ROAR Magazine is run by a huge scammer apparently! Isn’t life full of wonders and marvels!
So. If you hadn't seen the LA Times article yet, writer/editor/charity organizer Anna March has been outed as a long time "literary scammer". If you follow me you might have seen me talk about working for the website, ROAR Magazine ... an online lit mag that she founded! Starting last summer I wrote for and took over as editor for their Comics Critique section for a 6 mo period - and as you may have already guessed, over a year later she still hasn't paid me OR my writers. And while I never talked to her directly about anything other than delayed wages, I did a lot of promo for ROAR on here and wanted to also post this follow-up as apology, explanation, and warning to other writers.
I've been frustrated and angry with her lack of communication and excuses about money issues for a long time now, but the worst thing by far to me is that she never paid many of my contributors' invoices, including @TonyaWithAPen @robkirbycomics, @whimsicalnobodycomics, @bohnbohn, and @paperrocketcomics, and now most likely never will. I'm very sorry that I convinced people to write for her with the promise of money that never came, especially after I began to have serious doubts! Even if I didn't know she was a scammer, I still was the one to commission essays from marginalized creators that she directly exploited (as I’ve now learned is in keeping with years-long scamming, manipulation, and even abusive behavior). I'm also frustrated by the nature of our publishing industry that I felt like bad communication and constant delays of payments were just typical obstacle you to wait out, and that staying on top of things overwhelmed me so much I didn't feel able to advocating harder for myself/my writers.
Despite her scamming I'm still very proud of the work my contributors and I did for ROAR analyzing/reviewing comics - all of them are wonderful people and wonderful writers with a lot of good things to say, and I’m very humbled they agreed to work alongside me. Please consider looking up their writing and/or comics and lending them your financial support as well! and if you’re interested, you might as well give our articles a read while the site is still up.
The really horrible thing to me is that so so many contributors to the magazine were creators of color, and LGBTQ and disabled creators, often with not a lot of money to go around. At ROAR and elsewhere she felt free to play with our livelihoods, time, energy and labor. Also!! SO many articles there are personal essays on having abortions - to exploit people this way (especially main columnist Lisbeth Coiman as detailed in the Lily article below) is simply despicable!
I will continue to pursue payments from her for myself and for any writer who wants my help. Please - protect yourself and your friends, and do not work with Anna March!
She made a career out of scamming writers. These are the women of color who were her victims - Shannon Lee, The Lily, August 3rd 2018
Who is Ann March/Nancy Lot/Delaney Anderson/Nancy Cruse? - Melissa Chadburn and Carolyn Kellogg, LA Times, July 26th 2018
Thread from Ladan Osman, former editor for ROAR (and my former boss)
