GETTING READY FOR COURT
I’m blowing the dust off of all of my legal courtroom dramas that I’ve accumulated over the years and trying to “brush up” on defense tips before I go to court. From what I’ve read from some of the Jones Harvest authors who keep me posted on this fraudster’s shenanigans, Brien Jones, owner of Jones Harvest Publishing in Bloomington, Indiana, has gathered “196 of his authors, 3 of his ex-employees, and 6 companies” to join together in a lawsuit against me.
Actually, the numbers change from day to day, but here is the basic letter to authors:
I hope you have noticed that you haven't received any letters about new bookselling packages. It's not because we ran out of stamps. We decided to make it or not, with the books and authors we have. We're still trying to find a way to sell books, when I come up with something I'll call.
In the mean time, this is free.
Jones Harvest Publishing along with 190 authors (so far) plus SIX OTHER COMPANIES is finally filing suit against Bonnie Kaye. I already paid the Miller Law Group in West Lawn PA for the whole thing, so I don't need any money from you or anyone.
I have decided to include clients like you in the suit at no charge. Please believe me when I tell you her attacks on my company have hurt you and your books. You deserve compensation too.
You don't have to do anything, or say anything, or pay anything, or go anywhere. You'll just get a share of whatever we get back.
If you want a share of the settlement, all you have to do is say "Yes" and I'll add you to the list.
I would love it if you stood with us.
Brien Jones
Author Celebrity Assoc.
Jones Harvest Publishing
Toll-Free 877-400-0075
Since I know that Jones has written some compelling fiction in his day, such as his “The Scariest Pumpkin of Them All,” where he later took his company logo of a scary pumpkin from, I started wondering, “How do I start providing a defense against someone who can’t distinguish truth from fiction, or more to the point, from someone whose truth is fiction?”
Let’s start with 196 of his authors….or 190…or whatever the number is. As I read the Amazon quarterly sales reports that one of his authors forwarded to me, I counted 160 titles that are part of his publishing company. And guess what one of the 160 titles is? Yep, his book “The Scariest Pumpkin of Them All.” And as I examined the Amazon list further, guess what another title was? “The Year the Reindeer Went on Strike,” another Brien Jones creation. It seems like a prophetic book before it’s time when I read the synopsis: "Santa Claus searches for a new way to power his sleigh when his reindeer go on strike. First using penguins, then polar bears, Santa learns just how much he needs his reindeer. Can he work out a compromise in time?" This sounds similar to the real story of his employees all quitting due to his fraudulence and he needs to figure out how to get a book published before the legal authorities get to him. I don’t know how that book ended, but I do know from his ex-employees that they would never return. And then there is the third Jones book, his novel “The Manuscript” which according to Jones’s write up on his Starred Review website (page 4) will really make you think:
As the President of Jones Harvest Publishing, author Brien Jones draws on his experience in the industry for parodying the world of publishing in The Manuscript. Through his coruscating wit and wry observations, he takes off on subsidy publishers, aspiring writers, poetry, thrillers, and romance novels, as well as Indiana town.Lee Goodwin is an author consultant at an Indiana-based print-on-demand publisher, Myownbook.com, where by paying $1000 aspiring authors can make their dreams come true and get their manuscripts turned into books. To be published by this company, a book has to conform to three rigid standards - it cannot be pornographic, dangerous, or racially prejudiced. But this applies for just the first three pages, since they are the only ones read by the publisher during the supposedly stringent screening process! Even though Lee has to sometimes contend with eccentric writers, insufferable poets ("I am not a big fan of poetry. I figure life is tough enough, why rhyme about it?"), and strange conversations (like when an author claims, "My dog is possessed by Hitler's ghost."), it is a job the forty-one-year-old divorcee enjoys.
Like I said, his fiction is sometimes indistinguishable from his truths. But more to the point, 3 of the books listed on the Amazon list of 160 were his. And for a guy who is supposed to be such an expert on book selling, how come his books haven’t sold any? Actually, for that matter, of the 160 titles on the Amazon report for that quarter, I saw sales for 21 books.
Now let’s be logical. Am I, Bonnie Kaye, the cause for the lack of book sales for the Jones Harvest authors on Amazon? I think not. My attacks on not on Jones Harvest authors—they are on the publishing and publicity fraud of Brien Jones and Jones Harvest. What this means is that by exposing this company, new unsuspecting authors have a chance to read the truth before throwing out their money, and current victims of his fraudulence realize they have a way to fight back through my help.
I’m not sure what anyone can sue me for. I have heard from nearly 80 authors as of today who have sent me complaints about being scammed by Jones Harvest. I think it will be much easier for me to find them to testify then it is for Brien Jones to find authors who want to sue me for…..what exactly is it they are suing me for?
I know the wheels of justice turn very slowly, but in my heart, I do believe that honesty will always win out over dishonesty. Constantly trying to defend a lie is not only difficult, but exhausting as well. Remembering lie after lie is a full time job. But then again, Brien Jones has plenty of time on his hands. As he said in his letter, he’s not soliciting new authors and he doesn’t know how to sell the books of his old ones. But he has paid in full for a law suit against me. Maybe that’s why none of his authors have received their royalties this year.
I think I better start taping the Law and Order episodes I may have missed to brush up on some legal strategies. You know I'll keep you posted!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE 4/11/09
Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,
This is a short update to keep you posted on our activity. After sending out the update last week of our rejection by Timothy Morrison to consider Airleaf's action a "crime" in Indiana, 128 of you responded to date that you will sign a petition to request the reversal of that decision, and 53 of you sent me a notice that you emailed Mr. Morrison to voice your objection to his decision. If you haven't had time to respond to the petition, please drop me a note as soon as possible so I can add you to our list. If you haven't sent your message to Mr. Morrison, please take a moment to do so at USAINS.Webmaster@usdoj.gov, The more of us who stand up, the more powerful our case will be.
On Tuesday, I will send out a press release to the Indiana news media about our case. I will announce the launching of my new site www.IndianaWelcomesCrooks.com which you can now click into and read. I have also had our Airleaf Victims website with your stories redesigned to look more professional. You can view it at www.AirleafVictims.com. I want to make sure that our message is heard loud and clear.
Last Sunday, I sent a letter to the 83 state legislators in Indiana. In addition, I sent the letter to the Governor's office, the Senators and Congressmen. It stated:
Dear (Indiana Legislator),
My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of the Airleaf Victims group which can be seen at www.AirleafVictims.com. There are over 600 authors in our organization who were defrauded of over 2 million dollars by Airleaf Publishing in Martinsville, Indiana until we forced it to close through stopping its cash flow by exposing its fraudulence. In spite of our pleas for help to the agencies in your state which are there to protect people from consumer fraud, no action was taken to stop the company from operating until after the fact. Last May, your Attorney General handed down a half-million dollar judgment against the company from a cohort of 120 of our authors. The owner, Carl Lau, is declaring bankruptcy, so there will be no restitution. We pushed for retribution by requesting this man be punished for criminal charges. For 18 months, I worked with the FBI and Postal authorities presenting case after case of criminal action on Airleaf's part. On Friday, I was informed by the FBI that your U.S. Attorney, Timothy Morrison, has decided that our case doesn’t constitute “criminal action” in Indiana. My members, many of whom are elderly and disabled victims, are in shock.
The FBI and Postal authorities presented hard core evidence of criminal action by this company. Mr. Morrison has decided it’s not worth his time to pursue the case. This is unacceptable to our authors from this country and other countries who are victims of one of the largest predatory publishing scams in American history.
I am appealing to you as an elected official of Indiana to ask Mr. Morrison to reverse his decision. I will be coming to Indiana from my home in Philadelphia with other victims in June to present him with petitions from our group. As a result of the inaction of your state government, another company, Jones Harvest Publishing in Bloomington, IN, has set up a second publishing scam and has robbed hundreds of authors of their money. Brien Jones, the owner, was the Executive Vice President of Airleaf who left in 2007 to set up his own scam. You can see that site at www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com. This decision by Mr. Morrison only allows crooks like this to keep stealing money from honest and vulnerable people.
We plan to make this a national publicity campaign if we can’t find justice in your state. Please help us. Some of our authors are your constituents, and you owe it to them to fight against this injustice.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Bonkaye@aol.com or call me at 215-288-6959.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
Out of the 89 letters I sent, two state reps responded to date telling me that it is not the job of the state senators and representatives to handle this. I guess in Indiana, it isn't anyone's job.
I wrote a letter to my predatory publishing guru, Victoria Strauss, of Writer Beware! asking for her support in having other authors send petitions to express their support of our case. Victoria was very gracious, as always, in printing my letter in her blog yesterday. You can read it here:
Writer Beware Blogs!
I have had six authors respond already stating they will sign petitions to support us. Therefore, I will have a second petition for authors who are not part of our Airleaf group who want to support our cause. When I speak in Connecticut next month about predatory publishing at the CAPA University event, I will ask authors to sign the support petition.
I believe that if we stand up together, we can make a change in this wrongful decision. If we don't stand up, we will be known as "victims" in history. If we fight back, we will be remembered as "victors." We are a group of winners--and we will show this to the government of Indiana.
With love and hope,
Bonnie
This is a short update to keep you posted on our activity. After sending out the update last week of our rejection by Timothy Morrison to consider Airleaf's action a "crime" in Indiana, 128 of you responded to date that you will sign a petition to request the reversal of that decision, and 53 of you sent me a notice that you emailed Mr. Morrison to voice your objection to his decision. If you haven't had time to respond to the petition, please drop me a note as soon as possible so I can add you to our list. If you haven't sent your message to Mr. Morrison, please take a moment to do so at USAINS.Webmaster@usdoj.gov, The more of us who stand up, the more powerful our case will be.
On Tuesday, I will send out a press release to the Indiana news media about our case. I will announce the launching of my new site www.IndianaWelcomesCrooks.com which you can now click into and read. I have also had our Airleaf Victims website with your stories redesigned to look more professional. You can view it at www.AirleafVictims.com. I want to make sure that our message is heard loud and clear.
Last Sunday, I sent a letter to the 83 state legislators in Indiana. In addition, I sent the letter to the Governor's office, the Senators and Congressmen. It stated:
Dear (Indiana Legislator),
My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of the Airleaf Victims group which can be seen at www.AirleafVictims.com. There are over 600 authors in our organization who were defrauded of over 2 million dollars by Airleaf Publishing in Martinsville, Indiana until we forced it to close through stopping its cash flow by exposing its fraudulence. In spite of our pleas for help to the agencies in your state which are there to protect people from consumer fraud, no action was taken to stop the company from operating until after the fact. Last May, your Attorney General handed down a half-million dollar judgment against the company from a cohort of 120 of our authors. The owner, Carl Lau, is declaring bankruptcy, so there will be no restitution. We pushed for retribution by requesting this man be punished for criminal charges. For 18 months, I worked with the FBI and Postal authorities presenting case after case of criminal action on Airleaf's part. On Friday, I was informed by the FBI that your U.S. Attorney, Timothy Morrison, has decided that our case doesn’t constitute “criminal action” in Indiana. My members, many of whom are elderly and disabled victims, are in shock.
The FBI and Postal authorities presented hard core evidence of criminal action by this company. Mr. Morrison has decided it’s not worth his time to pursue the case. This is unacceptable to our authors from this country and other countries who are victims of one of the largest predatory publishing scams in American history.
I am appealing to you as an elected official of Indiana to ask Mr. Morrison to reverse his decision. I will be coming to Indiana from my home in Philadelphia with other victims in June to present him with petitions from our group. As a result of the inaction of your state government, another company, Jones Harvest Publishing in Bloomington, IN, has set up a second publishing scam and has robbed hundreds of authors of their money. Brien Jones, the owner, was the Executive Vice President of Airleaf who left in 2007 to set up his own scam. You can see that site at www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com. This decision by Mr. Morrison only allows crooks like this to keep stealing money from honest and vulnerable people.
We plan to make this a national publicity campaign if we can’t find justice in your state. Please help us. Some of our authors are your constituents, and you owe it to them to fight against this injustice.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Bonkaye@aol.com or call me at 215-288-6959.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
Out of the 89 letters I sent, two state reps responded to date telling me that it is not the job of the state senators and representatives to handle this. I guess in Indiana, it isn't anyone's job.
I wrote a letter to my predatory publishing guru, Victoria Strauss, of Writer Beware! asking for her support in having other authors send petitions to express their support of our case. Victoria was very gracious, as always, in printing my letter in her blog yesterday. You can read it here:
Writer Beware Blogs!
I have had six authors respond already stating they will sign petitions to support us. Therefore, I will have a second petition for authors who are not part of our Airleaf group who want to support our cause. When I speak in Connecticut next month about predatory publishing at the CAPA University event, I will ask authors to sign the support petition.
I believe that if we stand up together, we can make a change in this wrongful decision. If we don't stand up, we will be known as "victims" in history. If we fight back, we will be remembered as "victors." We are a group of winners--and we will show this to the government of Indiana.
With love and hope,
Bonnie
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Indiana U.S. Attorney Timothy Morrison's Refusal to Bring Criminal Charges Against Airleaf Publishing
Dear Airleaf Victims,
I am writing this letter to you in great sadness, disgust, and anger. On Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from our FBI agent who was investigating our case. He felt obligated to call me personally since we have worked so much together over the past year and a half to compile a criminal case against Airleaf Publishing and Carl Lau, the owner. He told me that the U.S. Attorney’s office, headed by Timothy Morrison, has decided not to proceed with our case to bring criminal charges against Airleaf and its owner, Carl Lau. Naturally, I was in shock.
He explained that according to the criminal law statutes in Indiana, the U.S. Attorney’s office did not feel that our case constituted criminal acts. I’m glad I was sitting down when that call came in or else I may have fallen directly to the floor. I told him that this is UNACCEPTABLE. We can account for over 2 million dollars that has been stolen from us—and plenty more from other victims that never found their way to our group. I went over all the fraudulent acts—the never booked cruise that people paid for, the book reviews paid for while the books sat under Carl Lau’s desk, the authors’ royalties that were collected long during and long after Airleaf closed that went into Carl Lau’s private account, the trip to Germany that people paid for while Carl Lau sat in his office playing computer games and telling the staff to tell authors what a successful time he was having, the Lite Stone pretend movie site where authors were told their books were in production or pre-production as movies, and the list went on and on. The FBI agent was on our side. He investigated the case, has piles of files, interviews, computer records, and actual testimony from former employees attesting to the fraudulence. He and the Postal Inspector know we are right, but somehow, Timothy Morrison, the U.S. Attorney can’t equate these actions as criminal.
I told the FBI agent that I am in the process of collecting petitions so I can deliver them myself to Mr. Morrison in Indiana in June. Now, more than ever, we need to speak out and demand justice so we don’t have to remain victims anymore. I want to be able to change our name to the Airleaf Victors rather than the Airleaf Victims.
If you haven’t responded to my request to sign the petition yet, please email me and let me know that you are willing to do this. If you live in or around Indiana and you can go with me, please let me know. I intend to make this a media event to embarrass the government of Indiana into action.
My site www.IndianaWelcomesCrooks.com will be up by next week. I will make sure to send that to the media as well. I will notify you next week when it is up so you can view it.
This is a slap in the face to all hard-working authors who invested hard earned money in a dream that was nothing more than a money-making scheme and con game. It sends a message to the other predatory publishers like Jones Harvest that nothing will happen if they keep stealing money from people. For those of you who live outside the United States in countries including Canada, the UK, Australia, and Scotland, I send a big apology on behalf of our government that allows this fraudulence to go unpunished.
Here is a copy of the email I sent to Mr. Morrison yesterday:
Dear Mr. Morrison,
I was informed by the Indiana FBI today that you will not be following through with our case of fraud against Airleaf Publishing. I want you to know that I and the members of group find this totally unacceptable. I have provided the federal authorities with more than enough evidence proving criminal fraud. We have nearly 600 members who are part of our group from the United States and other parts of the world who have been robbed of our money, hopes, dreams, materials, and dignity. There are hundreds of more victims of this company that haven't found their way to us yet. Just within our group, the money stolen is in excess of TWO MILLION DOLLARS.
We want justice against Airleaf Publishing and Carl Lau, the owner who not only took our money while he was in business, but continued to steal our royalties after he closed his company for many months to come.
By allowing this crime to go unpunished, you are sending out a message to the other predatory publishers that continue stealing money from unsuspecting authors that it is okay to perpetrate fraud in Indiana without getting punished.
We are committed to finding justice against this fraudulence. I will be coming to visit you in Indiana in June to present you with petitions from our victims with their stories. We will contact every government agency in your state asking them to intercede on our behalf. We will also contact your local media and the national media to bring attention to this injustice. We have been patiently waiting for a year and a half for justice, but now you have decided not to help us find it.
This is a true disgrace, Mr. Morrison.
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
Organizer, Airleaf Victims
I would appreciate it if you could send an email to Mr. Morrison this week letting him know about your disgust in his refusal to help us. His email address is:
USAINS.Webmaster@usdoj.gov
Tell Mr. Morrison that you are a victim of criminal fraud. I have provided the Indiana government with a ton of information that proves our case. If what happens to us doesn’t constitute fraud in Indiana, then Indiana needs to change its laws. Please take a moment to send Mr. Morrison an email telling him that you do not agree with his decision and request a reversal of his decision. Let him know how violated you feel after being robbed by a company in his state and then feeling doubly victimized by his decision that it is not a crime.
Please send me a note if you do this so I can track how many people have sent a message. It can be a short note just expressing your outrage, or a note stating your story. The important thing is to let him know we want action, not dismissal in this case.
The government of Indiana is counting on our discouragement to make us feel defeated, hoping we will throw up our hands in surrender. They want us to walk away from this issue as some as you have told me to do. A handful of our authors told me to give up—“we can’t win. It’s not worth the fight.” But I don’t agree. I think about the hours, days, months, and years of anguish so many authors went through, and how their lives were forever changed by losing their hard earned savings to a greed and fraudulence. I think of the whole new group of over 70 victims of Brien Jones at Jones Harvest who is now laughing and telling people the government of Indiana doesn’t do anything while he continues to re-victimize many of our original Airleaf victims and a whole new group of unsuspecting authors who fell for his bait. This decision will give him the green light to keep hurting authors.
We need to stand up for ourselves and our dignity. If you have not sent back your response to being part of our petition campaign, please do so AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. To date, I have 72 responses. We need a lot more to make this a cause that won’t be forgotten. Please write to me at Bonkaye@aol.com to let me know you are willing to join our team of Airleaf Victims No More, so we can become Airleaf Victors.
I will have the petition ready by the end of the week and send it out to all of you who are on my list. You will be able to either email it back to me or send it back to me by mail.
Let’s not give up. Thank you for your support and words of encouragement.
With love and hope,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed., Organizer
www.AirleafVictims.com
www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com
I am writing this letter to you in great sadness, disgust, and anger. On Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from our FBI agent who was investigating our case. He felt obligated to call me personally since we have worked so much together over the past year and a half to compile a criminal case against Airleaf Publishing and Carl Lau, the owner. He told me that the U.S. Attorney’s office, headed by Timothy Morrison, has decided not to proceed with our case to bring criminal charges against Airleaf and its owner, Carl Lau. Naturally, I was in shock.
He explained that according to the criminal law statutes in Indiana, the U.S. Attorney’s office did not feel that our case constituted criminal acts. I’m glad I was sitting down when that call came in or else I may have fallen directly to the floor. I told him that this is UNACCEPTABLE. We can account for over 2 million dollars that has been stolen from us—and plenty more from other victims that never found their way to our group. I went over all the fraudulent acts—the never booked cruise that people paid for, the book reviews paid for while the books sat under Carl Lau’s desk, the authors’ royalties that were collected long during and long after Airleaf closed that went into Carl Lau’s private account, the trip to Germany that people paid for while Carl Lau sat in his office playing computer games and telling the staff to tell authors what a successful time he was having, the Lite Stone pretend movie site where authors were told their books were in production or pre-production as movies, and the list went on and on. The FBI agent was on our side. He investigated the case, has piles of files, interviews, computer records, and actual testimony from former employees attesting to the fraudulence. He and the Postal Inspector know we are right, but somehow, Timothy Morrison, the U.S. Attorney can’t equate these actions as criminal.
I told the FBI agent that I am in the process of collecting petitions so I can deliver them myself to Mr. Morrison in Indiana in June. Now, more than ever, we need to speak out and demand justice so we don’t have to remain victims anymore. I want to be able to change our name to the Airleaf Victors rather than the Airleaf Victims.
If you haven’t responded to my request to sign the petition yet, please email me and let me know that you are willing to do this. If you live in or around Indiana and you can go with me, please let me know. I intend to make this a media event to embarrass the government of Indiana into action.
My site www.IndianaWelcomesCrooks.com will be up by next week. I will make sure to send that to the media as well. I will notify you next week when it is up so you can view it.
This is a slap in the face to all hard-working authors who invested hard earned money in a dream that was nothing more than a money-making scheme and con game. It sends a message to the other predatory publishers like Jones Harvest that nothing will happen if they keep stealing money from people. For those of you who live outside the United States in countries including Canada, the UK, Australia, and Scotland, I send a big apology on behalf of our government that allows this fraudulence to go unpunished.
Here is a copy of the email I sent to Mr. Morrison yesterday:
Dear Mr. Morrison,
I was informed by the Indiana FBI today that you will not be following through with our case of fraud against Airleaf Publishing. I want you to know that I and the members of group find this totally unacceptable. I have provided the federal authorities with more than enough evidence proving criminal fraud. We have nearly 600 members who are part of our group from the United States and other parts of the world who have been robbed of our money, hopes, dreams, materials, and dignity. There are hundreds of more victims of this company that haven't found their way to us yet. Just within our group, the money stolen is in excess of TWO MILLION DOLLARS.
We want justice against Airleaf Publishing and Carl Lau, the owner who not only took our money while he was in business, but continued to steal our royalties after he closed his company for many months to come.
By allowing this crime to go unpunished, you are sending out a message to the other predatory publishers that continue stealing money from unsuspecting authors that it is okay to perpetrate fraud in Indiana without getting punished.
We are committed to finding justice against this fraudulence. I will be coming to visit you in Indiana in June to present you with petitions from our victims with their stories. We will contact every government agency in your state asking them to intercede on our behalf. We will also contact your local media and the national media to bring attention to this injustice. We have been patiently waiting for a year and a half for justice, but now you have decided not to help us find it.
This is a true disgrace, Mr. Morrison.
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
Organizer, Airleaf Victims
I would appreciate it if you could send an email to Mr. Morrison this week letting him know about your disgust in his refusal to help us. His email address is:
USAINS.Webmaster@usdoj.gov
Tell Mr. Morrison that you are a victim of criminal fraud. I have provided the Indiana government with a ton of information that proves our case. If what happens to us doesn’t constitute fraud in Indiana, then Indiana needs to change its laws. Please take a moment to send Mr. Morrison an email telling him that you do not agree with his decision and request a reversal of his decision. Let him know how violated you feel after being robbed by a company in his state and then feeling doubly victimized by his decision that it is not a crime.
Please send me a note if you do this so I can track how many people have sent a message. It can be a short note just expressing your outrage, or a note stating your story. The important thing is to let him know we want action, not dismissal in this case.
The government of Indiana is counting on our discouragement to make us feel defeated, hoping we will throw up our hands in surrender. They want us to walk away from this issue as some as you have told me to do. A handful of our authors told me to give up—“we can’t win. It’s not worth the fight.” But I don’t agree. I think about the hours, days, months, and years of anguish so many authors went through, and how their lives were forever changed by losing their hard earned savings to a greed and fraudulence. I think of the whole new group of over 70 victims of Brien Jones at Jones Harvest who is now laughing and telling people the government of Indiana doesn’t do anything while he continues to re-victimize many of our original Airleaf victims and a whole new group of unsuspecting authors who fell for his bait. This decision will give him the green light to keep hurting authors.
We need to stand up for ourselves and our dignity. If you have not sent back your response to being part of our petition campaign, please do so AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. To date, I have 72 responses. We need a lot more to make this a cause that won’t be forgotten. Please write to me at Bonkaye@aol.com to let me know you are willing to join our team of Airleaf Victims No More, so we can become Airleaf Victors.
I will have the petition ready by the end of the week and send it out to all of you who are on my list. You will be able to either email it back to me or send it back to me by mail.
Let’s not give up. Thank you for your support and words of encouragement.
With love and hope,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed., Organizer
www.AirleafVictims.com
www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com
Saturday, March 28, 2009
AIRLEAF/JONES HARVEST VICTIMS UPDATE
Dear Airleaf Victims,
It has been a while since you’ve heard from me. That’s because I had nothing to tell you. Allow me to explain two issues.
When we began our campaign against Airleaf, we took action on two levels. We applied for civil charges with the Attorney General’s office for restitution of our money. We also filed complaints for criminal charges with the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution of criminal actions. In Indiana, those are the two government agencies responsible for each of the actions.
My requests to the U.S. Attorney in Indiana regarding the criminal charges against Carl Lau and Airleaf et. al., have not resulted in any determination as of yet whether they will press charges because the case is under “investigation” by the FBI and Postal authorities as it has been for a year-and-a-half. Quite frankly, I’m stumped. I provided these agencies with all the documentation to make the case, but it’s still being investigated. I am tired of waiting for a response with no communication from Timothy Morrison as of late, the Indiana U.S. Attorney, in spite of asking twice for a decision.
In my frustration, I sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney two weeks ago. This is what it stated:
March 11, 2009
Mr. Kenneth E. Melson, Director
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 2242
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear Mr. Melson:
My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of a group of over 600 people who are victims of a predatory publishing and publicity scam by a now out-of-business company, Airleaf Publishing, in Martinsville, Indiana owned by Carl Lau.
As a victim, in addition to being the organizer of the group, I have spent the past year and a half seeking justice for our very upset members by the Indiana U.S. Attorney’s office. The FBI and the US Postal Authorities have investigated this case for well over a year and a half. I have provided extensive documentation to prove that our case is one of fraudulence as opposed to “poor business practice.”
I was successful in getting this company closed by starting an intensive Internet campaign that shut off the cash flow of the company. At that time, I took two routes—civil charges and criminal charges. I had our authors send out complaint forms to the FBI and Postal Authorities of Indiana for criminal action, as well as the Attorney General of Indiana for civil charges. The Attorney General’s office handed down a judgment against the owner, Carl Lau, last spring, months after the company closed. Unfortunately, since he has no money left, we will not see any kind of restitution. However, we are still seeking retribution in the form of criminal charges so that con men don’t feel entitled to rob authors of thousands of dollars with false promises that will never come true.
From the information that I have been able to gather, Carl Lau stole in excess of two million dollars from unsuspecting authors who have now had their hopes, dreams, and money stolen away from them. How is it that one petty thief can go to jail, but a con man of this magnitude can go free? This makes no sense to any of us.
I have spent hundreds of hours compiling files for the FBI to make our case so that the U.S. Attorney of Indiana, Timothy Morrison, can file criminal charges against the criminal. I have had very little by way of communication in a positive way from Mr. Morrison who seems to just “blow us off.” I am writing to you as a last resort in trying to get us the help and justice we are seeking.
You can read our website at www.AirleafVictims.com. As a result of the inaction of the Indiana government, a second company, Jones Harvest Publishing, owned and operated by the former Executive Vice President of Airleaf, Brien Jones, started operating this scam all over again robbing people of thousands of dollars for fake publicity and publishing campaigns. You can see my site at www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com.
Mr. Melson, I know you are very busy, and I am only writing to you in desperation. We don’t know where to turn. Many of our victims are elderly people and disabled people who invested their life savings into this dream that became their nightmare. If action isn’t taken to punish people who do this, it sends up a red flag to other people with no conscience that this kind of fraudulence is not a punishable crime.
Please help us by asking Mr. Morrison to take action against the thieves of Indiana who are robbing people not only in this country, but in internationally as well. It certainly doesn’t make America look good when we allow this type of fraudulence to flourish. If you would like me to send you copies of my correspondence with Mr. Morrison, please let me know.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
I am still waiting for a response from his office. I understand he is busy with AIG, but we have our own personal money woes to contend with due to this fraudulence.
The next step I would like to take is this: I would like to know if you will help me by signing a petition that I will personally deliver in Indiana to the U.S. Attorney’s office with our stories. I will go with Sgt. Don Meyers, Indiana’s most decorated Vietnam War Veteran, as well as an Airleaf Victim, and any other author in the area who is willing to join me. I will call the press ahead of time to announce when I am going, and I will launch my new campaign and website “Indiana Welcomes Crooks” which I am in the process of designing. I’ll send you the link in the next few weeks so you can check it out. I am hoping by taking these measures, I will drum up media interest in our case.
Regardless of the fact that we were able to get the Attorney General’s office to bring a judgment against Carl Lau, we will see nothing. Carl Lau sold his house last year, and the money from Lau’s house went to the IRS for back taxes. He is in debt up the kazoo and supposedly claiming bankruptcy. But don’t feel sorry for him—he’s been collecting unemployment insurance this year. And he and his wife have moved in with his wife’s family. His wife has an excellent job, so they are not suffering, but a lot of us sure are.
If you are willing to help me with this petition campaign, please send me an email at Bonkaye@aol.com and let me know I can count on you. I’m willing to donate my time and money to go to Indiana on your behalf. All I’m asking you for is sign a statement that I will send to you requesting that the U.S. Attorney bring charges against Airleaf for crimes against our authors.
In the meantime, I am working with nearly 70 victims of Jones Harvest Publishing owned by Brien Jones. I have them filing reports to the Attorney General’s office in Indiana. When so many of you told me initially that Brien Jones was the real criminal at Airleaf, I couldn’t understand why. After all, he didn’t own the company. But of course I’ve learned the hard way that he was the one who came up with most of the fraudulent schemes and talked you out of your money as you kept telling me. He’s done this all over again on his own. Many of our victims have been re-victimized, and I will keep fighting on their behalf as well as his new victims who have found me due to my Google Advertising on the Jones Harvest page of Google. Feel free to check it out. We have to let the government of Indiana know that we will not tolerate their lack of action against predatory publishing fraud.
Three other items before I end.
1.Airleaf Victim Tom Barnes called me the other day and told me that if you have lost money with Airleaf, you can file it as a fraudulence loss on your income tax this year. Even if it happened two or three years ago, we didn’t know about the fraudulence until 2008. I took mine off my taxes last year. If you haven’t done that yet, please think about adding it to your return.
2.Keep in mind our Books of Excellence author’s co-op. Please check it out if you haven’t seen it lately at www.BooksOfExcellence.com. We have some wonderful authors, and books are selling and being promoted. We would be happy to have you join our group. Please email me if you would like further information.
3.I’ll be in Connecticut in May at the CAPA conference (Connecticut Authors and Publishing Association) as a guest speaker on Predatory Publishing discussing how we as victims stood up to fight and stop Airleaf. If any of you live in the area, I’d love to meet you. Please let me know if you’d like more information.
Thank you for your patience, support, and hopefully, willingness to keep our battle alive until we see justice. What happened to us is criminal—and criminals need to be punished.
Love,
Bonnie Kaye, M. Ed.
It has been a while since you’ve heard from me. That’s because I had nothing to tell you. Allow me to explain two issues.
When we began our campaign against Airleaf, we took action on two levels. We applied for civil charges with the Attorney General’s office for restitution of our money. We also filed complaints for criminal charges with the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution of criminal actions. In Indiana, those are the two government agencies responsible for each of the actions.
My requests to the U.S. Attorney in Indiana regarding the criminal charges against Carl Lau and Airleaf et. al., have not resulted in any determination as of yet whether they will press charges because the case is under “investigation” by the FBI and Postal authorities as it has been for a year-and-a-half. Quite frankly, I’m stumped. I provided these agencies with all the documentation to make the case, but it’s still being investigated. I am tired of waiting for a response with no communication from Timothy Morrison as of late, the Indiana U.S. Attorney, in spite of asking twice for a decision.
In my frustration, I sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney two weeks ago. This is what it stated:
March 11, 2009
Mr. Kenneth E. Melson, Director
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 2242
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear Mr. Melson:
My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of a group of over 600 people who are victims of a predatory publishing and publicity scam by a now out-of-business company, Airleaf Publishing, in Martinsville, Indiana owned by Carl Lau.
As a victim, in addition to being the organizer of the group, I have spent the past year and a half seeking justice for our very upset members by the Indiana U.S. Attorney’s office. The FBI and the US Postal Authorities have investigated this case for well over a year and a half. I have provided extensive documentation to prove that our case is one of fraudulence as opposed to “poor business practice.”
I was successful in getting this company closed by starting an intensive Internet campaign that shut off the cash flow of the company. At that time, I took two routes—civil charges and criminal charges. I had our authors send out complaint forms to the FBI and Postal Authorities of Indiana for criminal action, as well as the Attorney General of Indiana for civil charges. The Attorney General’s office handed down a judgment against the owner, Carl Lau, last spring, months after the company closed. Unfortunately, since he has no money left, we will not see any kind of restitution. However, we are still seeking retribution in the form of criminal charges so that con men don’t feel entitled to rob authors of thousands of dollars with false promises that will never come true.
From the information that I have been able to gather, Carl Lau stole in excess of two million dollars from unsuspecting authors who have now had their hopes, dreams, and money stolen away from them. How is it that one petty thief can go to jail, but a con man of this magnitude can go free? This makes no sense to any of us.
I have spent hundreds of hours compiling files for the FBI to make our case so that the U.S. Attorney of Indiana, Timothy Morrison, can file criminal charges against the criminal. I have had very little by way of communication in a positive way from Mr. Morrison who seems to just “blow us off.” I am writing to you as a last resort in trying to get us the help and justice we are seeking.
You can read our website at www.AirleafVictims.com. As a result of the inaction of the Indiana government, a second company, Jones Harvest Publishing, owned and operated by the former Executive Vice President of Airleaf, Brien Jones, started operating this scam all over again robbing people of thousands of dollars for fake publicity and publishing campaigns. You can see my site at www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com.
Mr. Melson, I know you are very busy, and I am only writing to you in desperation. We don’t know where to turn. Many of our victims are elderly people and disabled people who invested their life savings into this dream that became their nightmare. If action isn’t taken to punish people who do this, it sends up a red flag to other people with no conscience that this kind of fraudulence is not a punishable crime.
Please help us by asking Mr. Morrison to take action against the thieves of Indiana who are robbing people not only in this country, but in internationally as well. It certainly doesn’t make America look good when we allow this type of fraudulence to flourish. If you would like me to send you copies of my correspondence with Mr. Morrison, please let me know.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
I am still waiting for a response from his office. I understand he is busy with AIG, but we have our own personal money woes to contend with due to this fraudulence.
The next step I would like to take is this: I would like to know if you will help me by signing a petition that I will personally deliver in Indiana to the U.S. Attorney’s office with our stories. I will go with Sgt. Don Meyers, Indiana’s most decorated Vietnam War Veteran, as well as an Airleaf Victim, and any other author in the area who is willing to join me. I will call the press ahead of time to announce when I am going, and I will launch my new campaign and website “Indiana Welcomes Crooks” which I am in the process of designing. I’ll send you the link in the next few weeks so you can check it out. I am hoping by taking these measures, I will drum up media interest in our case.
Regardless of the fact that we were able to get the Attorney General’s office to bring a judgment against Carl Lau, we will see nothing. Carl Lau sold his house last year, and the money from Lau’s house went to the IRS for back taxes. He is in debt up the kazoo and supposedly claiming bankruptcy. But don’t feel sorry for him—he’s been collecting unemployment insurance this year. And he and his wife have moved in with his wife’s family. His wife has an excellent job, so they are not suffering, but a lot of us sure are.
If you are willing to help me with this petition campaign, please send me an email at Bonkaye@aol.com and let me know I can count on you. I’m willing to donate my time and money to go to Indiana on your behalf. All I’m asking you for is sign a statement that I will send to you requesting that the U.S. Attorney bring charges against Airleaf for crimes against our authors.
In the meantime, I am working with nearly 70 victims of Jones Harvest Publishing owned by Brien Jones. I have them filing reports to the Attorney General’s office in Indiana. When so many of you told me initially that Brien Jones was the real criminal at Airleaf, I couldn’t understand why. After all, he didn’t own the company. But of course I’ve learned the hard way that he was the one who came up with most of the fraudulent schemes and talked you out of your money as you kept telling me. He’s done this all over again on his own. Many of our victims have been re-victimized, and I will keep fighting on their behalf as well as his new victims who have found me due to my Google Advertising on the Jones Harvest page of Google. Feel free to check it out. We have to let the government of Indiana know that we will not tolerate their lack of action against predatory publishing fraud.
Three other items before I end.
1.Airleaf Victim Tom Barnes called me the other day and told me that if you have lost money with Airleaf, you can file it as a fraudulence loss on your income tax this year. Even if it happened two or three years ago, we didn’t know about the fraudulence until 2008. I took mine off my taxes last year. If you haven’t done that yet, please think about adding it to your return.
2.Keep in mind our Books of Excellence author’s co-op. Please check it out if you haven’t seen it lately at www.BooksOfExcellence.com. We have some wonderful authors, and books are selling and being promoted. We would be happy to have you join our group. Please email me if you would like further information.
3.I’ll be in Connecticut in May at the CAPA conference (Connecticut Authors and Publishing Association) as a guest speaker on Predatory Publishing discussing how we as victims stood up to fight and stop Airleaf. If any of you live in the area, I’d love to meet you. Please let me know if you’d like more information.
Thank you for your patience, support, and hopefully, willingness to keep our battle alive until we see justice. What happened to us is criminal—and criminals need to be punished.
Love,
Bonnie Kaye, M. Ed.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
HORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD
Hooray for Hollywood
Well, Hollywood is revving up for the Indiana Jones family. They are going to Hollywood one more time to give vulnerable authors false hopes that a blockbuster movie could be made from one of their books. Usually on these trips, they pack up the family as you can see on the website under the ‘Hollywood” button. It’s sort of like the Clampetts do Hollywood. There’s Brien and Brandy, Brien’s mom, cousin, and daughter. Well, at least it’s a family affair, although I hesitate in using the term “affair” loosely when I speak of Brien and Hollywood.
Anyway, this year’s offer is different than last year’s. Last year, the letter started with “Hollywood For Real.” It stated that “no one is making a movie out of one of our books—not yet. However, we have made three trips to Hollywood and we are closer than any other self publisher has ever been.” Now that’s really remarkable, I must say. I say that because it is now a year later and they are still no closer now than they were a year ago to getting anyone’s book turned into a movie. Even though I was assured by the author of “Rock with Rodney and Party with Perky” that Brien Jones had found four producers interested in her movies, so far, not one taker. Perhaps that’s why the “revised version” of the book has been “under production” for the past five months on his website because it’s now been extended to add a new concept on the cover: Bush’s anti-environmental report. When the author told me about the four productions companies that Jones had interested last summer, I checked them on the Internet and didn’t have any luck in finding them. Me of little faith, right? So then I called the man who is the organizer of the event and asked him if those companies attended, and he said he never heard of them either. When I reported the findings back to the author in hopes that she would wake up to the scam, she blasted me by posting on Brien’s blog that she spoke to the companies herself. That was different than her original story of telling me that Brien Jones gave her the name of the companies. But you know how it goes in Hollywood—fiction is always a big hit.
In last year’s offer, authors were promised that they would have their book, as well as their picture, featured on a site called “booktopictures.com.” When I checked out that website, it didn’t exist; however, it did redirect me to a site called “bootypictures.com.” All of this was available for “just $350.00.” But there was so much more! For a mere $500.00 additional dollars, they were willing to submit your book to one of two Hollywood producers and provide you with a resume and contact information for both executives. I think those of us who survived the Airleaf scandal will remember the kinds of producers the books were submitted to. They ranged from companies like Litestone Entertainment headed by Al Smith which lied about producing 30 books into movies, including his trailer that never became a book “Jessie’s Girl” to a company called Cinemagic which magically disappeared back to Japan. Ask me if I believe that there are not hundreds of scam artist producers waiting in Hollywood for vulnerable authors to shell out money. I’ve already spoken to half a dozen of them while fighting for our author victims. Anyway, that deal must have gone sour because it’s not even being offered this year.
And now Jones Harvest is offering to turn authors’ books into screenplays for free. One of my Airleaf author victims said Brien called her and offered to turn her book into a screenplay for free. This way it might sell better to the film people.
Remarkably, hundreds of emails went out to our Airleaf victims this past week from Jones Harvest offering to sell their books for free. In this letter, Jones states:
No charge, no obligation. No strings attached. I'll put the book on our websites today and even make a few calls. If you send me books, I’ll try to put them in stores. (Again, no charge, no obligation.)
All you have to do is send me a copy or copies of your book or email me the cover. I worked at Airleaf Publishing through 2006, (they closed in 2008) and I just want to help out if I can.
http://www.myauthorspace.com/
http://www.jonesharvest.com/
http://www.starredreview.com/
http://www.authorgifts.com/
http://www.bookwheat.com/
http://www.myauthorprofile.com/
http://www.brienjones.com/
He did manage to leave out some of his other untraveled sites like Great Concept Books, Bargain Basement Books (doesn’t that sound uplifting?), Author Soldier, and his two Christian sites, Perfect Heart and Chosen Few. I keep reminding people that the only one who views those sites is me—trying to reach unsuspecting authors of the outrageous scam they are part of for thousands of dollars.
This short statement in itself was a lie. Brien was trying to put a two-year wedge between his leaving Airleaf and the close of Airleaf. Jones left in the beginning of 2007, and Airleaf closed 11 months later in December of 2007. Actually it was the same year. But that’s Brien Jones—trying to mislead the public again.
I sent out a email blast to my list of over 500 Airleaf victims warning them about working with the King of Con. To say the Brien Jones doesn’t do anything for free is truly an understatement. Brien Jones doesn’t do much for people who pay him thousands of dollars. Look at all the authors that paid him money to be featured in a color catalogue to be given out at the book fairs. There was no catalogue. And when they asked him back for their money, he told them that he doesn’t have money. And why doesn’t he have money? Not because he can’t keep fooling the same victims who were taken once or twice because they realize that they are donating to the Jones family charity and want to redirect their contributions. Not because he screwed so many printers that they won’t print for him anymore. Not because his production and sales crew quit because of his fraudulence. Not because people don’t get their books after waiting for a year or two or have to send back galley after galley. No—he’s broke because of Bonnie Kaye. He can’t afford to publish his books but he can afford to pay for a website called “Bonnie Kaye Lies” where he puts his blog letters of support from five or six authors on there along with his own commentaries libeling me. But what he forgets is that I am doing this work out of a mission to protect our authors who put their money, hopes, and dreams into a con game, not to make money. I have never accepted a dime from an author even though many have offered to support my efforts. He can’t hurt me. I don’t offer anything but the truth and help to authors. On the other hand, I am hurting him by telling the truth. This is why I now have 63 verified complaints about the tens of thousands of dollars that authors have lost and will never see again. You see, in the end, the truth speaks for itself. When authors receive royalty checks once a year for $1.35 or $6.25 after investing so much money, they know that what I speak is the truth. It doesn’t matter how many of the Jones Harvest websites these authors are featured on—no one is looking except me as I mentioned earlier.
Lee Goldberg, the renowned author and columnist, stated in a blog last week written by Victoria Strauss, my predatory publishing guru, about the Hollywood scam that his gardener has more contacts with Hollywood executives because at least he mows the lawns for some of them. If you want to shell out money, maybe we can ask the gardener to drop off your book while he’s at one of these jobs. He is actually closer to them than the Jones Harvest family team will ever be.
Well, Hollywood is revving up for the Indiana Jones family. They are going to Hollywood one more time to give vulnerable authors false hopes that a blockbuster movie could be made from one of their books. Usually on these trips, they pack up the family as you can see on the website under the ‘Hollywood” button. It’s sort of like the Clampetts do Hollywood. There’s Brien and Brandy, Brien’s mom, cousin, and daughter. Well, at least it’s a family affair, although I hesitate in using the term “affair” loosely when I speak of Brien and Hollywood.
Anyway, this year’s offer is different than last year’s. Last year, the letter started with “Hollywood For Real.” It stated that “no one is making a movie out of one of our books—not yet. However, we have made three trips to Hollywood and we are closer than any other self publisher has ever been.” Now that’s really remarkable, I must say. I say that because it is now a year later and they are still no closer now than they were a year ago to getting anyone’s book turned into a movie. Even though I was assured by the author of “Rock with Rodney and Party with Perky” that Brien Jones had found four producers interested in her movies, so far, not one taker. Perhaps that’s why the “revised version” of the book has been “under production” for the past five months on his website because it’s now been extended to add a new concept on the cover: Bush’s anti-environmental report. When the author told me about the four productions companies that Jones had interested last summer, I checked them on the Internet and didn’t have any luck in finding them. Me of little faith, right? So then I called the man who is the organizer of the event and asked him if those companies attended, and he said he never heard of them either. When I reported the findings back to the author in hopes that she would wake up to the scam, she blasted me by posting on Brien’s blog that she spoke to the companies herself. That was different than her original story of telling me that Brien Jones gave her the name of the companies. But you know how it goes in Hollywood—fiction is always a big hit.
In last year’s offer, authors were promised that they would have their book, as well as their picture, featured on a site called “booktopictures.com.” When I checked out that website, it didn’t exist; however, it did redirect me to a site called “bootypictures.com.” All of this was available for “just $350.00.” But there was so much more! For a mere $500.00 additional dollars, they were willing to submit your book to one of two Hollywood producers and provide you with a resume and contact information for both executives. I think those of us who survived the Airleaf scandal will remember the kinds of producers the books were submitted to. They ranged from companies like Litestone Entertainment headed by Al Smith which lied about producing 30 books into movies, including his trailer that never became a book “Jessie’s Girl” to a company called Cinemagic which magically disappeared back to Japan. Ask me if I believe that there are not hundreds of scam artist producers waiting in Hollywood for vulnerable authors to shell out money. I’ve already spoken to half a dozen of them while fighting for our author victims. Anyway, that deal must have gone sour because it’s not even being offered this year.
And now Jones Harvest is offering to turn authors’ books into screenplays for free. One of my Airleaf author victims said Brien called her and offered to turn her book into a screenplay for free. This way it might sell better to the film people.
Remarkably, hundreds of emails went out to our Airleaf victims this past week from Jones Harvest offering to sell their books for free. In this letter, Jones states:
No charge, no obligation. No strings attached. I'll put the book on our websites today and even make a few calls. If you send me books, I’ll try to put them in stores. (Again, no charge, no obligation.)
All you have to do is send me a copy or copies of your book or email me the cover. I worked at Airleaf Publishing through 2006, (they closed in 2008) and I just want to help out if I can.
http://www.myauthorspace.com/
http://www.jonesharvest.com/
http://www.starredreview.com/
http://www.authorgifts.com/
http://www.bookwheat.com/
http://www.myauthorprofile.com/
http://www.brienjones.com/
He did manage to leave out some of his other untraveled sites like Great Concept Books, Bargain Basement Books (doesn’t that sound uplifting?), Author Soldier, and his two Christian sites, Perfect Heart and Chosen Few. I keep reminding people that the only one who views those sites is me—trying to reach unsuspecting authors of the outrageous scam they are part of for thousands of dollars.
This short statement in itself was a lie. Brien was trying to put a two-year wedge between his leaving Airleaf and the close of Airleaf. Jones left in the beginning of 2007, and Airleaf closed 11 months later in December of 2007. Actually it was the same year. But that’s Brien Jones—trying to mislead the public again.
I sent out a email blast to my list of over 500 Airleaf victims warning them about working with the King of Con. To say the Brien Jones doesn’t do anything for free is truly an understatement. Brien Jones doesn’t do much for people who pay him thousands of dollars. Look at all the authors that paid him money to be featured in a color catalogue to be given out at the book fairs. There was no catalogue. And when they asked him back for their money, he told them that he doesn’t have money. And why doesn’t he have money? Not because he can’t keep fooling the same victims who were taken once or twice because they realize that they are donating to the Jones family charity and want to redirect their contributions. Not because he screwed so many printers that they won’t print for him anymore. Not because his production and sales crew quit because of his fraudulence. Not because people don’t get their books after waiting for a year or two or have to send back galley after galley. No—he’s broke because of Bonnie Kaye. He can’t afford to publish his books but he can afford to pay for a website called “Bonnie Kaye Lies” where he puts his blog letters of support from five or six authors on there along with his own commentaries libeling me. But what he forgets is that I am doing this work out of a mission to protect our authors who put their money, hopes, and dreams into a con game, not to make money. I have never accepted a dime from an author even though many have offered to support my efforts. He can’t hurt me. I don’t offer anything but the truth and help to authors. On the other hand, I am hurting him by telling the truth. This is why I now have 63 verified complaints about the tens of thousands of dollars that authors have lost and will never see again. You see, in the end, the truth speaks for itself. When authors receive royalty checks once a year for $1.35 or $6.25 after investing so much money, they know that what I speak is the truth. It doesn’t matter how many of the Jones Harvest websites these authors are featured on—no one is looking except me as I mentioned earlier.
Lee Goldberg, the renowned author and columnist, stated in a blog last week written by Victoria Strauss, my predatory publishing guru, about the Hollywood scam that his gardener has more contacts with Hollywood executives because at least he mows the lawns for some of them. If you want to shell out money, maybe we can ask the gardener to drop off your book while he’s at one of these jobs. He is actually closer to them than the Jones Harvest family team will ever be.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
THE POWER OF THE BLOGGERS!
Last week when Brien Jones wrote his usual blog attacking me and my imaginary “lies,” he made the major mistake of attacking some of the most prominent people in the business of exposing predatory publishing. In his usual irrational, sociopathic manner, he threw in the names of Victoria Strauss, Lee Goldberg, and Julie Neidlinger berating them in an effort to defend himself. This was a major mistake for him because he publicly exposed himself to be the erratic, irrational, and desperate man that he is. Each of these people he attacked quickly wrote blogs in disgust and to set the record straight. And these are people who matter in the world of writing where Brien Jones doesn’t matter to any reliable and credible source in the publishing world.
I guess the power of the bloggers really hurt him because that post has now quickly disappeared from his blog. Now on his blog are a few of his defenders and attackers of “Bonnie Kaye,” so let’s see what rewards have been bestowed upon them for coming to Brien’s defense at the expense, at times, of defaming me.
The list of Jones supporters who attack me personally in the blog are Carol Fosdick, Patty Harlow, D. H. Gauvey, and even though not directly, indirectly Nancy Bauser. Is it any wonder how they now show up on the cover page of JH, with Nancy Bauser listed as “Author of the Year,” Carol Fosdick as “Best New Fiction,” and Patty Harlow on the front page of the website (although her listing has gone from the original second row when her letter appeared to the last row) and also featured on the front page of Author Celebrities. D. H. Gauvey was moved up to the first page of “Author Celebrities” when his letter came out, but now has faded to the second page. I guess he needs an updated attack letter.
Other supporters of JH, not quite attackers of me, but supporters on the blog include Alfred McCroskey of “Bibles for Russia”—now on the first row of Author Celebrities and the JH website, and Gerry Edwards on the cover page as a Best Selling Author. Well, actually Edward’s books do sell, so at least that’s most likely the truth. It’s doubtful that any JH authors are selling more than Edwards because according to their royalty checks that range on the average from a dollar and change to six dollars and change, he stands a chance of actually claiming that title.
On the other hand, poor Noriaki Osada is listed as a “Best Seller of 2008” for Jones Harvest. Mr. Osada, a victim of the Jones Harvest Fraud in tune to the amount of $7,000.00. For that money, Mr. Osada was promised three author reviews by real reviewers as opposed to Brien Jones and his nephew Tim, both of his books taken to the Book Fairs as opposed to just one of them, and the usual undone deeds guaranteed to make him a celebrity. It makes you wonder why the “Best Seller” is a man who has received a total of $40.00 in royalty checks—last year—but nothing this year. Sad, isn’t it? And let that be a lesson—if the best seller has received $40.00, is it any wonder that most people have never received anything? This is so typical of the misleading and fraudulent services offered by Jones Harvest. Mr. Osada, a fine and proud man from Japan, has a limited understanding of the English language, and like others in his position, it’s easy to take advantage of him.
But getting back to my original point, I have a great idea for the JH authors who are looking for prominent positioning on his numerous websites that are read by...well, mostly me checking him out. If you want to be a “Celebrity” or “Starred Author,” or even be part of the “Bargain Basement” books (whatever that means), you don’t have to cough up thousands of dollars as you’ve done in the past. Just write a nasty letter about Bonnie Kaye and you’re sure to get prominence. Since I am looking to save you money, you have my permission to make up whatever attacks you want about me because that seems to get front page exposure. In fact, if you need help in making up lies about me, just drop me a note and I’ll be sure to think of some new ones. The old ones about blackmailing Jones into publishing books for free for me and my friends, owning a publishing company, and making money from authors is really growing old.
I guess the power of the bloggers really hurt him because that post has now quickly disappeared from his blog. Now on his blog are a few of his defenders and attackers of “Bonnie Kaye,” so let’s see what rewards have been bestowed upon them for coming to Brien’s defense at the expense, at times, of defaming me.
The list of Jones supporters who attack me personally in the blog are Carol Fosdick, Patty Harlow, D. H. Gauvey, and even though not directly, indirectly Nancy Bauser. Is it any wonder how they now show up on the cover page of JH, with Nancy Bauser listed as “Author of the Year,” Carol Fosdick as “Best New Fiction,” and Patty Harlow on the front page of the website (although her listing has gone from the original second row when her letter appeared to the last row) and also featured on the front page of Author Celebrities. D. H. Gauvey was moved up to the first page of “Author Celebrities” when his letter came out, but now has faded to the second page. I guess he needs an updated attack letter.
Other supporters of JH, not quite attackers of me, but supporters on the blog include Alfred McCroskey of “Bibles for Russia”—now on the first row of Author Celebrities and the JH website, and Gerry Edwards on the cover page as a Best Selling Author. Well, actually Edward’s books do sell, so at least that’s most likely the truth. It’s doubtful that any JH authors are selling more than Edwards because according to their royalty checks that range on the average from a dollar and change to six dollars and change, he stands a chance of actually claiming that title.
On the other hand, poor Noriaki Osada is listed as a “Best Seller of 2008” for Jones Harvest. Mr. Osada, a victim of the Jones Harvest Fraud in tune to the amount of $7,000.00. For that money, Mr. Osada was promised three author reviews by real reviewers as opposed to Brien Jones and his nephew Tim, both of his books taken to the Book Fairs as opposed to just one of them, and the usual undone deeds guaranteed to make him a celebrity. It makes you wonder why the “Best Seller” is a man who has received a total of $40.00 in royalty checks—last year—but nothing this year. Sad, isn’t it? And let that be a lesson—if the best seller has received $40.00, is it any wonder that most people have never received anything? This is so typical of the misleading and fraudulent services offered by Jones Harvest. Mr. Osada, a fine and proud man from Japan, has a limited understanding of the English language, and like others in his position, it’s easy to take advantage of him.
But getting back to my original point, I have a great idea for the JH authors who are looking for prominent positioning on his numerous websites that are read by...well, mostly me checking him out. If you want to be a “Celebrity” or “Starred Author,” or even be part of the “Bargain Basement” books (whatever that means), you don’t have to cough up thousands of dollars as you’ve done in the past. Just write a nasty letter about Bonnie Kaye and you’re sure to get prominence. Since I am looking to save you money, you have my permission to make up whatever attacks you want about me because that seems to get front page exposure. In fact, if you need help in making up lies about me, just drop me a note and I’ll be sure to think of some new ones. The old ones about blackmailing Jones into publishing books for free for me and my friends, owning a publishing company, and making money from authors is really growing old.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
WHEN A RAT IS GETTING TRAPPED IN A MAZE...
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.
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.
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