Here’s a final update to my situation with Fox Chapel Publishing. You can read the full story first here.
The Fox Chapel COO wrote me this morning stating they will be reprinting 101 Quilting Tips and Tricks with a new cover. The end. No further apology, no new compensation offer, no old compensation offer, nothing about all the books already sold and currently distributed around the world – not that I was expecting any of those things. They will let the author solely pay for the mistake and they will move on to try and continue profiting from the work (read about my conversation with the author, Penny, here).
This part is important – this means they will scrap all the existing stock they have left and print a new book. I will say with a high amount of certainty that this will cost them far more than what they offered me.
And instead of stepping up, making amends, making me a new offer that would still cost them less than the route they chose, they will pay more and waste a great deal of material and resources to make a point of not letting us win in all of this.
This is what they decided was the best way to handle this situation and it speaks volumes. I personally just can’t agree that they care about the artists they claim to respect or about the customers who purchase their books.
I also want to point out that this is not them honoring the fact that I do not want my image on the cover of this book, because they are not offering to recall the stock currently distributed around the world. This is not righting their wrong in any way or this message would have come with another apology at the very least, or a different compensation offer for the stock already distributed.
I want to share one more thing before I go. If you missed it on social media, I discovered some very intentional photoshop work a couple days ago that I missed initially. Remember, Fox Chapel stated that my image was pulled for an internal initial mockup and never changed out before printing, an accident. It’s very clear that the background of the image was edited to look like a window, which I can almost explain away to a mockup, however, someone took the time to edit out only the cotton + steel logo on one fabric selvedge. I know it’s a bit blurry in that top photo, but click to enlarge and you’ll see. What would be the purpose of doing this solely for a mockup?
I appreciate the many offers to crowd source funds to continue pursuing this. I know this type of behavior has to stop, but I can’t fight it. I simply don’t have the time, energy or resources and frankly I prefer to pour my heart into creating new and awesome things and I would much rather we all spend our hard earned pennies on copyrights to protect out work.
But, rest assured, I am not done with this, and I hope you aren’t either. I will continue to share my story in articles, podcasts, and any way I can. If you do the same and we don’t let these things be forgotten, it will make a difference. I think we’ve all seen the power of our community. I will also do another blog post soon with more specifics on how these things happen and how we can continue to protect ourselves.
In the meantime, you can continue to share your feelings and opinions with Fox Chapel and decide if they are a company you want to support. Thank you so much, friends!
lillyella 
It seems like this was an honest mistake and the company is doing what it can to rectify the situation. This looks like an indie publisher, which means not a huge staff… people are most likely well-meaning humans trying to make a living – artists like yourself. People make mistakes.
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An “honest” mistake?? Than why not pay an honest fee to the owner of the pattern photo and avoid trashing all those books? Sounds dishonest in many ways.
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I think your mistaken! A cover image is what sells a book, and they thought they could get away with it, but they’ve been caught and aren’t sorry. This is Nicole’s art on someone else’s book, and as a consumer I’d be pretty pissed if this project wasn’t in the book, which is also deceiving! Deception all around, people shouldn’t try to make a “decent living” off someone else’s work- NEVER!
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Well I shared it to this FB group yesterday, and will share the link to this post now.
Putting the light on this company and this action. Future authors, beware.
Crafters Against Pattern Piracy and Copyright Infringement
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Fox Chapel Publishing has been in the publishing business for almost 30 years. A company with that level of experience should have a defined process that includes either a scheduled photo shoot for the cover and interiors, or signed releases for any photograph they use but do not own.
Someone did make a mistake, but it’s not because they’re a small independent and don’t know any better. I’m not sure how someone “honestly” yet deliberately Photoshops an image to remove identifying details or things they know will be problematic once it goes to print, but I admire your optimism in an industry where so many artists have to deal with the theft of their property by large and small operators alike.
If we can’t hold the established businesses accountable for things like this, how do we get even smaller businesses and individuals to abide by the copyright law?
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I don’t believe it’s a mistake. Further, it would be interesting to do a little research to find out how many other times they’ve down this. Print production is a very detailed, intentional process, with many steps and many people. The cover would have received as much – if not more – focus than anything else in the myriad design decisions. This is ripping off and disrespecting the community it claims to celebrate (per Nicole’s initial post). It’s as though they have a feeling that the work of “the community” is also universally owned by “the community”. The waste associated with their decision is unacceptable, as is refusal to take responsibility for the blatant attempt to get away with stolen, then photoshopped, imagery.
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To piggyback on Ebony’s comment, why wouldn’t they have set up a photoshoot of one of Penny’s works? As the author, why would you want another person’s work on the cover? I understand she sent the company a message asking about the cover but I am still trying to figure out why it wasn’t resolved. Only the staff at Fox know I guess. I just wanted to say that I am sorry that this has happened but that I appreciate your generosity in sharing your talents and creativity. I finally finished the maker’s mat for my mom and I learned SOO much about sewing and quilting because I tried something new to me. I now want to make one for myself and have been thinking about the armchair one for the cross stitching I have recently picked back up.
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Well, I hope they read your posts and receive much criticism and are at least internally ashamed. They know they’re wrong. They know what they did and lack enough integrity to make amends with honor. Their offer doesn’t seem any different than the first one, except they haven’t offered any payment this time. They had already offered to reprint it. It’s reprehensible that they are letting the author take full culpability for their actions. I, for one, will never purchase another book by this publisher. Good on you for taking the high road, Nicole… screw them.
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Wait, the author is paying to fix this? Did I read that right? This wouldn’t be her mistake. The Publisher picks the cover, not the author.
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It’s all kinds of crazy. You can read about my conversation with Penny here:
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I posted this comment on Nicole’s first post about this and on FB wherever I see it. Copy and share as you see fit!
WE do have methods for fighting for our copyright RIGHTS, as creatives that create original works, especially when “big business” chooses to ignore the rules. We as quilters and/or industry professionals, should all think about using our considerable purchasing power as our muscle. In 2017 it was estimated that quilters would spend $3.7 billion and estimated to have 7 to 10 million quilters in the U.S (source http://www.quilts.com/news-and-info-qia-survey.html). To show our dissatisfaction with this sort of behavior we should consider a boycott of Fox Chapel Publishing, which also owns Landauer Publishing (many quilting and sewing titles). We have the power and we have the court of public opinion at our disposal. I for one will not purchase a Fox Chapel/Landauer book until 2021! Join Me?
Lets flood social media with our disapproval, use hashtags on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter #BoycottFoxChapelPublishing #BoycottLandauerPublishing, leave comments about your opinion @FoxChapelPublishing @LandauerPublishing Twitter @Landauerpub @foxchapelpublishing.
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Nicole,
Please make sure that the existing inventory is actually destroyed. There are many secondary ways that books can be sold.
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This is the first post I’ve seen about this (sort) and am sickened. Truly. Time to Twitter-shame.
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Won’t be getting any books from this company, that’s for sure! Things like this makes me sooo mad!
Keep being awesome & creative!
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