Word of warning for those of you on the yahoo SciFi list...

[ellenmillion]

That Ken Whitman that posted about his uber great pricing is the same Ken Whitman that completely flaked out on my printing Wish3. He is a very nice guy, but completely and utterly unreliable. Last I'd heard, Larry Elmore had fired him, though perhaps he's back in favor - I'd ask Stephanie Law if you really want to know. I *don't* know, but I would not do business with this man unless you do not need to meet a deadline, don't mind being left in the dark for a month in a row and then spammed, and don't actually need any follow-through. His prices were competitive, but not worth the hassle. He has left me hanging since - literally - May of last year, and the books that he DID send me were not nearly the quality that I got from Bookmobile - 6 or so of the books out of 48 were miscut so badly that I wouldn't sell them at full price, and several of the bindings were slightly crumpled/badly connected. Also, they weren't of a perfectly uniform size - line 'em up together and some of them were off by 1/8-1/4 inch from copy to copy. I later found out that one of the books he sent was the wrong volume for the cover it had, and I had to replace it for a customer. Bookmobile, in comparison, had three bent corners (from shipping), *one* mangled spine and one book printed completely backwards out of 250 absolutely otherwise flawless ones.

I don't feel up to posting to the list at the moment, but wanted to give you folks on the list (or running into him anywhere else) a headsup. Let me stress, he's a super nice guy - I feel really bad having to say this, but I also don't want anyone to get burned by actually depending on him.

Comments

[hippiechic567.livejournal.com]

Thanks Ellen. I do think you should post this later on the SciFi group though.I sent you an email regarding DC rooms too.

[pseudopagan.livejournal.com]

DC rooms? *perk*

Would that be Washington DC, or DragonCon, or some other DC I am unfamiliar with? Because if it's DragonCon, squee!

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Dragon*Con - you going to be there? :)

[jeliza]

They are more geared towards pro photographers, and I don't know how the prices compare to Bookmobile, but for full-color art books, AsukaBook rocks -- and they do the CMYK conversion for you, which I really appreciate.

[uneide.livejournal.com]

AHA! So that's why his name was so familiar.. *nibbles* Ellen, I still think you should post to the list. Its not like you're saying anything untrue, just giving people a heads up. Thank you!!!

ah also! getting off my ass and doing the tutorial on plushies after I'm done with comissions this week - should be done by the next e-zine, have you thought of a theme for it, so that I can gear up a doll that works for it? *cough* should it be -unicorns- you'd have one giddy Apis...

[jasminetoad.livejournal.com]

Hehe - I just spent a whole week with Larry & Ken at Ken's inn in Kentucky - they seem to be getting along great ;)

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Huh! Well, that's interesting. I wonder if they're back in business. Have you had any business experience with Ken personally (beyond this camp, which darn it, I am STILL very jealous of!)? I see him post on forums, and then, a few weeks later, people post that they can't get in touch with him, and lo, he shows up on NEW forums (lists, whatever) without going back to the old ones.

Like I said, he seems SO nice, it's just been impossible to keep on track with him. :(

[jasminetoad.livejournal.com]

Other than staying at the bed & breakfast that his family runs, I haven't really had any "business" involvement with him. I did spend several hours at his new office though - he's got a ton of new equipment, printers, binding machines, new cutters, etc. - it looks like a good set-up!