Welcome Back

[ausleigh]

Roy and Liz - welcome back to The Crypt. Hopefully now you will be less pressured by a certain dictatorship, and have more flexibility in running things your way.

If I were you, I'd focus so much more on the badmoonbooks.com site, and less on the HM store...

[werelizard]

Thanks Leigh! Will do

[JDar]

Nov 28, 2010 15:58:33 GMT -6 ausleigh said:

Roy and Liz - welcome back to The Crypt. Hopefully now you will be less pressured by a certain dictatorship, and have more flexibility in running things your way.

If I were you, I'd focus so much more on the badmoonbooks.com site, and less on the HM store...

Well said.

Glad you are back with your own Forum. Posting here is much better than that thing they call "blog".

[sdkdmd]

This is nice. Glad to see ya back.

[Tomoran]

Welcome back, Roy and Liz! Great to see you both back on the Crypt!

Tom

[srstaley]

Nov 28, 2010 15:58:33 GMT -6 ausleigh said:

Roy and Liz - welcome back to The Crypt. Hopefully now you will be less pressured by a certain dictatorship, and have more flexibility in running things your way.

If I were you, I'd focus so much more on the badmoonbooks.com site, and less on the HM store...

Roy and Liz,

Yes, please do tell Leigh how bad this dictatorship has effected your business. I think it's about time the world knew the ugly truth.

[mmdh55]

Welcome back, happy to see BMB back at The Crypt !

[badmoon]

Nov 29, 2010 2:19:36 GMT -6 srstaley said:

Nov 28, 2010 15:58:33 GMT -6 ausleigh said:

Roy and Liz - welcome back to The Crypt. Hopefully now you will be less pressured by a certain dictatorship, and have more flexibility in running things your way.

If I were you, I'd focus so much more on the badmoonbooks.com site, and less on the HM store...

Roy and Liz,

Yes, please do tell Leigh how bad this dictatorship has effected your business. I think it's about time the world knew the ugly truth.

I put up the initial post as a way to inform you all of some impending changes that MIGHT be happening, NOT to bash Shane. Shane has worked hard to make HM a great place to shop and has put countless hours (and still does) into making it an amazing site.
I, of all people know that not everyone likes everyone in this industry (or in life in general) but this thread was meant to be an informative one, not a cross to crucify Shane.

The changes at HM are NOT a done deal yet. So please, let's all try to be civil. Cool?

Roy

[srstaley]

Roy,

Come on, you're skipping past my question. I want you to let the world and Leigh know about the horrible dictatorship going on over there at the wretched Horror Mall. You're finally free to tell your story without facing horrible persecution. Give 'em what they want...feed the mystique! Tell them about the nails I put into your penis each time you screw up an order, or the time I made you and Larry have intercourse to see who got to carry Sideshow Press titles after Tom Moran was treated so badly there he vacated his shopfront (again, it was the nails to the penis thing Tom pussied out on).

Feel free to join in, Tom, you were a part of the nightmarish experiments we subjected you to. Taking all your sales and feeding you stale Ritz crackers in lieu of payment, stapling your testicles to Roy's forehead which made him look like a unicorn especially with that penis-nail jutting out.

I really wish someone would fill me on this dictatorship or maybe he meant Dick Tator Shit. I want to join this melee of misinformation...

[Billie Moran]

Nov 29, 2010 11:10:41 GMT -6 srstaley said:

Roy,

Come on, you're skipping past my question. I want you to let the world and Leigh know about the horrible dictatorship going on over there at the wretched Horror Mall. You're finally free to tell your story without facing horrible persecution. Give 'em what they want...feed the mystique! Tell them about the nails I put into your penis each time you screw up an order, or the time I made you and Larry have intercourse to see who got to carry Sideshow Press titles after Tom Moran was treated so badly there he vacated his shopfront (again, it was the nails to the penis thing Tom pussied out on).

Feel free to join in, Tom, you were a part of the nightmarish experiments we subjected you to. Taking all your sales and feeding you stale Ritz crackers in lieu of payment, stapling your testicles to Roy's forehead which made him look like a unicorn especially with that penis-nail jutting out.

I really wish someone would fill me on this dictatorship or maybe he meant Dick Tator Shit. I want to join this melee of misinformation...

Wow, this got off topic quickly.

Tom doesn't pussy out on the nails in the penis experience. He's into S & M, so if you guys were threatening him with that, he'd be more likely to stay at the Horror Mall than leave.


I didn't think Roy was into the homosexual aspect of things, so he'd probably forgo the penis getting stapled on the forehead deal.

In all seriousness, we actually had our own store before we joined the horror mall, and we didn't leave because of any negative experience, we left because we wanted to do things on our own once again...I myself have bought two things from the Horror Mall in the last two weeks. If I despised the Horror Mall so much, I sure as hell wouldn't be supporting it.

[thunderstormbooks]

Not a comment on any of the tax/paypal issues, nor on whether this change is better or not for customers. Arguments could be made both ways.

But has anyone realized that by letting publishers run their own businesses on their own sites the way they see fit (yes, I think dictatorship is a great term for this...especially in the context of a small business), and keeping the rules as SIMPLE as possible (and it can't get any simpler than only listing items that are in stock and ready to ship), that these policies in combination with each other might attract a substantial number of quality small presses to offer products on the mall?

[srstaley]

Paul,

I can assure you by definition that it is not a dictatorship. As you know we run our own businesses, handle our own products and deal with our own customers. In fact, all current shopowners haven't heard a word from me in several months but to pop in their inbox with payment each Friday.

And to answer your question on why can't we let businesses run outside and at Horror Mall, the simple reason is that it's not just some site you go to list product without any benefit. It's a service to publishers at a rather micro commission when taking into consideration that I manually spend time for each shop every day doing the most tedious work for them: billing, website maintenance, marketing, newsletters distribution, red alert lists, dealing with the hassle of merchants and Paypal. That's why Horror Mall is actually making a difference and has grown through these years. What Horror Mall takes on essentially allows its shops to concentrate on their products.

And think of the small commission that was collected compared to booksellers fees. And booksellers do absolutely little or nothing but take 40% of your cover cost or more right off the bat.

Now if you had to do all of that work on a daily basis, would you prefer shop owners to pilfer customers from your hard-earned work and site and simply add them to their own newsletters and sell direct to bypass what little commission Horror Mall actually receives?

I've been in business for a long, long time. Pinkie-swears went out with me back in the '90s as any person in business will get to know pretty fast (especially in a market like this) that you'll be screwed by just about everyone there is in this business at one time or another: authors, booksellers, and yes, even customers on a continual basis (ala our billing program usually results in $20,000 per year in failed payments due to people not feeling like they are obligated to pay their bills).

You and Tom are at a totally different stage in your publishing careers then say Larry, Roy or I. Once you get your nuts kicked in repeatedly year after year, you grow a little more edgy, form a little more hard-assness. That is, if you make it past the first several times you get your testies twisted and cry a little, curse at God and yell, "What the fuck was I thinking trying to do this job, having to put up with all this shit and all I get is this lousy T-shirt and hordes of disgruntled message board members who get off on criticizing your every move.

Now if you're me: you still might get your testies twisted, but at this stage you like to watch them unravel, instead of crying you laugh a lot and you find amusement in reading message board posts by people who are essentially backseat drivers, who have no clue to how run their own household let alone a business of this magnitude and you chalk it up to comic relief.

[thunderstormbooks]

Shane,

I am happy that HM is heading in this direction...never implied otherwise. I must of misunderstood when I read that the storefront sellers are reopening their own websites to take preorders.

But, I am not being argumentative. I agree with 90% of what you stated in your post. Actually, it really isn't any of my business anyway...I was just showing support for the move.

Paul

[Tomoran]

Roy,

Tell them about...the time I made you and Larry have intercourse to see who got to carry Sideshow Press titles after Tom Moran was treated so badly there he vacated his shopfront (again, it was the nails to the penis thing Tom pussied out on).

Feel free to join in, Tom, you were a part of the nightmarish experiments we subjected you to. Taking all your sales and feeding you stale Ritz crackers in lieu of payment, stapling your testicles to Roy's forehead which made him look like a unicorn especially with that penis-nail jutting out.

Whoa! How the hell did I get dragged into this?

Seriously, I've read this a couple times, and I'm thinking it was tongue-in-cheek (at least I'm hoping that Roy and Larry didn't really bump nasties...). But just in case, let me reiterate that our decision to leave the Mall, ultimately, was about us and our need to try something different and to get back to full autonomy. Chalk it up to my "control freak" nature. We were treated very well while at the Mall, and I have consistently stated publicly that we have nothing but respect for you guys. It was a business move, and one that we hope will work out for us. The fact that we still have our books up at the Mall through Roy should be further evidence that we have nothing against the Horror Mall.

And, just in case there was any doubt, here was my post after the store was closed down:

"After a couple months of serious discussion and debate, Billie and I have decided to close up our storefront at the Horror Mall and go it alone.

Now, before everyone goes off and speculates about what catastrophe lead to this parting, let me assure you...there was NO drama. There were no arguments or battles, and we parted on very amicable terms. Billie and I have NOTHING but praise and respect for Larry Roberts, Shane Staley, and the rest of the excellent vendors at the Horror Mall. Larry and Shane have been inspirations to us as we built Sideshow, dodging the various missteps and pitfalls of publishing (and stumbling headfirst into others). Although I'm sure our decision was met with some disappointment, I'd like to think there will be no lingering hard feelings. I know that I'll continue to shop at the Mall, as it really is my favorite place to procure the latest in horror fic."

Now, if I could, I'd like to gracefully back out of this one... ;D

Tom

[markgunnells]

So Roy, are you still happy to be back at the Crypt? :-p