Updated, April 21, 2011 – American Book Publishing, “Police Investigation” Victoria Strauss Fairy Tale?

“Fairy tales are great.”

– James D. MacDonald

“People have told me that my fantasies read like historical novels set in places that never were.”

– Victoria Strauss

“I’ve never been anything but impressed at the level of Victoria’s [Victoria Strauss] fact checking . . . . she knows full well how her statements must be substantiated, or risk numerous lawsuits from these vanity presses.”

– Rachael Saltzman – Filmmaker, “Atlanta Nights”

“The biggest danger of the Internet, though–at least for new writers–is that while there’s tons of good and useful information online, there’s at least as much bad and false info–and if you don’t know how to filter it, you won’t be able to tell the difference. Writers who are just starting to submit their work, and are going online to try and learn what they need to know about the process of getting published, are especially vulnerable.”

– Victoria Strauss 

 ” . . . One would think that Mr. Write Agenda, having been exposed to Writer Beware‘s extensive documentation and organized record-keeping a couple of years ago (and, after being exposed to it, dropping his lawsuit with a dull thud) would realize that Writer Beware never makes claims without documentation to back them up.” (Emphasis Added).

– Ann Crispin

A couple of blog postings, regarding American Book Publishing, recently raised our curiosity and inquisitiveness. Victoria Strauss has posted on numerous internet sites that American Book Publishing has been the subject of an “investigation.” In addition, under its “Alerts for Writers” section, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) also states “American Book Publishing has been the focus of at least one police investigation.”

Consistent with the applicable Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) we have conducted some extensive (exhaustive) research with the agencies listed below. As a result, we have neither located evidence nor reports of any “investigation” involving American Book Publishing in these jurisdictions. The only “investigation” that we did locate involved a “theft” at the residence of Ms. Nunn who had a break-in to her home and also sustained damage thereto.

Victoria Strauss and SFWA where is the “investigation”? Where is your documentation and evidence? Based on these results, we believe that these are very serious allegations to be making if no such “investigation” has been undertaken. In the interest of good business ethics, these postings by Victoria Strauss and the SFWA should be deleted, retracted and apologies should come forth immediately if they are unable to produce any primary source material as evidence of an investigation. Considering the lack of evidence, it would also be interesting to know exactly what the true motivation was and why Victoria Strauss and SFWA posted this information.

A company spokesperson for American Book Publishing stated: “As a result of these postings made by Writers Beware, SFWA and Author Victoria Strauss, American Book Publishing began a quality control documentation process with all their authors over the past 8 years. We have obtained permission from our authors to publish on the company website the comments and references that we have received from them with their full name and book titles. American Book Publishing has over a 95% author satisfaction rating and you may see over 350 of these author references at http://americanbookpublishingauthors.com“.

American Book Publishing does have an A+ rating with the Utah Better Business Bureau. This report may be viewed at:

http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/book-and-magazine-publishing-companies/american-book-publishing-in-salt-lake-city-ut-8000038

It’s interesting to note that Writer Beware officer, A.C. Crispin emphatically frowns on authors using the Better Business Bureaus to “investigate” publishers. She also cautions authors to rely on the Writer Beware and the Preditors & Editors sites as a better sources of information. However, in this instance, one has to really question the validity of using them as a valid source of investigative information when they fail to provide primary source material to back up their postings.

Victoria Strauss recently has also made statements that implied that the Florida Attorney General’s case against Strategic Book Group is the result of the defendant’s delay tactics. Numerous requests have been made to Victoria Strauss to produce primary source material as proof. Nothing has been produced by Victoria Strauss to verify these statements and she has remained silent. We have received information indicating that the delay in prosecution may be the result of a lack of evidence.

Agencies Contacted:

Salt Lake City Police Department

Public Safety Building
315 East 200 South, SLC
(801) 799-3000

Pioneer Precinct
1040 West 700 South
(801) 799-4600

http://www.slcpd.com/index.php

Utah Highway Patrol

First Floor – South
4501 South 2700 West
PO Box 141100
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-1100
Administration: (801) 965-4518 (During Business Hours)

http://publicsafety.utah.gov/highwaypatrol/index.html

Department of Public Safety Investigations Bureau

5500 West Amelia Earhart Drive, Suite #100

Salt Lake City, Utah 84116 – (801) 532-2168

http://publicsafety.utah.gov/investigations/index.html

Federal Bureau of Investigation – Salt Lake City

257 East 200 South, Suite 1200 Salt Lake City, UT 84111-2048 Phone: (801) 579-1400
Fax: (801) 579-4500
E-mail: SaltLakeCity@ic.fbi.gov

http://saltlakecity.fbi.gov/

Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department

3365 South 900 West

Salt Lake City, UT 84119

Non-Emergency: 801.743.7000

http://www.slsheriff.org/

South Salt Lake City Hall

220 E. Morris Ave (2430 South)

Salt Lake City, UT 84115

City Attorney, 2nd Floor 801-483-6070 801-464-6791

City Prosecutor, 2nd Floor 801-483-6070 801-464-6791

Police Department

2835 S Main St, South Salt Lake, UT 84115-3200

NON Emergencies 801-840-4000

Administration 801-412-3606

Investigations 801-412-3604

Ordinance Enforcement 801-464-6712

Records 801-412-3600

http://www.ssl.state.ut.us/government/contactus.html

http://www.ssl.state.ut.us/police/policedepthome.html

Utah State Capitol Office

Office of the Attorney General
Utah State Capitol Complex
350 North State Street Suite 230
SLC UT 84114-2320
FAX: (801) 538-1121

http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/contact_us.html

Salt Lake City, Prosecutors Office

349 South 200 East, Suite 500

Salt Lake City, Utah, 801.535.7767

slcprosecutor@slcgov.com

http://www.slcgov.com/Prosecutor/

Salt Lake County Prosecutors Office

Investigations Division
111 E Broadway Suite 400
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
Tel: (801) 531-4189
Fax: (801) 531-4137

http://www.districtattorney.slco.org/admin/contact.html

ALERT: (Posted 10/24/11) American Book Publishing: No Case, No Criminal Contact & No Legal Action Taken

ALERT: American Book Publishing “Investigation” Research Released: No Proof of Victoria Strauss’ Claims

References

“ALERTS FOR WRITERS.” SFWA. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/alerts/#American&gt;.

“Interview with Victoria Strauss – Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing Community – Necrotania.com.” Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing Community. 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 01 Apr. 2011. <http://www.necrotania.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2566&gt;.

“Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 2 – Page 62 – Absolute Write Water Cooler.” Absolute Write. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. <http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5983334#post5983334&gt;.

“Poetry.com / International Library of Poetry / Watermark Press [Archive] – Page 2 – Absolute Write Water Cooler.” Absolute Write. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. <http://absolutewrite.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-996-p-2.html&gt;.

“Victoria Strauss, Author of The Arm of the Stone (Feb 28-March 6) | Author Chat | LibraryThing.”LibraryThing | Catalog Your Books Online. 3 Mar. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.librarything.com/topic/111045&gt;.

 Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Teresa. “Making Light: The Write Agenda: The Wrong Company to Keep.”Making Light. 19 Apr. 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/012966.html&gt;.

“Victoria Strauss — Someone Out There Doesn’t Like Us (And We Don’t Care).” Writer Beware™ Blogs! Web. 24 Mar. 2011. <http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2006/05/victoria-strauss-someone-out-there.html&gt;.

“Wikipedia:Identifying Reliable Sources.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources&gt;.

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