Former Houston publishing company accused of duping authors out of money
HOUSTON - A lot of people think they have what it takes to write a book.
You're about to hear four stories from people who claim they were duped by Krista Huber and her now-closed East 26th Publishing.
"I talked to her on the phone she was very nice," said book author Brad Schlerf. "I picked her because she was here in Houston."
Brad says he paid Huber almost $4,000 to publish his Gotcha Cold Case, a true crime series.
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"I wasn't getting any answers. E-mails, texts, phone calls, everything was silence," he said.
Brad says he paid Huber $3,650. We asked him what he got in return.
"Zero," he said.
After Brad posted a bad review, other unhappy customers of Huber found each other on social media.
"The stories were the same. All the way down to the excuses," Brad said.
"Honestly, I was shocked there were so many of us," said book writer Shreeda Tailor.
Shreeda says she lost more than $6,000.
"Now I think there's almost 50 of us who went through the same thing," Shreeda said.
Here is the full statement from Krista Huber on behalf of East 26th Publishing:
All East 26th Publishing ever wanted to do was help regular people become published authors and make a positive impact on readers.
I loved the company and all its books very much, and we always intended to complete every project we started. But life doesn’t always go the way we plan.
It is a real shame for everyone involved that the company was forced to close. I am deeply heartbroken over its failures and I am so sorry to those who were unintentionally affected.
All the authors were informed of the company’s closure, and we tried to comply with as many of their final requests as possible.
I hope that those who feel they were negatively impacted by these events are fairly compensated.
To all of those who continue to harass my family and I, please leave us alone so I can raise my family in peace.
