Incarcerated Interest:
The Real Thing About My Experience
Managing An Author Behind Bars
Part 3 of 3
by Jarold Imes
December 2007
Incarcerated Interest Pt. 1
Incarcerated Interest Pt. 2
Myth #3: Victor fired me from my post as President/Publisher of Vic Mar Publications, LLC. You can’t fire an owner… however I wasn’t going to stay in a situation that wasn’t safe for me. After notifying some key people what I was being accused of and what was happening, I vacated my post to a group of people he chose. In a two month period, I would help oversee the third printing and help this group of people identify folks that owed us money, make calls to collect this money and slowly transfer over operations of the company to them. In other words, I walked away from the company, but I took some of my money and all assets and intellectual properties I brought to Vic Mar with me.
I had already founded my current company, Abednego’s Free, LLC three months prior to our splitting up. Originally, my company was to be an imprint and a means to be able to ghostwrite and perform other literary services independent of Vic Mar at my leisure. I had already decided that I wanted to start working on a set of books for young black men that they could read and enjoy that featured characters who talked and acted and lived as they did. And even had a publisher lined up to take the books. One of my frustrations growing up was that there were never were books that would appeal to young black men on the market. People had bought into the misconception that young black men did not read. After seeing the effect of Worth Fighting 4 and even Hold On Be Strong on several young black men who did read my books, I decided that there should be a set of books that they could get into. I knew that leaving the street fiction or even the contemporary market could be risky. God was already pulling me away from that when I re-discovered some of the journals and the books I had written earlier; all I had to do was trust that He was going to take care of everything. Unfortunately, when word got out of the accusations being made against me, I had to get out of the deal I had for the books. At that time, I had no idea where these allegations were going and I didn’t want to bring any potential publisher.
Those false accusations played a significant role in why my Christian fiction debut tanked. That hurt more than anything, knowing that folks who don’t know or care about me would go around spreading lies about me and my character. I had been murdered for no reason. I was pissed when certain authors would contact me about letters they were getting questioning my character and encouraging others not to do business with me. I was angry when all of a sudden, folks in this industry whom I had dealt with for years, even before I met Victor, all of a sudden wouldn’t take my calls or return my emails. I’m still treated like that now but that’s cool. I was hurt when distributors who were excited about the project months before had refused to stock my title. Frustrated doesn’t begin to describe the emotions I felt knowing that a book that should have had a chance to be read and liked or disliked would not be given a chance to do what it could do at all.
At first, I had very few responses after ending my publishing arrangement with Victor. A smear campaign had already begun by some of his “fans”, claiming that I had stolen his advance money and royalty payments. Some of them who felt like they were missing a piece of the action came by demanding their share. Thank God I’m trying to live the Christian life cause I sho’nuff would be in jail today if I acted on impulse and got ignorant and indignant with them folks.
I think what hurt most of all was what happened to Vic Mar after I left. Victor was accused of starting and running an illegal business from behind bars. Starting the company I had four years before I even met him was getting him in a whole lot of trouble. A nice request was made to shut down the operations of Vic Mar Publications and I signed off on that. In some ways I felt like I murdered the child that did not have the chance she truly deserved to make it in this world. I’m sure those of you out there that have experienced losing a business know exactly what I’m talking about.
Almost a year later, I have moved on. I would republish Worth Fighting 4 and watch as that book as well as U Can’t Break Me slowly but surely get accepted as alternative reads in high schools in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. I would also witness one of the books in my teen series, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number draw controversy as it is debated over the amount of sex that should be in a teen book. And then there is 5 Miles to Empty, a book that talks about friendship between straight and gay people and challenges us all to evaluate what we consider important characteristics in a friend. I’m even giving my debut title, Never Too Much another chance as it will be revised and republished as Never Too Much-The Remix. At first, I was going to split that book up but some of my fans who had been with me since the beginning made sure they let me know how they really felt about that move. And then there are three other books, Rollin’ Wit the Punches, Runnin’ Wit No Breaks & I’ll Always Be His Lady which will round out my original commitment of eight books for the HOLD ON BE STRONG TEEN SERIES. I would also launch OurTeenVoices.com and interview and promote other African American young adult and mature teen writers. All this while I’m still committed to contributing to UrbanBookSource.com while balancing a new career and Grad School.
Victor is still trying to see Unique’s Ending as well as a much rumored Book #5 in print. I can’t speak much about his legal situations but I do hope that you guys get a chance to read Book #5.
Even though things between us did not end the way I would have liked, I still support his literary career and will encourage you to do so as well. I have no ill will against him or his family or his group or Triple Crown or even Vickie.
Jarold Imes is a contributing writer for The Urban Book Source and author of Hold on Be Strong; he is the creator of online soap opera: Hold on Be Strong (www.holdonbestrong.com), send emails to:jaroldimes@yahoo.com
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