Raider Publishing International Founder Due to File for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

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The saga of self-publishing service provider Raider Publishing International, and its owner and founder Adam Salviani, looks to be reaching an inevitable conclusion. Salviani, also an author, set up the company following his experiences self-publishing through PublishAmerica and Authorhouse. In hindsight, Salviani could and should have learnt a lot in those years about how self-published authors deserve to be treated.

This company has been founded by a writer who has been through the system of some of the biggest publishers around today. The truth of the matter is, most publishers will give you less than ten percent of the royalties and some will even offer you as low as two percent of the overall sales of your book! In addition to that, all of these publishers will refuse to promote your book to the world… leaving you to do all of the hard work, while reaping none of the benefits!~ Raider Publishing International, website

Unless Salviani considers PublishAmerica and AuthorHouse ‘the biggest publishers around today,’ then this claim is misleading. Salviani has never been published by a traditional publisher. Salviani founded Raider Publishing International (RPI) in 2005, and to be fair, when I first reviewed the company back in 2008, it showed a great deal of promise and innovation. This was a self-publishing provider prepared to blend the good of traditional publishing with the freedom and flexibility of self-publishing. RPI was utilising social media, podcasting and book trailers in a way many competitors were not at the time.
Inherently, I’ve no issue with a self-published author launching a company offering self-publishing services to other authors provided the company recruits professional publishing staff. I’ve witnessed far too many companies founded by writers and self-published authors—with the best intentions in the world to help fellow authors—only to flounder on the sword of inexperience and just how the publishing industry works. It’s a laudable act to share experience and help to guide authors new to the world of self-publishing, but equally a self-publishing service provider can’t use the individual experiences of one or a few authors as the foundation of a publishing company.
By 2009, I began to receive negative comments and direct correspondence from current and previous RPI authors. No company in existence, no matter what line of business, doesn’t get complaints. Things go wrong. Dedicated and reputable companies address those complaints directly and implements policies and improvements to reduce complaints and enhance customer satisfaction. When a few complaints turn from a trickle to a steady flow, and those authors—over a lengthy period of time—report no resolution, or worse, continued deterioration, then that tells me we have a serious problem with a company. When other colleagues in the publishing business also begin to report the same flow of complaints about one particular company, and consumer websites across the Internet begin to fill with similar reports (ripoffreport.com, scambook.com, reviewstalk.com, scaminformer.com and BBB.org) you begin to get a bad smell in your nostrils. You will find more than 150 lodged complaints. Bear in mind that RPI has only published 700 titles in nine years and claims books sales of $1.5 million.

In 2012, RPI became the first company TIPM listed as ‘not recommended’. In March of the same year I said the following when I discovered RPI had launched a new imprint, Purehaven Press (since defunct).

The moral of the story is fix what doesn’t work before moving on to any new imprint. This latest move by Raider just looks cynical and an attempt to start all over again with a clean slate.~ The Independent Publishing Magazine, March 2012

Fortunately Purehaven Press experienced a short lifespan and yet the complaints about RPI continued. These complaints are broadly listed below:
  • Delays in publication dates (even while the company offered an expatiated service)
  • Lack of communication for lengthy periods of time
  • Complete refusal to even respond to author communications
  • Turnover of staff and changes in an author’s publishing representative
  • Non payment of royalties
  • Complimentary copies or direct orders for books not delivered to authors
  • Books available and sold after contract termination (sometimes years)
  • Poor quality of editing and design
For the purposes of this article, I’m not going to rehash every concern and detail about RPI over nine years. You can find a full discussion on RPI here at AbsoluteWrite, from 2005 to date. You will find a detailed and forensic examination of RPI’s fake video testimonials posted by mostly fictitious authors (and one fictitious staff member!) here, its elaborate and foolish escapades in the social media world over the past year using farmed articles, Facebook likes and comments. The article uses source material from AbsoluteWrite, Writer Beware, TIPM, SFWA, Jurgen Wolff and Fiverr who have all been investigating RPI and its imprints for some time.

Currently there are two separate petitions filed with the US IC3 (Internet Crime) department, which is an offshoot of the FBI and NW3C (National White Collar crime). Earlier this year, we reported that Adam Salviani had begun directly luring UK and Irish authors into his self-publishing services web with the launch of Green Shore Publishing. Like RPI, another publishing imprint using a virtual office address (the new one not even registered with Companies House in the UK). Green Shore Publishing uses the same elaborate yet foolish attempts to entrap authors with fake testimonials and non-existent books listed on its website.
Following a complaint about Green Shore Publishing (GSP) two months ago, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) began an investigation into this imprint and the claims made on its website. The ASA will deliver its findings publicly on October 8th. We will see how that turns out, but I doubt it will be easy-reading for Adam Salviani. Already, the fake testimonials have been pulled from the GSP website, but a great deal of misleading information remains there.
Thankfully, UK authorities and media seem to be a lot more proactive than their US cousins. Adam Salviani has already had quite a busy week and its set to continue.
For all those authors who paid Adam Salviani fees and feel scammed, and can’t get any response or satisfaction from him or his company, you may be interested to know that he has also come under the investigative radar of BBC’s consumer rights programme, You & Yours. Adam Salviani will be interviewed by the You & Yours team on air. The interview was recorded this afternoon for broadcast tomorrow. You can find the broadcast and listening details here on the BBC website. TIPM has been speaking with the BBC’s You & Yours team over the past two weeks in preparation for this broadcast. However, TIPM understands that at no point during the interview did Salviani refer to a rather important date later this week. The fact that he and his wife have filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in the New York Courts this Thursday morning, October 2nd.

14-11322-alg   Adam John Salviani and Angelica Jean Cardone-Salviani    Ch. 13
ADJ.HRG.RE: Doc.#10; Confirmation Of The Debtors’ Chapter 13 Plan.
HRG.RE:**(ALL MATTERS ARE ADJOURNED TO: 10/2/2014 @10AM; STATUS REPORT DUE: 9/25/2014)**

I would have thought that might have been a rather important detail to mention! I wonder if the Honorable Allan L. Gropper, who is the judge presiding over this case file, is aware Salviani is attempting to reinvent himself with Green Shore Publishing in the UK. Sadly with a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, its unlikely any repayment plan ironed out in court will include the many aggrieved authors of Raider Publishing International over the years. Usually in Chapter 13 cases, the concern is the settlement a person’s biggest creditors and the protection of their personal assets.

Chapter 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which is codified under Title 11 of the United States Code, sets forth the statutes governing the various types of relief for bankruptcy in the United States, provides an individual the opportunity to propose a plan of financial reorganization to reorganize their financial affairs while under the protection of the bankruptcy court. The purpose of chapter 13 is to enable an individual with a regular source of income to propose a chapter 13 plan to provides for their various classes of creditors. Under chapter 13, the Bankruptcy Court has the power to approve a chapter 13 plan without the approval of creditors as long as it meets the statutory requirements under chapter 13. Chapter 13 plans are usually three to five years in length and may not exceed five years. Chapter 13 is in contrast to the purpose of Chapter 7, which does not provide for a plan of reorganization, but provides for the discharge of dischargeable debt and the liquidation of non-exempt property. A Chapter 13 plan may be looked at as a form of debt consolidation, but a Chapter 13 allows a person to achieve much more than simply consolidating his unsecured debt such as credit cards and personal loans. A chapter 13 plan may provide for the three general categories of debt: priority claims, secured claims, priority unsecured claims, and general unsecured claim. Chapter 13 is often used to propose a Chapter 13 Plan to cure arrearages on a mortgage, avoid “underwater” junior mortgages or other liens, pay over time of IRS taxes, and the partial payment of general unsecured debt. In recent years, some of the Bankruptcy Courts have allowed Chapter 13 to be used as a platform to expedite a mortgage modification application.

Indeed, I’d say there are some RPI authors reading the above and wondering why they didn’t apply for Chapter 13 bankruptcy after paying Salviani a publishing fee.

TIPM will have a full review of Adam Salviani’s interview on the BBC’s You & Yours programme across Wednesday/Thursday. TIPM’s understanding is that the programme will also include a piece from an author in the UK who had a successful legal outcome against RPI.
We’ll pick up this sorry saga then…    

Mick Rooney – Publishing Consultant
If you found this review or article helpful, but you’re still looking for a suitable self-publishing provider to fit your needs as an author, then I’m sure I can help. As a publishing consultant and editor of this magazine, I’ve reviewed and examined in detail more than 150 providers throughout the world like the one above. As a self-published and traditionally published author of nine books, I understand your needs on the path to publication and beyond. So, before you spend hundreds or thousands, and a great deal of your time, why not book one of my personally tailored and affordable consultation sessions today? Click here for more details.
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8 Comments

  1. Peter Slade said:

    Mick,
    I have been following your articles really from the get go & yes, I’m another that has been effected by Adam Salviani. I had my memoirs published back in Nov. ’11 & since then RPI / Adam Salviani have breached contract multiple ties including not one royalty payment. It’s a long story, but in short he owes me in access of $ 140,000 USD. The title of the book is: Razor’s Edge – A Memoir. Professionally, I am not an author, but a security consultant & recently did 7 years in Iraq as a security contractor. In short I’m not going to let this guy slip through the cracks ??? Greatly appreciate it if you could contact me via my e-mail address. Many thanks.

    Regards,
    Peter Slade.

  2. Arnabi Sen said:

    I have already got the acceptance from you in 2012 by sending three chapters from my manuscript. I like to publish it in your amethyst package. Please reply.

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  7. Beateiz said:

    I’ve been robbed by this idiot too, and I’m not happy about it. I sent my manuscript nearly 2 years ago and it hasn’t been published yet. He ignored my emails this year. The last one he replied to was December 2015 and all I want is my money back of the bronze package I paid in September 2014, as I don’t want my story to be published by this absurd company anymore.

  8. Billie Atamer said:

    I too, have been scamed by Raider Publishing, My book, BANJO BILLY AND THE RIVER RAT KIDS, was nomanited for the Moonbeam award in 2009. After many attempts to reach the owner,I gave up. It’s sill on the market Who is getting my royalties? What can I do? Please help me. Sincerely, Billie Atamer.

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