Brien can afford to give money back, in spite of the fact that he guaranteed it. I guess he had to fill in something on his website when he took down that guarantee--but you filled the void in that spot.
As you know, I have had nothing but good results from Jones Harvest Publishing. You have gone out of your way to treat me well. In working with you on almost a daily basis, I feel I am gaining name recognition, my latest goal to sell more of my books. I do thank you for the honor you recently bestowed on me.
I am glad you are having good results from Jones Harvest. If the other nearly 50 authors who are now filing charges through government agencies had good experiences, I'd have lots more time to devote to my own career instead of helping them. But they are my first priority because I am a human services professional--always have been--and someone has to stand up for the rights of the vulnerable people in this country.
As far as the gaining "name recognition," the only ones who really looks at the JH site daily are me and other members of my group who are helping to organize the other authors who have been scammed. Since Amazon has your book listed with not one sale, I don't think the recognition has gone very far.
I cannot help but wonder just what Bonnie Kay's motive is. Undoubtedly to feather her own nest with her own company. Why does she feel she must destroy another business to build her own?
Carol, I don't have a company. I am a relationship counselor. I also own a school. I have no interest in the publishing business now or ever. I know Brien likes to tell that to people in desperation, but it's a lie.
It just shows me what a petty, small person she is. Great minds grapple with great concepts; petty minds grapple with fault-finding, gossip, and destroying others.
Actually, the great concept I grapple with is not having people lose thousands of dollars to fraud. If you came to me and said you were charged thousands of dollars for services that were never provided, I wouldn't look at you as being a petty person looking to find fault. I would look at you as a victim, which you are, but don't even realize it yet.
I notice she says, "Happy Holidays", instead of "Merry Christmas". In this day and age of political correctness, this tells me something --- that she is secular.
Actually, I am not secular. I am Jewish. And the members of our group are Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. I think it would be prejudicial of me to leave out any one of them.
If I were to give her advice, I would recommend she watch Joel Osteen on TV weekly. She might get some humility and some good grounding on living up to her potential. And I'll guarantee you, she wastes so much time going after others, her own work surely has to suffer.
You are right--my own work does suffer because I spend hours weekly working with people who have been violated and "raped" all over again. Most of the victims are elderly, disabled, and people with language differences who don't understand why they are being promised something that hasn't happened.
Carol, please let Brien know that if I have the opportunity to go to court with him, I will bring in the former employees who will be sworn to tell the truth about what really goes on there. At that point, they will be asked what Brien Jones really says about you behind your back. Maybe then you'll realize that he is making a total fool out of you and has been for a long time. Right now, Brien is using you as a "shill." In case you are not familiar with that word, a shill is a person used by a con man. Con men can't work without shills. Con artists know while people are easy to fleece and separate from their money they won't really begin forking it over until they see someone they can identify with as coming out on top, winning, having the claims of the con artist come true for them.
If Jones Harvest is as honest as it says it is, then there is nothing to worry about, is there? I am just an organizer. The government officials are doing the investigating. When all falls into place, let's see who really is the liar here and who really is guilty. It isn't me.
To you, Carol, Merry Christmas. Maybe if you and Brien can invest some positive energy into selling your book instead of attacking me, you will get some book sales.
Best regards,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
Hi Carol,
Brien forwarded your email to me. You can always feel free to write to me directly in the future. I would like to respond to your comments.
Dear Brien, I would like to reiterate my support of you in the face of Bonnie Kay's last attack. She must indeed be a very vindictive, bitter woman.
Carol, I am not sure why you would think that I am vindictive and bitter. I resent the fact that so many of our Airleaf victims became Jones Harvest victims. They reached out to me for help in the beginning when they saw they were being defrauded again, this time by JH. I took on the Airleaf campaign, and it would be ridiculous for me to ignore their pleas for help a second time or ignore them. In the beginning, I had them write to Brien and the first five did get their money back, but then it stopped because Brien can afford to give money back, in spite of the fact that he guaranteed it. I guess he had to fill in something on his website when he took down that guarantee--but you filled the void in that spot.
As you know, I have had nothing but good results from Jones Harvest Publishing. You have gone out of your way to treat me well. In working with you on almost a daily basis, I feel I am gaining name recognition, my latest goal to sell more of my books. I do thank you for the honor you recently bestowed on me.
I am glad you are having good results from Jones Harvest. If the other nearly 50 authors who are now filing charges through government agencies had good experiences, I'd have lots more time to devote to my own career instead of helping them. But they are my first priority because I am a human services professional--always have been--and someone has to stand up for the rights of the vulnerable people in this country.
As far as the gaining "name recognition," the only ones who really looks at the JH site daily are me and other members of my group who are helping to organize the other authors who have been scammed. Since Amazon has your book listed with not one sale, I don't think the recognition has gone very far.
I cannot help but wonder just what Bonnie Kay's motive is. Undoubtedly to feather her own nest with her own company. Why does she feel she must destroy another business to build her own?
Carol, I don't have a company. I am a relationship counselor. I also own a school. I have no interest in the publishing business now or ever. I know Brien likes to tell that to people in desperation, but it's a lie.
It just shows me what a petty, small person she is. Great minds grapple with great concepts; petty minds grapple with fault-finding, gossip, and destroying others.
Actually, the great concept I grapple with is not having people lose thousands of dollars to fraud. If you came to me and said you were charged thousands of dollars for services that were never provided, I wouldn't look at you as being a petty person looking to find fault. I would look at you as a victim, which you are, but don't even realize it yet.
I notice she says, "Happy Holidays", instead of "Merry Christmas". In this day and age of political correctness, this tells me something --- that she is secular.
Actually, I am not secular. I am Jewish. And the members of our group are Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. I think it would be prejudicial of me to leave out any one of them.
If I were to give her advice, I would recommend she watch Joel Osteen on TV weekly. She might get some humility and some good grounding on living up to her potential. And I'll guarantee you, she wastes so much time going after others, her own work surely has to suffer.
You are right--my own work does suffer because I spend hours weekly working with people who have been violated and "raped" all over again. Most of the victims are elderly, disabled, and people with language differences who don't understand why they are being promised something that hasn't happened.
Carol, please let Brien know that if I have the opportunity to go to court with him, I will bring in the former employees who will be sworn to tell the truth about what really goes on there. At that point, they will be asked what Brien Jones really says about you behind your back. Maybe then you'll realize that he is making a total fool out of you and has been for a long time. Right now, Brien is using you as a "shill." In case you are not familiar with that word, a shill is a person used by a con man. Con men can't work without shills. Con artists know while people are easy to fleece and separate from their money they won't really begin forking it over until they see someone they can identify with as coming out on top, winning, having the claims of the con artist come true for them.
If Jones Harvest is as honest as it says it is, then there is nothing to worry about, is there? I am just an organizer. The government officials are doing the investigating. When all falls into place, let's see who really is the liar here and who really is guilty. It isn't me.
To you, Carol, Merry Christmas. Maybe if you and Brien can invest some positive energy into selling your book instead of attacking me, you will get some book sales.
Best regards,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
CEASE AND DESIST RESPONSE
The Jones Harvest Family has posted the letter on their blog from their attorney that was sent to scare me into stopping my campaign to stop the Jones Harvest Fraudulence.
You can feel free to read this on the Jones Harvest blog with other attacks by his handful of shills. The shills are his fans that Brien Jones does all kinds of publishing favors for. Most of them get free publishing in response for attacking me.
This is the letter I sent to Steven Hedges, his attorney, explaining the situation.
Mr. Steven G. Hedges P.O. Box 5085
Bloomington, Indiana
November 20, 2008
Dear Mr. Hedges,
Before I begin, I would to ask you a question. What kind of attorney/CPA doesn’t have a real address or email address? It is very hard for me to communicate with you via a P.O. Box, but I’ll try my best.
Thank you for your letter regarding Jones Harvest Publishing. I would like to respond to set the record straight. Let me preface this by saying you are not the first lawyer who has written to me about a campaign against a predatory publisher. The first was a year ago from the attorney representing Airleaf Publishing, the now out-of-business company where Mr. Jones was the former Executive Vice President. That attorney, like you, accused me of similar “wrong-doings”; however, after he received my letter to him as well as numerous letters from the Airleaf Victims group that I had write to him, he walked away from the case. I have a feeling that once you know the truth about Mr. Jones and his company, you may want to do the same.
I am the organizer of the Airleaf Victims group which now numbers over 500 people who were fraudulently taken for money by Airleaf Publishing. At least 2/3 of the group dealt with Mr. Jones at Airleaf and felt that he was the person responsible for their loss of money. I say this to you to lay the basis for his lack of character. If you would like, I could ask my victims to personally write to you and discuss this with you. In fact, I will cut and copy some of their comments recently published on line at the end of this letter for you to read.
When Mr. Jones left Airleaf, he contacted me with a letter which I have pleading his case and stating that he, too, was a victim of Airleaf. In my quest for getting justice from Airleaf, I called him. You see, I didn’t know Mr. Jones at Airleaf. I never heard of him because he wasn’t my representative. I had no reason to doubt him, and I wanted to utilize him to help me as he offered. Mr. Jones offered to print my book from Airleaf “Straight Wives: Shattered Lives” for free if I would allow him to do so. I did not ask him; he asked me. He asked me if he could feature me on his website because I had been one of the most prominent customers that Airleaf had. I agreed to allow him to do that. I also told him that I would help him with his business if he would live up to his promises of “only wanting to sell books for authors.” At that point, I was editing his fliers and advertising for grammar and helping him with ideas for marketing—which I did for free because I believed him. I had no reason to doubt him.
Mr. Jones was instrumental in my campaign to contact authors who were dissatisfied with Airleaf. He provided me with the illegally taken database from Airleaf with all of the data of their customers as well as a list of nearly 1,000 email addresses of people who were dissatisfied with Airleaf. Each day, I diligently sent out letters to 25 or 30 people of this list he provided to me telling them about my Airleaf plight. You can see my site at www.AirleafVictims.com. Horror stories starting pouring in daily from people responding to my forming a group to take legal action against Airleaf. Ironically, the overwhelming majority of letters were attacking Mr. Jones. I didn’t understand it. I pled his cause, telling people he was “just an employee” as he told me. I still didn’t get the fact that he was the mastermind of many of the fraudulent promotions at Airleaf. When I reprinted people’s stories on my Airleaf Victims website, I did so taking his name off and replacing it with “employees” or the “the owner.” I was protecting him because I still believed him.
I did plead the cause of two Airleaf Victims to Mr. Jones asking him to publish their books for free. One, Marta Jankowitz, was a woman in Canada and the other, Jason Hubals, a young man in Washington State, who was dying. Both had given their monies to Airleaf in good faith. Jason and his mother had invested $8,000.00 with Airleaf and never saw a book. Marta invested her mother’s money only to have her mother die before ever seeing a book. In fairness, he did publish the Hubals’ book and he did offer to publish the Marta’s book for free. The Hubals accepted; Marta refused because she wanted action taken against him specifically for misleading her. But because he made the effort, I still believed in him.
Mr. Jones did offer to publish a second book for me for free. Please understand that he would receive half of the monies in royalties as part of the agreement and my books make money—thousands have sold. I was still pushing people his way in the summer of 2007 before the fall-out began. I was promised to have my second book by September 2007. I had made expensive arrangements to do a book launching in NYC with that guarantee. When the book wasn’t delivered after daily promises, I decided to go with a different publisher, CCB Publishing. I had researched publishing companies for six months, and I narrowed my search down to three publishers. After interviewing each of them extensively, I chose CCB. The cost for publishing was much less than Jones Harvest for paying authors, and my book was produced and out in four weeks with integrity and professionalism. I was overly impressed with the company, so it is natural that I would refer people there. I also refer them to Mountain Valley Publishing, Fideli Publishing, and Artship Publishing. These three companies have proven to me that they have an excellent work ethic and produce the work they are paid for. I have no ownership or partnership with CCB Publishing. However, please feel free to read the numerous testimonials from the Airleaf Victims on their website to concur that what I am telling you is the truth. You can also read the testimonials at Mountain Valley Publishing. I have been accused by Mr. Jones of working with them as well. He is always grasping at straws, isn’t he?
Mr. Jones was living in his own delusion that he would be able to take away the Airleaf business and build a money-making company like Airleaf that brought in millions of dollars. In the beginning, he must have believed that publishing and selling books could do that for him. But it didn’t take long until he realized that publishing doesn’t bring in the money—selling promotions is what brings it in—especially if you don’t have to do anything once you get the money. All of a sudden, fliers starting coming out of Jones Harvest looking just like the Airleaf fliers promising people that they could become famous if only they would invest thousands of dollars. All kinds of promises and guarantees were made—GUARANTEES. I am enclosing some of those for you to view. Mr. Jones was careful NOT to send me these fliers knowing that I would be very angry. However, when I was contacted last November by my first clients, Reverend Cleon and Ada Spencer, I knew something was amiss. The Spencers, who are Airleaf Victims, told me that they had given Mr. Jones $4,000 in April to publish two books. Now, seven months later, they had never received ANYTHING—not a galley, not a cover—Nothing. I told them to write to Brien and ask for their money back. He gave them back $3,600.00, charging them $400.00 for a bogus radio interview that he pays a few dollars for. But at least they had the bulk of their money back and they were grateful. The Spencers are elderly people in their 70’s—as are most victims of Mr. Jones. Two weeks later, I received my second letter, and then my third, fourth, and fifth. In the beginning, I was successful in telling authors to ask for their money back—and they got it back. But then it stopped. Mr. Jones didn’t have any money to give back because he was blowing it on his large payroll and personal business.
When I realized that I was being used by Mr. Jones as a “hook” for his business, I asked him to remove me from his website and to remove my book from his publishing company. There were no hard feelings over this. I did not have anything personally against him, just the way he was conducting business with authors in my group.
In the spring of 2008, when Dorothea Smith, an 81-year-old author wrote to me about investing $5,000 with Mr. Jones who guaranteed her a national television advertisement, radio shows, weekly updates, interviews, etc. etc., that did it for me. I told her to ask for her money back, and when he refused, I set up my website.
You see, I was tired of having to relive a nightmare that I was still recovering from. I was unable to sit back and watch innocent people get hurt all over again and lose their dreams. And so yes, I did set up the website, but there is not one bit of inaccuracy in that website. Everything in there is the truth. I will have Dorothea Smith contact you directly so you will know, and I am directly copied his letters to her on my website that states his “guarantees” that Mr. Jones never carried out.
At this point of time, I have had 37 people contact me or respond to me about their problems with Jones Harvest. I am soliciting new victims because I know there are many. In fact, I just sent out a mailing to alert the people who paid for a “catalogue” to be given out at the book fairs Mr. Jones has been sending his wife and cousin to. There is no catalogue, but the money has been paid by at least 16 people for the catalogue. This is the pattern of Mr. Jones.
As far as calling his printers, yes, I did call several of them when one of his other victims, mid-70’s Sioux Dallas of Tampa who is disabled and in a wheelchair with cancer wrote to me in despair because it had been over a year since she paid Mr. Jones. She heard the book was at the printers for months. I told her to ask the name of the printer. When Mr. Jones gave her the name, I gave her the phone number (which Mr. Jones had given me last year while I was still speaking to him) and she called. Mr. Jones said he “paid” this printer—I have the email in case you would like it. When Sioux called, the printer told her he never had her book. Then a few weeks later, Mr. Jones tried to blame the woman for his losing this printer by her getting involved. So I called the printer at Axess Printing to verify if this could possibly be true, and of course, they assured me this was not the case. Of course—but this is my fault to I suppose.
The bottom line is this, Mr. Hedges. I am not going to cease and desist my activities against Jones Harvest until Mr. Jones returns the money of the victims that I am representing as a public advocate. There is no gain in this for me—in fact, I am donating my professional time and money for this campaign because it is a labor of conscience. I am in touch with the Attorney General’s office and the U.S. Attorney’s office about Jones Harvest. I have people filling out reports to those government agencies to take action against him, just like I did to Airleaf Publishing.
If you would like to haul me into court, I would be happy to be there. However, keep in mind if I do go to court, I will be subpoenaing the following to back up my case:
1.The victims of Jones Harvest who will verify everything that I present as evidence of the truth as I tell it
2.The victims of Airleaf who dealt with Mr. Jones to attest to his character—or lack of it
3.The former employees of Jones Harvest
4.A former girlfriend of Mr. Jones during his time at Airleaf
5.Former employees of Airleaf who will testify to Mr. Jones’s scheming and selling
The truth of the matter is, Mr. Hedges, you are representing a criminal. I am representing victims. I do not get paid for anything I do for these victims—I just do it out of conscience. If you think that you will win a case against me, I welcome you to take me to court. I don’t believe that telling the truth is a crime. I don’t think that you’ll think I’m a criminal either after you check out the facts—not the fiction as Mr. Jones tells it.
As with every con, Mr. Jones has his “shills” who will testify that he is a wonderful person and publisher. He has done a number of their books for free, so why not? I could provide you with a list of their names as well because he has them attacking me whenever possible. And if some people have had good experiences with Jones Harvest, that’s what his business is supposed to be about. Airleaf Publishing had some very satisfied customers as well; however, that doesn’t negate the hundreds of us who were defrauded for over two million dollars. The same here goes for Jones Harvest.
As far as hurting Mr. Jones’s reputation—well, he is doing that all by himself. I’m not the one falsely taking people’s money—he is. Mr. Jones has written very libelous things against me. I don’t personalize them. I know where they come from. And I know because the people he sends these lies to send them on to me. I’ll bring them along to court with me as well.
If you are counting on the money you are requesting from me to pay your legal fees—the money you claim I have gotten from these victims—you’ll find yourself penniless because as all of them will verify, I work for free.
Please feel free to contact me if you care to discuss this further.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
Here are some public comments posted on the website A Writer’s Life from September 2008. Do you want to sue all of them as well?
I contacted the attorney general's office regarding business with this company before this scandal came out. I also knew that Brien Jones was the biggest part of it because he was the only one I had exchanged monies with. I was, however; after the complaint, somewhat compensated. What I have not received are books ordered and am weary about the promise to send novels to film companies etc. This too had a cost.
Hoping that we will all be compensated for all the hard work we did to get our works to a point of publish and for having to go through the process again
Posted by: l charles | Sunday, September 07, 2008 at 03:10 PM
You amaze me Kaye!! Stay strong!! You are such an amazing writer and motivator!!
Posted by: Susan | Sunday, September 07, 2008 at 03:10 PM
When I first dealt with Bookman Publishing - and, later, Airleaf - Brien Jones was the person in charge, as far as I'm concerned. His was the signature at the bottom of the promo letters, the contract info, everything. He incurred the negative karma by so doing, and all the protestations to the reverse will not change that truth.
How convenient for him to now attempt to distance himself from the mess he minimally co-created. He marketed and sold the plans, he promised the goods, and then he failed to deliver. His was the name we authors saw, and therefore, he owns the karma.
I won't bore you with the details, but I paid dearly: money for services that were never rendered, received guarantees that were never made good on, and gave trust that was returned with abuse and failure to produce. My Airleaf rep changed at least four times (including one repeater), so promises and consistency were impossible to maintain.
How subconsciously telling it is that he chose the name Jones' "Harvest", because as he has sown, he surely is now reaping - thanks to Bonnie Kaye, I might add. Jones' Harvest is quickly becoming Jones' Karma.
Posted by: Peter Del Vecchio | Sunday, September 07, 2008 at 08:56 PM
When I first started working with Airleaf, Brien Jones was my only interface. The only thing that I can say is that for me, he brought a whole new meaning to the word “incompetence”.
Posted by: Bruce Blanton | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 06:50 AM
Those of you who want to do business with Brien Jones may certainly do so. He will be happy to separate you from your money. That's what he did to me by promising things that Airleaf could not and did not deliver.
I blame myself. I should have known when he gave the lame excuse for the name change from Bookman to Airleaf. He's a salesman...a closer. But like so many others, I got a little carried away with the idea of having my book published, which never happened. But they took my money.
Buyer beware. Take the time, do your research and find a reputable company. As for Bookman, Airleaf, Brien Jones, and Jones Harvest, I would not have anything to do with any of them or with anyone who had anything to do with any of them.
Good Luck.
Posted by: Martin Salzer | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 08:01 AM
Brian Jones is just as crooked as his old boss Carl Lau. (And the State of Indiana is allowing this crap to continue; plus the major Indiana newspaper The Indianapolis Star has ignored all pleas to do an investigation. Is the whole state corupt?)
Posted by: Donald F. Myers, USMC Ret. | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 10:06 AM
I, too, have been burned by Bookman Publishing Company. I had an irregular run-in with Brien Jones, after I asked him a question concerning my book sales. He became irate, and naturally I hung up on him. He called back with a very rude retort. He stated, "Lady, that ain't cool." He repeated the same statement at least two times. I intoned that his behavior was short of being professional and should not be dealing with the public.
I paid several hundreds of dollars for promises that was not delivered. I have decided that POD publishing is not the way for an author to go. I know I will never see my hard-earned money again. I have purposed in my heart to propagate to other author's who may be considering POD publishing, to seek other ways of publishing their book. I am not saying that all POD publishing is crooked. I am certain that there are creditable POD publishing companies out there. I have not found one, yet.
I have an abundance of respect for Bonnie Kaye, for her courage and drive. I am sure that her continuing pro-activeness for what she believes in will prevail and we "authors" will be the better for it.
Good luck to all of you "authors" who are seeking a reputable publishing company.
Colleen Jeffries
Posted by: Colleen Jeffries | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 12:05 PM
There may be a few authors who feel their association with Jones Harvest has treated them fairly, but I only see one blog who does so. And it is quite egomaniacal to state that "disgruntled" authors who probably are not smart enough to write, let alone publish, a book are the only ones complaining against Brien Jones. No one but Brien knows how many scams he has cleverly put together (let's give him credit for that ability anyway) but since there is a coalition forming as we speak, it appears that the number of his complaining clients is growing along with the number of his exaggerated promises being uncovered daily.
He is supposed to be a consultant which to him, means collect the money and do nothing.
Posted by: Dorothea Smith | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 12:13 PM
My name is Ken Pullen. I am not a publisher. I have no ulterior motives. I will not benefit in any manner from writing this, or seeing Mr. Brien Jones of Jones Harvest Publishing go out of business.
It is an utterly insane and illogical premise that anyone would monetarily benefit from Brien Jones going out of business. Think about that absurd statement. Where is the logic and reasoning? That is said to merely distract from what is actually taking place should you be foolish enough to trust Brien Jones and give him your money.
I am writing this for one reason and one reason only.
I know Brien Jones. Through knowing him I am very aware of what Brien Jones is. Mr. Jones is a conman. A simple modern day con artist using the Internet and the United States Postal Service to expand and maintain his scheme.
How can this be a con and a crime if some people defend Brien Jones and make the claims he has done wonders for them? Always delivered?
They are shills.
Without shills cons don't work.
Con artists know while people are easy to fleece and separate from their money they won't really begin forking it over until they see someone they can identify with as coming out on top, winning, having the claims of the con artist come true for them.
Brien Jones was the first person working at Airleaf Publishing to contact me. He worked the same angle he does now. He provided names and emails of people who he'd represented that he claimed were happy customers of Airleaf.
The shills.
I let my guard down upon being emailed by these shils that they had no qualms with Brien Jones or Airleaf.
Meanwhile Brien Jones and Carl Lau of Airleaf Publishing were fleecing literally hundreds and hundreds of people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
None of their hollow words rang true - or ever came true.
Do not follow, do not believe, do not trust Brien Jones. Ever. He is a con artist. He is a criminal. He defrauds people. He can no longer discern fact from fiction, the truth from his myriad lies.
Think of this - in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, any gambling location we all know the house wins 9 out of 10 times, or as adults we should be aware of that. Everything in a casino is set up in favor of the house. Yes, there are occasional winners but tens of millions of losers.
Now knowing that would you take thousands of dollars of money you cannot afford to throw away or lose and bet it all on one bet, one number, one spin of the wheel?
Here is the difference between Brien Jones and Las Vegas - in Vegas you still have the small outside chance of winning, albeit rare. With Brien Jones he already has his shils in place. None of the players ever have a chance of winning at this point. There isn't even that rare remote possibility you might win with Brien Jones.
Don't throw your money away.
Don't merely follow, trust, and believe.
I get nothing from doing this.
The people who have written of Brien Jones crimes do not get anything from saying what they did.
Bonnie Kaye does not benefit in any way other than knowing that if she can bring about awareness and an end to such cons there will be the chance one fewer person will lose their money and have their dreams dashed.
Brien Jones is a crook.
You want to finance a crook and ignore all the warnings it's your life, your money, but do not delude yourself into thinking you're going to be the exception that he cares about, helps, and that you will succeed - you won't.
That you can take to the bank!
Posted by: Ken Pullen | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 11:21 PM
Posted by: GC | Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 04:19 PM
My main concern about authors who are dealing with Brien Jones...they honestly feel as though he is their friend and cares about them personally. They believe he is a good friend working on their behalf; when in reality, he only knows them by caller ID and a spreadsheet of notes he reads as the call is being forwarded. He doesn’t read any of the manuscripts ..but does have lots of notes from conversations. He mocks and makes fun of authors after their calls.. I know this first hand.
If you've spoke to him more than 4 times and not noticed his replies are recited like verse from memory -pay closer attention. "You’re our top priority", "I thought you had that already", "I'll find out and get back to you"-- Just like in every review Brien has ever written the phrase "engagingly written painstakingly researched" is used- no matter what the subject matter. He actually gets a kick out of getting by with it and no one noticing. Check out starred reviews on the starredreview.com website and see for yourself.
He knows exactly what he's doing...Has always known what he has been doing...Hes done it for years...First Books to Bookman to Airleaf to Jones Harvest.
I totally agree with everything Ken Pullman stated on Sept. 8, 2008. Brien was the first person to contact me at Airleaf. He lost all my manuscript, took half of the $1850.00 he was charging me to get started on my book. He always had excuses for not getting it edited. I worked with five different ones and was told so many lies about why they left. Before Brien left Airleaf, he called me and told me that before he could back started on my book, that he had to have the other half of my money that I owed. Like a fool, I sent it to him. He probably took that with him, because the next thing I knew he was gone and I was receiving letters from him trying to get me to go with his new company. I thought to myself, you conned me out of all that money and did nothing for me, why should I change and start over paying again with you? And, thank God I didn't.
Posted by: Sarah Harrison | Sunday, October 26, 2008 at 06:00 PM
Mr. Hedges, I hope these postings will open your eyes to the reality of your client. If not, I have hundreds of angry authors I’d be happy to send your way via letters to confirm it.
Bonnie
You can feel free to read this on the Jones Harvest blog with other attacks by his handful of shills. The shills are his fans that Brien Jones does all kinds of publishing favors for. Most of them get free publishing in response for attacking me.
This is the letter I sent to Steven Hedges, his attorney, explaining the situation.
Mr. Steven G. Hedges P.O. Box 5085
Bloomington, Indiana
November 20, 2008
Dear Mr. Hedges,
Before I begin, I would to ask you a question. What kind of attorney/CPA doesn’t have a real address or email address? It is very hard for me to communicate with you via a P.O. Box, but I’ll try my best.
Thank you for your letter regarding Jones Harvest Publishing. I would like to respond to set the record straight. Let me preface this by saying you are not the first lawyer who has written to me about a campaign against a predatory publisher. The first was a year ago from the attorney representing Airleaf Publishing, the now out-of-business company where Mr. Jones was the former Executive Vice President. That attorney, like you, accused me of similar “wrong-doings”; however, after he received my letter to him as well as numerous letters from the Airleaf Victims group that I had write to him, he walked away from the case. I have a feeling that once you know the truth about Mr. Jones and his company, you may want to do the same.
I am the organizer of the Airleaf Victims group which now numbers over 500 people who were fraudulently taken for money by Airleaf Publishing. At least 2/3 of the group dealt with Mr. Jones at Airleaf and felt that he was the person responsible for their loss of money. I say this to you to lay the basis for his lack of character. If you would like, I could ask my victims to personally write to you and discuss this with you. In fact, I will cut and copy some of their comments recently published on line at the end of this letter for you to read.
When Mr. Jones left Airleaf, he contacted me with a letter which I have pleading his case and stating that he, too, was a victim of Airleaf. In my quest for getting justice from Airleaf, I called him. You see, I didn’t know Mr. Jones at Airleaf. I never heard of him because he wasn’t my representative. I had no reason to doubt him, and I wanted to utilize him to help me as he offered. Mr. Jones offered to print my book from Airleaf “Straight Wives: Shattered Lives” for free if I would allow him to do so. I did not ask him; he asked me. He asked me if he could feature me on his website because I had been one of the most prominent customers that Airleaf had. I agreed to allow him to do that. I also told him that I would help him with his business if he would live up to his promises of “only wanting to sell books for authors.” At that point, I was editing his fliers and advertising for grammar and helping him with ideas for marketing—which I did for free because I believed him. I had no reason to doubt him.
Mr. Jones was instrumental in my campaign to contact authors who were dissatisfied with Airleaf. He provided me with the illegally taken database from Airleaf with all of the data of their customers as well as a list of nearly 1,000 email addresses of people who were dissatisfied with Airleaf. Each day, I diligently sent out letters to 25 or 30 people of this list he provided to me telling them about my Airleaf plight. You can see my site at www.AirleafVictims.com. Horror stories starting pouring in daily from people responding to my forming a group to take legal action against Airleaf. Ironically, the overwhelming majority of letters were attacking Mr. Jones. I didn’t understand it. I pled his cause, telling people he was “just an employee” as he told me. I still didn’t get the fact that he was the mastermind of many of the fraudulent promotions at Airleaf. When I reprinted people’s stories on my Airleaf Victims website, I did so taking his name off and replacing it with “employees” or the “the owner.” I was protecting him because I still believed him.
I did plead the cause of two Airleaf Victims to Mr. Jones asking him to publish their books for free. One, Marta Jankowitz, was a woman in Canada and the other, Jason Hubals, a young man in Washington State, who was dying. Both had given their monies to Airleaf in good faith. Jason and his mother had invested $8,000.00 with Airleaf and never saw a book. Marta invested her mother’s money only to have her mother die before ever seeing a book. In fairness, he did publish the Hubals’ book and he did offer to publish the Marta’s book for free. The Hubals accepted; Marta refused because she wanted action taken against him specifically for misleading her. But because he made the effort, I still believed in him.
Mr. Jones did offer to publish a second book for me for free. Please understand that he would receive half of the monies in royalties as part of the agreement and my books make money—thousands have sold. I was still pushing people his way in the summer of 2007 before the fall-out began. I was promised to have my second book by September 2007. I had made expensive arrangements to do a book launching in NYC with that guarantee. When the book wasn’t delivered after daily promises, I decided to go with a different publisher, CCB Publishing. I had researched publishing companies for six months, and I narrowed my search down to three publishers. After interviewing each of them extensively, I chose CCB. The cost for publishing was much less than Jones Harvest for paying authors, and my book was produced and out in four weeks with integrity and professionalism. I was overly impressed with the company, so it is natural that I would refer people there. I also refer them to Mountain Valley Publishing, Fideli Publishing, and Artship Publishing. These three companies have proven to me that they have an excellent work ethic and produce the work they are paid for. I have no ownership or partnership with CCB Publishing. However, please feel free to read the numerous testimonials from the Airleaf Victims on their website to concur that what I am telling you is the truth. You can also read the testimonials at Mountain Valley Publishing. I have been accused by Mr. Jones of working with them as well. He is always grasping at straws, isn’t he?
Mr. Jones was living in his own delusion that he would be able to take away the Airleaf business and build a money-making company like Airleaf that brought in millions of dollars. In the beginning, he must have believed that publishing and selling books could do that for him. But it didn’t take long until he realized that publishing doesn’t bring in the money—selling promotions is what brings it in—especially if you don’t have to do anything once you get the money. All of a sudden, fliers starting coming out of Jones Harvest looking just like the Airleaf fliers promising people that they could become famous if only they would invest thousands of dollars. All kinds of promises and guarantees were made—GUARANTEES. I am enclosing some of those for you to view. Mr. Jones was careful NOT to send me these fliers knowing that I would be very angry. However, when I was contacted last November by my first clients, Reverend Cleon and Ada Spencer, I knew something was amiss. The Spencers, who are Airleaf Victims, told me that they had given Mr. Jones $4,000 in April to publish two books. Now, seven months later, they had never received ANYTHING—not a galley, not a cover—Nothing. I told them to write to Brien and ask for their money back. He gave them back $3,600.00, charging them $400.00 for a bogus radio interview that he pays a few dollars for. But at least they had the bulk of their money back and they were grateful. The Spencers are elderly people in their 70’s—as are most victims of Mr. Jones. Two weeks later, I received my second letter, and then my third, fourth, and fifth. In the beginning, I was successful in telling authors to ask for their money back—and they got it back. But then it stopped. Mr. Jones didn’t have any money to give back because he was blowing it on his large payroll and personal business.
When I realized that I was being used by Mr. Jones as a “hook” for his business, I asked him to remove me from his website and to remove my book from his publishing company. There were no hard feelings over this. I did not have anything personally against him, just the way he was conducting business with authors in my group.
In the spring of 2008, when Dorothea Smith, an 81-year-old author wrote to me about investing $5,000 with Mr. Jones who guaranteed her a national television advertisement, radio shows, weekly updates, interviews, etc. etc., that did it for me. I told her to ask for her money back, and when he refused, I set up my website.
You see, I was tired of having to relive a nightmare that I was still recovering from. I was unable to sit back and watch innocent people get hurt all over again and lose their dreams. And so yes, I did set up the website, but there is not one bit of inaccuracy in that website. Everything in there is the truth. I will have Dorothea Smith contact you directly so you will know, and I am directly copied his letters to her on my website that states his “guarantees” that Mr. Jones never carried out.
At this point of time, I have had 37 people contact me or respond to me about their problems with Jones Harvest. I am soliciting new victims because I know there are many. In fact, I just sent out a mailing to alert the people who paid for a “catalogue” to be given out at the book fairs Mr. Jones has been sending his wife and cousin to. There is no catalogue, but the money has been paid by at least 16 people for the catalogue. This is the pattern of Mr. Jones.
As far as calling his printers, yes, I did call several of them when one of his other victims, mid-70’s Sioux Dallas of Tampa who is disabled and in a wheelchair with cancer wrote to me in despair because it had been over a year since she paid Mr. Jones. She heard the book was at the printers for months. I told her to ask the name of the printer. When Mr. Jones gave her the name, I gave her the phone number (which Mr. Jones had given me last year while I was still speaking to him) and she called. Mr. Jones said he “paid” this printer—I have the email in case you would like it. When Sioux called, the printer told her he never had her book. Then a few weeks later, Mr. Jones tried to blame the woman for his losing this printer by her getting involved. So I called the printer at Axess Printing to verify if this could possibly be true, and of course, they assured me this was not the case. Of course—but this is my fault to I suppose.
The bottom line is this, Mr. Hedges. I am not going to cease and desist my activities against Jones Harvest until Mr. Jones returns the money of the victims that I am representing as a public advocate. There is no gain in this for me—in fact, I am donating my professional time and money for this campaign because it is a labor of conscience. I am in touch with the Attorney General’s office and the U.S. Attorney’s office about Jones Harvest. I have people filling out reports to those government agencies to take action against him, just like I did to Airleaf Publishing.
If you would like to haul me into court, I would be happy to be there. However, keep in mind if I do go to court, I will be subpoenaing the following to back up my case:
1.The victims of Jones Harvest who will verify everything that I present as evidence of the truth as I tell it
2.The victims of Airleaf who dealt with Mr. Jones to attest to his character—or lack of it
3.The former employees of Jones Harvest
4.A former girlfriend of Mr. Jones during his time at Airleaf
5.Former employees of Airleaf who will testify to Mr. Jones’s scheming and selling
The truth of the matter is, Mr. Hedges, you are representing a criminal. I am representing victims. I do not get paid for anything I do for these victims—I just do it out of conscience. If you think that you will win a case against me, I welcome you to take me to court. I don’t believe that telling the truth is a crime. I don’t think that you’ll think I’m a criminal either after you check out the facts—not the fiction as Mr. Jones tells it.
As with every con, Mr. Jones has his “shills” who will testify that he is a wonderful person and publisher. He has done a number of their books for free, so why not? I could provide you with a list of their names as well because he has them attacking me whenever possible. And if some people have had good experiences with Jones Harvest, that’s what his business is supposed to be about. Airleaf Publishing had some very satisfied customers as well; however, that doesn’t negate the hundreds of us who were defrauded for over two million dollars. The same here goes for Jones Harvest.
As far as hurting Mr. Jones’s reputation—well, he is doing that all by himself. I’m not the one falsely taking people’s money—he is. Mr. Jones has written very libelous things against me. I don’t personalize them. I know where they come from. And I know because the people he sends these lies to send them on to me. I’ll bring them along to court with me as well.
If you are counting on the money you are requesting from me to pay your legal fees—the money you claim I have gotten from these victims—you’ll find yourself penniless because as all of them will verify, I work for free.
Please feel free to contact me if you care to discuss this further.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
Here are some public comments posted on the website A Writer’s Life from September 2008. Do you want to sue all of them as well?
I contacted the attorney general's office regarding business with this company before this scandal came out. I also knew that Brien Jones was the biggest part of it because he was the only one I had exchanged monies with. I was, however; after the complaint, somewhat compensated. What I have not received are books ordered and am weary about the promise to send novels to film companies etc. This too had a cost.
Hoping that we will all be compensated for all the hard work we did to get our works to a point of publish and for having to go through the process again
Posted by: l charles | Sunday, September 07, 2008 at 03:10 PM
You amaze me Kaye!! Stay strong!! You are such an amazing writer and motivator!!
Posted by: Susan | Sunday, September 07, 2008 at 03:10 PM
When I first dealt with Bookman Publishing - and, later, Airleaf - Brien Jones was the person in charge, as far as I'm concerned. His was the signature at the bottom of the promo letters, the contract info, everything. He incurred the negative karma by so doing, and all the protestations to the reverse will not change that truth.
How convenient for him to now attempt to distance himself from the mess he minimally co-created. He marketed and sold the plans, he promised the goods, and then he failed to deliver. His was the name we authors saw, and therefore, he owns the karma.
I won't bore you with the details, but I paid dearly: money for services that were never rendered, received guarantees that were never made good on, and gave trust that was returned with abuse and failure to produce. My Airleaf rep changed at least four times (including one repeater), so promises and consistency were impossible to maintain.
How subconsciously telling it is that he chose the name Jones' "Harvest", because as he has sown, he surely is now reaping - thanks to Bonnie Kaye, I might add. Jones' Harvest is quickly becoming Jones' Karma.
Posted by: Peter Del Vecchio | Sunday, September 07, 2008 at 08:56 PM
When I first started working with Airleaf, Brien Jones was my only interface. The only thing that I can say is that for me, he brought a whole new meaning to the word “incompetence”.
Posted by: Bruce Blanton | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 06:50 AM
Those of you who want to do business with Brien Jones may certainly do so. He will be happy to separate you from your money. That's what he did to me by promising things that Airleaf could not and did not deliver.
I blame myself. I should have known when he gave the lame excuse for the name change from Bookman to Airleaf. He's a salesman...a closer. But like so many others, I got a little carried away with the idea of having my book published, which never happened. But they took my money.
Buyer beware. Take the time, do your research and find a reputable company. As for Bookman, Airleaf, Brien Jones, and Jones Harvest, I would not have anything to do with any of them or with anyone who had anything to do with any of them.
Good Luck.
Posted by: Martin Salzer | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 08:01 AM
Brian Jones is just as crooked as his old boss Carl Lau. (And the State of Indiana is allowing this crap to continue; plus the major Indiana newspaper The Indianapolis Star has ignored all pleas to do an investigation. Is the whole state corupt?)
Posted by: Donald F. Myers, USMC Ret. | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 10:06 AM
I, too, have been burned by Bookman Publishing Company. I had an irregular run-in with Brien Jones, after I asked him a question concerning my book sales. He became irate, and naturally I hung up on him. He called back with a very rude retort. He stated, "Lady, that ain't cool." He repeated the same statement at least two times. I intoned that his behavior was short of being professional and should not be dealing with the public.
I paid several hundreds of dollars for promises that was not delivered. I have decided that POD publishing is not the way for an author to go. I know I will never see my hard-earned money again. I have purposed in my heart to propagate to other author's who may be considering POD publishing, to seek other ways of publishing their book. I am not saying that all POD publishing is crooked. I am certain that there are creditable POD publishing companies out there. I have not found one, yet.
I have an abundance of respect for Bonnie Kaye, for her courage and drive. I am sure that her continuing pro-activeness for what she believes in will prevail and we "authors" will be the better for it.
Good luck to all of you "authors" who are seeking a reputable publishing company.
Colleen Jeffries
Posted by: Colleen Jeffries | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 12:05 PM
There may be a few authors who feel their association with Jones Harvest has treated them fairly, but I only see one blog who does so. And it is quite egomaniacal to state that "disgruntled" authors who probably are not smart enough to write, let alone publish, a book are the only ones complaining against Brien Jones. No one but Brien knows how many scams he has cleverly put together (let's give him credit for that ability anyway) but since there is a coalition forming as we speak, it appears that the number of his complaining clients is growing along with the number of his exaggerated promises being uncovered daily.
He is supposed to be a consultant which to him, means collect the money and do nothing.
Posted by: Dorothea Smith | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 12:13 PM
My name is Ken Pullen. I am not a publisher. I have no ulterior motives. I will not benefit in any manner from writing this, or seeing Mr. Brien Jones of Jones Harvest Publishing go out of business.
It is an utterly insane and illogical premise that anyone would monetarily benefit from Brien Jones going out of business. Think about that absurd statement. Where is the logic and reasoning? That is said to merely distract from what is actually taking place should you be foolish enough to trust Brien Jones and give him your money.
I am writing this for one reason and one reason only.
I know Brien Jones. Through knowing him I am very aware of what Brien Jones is. Mr. Jones is a conman. A simple modern day con artist using the Internet and the United States Postal Service to expand and maintain his scheme.
How can this be a con and a crime if some people defend Brien Jones and make the claims he has done wonders for them? Always delivered?
They are shills.
Without shills cons don't work.
Con artists know while people are easy to fleece and separate from their money they won't really begin forking it over until they see someone they can identify with as coming out on top, winning, having the claims of the con artist come true for them.
Brien Jones was the first person working at Airleaf Publishing to contact me. He worked the same angle he does now. He provided names and emails of people who he'd represented that he claimed were happy customers of Airleaf.
The shills.
I let my guard down upon being emailed by these shils that they had no qualms with Brien Jones or Airleaf.
Meanwhile Brien Jones and Carl Lau of Airleaf Publishing were fleecing literally hundreds and hundreds of people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
None of their hollow words rang true - or ever came true.
Do not follow, do not believe, do not trust Brien Jones. Ever. He is a con artist. He is a criminal. He defrauds people. He can no longer discern fact from fiction, the truth from his myriad lies.
Think of this - in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, any gambling location we all know the house wins 9 out of 10 times, or as adults we should be aware of that. Everything in a casino is set up in favor of the house. Yes, there are occasional winners but tens of millions of losers.
Now knowing that would you take thousands of dollars of money you cannot afford to throw away or lose and bet it all on one bet, one number, one spin of the wheel?
Here is the difference between Brien Jones and Las Vegas - in Vegas you still have the small outside chance of winning, albeit rare. With Brien Jones he already has his shils in place. None of the players ever have a chance of winning at this point. There isn't even that rare remote possibility you might win with Brien Jones.
Don't throw your money away.
Don't merely follow, trust, and believe.
I get nothing from doing this.
The people who have written of Brien Jones crimes do not get anything from saying what they did.
Bonnie Kaye does not benefit in any way other than knowing that if she can bring about awareness and an end to such cons there will be the chance one fewer person will lose their money and have their dreams dashed.
Brien Jones is a crook.
You want to finance a crook and ignore all the warnings it's your life, your money, but do not delude yourself into thinking you're going to be the exception that he cares about, helps, and that you will succeed - you won't.
That you can take to the bank!
Posted by: Ken Pullen | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 11:21 PM
Posted by: GC | Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 04:19 PM
My main concern about authors who are dealing with Brien Jones...they honestly feel as though he is their friend and cares about them personally. They believe he is a good friend working on their behalf; when in reality, he only knows them by caller ID and a spreadsheet of notes he reads as the call is being forwarded. He doesn’t read any of the manuscripts ..but does have lots of notes from conversations. He mocks and makes fun of authors after their calls.. I know this first hand.
If you've spoke to him more than 4 times and not noticed his replies are recited like verse from memory -pay closer attention. "You’re our top priority", "I thought you had that already", "I'll find out and get back to you"-- Just like in every review Brien has ever written the phrase "engagingly written painstakingly researched" is used- no matter what the subject matter. He actually gets a kick out of getting by with it and no one noticing. Check out starred reviews on the starredreview.com website and see for yourself.
He knows exactly what he's doing...Has always known what he has been doing...Hes done it for years...First Books to Bookman to Airleaf to Jones Harvest.
I totally agree with everything Ken Pullman stated on Sept. 8, 2008. Brien was the first person to contact me at Airleaf. He lost all my manuscript, took half of the $1850.00 he was charging me to get started on my book. He always had excuses for not getting it edited. I worked with five different ones and was told so many lies about why they left. Before Brien left Airleaf, he called me and told me that before he could back started on my book, that he had to have the other half of my money that I owed. Like a fool, I sent it to him. He probably took that with him, because the next thing I knew he was gone and I was receiving letters from him trying to get me to go with his new company. I thought to myself, you conned me out of all that money and did nothing for me, why should I change and start over paying again with you? And, thank God I didn't.
Posted by: Sarah Harrison | Sunday, October 26, 2008 at 06:00 PM
Mr. Hedges, I hope these postings will open your eyes to the reality of your client. If not, I have hundreds of angry authors I’d be happy to send your way via letters to confirm it.
Bonnie
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
AUTHORS BEWARE OF PUBLISHING FRAUDS!
My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of the Airleaf Victims group and the Jones Harvest Publishing Group.Please read my websites at www.AirleafVictims.com and www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com.
I have started this blog as an additional way to warn people about the fraudulence of Jones Harvest Publishing as well as a way to respond daily to the vicious attacks on my integrity. As of late, there are some horrible stories going around the Internet about me from the Jones Harvest staff--or shall I say family--Brien, his wife Brandy, their mothers, sisters, cousins, best buds, and other relatives who run the business out of their exclusive basement office in the Jones's home in Bloomington, Indiana.
Authors who have published with Jones Harvest have been told by the staff that I am trying to "destroy" the business because of numerous reasons including starting my own publishing company.
So, to set the record straight, let me say that this is not the case at all. I started this group due to the increasing number of Jones Harvest author victims (now at 48 who have contacted me) most of whom originally were members of my Airleaf Victims group, one of the most horrific predatory publishing scandals ever in this country. Together, we successfully forced Airleaf Publishing to close down in December 2007 after the company robbed us of over two million dollars. A judgment was handed down by the Attorney General in May, and criminal charges are now being investigated against the owner Carl Lau.
These authors are now being victimized a second time by the former Executive Vice President of Airleaf, Brien Jones, in his new company Jones Harvest Publishing, who promised "he would be different than Airleaf." He claimed that he, too, was a victim and never received the monies due to him. All he wanted to do was run an honest business and sell books in bookstores for authors. He had no interest in publicity schemes that didn't sell books. He laughed at the Airleaf trips to Hollywood claiming they were worthless--at least until he started doing the same thing at Jones Harvest. And as a top king of con, he was able to convince many of us that he left Airleaf because he was disgusted with the fraudulence there.
When he sent me a letter in February of 2007 asking me to republish my book "Straight Wives Shattered Lives" which was Airleaf property, he said he'd be happy to do it for free if I would allow myself to appear on his many numerous websites such as Author Celebrities. I agreed to allow him to do this because of my anger with Airleaf which refused to pay me my royalties even after my attorney threatened legal action. In return, I helped him with marketing and editing because I believed in him. When I started my Airleaf Victims group on the Internet, Brien Jones was most helpful to me in my campaign to bring down Airleaf, making me believed that this man would be the publisher he promised to be. I never knew him at Airleaf, so I had no reason to doubt him.
When I first started my Airleaf Victims group, dozens of letters came to me weekly wanting to join my battle against the company. Almost all of them were blaming Brien Jones. Quite frankly, I didn't understand why. Whenever I told Brien about the accusations, he convinced me that he was the fall guy. He only made the sales--it wasn't his job to see they were done. That was the owner's job, Carl Lau. And I believed him because I wanted to believe him. I couldn't believe that I would be conned twice. I defended him to authors explaining his plight. I edited their stories on the Airleaf Victims website removing his name and just said "employees."
Authors told me I was naive. They warned me that one day I would learn the truth about Brien Jones. Sadly, I did.
When the first victims came to me claiming that they paid $4,000 for two books to be published in April and it was now November and there was no galley to be seen, I was quite shocked. They had it in writing that their books would be published within 90 days. These were senior citizens in the ministry who didn't have money to lose. I told them to write and get their money back. Most of it was returned. And so it went for the next six people who sent me complaints. I told them to ask for their money back, and it was returned. But then the money stopped being returned after another senior citizen asked for her $5,000.00 back after being promised a television interview, weekly follow up with the news media, and all other kinds of bogus publicity promises. That's when I started my Jones Harvest Fraud Victims campaign.
You see, it would be very uncaring of me to represent over 500 victims from Airleaf and then ignore the fact that many of them are being re-victimized again by Jones Harvest. I felt compelled to do something when the authors no longer received their money back for failed services, even though Jones Harvest "guarantees" this on their website. Well, actually they used to guarantee it. Interestingly enough, the so called “guarantee” has been erased from the front of the website since I’ve encouraged so many people to call Jones Harvest on that guarantee—one they refuse to honor. In fact, they have now started threatening to “take legal action” against authors who want their money back. However, if you look quickly, you’ll still see that guarantee in the Jones Harvest blog. In case Jones removes it after I let people know where it is hidden, this is what the guarantee states:
Money-back Guarantee
July 22nd, 2008
We now offer all new clients a money-back guarantee on our publishing, promotional and bookselling services. We were already unique, but that guarantee puts us in a class by ourselves.
If you have had a pleasant experience with Jones Harvest, as a few authors have, I am very happy for you. Every author should have that experience. There were also authors at Airleaf Publishing who had "pleasant experiences"; however, that didn't stop hundreds of others from getting screwed out of their money. And now, once again, this is happening to many of the Jones Harvest authors who were promised and "guaranteed" services that are fraudulent. And yes, I have verified this through reliable sources at Jones Harvest who came forth in disgust at what was going on there. And is it any coincidence that 80% of the victims are senior citizens, authors with disabilities, or people with limited English ability? I think not. Why not go after the most vulnerable of all people when you're a con man.
Please take a moment to read my website by clicking into this link: www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com This way, you can get the whole truth in an accurate manner. Maybe after you learn the truth, you'll realize that you, too, are a victim. Please feel free to contact me if that is the case so I can help you get your money back through the appropriate government channels who are now investigating the company.
On the Jones Harvest blog site, I have been accused of owning a publishing company which is why I'm trying to take away their business. Nothing is farther from the truth. By profession, I am a counselor and educator. I have no interest in the publishing business other than helping fellow authors whose hopes, dreams, and money has been lost to crooks who treat them with contempt.
In the days ahead, I will start discussing some of these cases with you so you can make up your own mind. I will be happy to address his few fans who are attacking me on his blog site and respond to their attacks here since I am not able to post on the Jones blog site.
Please feel free to contact me at Bonkaye@aol.com if you have any questions or feel that you are a victim. While Jones Harvest still is in business, I can help you contact the government officials who will fight on your behalf.
Don't allow yourself to be a victim. Stand up like dozens of others and fight back.
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
I have started this blog as an additional way to warn people about the fraudulence of Jones Harvest Publishing as well as a way to respond daily to the vicious attacks on my integrity. As of late, there are some horrible stories going around the Internet about me from the Jones Harvest staff--or shall I say family--Brien, his wife Brandy, their mothers, sisters, cousins, best buds, and other relatives who run the business out of their exclusive basement office in the Jones's home in Bloomington, Indiana.
Authors who have published with Jones Harvest have been told by the staff that I am trying to "destroy" the business because of numerous reasons including starting my own publishing company.
So, to set the record straight, let me say that this is not the case at all. I started this group due to the increasing number of Jones Harvest author victims (now at 48 who have contacted me) most of whom originally were members of my Airleaf Victims group, one of the most horrific predatory publishing scandals ever in this country. Together, we successfully forced Airleaf Publishing to close down in December 2007 after the company robbed us of over two million dollars. A judgment was handed down by the Attorney General in May, and criminal charges are now being investigated against the owner Carl Lau.
These authors are now being victimized a second time by the former Executive Vice President of Airleaf, Brien Jones, in his new company Jones Harvest Publishing, who promised "he would be different than Airleaf." He claimed that he, too, was a victim and never received the monies due to him. All he wanted to do was run an honest business and sell books in bookstores for authors. He had no interest in publicity schemes that didn't sell books. He laughed at the Airleaf trips to Hollywood claiming they were worthless--at least until he started doing the same thing at Jones Harvest. And as a top king of con, he was able to convince many of us that he left Airleaf because he was disgusted with the fraudulence there.
When he sent me a letter in February of 2007 asking me to republish my book "Straight Wives Shattered Lives" which was Airleaf property, he said he'd be happy to do it for free if I would allow myself to appear on his many numerous websites such as Author Celebrities. I agreed to allow him to do this because of my anger with Airleaf which refused to pay me my royalties even after my attorney threatened legal action. In return, I helped him with marketing and editing because I believed in him. When I started my Airleaf Victims group on the Internet, Brien Jones was most helpful to me in my campaign to bring down Airleaf, making me believed that this man would be the publisher he promised to be. I never knew him at Airleaf, so I had no reason to doubt him.
When I first started my Airleaf Victims group, dozens of letters came to me weekly wanting to join my battle against the company. Almost all of them were blaming Brien Jones. Quite frankly, I didn't understand why. Whenever I told Brien about the accusations, he convinced me that he was the fall guy. He only made the sales--it wasn't his job to see they were done. That was the owner's job, Carl Lau. And I believed him because I wanted to believe him. I couldn't believe that I would be conned twice. I defended him to authors explaining his plight. I edited their stories on the Airleaf Victims website removing his name and just said "employees."
Authors told me I was naive. They warned me that one day I would learn the truth about Brien Jones. Sadly, I did.
When the first victims came to me claiming that they paid $4,000 for two books to be published in April and it was now November and there was no galley to be seen, I was quite shocked. They had it in writing that their books would be published within 90 days. These were senior citizens in the ministry who didn't have money to lose. I told them to write and get their money back. Most of it was returned. And so it went for the next six people who sent me complaints. I told them to ask for their money back, and it was returned. But then the money stopped being returned after another senior citizen asked for her $5,000.00 back after being promised a television interview, weekly follow up with the news media, and all other kinds of bogus publicity promises. That's when I started my Jones Harvest Fraud Victims campaign.
You see, it would be very uncaring of me to represent over 500 victims from Airleaf and then ignore the fact that many of them are being re-victimized again by Jones Harvest. I felt compelled to do something when the authors no longer received their money back for failed services, even though Jones Harvest "guarantees" this on their website. Well, actually they used to guarantee it. Interestingly enough, the so called “guarantee” has been erased from the front of the website since I’ve encouraged so many people to call Jones Harvest on that guarantee—one they refuse to honor. In fact, they have now started threatening to “take legal action” against authors who want their money back. However, if you look quickly, you’ll still see that guarantee in the Jones Harvest blog. In case Jones removes it after I let people know where it is hidden, this is what the guarantee states:
Money-back Guarantee
July 22nd, 2008
We now offer all new clients a money-back guarantee on our publishing, promotional and bookselling services. We were already unique, but that guarantee puts us in a class by ourselves.
If you have had a pleasant experience with Jones Harvest, as a few authors have, I am very happy for you. Every author should have that experience. There were also authors at Airleaf Publishing who had "pleasant experiences"; however, that didn't stop hundreds of others from getting screwed out of their money. And now, once again, this is happening to many of the Jones Harvest authors who were promised and "guaranteed" services that are fraudulent. And yes, I have verified this through reliable sources at Jones Harvest who came forth in disgust at what was going on there. And is it any coincidence that 80% of the victims are senior citizens, authors with disabilities, or people with limited English ability? I think not. Why not go after the most vulnerable of all people when you're a con man.
Please take a moment to read my website by clicking into this link: www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com This way, you can get the whole truth in an accurate manner. Maybe after you learn the truth, you'll realize that you, too, are a victim. Please feel free to contact me if that is the case so I can help you get your money back through the appropriate government channels who are now investigating the company.
On the Jones Harvest blog site, I have been accused of owning a publishing company which is why I'm trying to take away their business. Nothing is farther from the truth. By profession, I am a counselor and educator. I have no interest in the publishing business other than helping fellow authors whose hopes, dreams, and money has been lost to crooks who treat them with contempt.
In the days ahead, I will start discussing some of these cases with you so you can make up your own mind. I will be happy to address his few fans who are attacking me on his blog site and respond to their attacks here since I am not able to post on the Jones blog site.
Please feel free to contact me at Bonkaye@aol.com if you have any questions or feel that you are a victim. While Jones Harvest still is in business, I can help you contact the government officials who will fight on your behalf.
Don't allow yourself to be a victim. Stand up like dozens of others and fight back.
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
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