Blackcard books, Today I was all dolled up and excited about attending an event I had been invited to. It was a Mastermind weekend meeting with the publishing group False Advertisement, Discrimination Ontario

I need to speak out to stop my fellow artists/writers from being slaughtered on the alter of Marketing sorcerers promising them all kind of success. Blackcard books, or Blackcard Bulk, or Blackcard Publishing sees you as a cash cow to extract thousands and thousands of dollars from you, without results.

Today I was excited about attending an event I had been invited to. It was a Mastermind weekend meeting with the publishing group "Blackcard". I had been contacted last year by Gerry Roberts Blackcard book and publishing group, a marketing driven book machine, a Costco of publishing. I attended a three day workshop in Burbank in June 2017, it was advertised on Facebook. I ran into several women who had attended my writers workshops. As an author I came to learn. I had been in the beginning stages of a contract with a publisher. I attended Friday for three hours, and Saturday I stayed until 1pm. Two different men gave testimony that somewhat resembled the presentation you see at a timeshare. It goes like this;

"I was broke, didn't know what to do with my life, these people helped me to write my book and published it and now my life is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! I have spoken on stages with Tony Robbins, and I've become incredible successful and I have lots and lots of money!!!"I'm very sensitive to hype and recognizing it is a no brainer. It's what I expect, but they really lacked ethics, a characteristic usually missing in marketing specialists. The meeting presenters spoke about the marketing aspect of producing your book, how they know how to use certain colors, words and magical formulas to attract the buyer to your book. They spoke of how if you had a book inside you they know how to write it for you, produce it and market it. Heck! If you have enough money they can even put you on the stage with Tony Robbins and make you a star!

I'm not hating on them, but writers are writers because they write, not because they have "an idea." My dog can have an idea, but he will never write a book, guaranteed. So what you have in BlackCard are people who will supposedly write your book for you, determine your cover artwork according to how the book can look to seduce people to buy it, and create a speaking platform for you, hooking you up with some frontline people In other words, they promise to "make you a star". Hey, that's not so bad for no talent people, who have no imagination but have romantic to grandiose ideas of being a writer. Oh, I digress, the punchline was that you should GIVE your book away, because it is basically a business card? Hungh? This is the tell tale sign that these are not people with a love for the unique product writers push out. You my friend are their intended means to an end. While we as artists don't value ourselves or our gift by it's monetary value, we certainly should be the first one in line to benefit from it, not greedy publishers.

The second day of that meeting in Burbank I exchanged numbers with a few people. After lunch the speaker said, "I know that we have some competitors in the room, we always do. I want you to know that I will embarrass you, I won't have you fishing in my pond." He stated that we, the attendees, were not to given out any business cards or to exchange telephone or contact information with other attendees. It was his belief that since they had paid for the room they had the right to set the boundaries the set. His eyes then roamed over to me, as if to advise all of the attendees that he was talking about me. I smiled and ignored it, I knew that didn't apply to me. For well over five years I"ve been very curious about the publishing process, since I self published two books and didn't like the results.

I left the meeting before it ended Saturday, but that evening I received a call from one of my friends. We played a "guess how much" game, and my guess was they wanted $18,000 to put your book out there. She laughed and informed me it was closer to $30,000. We both laughed and agreed, "who do they think has that kind of money?" On Sunday I sought out a member of their team to ask about them publishing my book. Since the publishing of my book was a joint venture, and I had a very minimal financial commitment, I told their associate how much it was. She said, "oh, I can't imagine how they can do it for that little, I think you don't have a good contract." That was because they charge people upwards of $40,000 to produce a book.

Now I've got my book in my hands, and I wasn't scammed by Blackcard. Following the June 2017 seminar I refused to answer multiple e-mails from their publishing company (Dorance Publishing). Then I began to receive calls. I thought, "why are these people pursuing me if they think I'm some competition to them?" I posed this question to my husband. His answer was, "Babe, they think that you've got a book published and they still want to try to benefit from your work." If his opinion was truth, how terrible is that. To paint me as an ogre in their meetings, but secretly try to squeeze whatever money or benefit they can out of me! Scandalous. I didn't responded to their continued e-mails, or their publishing company requested to read my book. I knew they were from Blackcard, regardless to the business name they used. I decided to answer one of their e-mails with these simple words; "does your publishing require the author to pay you?" It took four days before another e-mail appeared from them. It stated that yes, there was a fee to the author. My response was "Like I thought. Thanks so much!"

Another two months passed, holidays came and went, and their ads began to appear on my Facebook page, where I have a lot of author friends, so I blocked them. Then I received an invite to a Mastermind held at the Ritz Carlton hotel downtown Los Angeles. And today was that day. I'm not one who is easy to maneuver and manipulate, and for that reason I have no idea of why they continued to pursue me." Somebody needs to tell about who these scamming people are, as sophisticated as they are.

I asked my husband to drive me then pick me up, which he did. Before he left he asked should he wait, I told him no, I'm certain it was the right place. I got out and he pulled off, and I made my way upstairs to the third floor where their breakfast was underway. It's a two day meeting of special attendees, pre-screened with a half hour written questionierre and a follow up phone call with a very polite team member named Amy. Three days ago I received a call from Amy, one of their team members who called to follow up on a detailed questioner I received and completed.

I arrived and found my way to the registration table. There was a lady named Anna sitting there, and I remember her from the weekend I attended in June  in Burbank. She was sweet, that is until the team began operating from their point of mis-information that I was a spy in the room. At the Ritz Carlton this morning Anna greeted me with, "Good Morning, you're Kaye, aren't you?" I answered, "yes, I am." (I didn't really know how she knew who I was). She replied, "I left you a message, I cannot permit you in the room... you are a publisher, and you are our direct competition. I cannot permit you in the room." I asked her where did she get that information from, I don't have a publishers website, I am an author and I've taken a great deal of care in creating my blog, book page and other informational spaces to promote my book. I asked her what website was she relying on for that information. With her computer in front of her she was unable to locate any website from which she drew her assertion that I am a book publisher. She stated, "we took it from your questionierre." I told her I had never referred to myself as a book publisher, I stated I do already have a book I have written that is in print. "I am not a publisher." She continued to insist on her robotic script "you are a publisher... you are our direct competition and I cannot permit you in the room."

I turned to leave and walked through a narrow hallway where there was coffee and breakfast rolls. I stopped and topped off the cup of coffee I was carrying. As I stood there Anna came around the corner and stood there with her arms folded to be sure I completely left. I was stunned but not angry. My last words to her at her table were, "you people completely misunderstand me, I am not a publisher."

If they were going to dis-invite me, wouldn't it be best to do it before the meeting began? Here is the transcription of the voicemail Blackcard (Anna) left on my cell phone, which I didn't receive until I had left the hotel.

"Hi, Good Morning Kaye, this is Anna calling from Blackcard Bulk. Ah, you were registered to participate in our event here at the Ritz Carlton, and uh, in Los Angeles this weekend. Um, we're actually going over everybody's profile, and we are seeing that, um, you are our direct competition. We're publishers and it looks like you are, ah, um, or it looks like you will be a publisher. That's what your website says, so unfortunately we, um, cannot have anybody who's our competition in the room. I hope you understand, it's all business. So I will... that's why I'm call you you to...was making the phone call to let you know, um, unfortunately we will not be able to let you into the room. So that's what I'm calling for, um... I hope that you haven't left yet already. If you haven't left already. I will follow up with an e-mail, and um, wish you the best."

Somebody needs to tell who these scamming people are. They dangle in peoples faces the possibility of writing a book. They are looking for anyone whose 401k, or savings can be tapped... or best of all those lotto winners or "real estate investment" people who actually made some money and don't know what to do with it. This isn't about the honorable business of publishing at all.