More than 500 authors and businesses have been left high and dry after a publishing house operated by a triple bankrupt went bust.
The director of Shawline Publishing, Edwin Jason McBride – also known as Brad Shaw, Brad McBride and EJ McBride – called in liquidators in early October.
Edwin Jason McBride, aka Brad Shaw, aka EJ McBride, in a Ballarat bookshop last year.Credit: Australian Community Media
The business had attracted hundreds of first-time authors, drawn in by McBride’s impressive sales pitch and the promise of generous royalties to follow an initial payment from authors to cover editing, printing and marketing costs.
“I was paid $19 for selling 356 copies,” said Andrea McKenzie, author of Feelings Are Just Feelings, a mental health support book for children.
“His explanation on the phone simply made no sense. He just said ‘at the moment we don’t have those funds to pay you’. It was deflating.”
Another author, Samuel Ridley, saw precious little return from his debut novel, Cara’s Law, and his second book, The Mahogany Ship, is unlikely to see the light of day after his bitter experience with Shawline.
“I would be owed about $9000, including any royalties, but I don’t think I’ll see any of it,” Ridley said. “There is a lot of feeling and meaning in these stories for me, as there is with any author, and to have that taken away hurts.”
McKenzie and Ridley are listed along with hundreds of other Shawline authors in a report published by liquidators Brooke Bird last week.
Liquidators are still sifting through the financial wreckage of the Ballarat-based company and so far have found little of value. Among the debts are $158,000 owed to the Australian Taxation Office and an unpaid gas bill.
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