[Cherise]

If you haven't signed a contract with them, how on earth can they enforce anything against you?

Surely if the publisher dissolves and reverts all rights to you, all existing contracts are cancelled. Therefore any commitment to pay the team resides with the publisher, NOT you.

This.

 

[Cherise]

This is one of the many reasons I would never edit for royalty share.

 

[Cherise]

I'm so sorry about this. I would see about letting all the authors go their own way. If you're all in a group, can't you decide to disband?

Be careful about the tax advice you're getting here. Talk to an accountant. Really. Talk to an accountant. There is a PayPal loophole and if you pay through PayPal you don't have to 1099 if they're in the US (and if you do 1099 them and they make more than 20,000k a year in PayPal payments they'll get double taxed. Scary, messed up, IRS.) I don't know about 1099ing out of country.

Unfortunately, it isn't other authors she's grouped with but an editor, cover provider, and formatter. I truly don't think she needs to honor an agreement the publisher made after all rights have been returned to her.

But she should probably consult a lawyer about that.

Until she can afford to consult a lawyer, in her shoes I would just set these books aside and not re-publish them. Work on new books.