Kiriko Moth joins in with the pleas for buyers to boycott Iris Print:

I was commissioned to create the cover art for the BL Twist magazine that never appeared. The art was completed and delivered well ahead of schedule, and I never heard anything back. I didn’t contact her until closer to the release date for the magazine, to send the print size artwork, and was not informed that it would never be used. In fact, Ms. Lynch’s reply in September gave every indication that the magazine was still slated for production.

I received no word about anything else until the mass email that was sent to everyone early this year, after Iris Print failed to show up at Yaoi-Con. There probably would not have been any personal contact if I hadn’t emailed Ms. Lynch directly about the cover artwork, stating that I was reclaiming all rights to it.

I was also an inker on one of the comics for the magazine. I was hired by the main artist (she needed assistance to get it finished in time) and I was to receive a portion of her payment. She did not receive any payment for work on the art, and the writer of the comic was also left high and dry. In fact, this writer had flown out to Yaoi-Con solely to help promote the magazine and comic.

So the sales continue, but the artists and writers are not being paid. Ms. Lynch has not fallen off of the planet, as Erastes directs us to her husband’s blog, along with a rather flippant response from him when queried about the monies owed. -Kiriko Moth

After getting all of this bad press, Kellie Lynch decided to update the Iris Print blog and let everyone know the status of the company:

1) Iris Print is shutting down. Unfortunately, the heartwarming support Iris’s readers have shown was too little too late. There was a large enough boost in sales to give me hope for a while, but not large enough to actually breathe life into the company again. After Queer Magic, there will be no more books from Iris Print; however, orders are still shipping from the store.

2) Queer Magic is not cancelled. The title is delayed until July 30, because there were not enough pre-orders to pay for a normal print run. The difficulty of finding a new printer that can do a smaller-than-average print run at a reasonable price has caused a few delays. I’m not running off with anyone’s hard-earned money, and anyone who pre-ordered the book is still just as free to cancel their pre-order as they ever were.

3) Iris Print does not owe Tina Anderson a cent. If she wants to organize a boycott because I refuse to dignify her “lawyer” with a gmail address with a response, that’s fine by me. The end result is the same: nobody’s buying her book.

4) R.W. Day’s royalty payment has been made. The initial check did bounce; that was a bookkeeping error, and my mistake. I’ve been checking my email rather sporadically this last week, and I read her message late Friday evening. Once I confirmed what happened with the bank today, I made the payment via alternate means (as per her request).

5) Iris Print is not appearing at YJam. I thought I had let the organizers know this, but if that’s not the case, it’s my mistake, and I’ll remedy it. I would appreciate if folks stopped wagging fingers at the con organizers because of my absent-mindedness. They’ve got enough on their hands, and I’d love to see their show turn into a success. -Kellie Lynch

R.W. Day confirms that she did receive the first quarter of her royalty payment via Paypal:

I’m taking the time to come online now, though to let you all know that Kellie has paid me my first quarter royalty via PayPal. I’m happy about that. However, as of this point, she hasn’t even been in contact with Tina Anderson, and as far as I know, that’s also true of the other Iris authors. Until that’s resolved, I can’t in conscience support the purchase of Iris books, including mine. -R.W. Day

While it’s great that Lynch has finally come forward and made a statement, it appears to be too little, too late.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 11:02 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.