Writers accuse Super Publishing of fraud
Writers accused a St. Petersburg publishing house of fraud. More than 20 authors paid but never received their books. Among the victims was a disabled poet.
112 spoke with Ivan Vasiliev, a man with multiple sclerosis who dreamed of publishing his poetry but found himself among the victims of a printing press. To print and prepare his collection for his anniversary, the poet raised 53,000 rubles “from all over the world” and paid the publisher, but he never saw the books for a couple of years. He described the Super publishing house's scheme:
“I saw an ad for Super, checked their prices, and the offer seemed good. They were supposed to simply correct the layout and send the book to print—two weeks tops. At first, they asked for 50 days and kept in touch. Then they only responded by email, dragging their feet, and then they simply stopped responding,” Ivan said.
Irina, Alena, Galina, and many other writers from various cities were defrauded by the same scheme. Elena Mutalapova, however, told 112 that she was the only one to receive books, but the publisher also failed to fulfill its obligations to her: despite the contract, “Super” refused to promote her work. Others were cheated with delivery fees, printing costs, and book registration at the Book Chamber.
Many of the defrauded authors have filed police reports and filed lawsuits, but no fraud case has yet been opened against the publisher. Meanwhile, the number of those defrauded is growing – people are swayed by the affordable price and the flashy advertising on the Super website, which proclaims, “Our mission is to help authors publish a quality book and find their readers!”
