Two minutes ago I received a phone call from a woman asking to speak with Alexis. Alexis is 13 and in school right now, so I asked the woman who she was and what she wanted. She explained she was from Booksurge (A.K.A Digitz, GreatUnpublished..etc.). She said Ali's name was "passed on to her." Well, the only possible place in the world the information could have come from was the Canadian ISBN registration information. It's the only company that would know she wrote a book. To further prove that theory, they called on my number, not Ali's, and I put my phone number on the registration form.

Cathi Stevenson

Cathi,

That is just crazy. I think some of these companies will do anything to get a new body on the hook. Hopefully you told the caller where to go!


Danielle
Ozark Writer

Assistant Publisher
Homesteader's Connection
Goat Biz Magazine

Editor in Chief
The Goat Magazine

This is Angela Hoy. You can read our own nightmare experience with this firm (and those of others) here:
http://www.writersweekly.com/whispers_and_warnings/digitz.html

This post has been removed by WritersWeekly.com.

We discovered that "pogo" and "nancyp" are both using the same IP address, indicating they may be the same person who is pretending to be two people, feeding off each other's posts.

Both user IDs have been banned from the WritersWeekly forum.

First off, this is the first time I've ever initiated a complaint. Second of all, I certainly didn't use the word "scam"; Third of all, it was only Angela Hoy (the site owner) and I who posted said complaints, so I guess it is us you directed your comments to.

Last but not least:

Booksurge is Digitz - same company, same owners and same staff. They were also known as Great Unpublished at one time and have since moved into Canada and purchased a century- old family printing business here.

Booksurge/Digitz employees Terry Williams and Shannon Mobley went into quite an extensive explanation of the "new persona" on another list when I asked.

Cathi

Booksurge is not Bowker nor are they related in any way whatsoever to Bowker. They're simply one of Bowker's customers.

We've received numerous complaints about Booksurge / Digitz / Great Unpublished (all the same company) over the years and had our own nightmare experience with them. Their mistakes and unprofessional practices cost us thousands of dollars before we wised up and moved on.

Angela Hoy

"Digitz is a subsidiary of Booksurge, LLC. We are happy you have visited our site and look forward to working with you." - This is on the company's own website.

This can be found here:
http://web.archive.org/web/200205302210 ... igitz.net/

The former Digitz site: www.Digitz.net is now up for sale and no longer being used by the company.

Cathi

I would like to know what I have done to deserve Black Listing. I think I have posted three or four total messages in writer's weekly... and find this a bit heavy-handed as there was not even an attempt to contact me.

I haven't put in any expletives deletives, or sent repeating harassing emails to anyone
the absolute worst thing I did was to look up registration records in a Whois
and write book reviews for people who have been rude to me.

thank-you ever so much for your time. And certainly I haven't gone about smearing people.

Admittedly my experience overall with writer's lists and forums is very bad as they seem to be places where cliques and social bullying ae encouraged and people have a tendency to make false accusations

such as pogo being nancyp


pogo is only pogo and has been pogo since birth: February 11,1955, Doctors Hospital on Capitol Hill in Seattle

and if you don't mind, I will keep this unwaranted blacklisting in mind in the future whenever i hear about Writer's Weekly. I really don't deserve this, not even in the Czech Republic where my book packages have been torn open and dumped in water and mail cut open.

thanks for the warning.

pogo
gee, that really burns--where's an ice cube and a margharita?

[quote="pogo"][quote="nancyp"]
and write book reviews for people who have been rude to me.
[quote]


Could you please explain what this means??

Cathi

I don't believe that any explanation is required
and besides I've been banned for looking things up in Whois

okay--have had enough. And you seem to like to chew on rags. Just get off my back. I've never in my life done anything to injure other people or deserve constant harassment or rudeness that I have found in writer's forums.

Certainly not the influx into my mailbox.
I've been shown the door by Angela Hoy

so as it says, "now let thy servant depart in peace."

your problem with Digitz is between you and Digitz-- not me. So take your complaints to them, not me.


noli aemulari in malignantibus ps 36

Uh, I never took any complaint to you, I posted to the board and you jumped in telling me Booksurge and Digitz were not the same company. The current Whois information concerns only the current owner of the Digtiz domain and not the printer, so I posted a link from the WayBackMachine to show you the difference.

You weren't banned for using WHOIS - you were banned for using 2 IDs on here and talking to yourself - if the two IDs had the same IP addy then they had to be coming from the same computer. You can easily look that up with any free internet IP tracer - even online ones, where you don't have to download software.

I still don't understand your post about doing book reviews though...if people are rude to you, then why would you buy their books??

Cathi

I am a former customer of Digitz/Booksurge, I live in Charleston where they are headquartered, and I know some of the employees personally, including Bob Holt, the owner. Booksurge and Digitz are one and the same. Digitz was a print shop at one time, Great Unpublished was a new venture that evolved into a different business model in the guise of Booksurge.

I've had plenty of problems with them and finally found a new printer who does better work for 40% lower cost.

Peter

I have read the posts on this topic carefully and I tend to generally agree re the PoD being a vanity option. However, my situation is a bit different from you guys living in the US (I live in Australia). I have a couple of books that have a niche international market. What attracts me to booksurge is that they have PoD in a number of countries and that they list you on Amazon (of course once can do it oneself and save a bit of money), and I believe they do not charge you for keeping the file on their sever forever (??? – how long is that, of course?). So I am still curious about booksurge and anyone’s experience in something like my situation. If fact, I will have one of my books come out in another language with a “normal” publisher but I want to keep the international rights for PoD, where I can maybe get more money from my niche markets.

Any comments?

Peter

Booklocker puts you into the Ingram distribution system (as far as I know) - which most bookstores order from - worldwide.

The definitely put you on Amazon and all the regular online sites. I know that because years ago I used to format their cover images to upload to Amazon.

I've had an eBook listed with Booklocker for years, never paid a fee and I'm still there.

Trafford Publishing also has offices located all over the world.

There is a good comparison of self-publishing companies (usually called PODs, incorrectly) at www.booksandtales.com.

All people can do is share their experiences, good or bad with you. The final desion about which company to choose lies with you, but just make sure you're well informed.

Cathi

Well, not take nancy/pogo's side, or anything, but it is very possible for the ip to look the same, without being on the same computer, or even, near each other. For one, anyone with the same firewall can have the same ip. Everyone with aol can have the same ip. Anyone who uses a proxy server (I do at times) can have the same ip. I do agree it would be extremely couincidential, 2 people, on the same forum, agreeing. But plenty of people have the same ip.