Newbie Author's Guide

Helping new and aspiring authors navigate the publishing wilderness

Archway Publishing: Authors Beware

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Simon and Schuster and Author Solutions

Archway Publishing, the new self publishing arm of Simon and Schuster has gotten quite a reaction from the indie community already. Why? This self publishing imprint was created by a partnership with the Evil Galactic Empire of Self  Publishing (Author Solutions) and run by the Empire. All S&S has on it is its name–they don’t have any other part in the whole deal. I will include some other great articles at the end for your reading pleasure ;).

It does make good sense for the Big 6–now 5–to understand self publishing since it is changing publishing as we know it, but then it makes me ask this one question: What in the heck were they thinking? They are learning about self publishing from the WORST possible source. So, in short, they still don’t get it. There are quite a few other people they could have asked how to do  self publishing the right way. In this scenario it makes as much sense as a young couple asking Charles Manson how to start a family.

Furthermore, S&S  is not going to lend any of its editorial or design expertise to this new imprint (see articles). Instead all of that is going to be handled by Author Solutions. *headdesk* I have personally dealt with Author Solutions staff in editing and design, and it is a waste  of time and money and the only payback is heartache and misery. S&S  is trusting AS to handle all of this, and to make matters worse, S&S will send rejected authors to Archway. Insert Home Alone scream here.  I view this scenario like this: People who don’t make the cheerleading team get sent to the camp coached by Ted Bundy. What are they thinking?

What does this mean for new authors? It means there is construction for a deadfall going on here for both self publishers and for authors seeking to be published traditionally. Since Author Solutions has entered into the hallowed halls where no self publishers has gone before and made itself a seat at the round table, it now has some very powerful bait to catch unsuspecting authors. They were good at this when they were on their own, but now they have silver spoon status. A robber dressed in fancy clothes is still a robber.

They have already been caught tooting the horn that they are affiliated with Penguin and using that as bait, so they will do the same here.

Note to author: You are not getting a contract with S&S. You are not going to be working with S&S editors or designers. If AS tells you that, they are lying to you. I knew that even before I read the first article and knew where this would probably head. They are very good at that (lying to authors)–I know this first hand without any big names being involved. That’s what makes this whole thing reek even worse. S&S may have their name on it but that’s it–it’s AS all the way, baby. It’s just another personality for Sybil nothing more.

So basically speaking this is like AS having S&S name on the bumper of their car. It’s still their car and it wasn’t made by the big name either. You can put a mustang body and emblem on a Honda and change nothing under the hood, and it’s still a Honda. That is basically what we have here.

Stay Away. There are more (and better!) alternatives  out there.

Here are some other related articles about Archway. Check them out. If you have written an article about it and would like to share please do, and also feel free to leave comments!

Related Articles: 

Publishers Weekly

Writer Beware

GN Braun: Simon & Schuster and Author Solutions: Not a Winning Combination?

David Gaughran: Simon & Schuster Joins Forces With Author Solutions to Rip Off Writers

Emily Suess: Sure You Don’t Want to Name It Simon and Schyster?

My Mill City Press Experience

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mill city press

Continued from “Looking for an Out”

This part of the story picks up after my 30 min talk with Mark Levine and walking out the door with my stuff for Neiko’s Five Land Adventure and Escape from Ancient Egypt, but at this present point and time I can only publish Neiko’s Five Land Adventure. I will talk about my raw experience here too.

My Mill City Press Publishing Experience 

I have my necessary materials to submit to Mill City Press.  I go to the “Contact Us” tab to find out who to contact and I talk to Michelle Brown the Director of Sales who also takes the submissions. I tell her what I have and how do I submit and who I should speak to. She tells me that I can do everything from the website, and I don’t have to contact anyone. If I had any trouble, I could speak to her if I needed to.

I go to the “Publish Now” tab and buy my editing, basic package, and a few other services. I plan to buy the Expanded program later, just as long as it was purchased before the book went to layout. I asked ahead of time so I didn’t mess up anything.

The system is set up to show me where I am in the process and I am contacted when I need to do something. They give you a timeline on how long each step should take and what I needed to do at each step. Here is where I upload everything and go through the process pretty much on my own, kind of like a dashboard.  I was pointed to the person I need to speak with if I had trouble, which was Danielle Adelman the Author Coordinator most of the time. I had to talk to her a few times due to a couple issues, but she was a big help and knocked out the problem in no time. I had to get my high resolution cover files about this time from Xlibris or scan my cover. I had low resolution files and that would not help in recreating my cover.  I get the files for both books to be done with it so I  didn’t have to do it later. I didn’t have to chase people down or wonder about anything at Mill City Press. I don’t send an email and wonder who would answer back and try to remember who I was supposed to talk to for what purpose. Also questions were answered in a reasonable amount of time. I didn’t have to set deadlines for them and remember to get back with them if I didn’t hear back from them.  My first stop was editing.

This editing experience was much different that my prior edit. When I got my first round of edits back, I could see a BIG difference. The editing level I picked allowed me to speak to my editor with questions. My editor’s name was Ken Kane—I could pronounce his name and remember it unlike last time. When I had my call with him, I could ask him for editorial advice to make sure the things I was trying to do were done in the right way, and how my changes looked. He gave me good advice and helped me smooth the rough edges I had tussled with since I was a teen. After this, my second round is done. Editing is the longest and the most important step of the process.

Sometime after this I purchase my Expanded Distribution, and I submit it for the assessment to point me to which imprint that I would publish with. After this assessment I add a glossary and do a few other changes and submit it to the layout stage.

After the editing and assessment, the rest of the process is very swift, even swifter than at Xlibris. It was pretty smooth but some of the ways Xlibris did things or something that was missing would cause a glitch, but I was given advice to handle it effectively, or they would give honest solutions. I know what to do when I redo Escape from Ancient Egypt later.  All my following books will be even smoother than that since I don’t have to clean up Xlibris’s mess.

Questionnaires for several of the stages were really detailed, and some questions weren’t even asked at Xlibris. Everything just seemed much more polished and great and not so rough around the edges from what I saw from the proofs. I can’t wait to see my final physical product.

It doesn’t take them very long to release my book, and I knew when my release date was because it was posted during the process. Xlibris was swift on publishing but then took forever for them to release my book; I was wondering what they were waiting on. It floated in Wonderland until late November (for like 2 or 3 months) and I didn’t know what was happening. I was also able to calculate my first book order cost which I get at wholesale as compared to a fat markup. That was great.

I then get my 10 free copies. I crack one open and I look at the difference. Now this book was a work of art. I wished I could show Mark how crappy my other book looked compared to MCP’s work (he probably already had a guess). I showed other family members, and they could see the difference. I hold this book up compared to my old edition and the difference is amazing. The colors were more vivid on my new book cover, the illustrations were sharper, and my book had drop caps! My other book didn’t have those! That had an artistic touch I didn’t anticipate, and I loved that. This book was more massive than the other and the text had a bigger font so no one had to have a magnifying glass to read it. In my old edition, the letters were also very close together that made my eyes hurt. In the Xlibris edition, the maps of Qari and Hawote were just slapped on the page. At MCP they added an artistic border on the maps and gave them a more artistic touch. Sophie Chi, my interior designer, went the extra mile on making it look like a fantasy book and adding the artistic stuff I never thought of. That pleased this artist! The cover was also much more durable and a whole lot shinier. It almost seemed to me that Xlibris made the letters small and put as much text as they could on a page by going from the gutter to a quarter inch (or less) to the edge of the page so that they could make it as short as possible so they could give me the biggest markup. Overall, it was just better. Xlibris also seemed to give me the crappiest paper and the lousiest cover. They use Lightning Source, but other books, publishers, and indie authors who use Lightning Source don’t have such bad quality books. How do I know? When I was exploring distribution options, I had kicked Lightning Source’s tires and they sent me sample books. The samples were better than my books! By the way Mill City formatted it, the book was about fifty pages longer, but remember I also added some content between editions which would have added a few more to the tally. They made the book reader friendly. No one’s eyes would be watering when reading my new book!

In summary, my Xlibris book was an overpriced piece of crap and my new book was fairly priced work of art!

The marketing stage was a complete one eighty from Xlibris. Nobody harassed me or treated me like I was incompetent. I have hardly spoken to anyone on the phone since I have been here. I mostly email people when I need something and they get back to me pretty quickly. People give me honest and competent answers without putting me down. There are no bill collectors or used car salesmen here. They give tons of free advice on their website and sister sites in how to market my book on and off the Internet.

The marketing services also work for a long period of time–a year at the minimum before renewal or as long as my book is available. They are not something that reminds me of dumping powered sugar in your hands and blowing on it and that’s it; that’s what Xlibris services are like and then they ask to do another and another while they don’t sell books—and they cost a lot too. The prices are also much fairer. Everything in general at Xlibris is inflated, not just their printing costs.

Since I have published at Mill City, I have had much more success. I have been able to enjoy book signings, and when people pick up my book, they want to buy it and not turn their nose up at it. I have also been able to sell a few books through my other channels, but my author career has only really started. I am not selling truckloads; I’m just selling books. My numbers are not zip. I was happy when I was mailed my first royalty check. It was nothing fabulous, but it was my first one when I didn’t get a single one at Xlibris, and still haven’t for that matter (and never will).

I don’t count the prior year as far as my marketing prowess, I only talk about it for purposes like this. I didn’t learn anything about marketing from Xlibris. They didn’t teach me squat other than what doesn’t work. All they taught me was what bad customer service looks like and what a bad quality book looks like. They wasted my money and a year of my life, but since then I have been in the silver lining. Otherwise I would not have found Mark Levine or Mill City Press. All things happen for a reason, but I would have liked to have found him and his company under better and less painful circumstances. I guess I may have not learned as much as I have otherwise.

After Mill City Press 

This part of my author career is still being written. I have had a lot of good things happen to me since I have left Xlibris. My career is catapulting forward and I am not hitting a brick wall at every turn now. I found out there are ways you can market your book without spending a fortune because I didn’t have it to begin with, and I can do it on my own, and I have people there to ask if I have questions. They don’t harass me. I am also on the fastrack of learning now. I have learned so much in a year that I’m dizzy.  My network and connections have grown as well and are still growing.

I have had the unique opportunity to write a small ebook about what I had found, tried, or invented in thin budget marketing which will be released later this year. Mark wanted to work with me in a project with it since he saw a market for it after telling me to write it and seeing it. He told me to compile my information because I kept him updated on my progress and marketing my book on a tiny budget after republishing. He invites all other authors he talks with to keep in touch, and he would like to work with others too. As a result of that, this blog came into being since the publishing industry is changing as much as the weather right now. I find new stuff all the time to share and blog about.

You never know, Mark could surprise you with an email to work with you on some project—that’s the way it was for me. I never had any idea or saw it coming. They always have something going on there. Believe me, I was surprised, and I have enjoyed working with him. Also, Go Publish Yourself.com is undergoing renovation and being improved. I have been invited to write articles and content for a new section of the site presently under construction at the time of this writing. GPY.com is accessible, but not complete. It was a really cool opportunity and was grateful for the offer and the career opportunity to do what I do best: write. I have been able to meet a some of the staff of Mill City, its sister Publish Green, and its parent company Hillcrest Media. Everyone is friendly and professional and great to work with. Nobody is rude or uncouth.

My one year anniversary at Mill City came on September 1, 2011. As I mentioned, this part of my publishing experience is still being written. Any anniversary at a good publisher (no matter who it is) is sweet success and sweeter after you have been in the dark side of the publishing industry. MCP is not for everyone, and there are quite a few other great publishers out there. I can say that MCP is not for the do-it-yourselfer; they tell you that they aren’t for everyone up front. They are for the author who needs assistance in POD publishing, or the author who wants to have access to the traditional side of the industry without the risks, hurdles, puny royalties, and politics of traditional publishing. Most (75+%) of the authors who publish here (myself included) for access to the traditional channels. I didn’t go the DIY route since my book publishing needs were more extensive than what I could do (and do right) on my own. I didn’t want to flood my basement and worse (figuratively speaking) after hiring a bad contractor and trying fixing it on my own when I didn’t know what I was doing.  I thought it was best to hire a professional, especially since I was interested in more traditional channels. That is NOT a DIY project; POD publishing can be for the tech savvy with connections (more about that later). I’ve done most of my marketing DIY style though.

Also, the Mill City Press website that I had been to no longer exists. They updated and rolled out a new and improved website. The “Progressive Price Chart” is still on the site, but it is also found in their publishing brochure. Their cousin websites Go Publish Yourself and Published.com have information and tools available for the do-it-yourselfers to find their needed tools and contractors. Some of the tools I have found in addition to those found on GPY.com and Published can be found on this blog on the resources and tools pages. These pages are updated periodically.

Afterward 

I have learned a lot since I’ve gotten through this rough patch and by getting out and exploring things about publishing and marketing. I am not an expert, and I am still learning more all the time. I have also learned I am not the only person in the world that this has happened to. Thousands of others have similar stories, and they are posted in cyberspace. You can take the necessary steps just like I did and still get in trouble because publishers can lie to you on the phone, website, and in their publishing material. If you are not an expert or know where to look, how can you know? That’s why Mark wrote his book. He also wrote a blog post about a misleading line in an advertisement by Xlibris. Even HE had to dig around to find answers. That’s how slick they are! After leaving Xlibris, I found other disturbing facts about them and their associates that I will write about later.

I was curious one day and I wanted to ask Mark how many people come to him with cases like mine. I was surprised to know that I was a rare case. Most of the time, he talks to people about the book matter or answers questions that people have about self publishing in general. I was certainly glad he could help. He is no magician; he simply gave me the information and advice, and I acted on it. I wanted to listen since I couldn’t afford another mess-up. Not everyone listens to him which I could have done too–easily.

Where Do I Find Mark? 

You can find him on his website or his blog. You can find his book there too. If you do contact him, I would recommend reading his book or blog or keeping the subject on self publishing or help with self publishing. Don’t email him about the weather or pitch your book at him. You can mention that you’ve been by this blog and mention my name. He will refer to the book or ask questions straight from the book or blog post since that is the point of his 30 minute chat, unless you are being screwed by a publisher and need help (like I was), but it’s still a good idea to read the book. I will warn you though; he doesn’t sugar-coat anything and tells you like it is.  If that’s something you don’t like, you may want stay out of the kitchen or be ready and don’t get offended. He does this for your best interest and to help you, not hurt you. It’s a little hard to swallow at first, but I know from personal experience and by getting to know him that he has your best interest at heart. Also, since he is this way I know for a fact that he means what he says, and I don’t have any doubts if he really meant that. He really does want to help other authors.

That’s a wrap for this series. I will post about something else before sharing the other bad news about Xlibris and their compatriots of doom.

Looking for an Out

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Image Credit: 12rf.com

Continued from “My Horrible Xlibris Xperience”

This part of the story takes up at my last and final heated phone call with Miguel, the Marketing Consultant from hell at Xlibris, and my continuing research at Mill City Press and other publishers. I will talk about how I found Mark Levine’s The Fine Print of Self Publishing and the 30 min call that helped me figure out how to turn things around.

Investigating Mill City Press 

At this point and time I was through with Xlibris. I was ready to try out a new publisher, but my publishing finances were scarcely low at this time due to Xlibris’ pillaging and no books sold. My books had only been out a couple months and I was already ready to leave them and go elsewhere. It didn’t take me very long to learn I had been stuck with a lemon—a green one at that. I didn’t cancel out yet because someone may want a copy of the book and I didn’t know how long it would be before I could republish. I almost felt stuck, and I would have to wait a year before I could start again. I decide to look at the Mill City Press website a bit closer and start planning my next move. I was happy with my free phone consultation with Rosey Cashman the Marketing Coordinator at Mill City Press and what I had seen on the website so far.

I flipped through the site and found a comparison of printing costs and royalties with several companies against Mill City Press—Xlibris included. It reminded me of the Progressive insurance commercial with the remote control and screen with Progressive’s price compared with other top insurance companies. They also include the source of the information which you can go to and see for yourself. I remembered that an order for 25 books for Escape from Ancient Egypt cost me $300 which I thought was steep. I had to place an order because Xlibris cheated me out of my “free” books that came with the package. That also ticked me off—definitely after I saw this!

I can see that MCP’s printing costs were really low and their royalties were really high—the highest you can get: 100%. Their printing costs are wholesale and Xlibris marks up the printing costs at 150+%. It didn’t take me too long to figure out this was a total ripoff and I thought back to my expensive order for just a handful of books. Furthermore, my royalty percent at Xlbris is only 10-25% and that depends on where my book is sold. At MCP it’s 100% across the board. Now I found somewhere I can receive 100%? Wow! Coming here seemed like a no brainer (at least for me), but I needed to look closer to make sure they had everything else I needed.

I look around on this webpage some more to find more information. All of their information was on the site in plain view, and I didn’t have to go on a scavenger hunt for anything. They even put their contract on the homepage. For Xlibris I had to go to the Site Map to find it. As I am looking around, I find a link for more information on a book that compares publishers. This is where I find the bombshell.

I click on this link, and it gives me a demo of where publishers fall into a category: Outstanding, Pretty Good, Just OK, and Avoid. I find out where my publisher falls…in the “Avoid” category (it has changed a little in 2 years).  I want to know why, but for more information I had to buy the book The Fine Print of Self Publishing in its 3rd edition at the time. At first I got the ebook only, but my computer kept messing it up. I wanted a physical copy for easier reference to each publisher’s website when I find a new one I want to investigate. I find a great lump package to get the physical copy and other stuff. The packet had: the ebook, the physical book, and the free 30 min phone consultation with the author Mark Levine. I liked this option. I don’t know of too many authors who make themselves available to chat with people.“Well, I’ll talk to this guy and see what he has to say, and maybe I can learn something or get some advice,” I think to myself.  I’m already confused and at loss for words from what little I’ve seen so far.

I wondered why Mark Levine was featured on this company’s website. Was he their best selling author or something? I couldn’t wait to find out. I definitely couldn’t wait to find out why Xlibris was in the Avoid category. Could this explain why my publishing experience was so horrible at Xlibris?

I took a risk and bought the packet since it was a much smaller cost than a service or republishing. I took it as an investment into my publishing future. What did I have to loose? I was already at my wits end and I needed help—desperately—from anyone who would offer any help whatsoever. I already knew I had nobody else to talk to about my issues and offer any help or advice. Everyone I knew didn’t understand anything about what I was doing. So I wait impatiently for the book to arrive.

The Bombshell in The Fine Print of Self Publishing 

I received the book on a Friday. I opened up my mail package, but I find more than just a book. There was the publishing information for MCP and a personalized letter addressed to me from Mark with his signature with a business letterhead called Published.com (I still have this today). “What’s Published.com?” I wondered. I also thought it was a nice touch. The letter was a “thank you” note and instructions on how to get in touch with him to set up the chat. I wondered why MCP had enclosed the publishing booklet, but then I thought that was because he was their bestselling author. Well, I didn’t have to request one now since they had sent me one.

My husband and I are leaving for the weekend, so I take the book with me to read in the car or during downtime. I read the entire book in a day and a half. When I cracked the book open, I found out that he owns and founded MCP. I had to go back and reread that a few times. That made sense of why the MCP packet was there. He didn’t review his own company and “pimp it out” (Mark’s favorite phrase of all time) in his book when he could have easily done it; he doesn’t say this phrase in the book. He says, “I don’t review my own company because that would be unfair.” So it was up to me to review the company for myself and I choose whether or not they were for me. Comparing MCP to other companies was just made easier for me since all of the information was in my lap.

When I read the book, all the companies were already compared for me so I didn’t have to do it. This saved me a lot of time. He also translated all the legalese in all the featured contracts and broke down what every author should know before they self publish. I wished I had found this book so much sooner. I learned what I was doing right and what I wasn’t doing right. I had to read Xlibris’ section after reading the front matter. The front matter taught me my ‘bill of rights’ and the other great information that was great to know before I proceeded.

After reading the front matter and the Xlibris section, the fog of lies was finally lifted and everything came together. I learned that my situation was so much worse than I had ever dreamed. I learned that there are publishers who lie to authors to get them in a contract! He had proof in his book of where Xlibris tried to do it to him, but he had the industry knowledge to counteract the attack. Ordinary authors like me aren’t so lucky, and that was the point of the information. He recorded everything his book and showed me where they lied and why it was a lie. I thought about the incidences that I had caught them in lies in my own situation.

We then get into the steep printing markups, fat publisher royalties, inflated retail prices, and me overpaying for my author copies. He interpreted a clause I had misinterpreted that was going to make leaving them very difficult, but not impossible. This was the one clause in their barebones contract that was going to cause trouble. It was written ambiguously on purpose to trap people and to make fleeing authors’ lives a living hell.

Other than that this contract was not as bad as some others in the “Avoid” section, but that didn’t make me feel any better. I used Mark’s simple equation to calculate the print costs for both my books. What I find was appalling. Escape from Ancient Egypt had a much bigger markup than Neiko’s Five Land Adventure; it was over 100 pages shorter and it was listed at the same retail price. Neiko’s Five Land Adventure was already overpriced so Escape from Ancient Egypt was GROSSLY overpriced! I thought both books being the same price was a little weird in the beginning; I thought EEE would have been less. But, I thought I was working with experts. Boy, was I wrong!

I wondered how I would ever get out of this hell with my books, artwork, and sanity intact! I wondered how in the world I ended up here. This is what I tried to avoid in the first place. I tried to carefully research. I didn’t jump into anything. It’s really hard to research a lie when you don’t know where to look. I find out later that this happens to a lot of people, so I wasn’t the only one. This is mentioned in the book as well and this was the main reason why the book was written.

My Cry for Help to Mark Levine 

After reading the book cover to cover, I send the email to ask for my consultation and wait. He responds with some dates and times to choose from. I pick one and I send him my response along with my background, so I didn’t have to go through that. We only had thirty minutes and I didn’t have time to waste on intros. I thought it could help him better prepare in how he could help. I wait for the day to come.

I had my phone consultation with Mark a few weeks after reading his book. I wanted to use every second to hopefully find some solutions to my problems so I could construct an escape plan. I wasn’t sure of what was going on at Xlibris anymore. I second-guessed and was confused about everything. Nothing made sense any more. Everything Xlibris said was a lie as far as I was concerned. I was also dreadfully nervous and I hoped that he wouldn’t think I was a total dope because sometimes I can feel so awkward when talking to a new person and because I was so confused.

After the first few minutes of the call, I was on the verge of tears. After talking to him ten minutes, my situation was so much worse than ever before (when I didn’t think it could get any worse) than when I began the conversation. He asked me simple questions, and I no longer able to answer them because I didn’t know anymore. All I could tell him was, “They say this, but I don’t know if that’s true anymore.” I admitted to him that I was completely dazed and confused, and they have lied to me so much I don’t know what the truth is and what isn’t. I couldn’t tell him who owned the website because I really didn’t know. He said, “That’s the way it is with these people,” as he punched in the keys to check the site whois. I didn’t know much about tech stuff like that. I tell him, “They say I do, but how do I know they aren’t lying to me because they have lied about everything else so far,” I say. “I hope he doesn’t think I’m a total idiot,” I think helplessly since that was how I felt about myself at the moment.

I knew editing was important from reading his book, but I always knew that. He reiterated this during the call. He asked me if the books were edited. I say yes. He pulls up my website and looks at the excerpts. Then he told me that my book was probably an editorial nightmare by looking at the excerpt. There were five mistakes on the first page! My editing wasn’t even done right, and it was not a quality edit. I had to have a real professional tell me that because I didn’t notice. Bam! Another lie busted. All the exposure stuff I wanted to do would get me the wrong attention with my books the way they are, and their bloggers would judge it very harshly if I submitted them to them the way they were. Everything would have negative consequences. I was defeated before I had even begun! I’m glad he was candid and told me what I needed to know before I really screwed up.

Everything so far was a waste, and I had to start over—from scratch. My cover and illustrations were fine, but everything else was crap. I was even more furious at Xlibris. I am very sad at the same time since my dreams were in jeopardy. He let me recognize that anything I do doesn’t benefit me at this present time; it only benefits them until I cancel. I can’t do anything to salvage the situation in my favor until I get out. I had to recognize that for myself, and I tried out different plans to save face and money, but I was only able to cut my losses and get what I could. Any little thing helps.

Mark told me to cancel all the services I can and get what I can. I can still fix this and turn it around, but I needed to listen to him and act. He told me what to do step by step. He had already established his credibility as far as I was concerned. This is when I found out that little clause I misinterpreted came back to bite me in the butt; I couldn’t have my books’ print ready pdfs which would have saved me a lot of time and money. I had to redo the editing anyway, and I don’t think you can edit a pdf. I don’t think it would have mattered too much at this point. The formatting was atrocious. He didn’t actually see the formatting, but he could guess if everything he sees sucks, it must suck too. I asked him what editing level I needed so I know exactly where to start when I signed on at Mill City Press.

He told me to cancel the email campaign service as soon as I hung up with him. I can get better services and get more services for that $2500 amount. I have more services to cancel besides that one. I calculate how much I would be getting back and what the dollar amount would be for publishing and editing at Mill City.  I can republish Neiko’s Five Land Adventure at Mill City with some money to spare with the included edit. I couldn’t get everything I wanted, but I had enough to republish and start getting out! Escape from Ancient Egypt, on the other hand, had to wait.

The problem wasn’t resolved in one call; I had to email him a few times after that, and he wanted me to keep him informed on each step.

After our talk is when I cancelled all the services. It took me a couple days to do because I had to play phone chase, and I was being passed around like in the latest Discover commercial where Peggy and his coworkers pass the phone around and say “Transfer!” and nothing gets resolved. I was ready to grapple; I was determined. It takes me a while to get my money back. I cancelled the author video, a bookstore return service for Escape from Ancient Egypt, and what I had paid on that dumb Email Campaign and stopped it just in the nick of time. If I had waited until the next day, I would have been too late. I was glad I listened to Mark and did it when I did. I tried to get my publishing fees back just for spite, but I didn’t win that round. That left a scar.

I try one last menial service for $199 with a new consultant with some of the money I got for Book Expo America showcase for their last chance. They flunked out; no books were sold. Game over. I go to Mill City without any hesitation. I wasn’t looking back at Xlibris ever again.

After getting my money back I asked for my CD archives for both books that had my high resolution illustrations. I didn’t have to pay extra; they came with the packages. Xlibris reps started asking if everything was all right and I say yes, and I quietly step out even though I could have made a scene. If I would have said no, they would know something was up or try to talk me out of it. They wouldn’t have succeeded if they had tried.

After this point is when my publishing experience with Mill City Press begins. I also keep in touch with Mark about what was new with the book because I thought he might like to know, and he also asked me to.

This is now where my publishing experience with Mill City Press begins. Now to “My Mill City Experience”.

My Horrible Xlibris Xperience

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Intro to Xlibris and Backstory

Xlibris and other unethical/author unfriendly companies do an outstanding job of luring people in with their publishing deals and their seemingly friendly approaches to even the wariest author; I speak for myself. They can be very convincing when you ask questions. They rank high on search engines when you plug in “self publishing” so they come up above some of the more reputable companies and they camp out in author portals so they are very easy to find for the obvious reasons. In their websites and publishing brochures they act like they are your friends and understand the challenges of being an author and the publishing industry. Once you go in so far in there is no going back. There is a point of no return, and that is after you sign off on your physical proof. I can tell you this because I have been here. They make sure you get there with a seemingly smooth publishing experience with as few bumps as possible. I had problems here as well, but it pales in comparison to what I will write about. The marketing phase is where everything comes apart, and they show their true colors, and the good experience nosedives into a nightmare full of misery. There are thousands of other stories like this out there, but differing from person to person. This is the purpose of this article: to tell my story.

The Worst Marketing Consultant Ever 

Here enter the Marketing Consultant from hell, Miguel Guzman. I hear from him after my marketing services from my package are ready to launch and after my book is ready to be released. My mother gets a message from him for me to call him because I am at work and I left my home number for the publisher to call. She gives him my cell number, and we chat as I am travelling in rush hour traffic because I had a long hard day in the lab that day.  I still took most of my calls at their house and not giving out my cell number. Our first chat was pretty pleasant, and I told him I need advice on marketing because I didn’t know anything, and I was a bad salesman. I also said I have a tight budget to work with so I need services to fit it. “I’ll be glad to help,” he said, and little did I know I just opened myself up for punishment. I thought he would be honest and helpful and follow my budget wishes; I felt that people who are in the publishing industry are professionals. I could not have been more wrong.

The next day he calls me and has all this “awesome” information after scoping out my book’s electronic proof. He was talking about it being Hollywood movie material, and I should do a Hollywood movie trailer, author video on location, and on and on while I was having a very busy day at work, and I was trying to pay attention to what I was doing more than what he was talking about. I needed more time to process it properly. I was doubtful because I am freshly published, unknown, and my book wasn’t even out yet. Wouldn’t a book need to be widely accepted and raved by the public to be a movie? Every book to movie example I could think of was the case, and I didn’t think it was so easy. I did have thoughts of my books being a movie run across my mind as teen and young adult–a daydream. That’s a child’s dream and extremely unlikely to happen. I need to be realistic; I need readers first! Time for a reality check!

He was insinuating he could help me get it into a movie if I followed his advice and my original thoughts of how movies were made were not so. I didn’t tell him about my kid fantasies of seeing my characters on the silver screen. I was wary; there ain’t no way it’s as easy as 1-2-3. I told him I was at work and could we talk later since I was really busy. I was excited, but I couldn’t do this right now—let people read my book first, and let them tell me what they think. He wouldn’t let me off the phone.

I asked about the prices for some of this stuff. When I started hearing these prices of these services: $20K…$5K…I start saying whoa, whoa, whoa! My meager budget can’t support this!  Can we do something else first? I bought the executive package so I didn’t have to have any marketing services for a while, and I mean for the first 6 months or year. Show me that we can sell books. If we sell books, then the royalty money can pay for this. Until then, I can’t do it.

He also talked about me as an artist as well as being an amazing writer on this same conversation, and still keeping me on the phone. I said I had another book on board too. After hearing how young I was, he was comparing me to the person who wrote The Informant!, Eragon (Christopher Paolini), and even J.K. Rowling—no way! You can’t compare me to Rowling because I have no wizards or wizarding world, and my book is a lot different than either Eragon or The Informant!.  I felt like he was hooking up a bellows to my ego and trying to pump it up, it worked—sort of. I began to think regular people must also think those thoughts—the books must be reader tested, reader approved—not Miguel approved. One person’s thoughts aren’t going to cut it!

I had to back up a minute and make sure I examined myself before I did something dumb. He seemed to be lying on the sweet-talk very thick, and I was waiting for a side swipe, but it didn’t happen just yet. I knew it was going to happen eventually, and I was ready for it—call it intuition. Was he showering me with praise to inflate my ego so he could slip something in? I asked, “How I can be sure that you don’t say that to every author you talk to?” He had something slick to say, but I can’t remember what it was, but I still was a little wary. I also think that when he found out young I was that I was supposed to be stupid. So he automatically thinks young + college grad =stupid. I may be young and inexperienced, but I am not stupid! I am here to learn and gain my experience.

On a later and different conversation he started getting flirtatious when he saw my author photo. He looked it up so he could see what I looked like and talked about some of my other interesting background. I was quick to say I’m married—but wait for it—he side swipes me about this “targeted” email marketing campaign for $10K to build me up so I can buy the big stuff, and this is his big crescendo to get me to Hollywood. I said I can’t afford it; it was multiple times outside the budget. He also made a comment that I should be getting ready to spend lots of money to have a successful campaign. But, what if I can’t? Am I going to fail? The dummy email did look cool and everything, but I didn’t think it was worth the price. $10K to create and send out emails? I asked him, “What’s the difference between this and the other campaign I got?”

He gets all cocky and miffed about my question. By the tone of his voice it told me, “You moron! It’s so simple. LOOK at it, stupid!” He actually says, “You wanna know the difference?! I’ll SHOW you the difference.” When he spoke to me with that tone I was taken aback, and I did the angry cat’s meow in my head. He attempts to ‘show me’, but there wasn’t that much of a difference to justify the purchase for that much money, which I couldn’t do anyway and didn’t want to if I could. I wasn’t very convinced. He acted this way other times I had asked a simple question—just plain rude. You’re the professional here (or supposed to be). I am asking the questions because I don’t know, and aren’t you supposed to answer them with PROFESSIONAL and educated answers? I want intelligent answers not to be treated like an idiot who has no capacity to think for herself. Other times he flat out lied about stuff and treated me like I should have graduated from the special ed class and not be a biology honor graduate. Sometimes I visualized a mean and cranky Bill Engvall (Bill is not this way in his comedy act) saying “Here’s your sign!” and throwing it at me for a response to a seemingly intelligent and thought out question.

The Harrassment Begins… 

He calls me again one night when we had guests over at my parents’. This was on a Friday night.  Miguel called me so many times that night during their visit and interrupting the evening. I told him don’t call; I have company. I thought he would have respected my privacy and would have called back later. Any normal human being would have done so and so would any normal business professional. Then he called back five minutes later after I had specifically told him not to. He kept trying sound cordial and the “sorry to bother you” hype, but then call back after hanging up. This happened like three more times. I was thinking “Are you serious?” I felt like this was on the verge of harassment, and this is the beginning of the harassment I endured. I finally had to cut the phone off so I could enjoy my guests. After they leave, I check the phone later he leaves a voice mail. OMG!

He called me back the next day on Saturday morning because I had told him to. He comes up with this “great” deal where I could get 20M email campaign featuring both books, and I get the author video for “free” but it will still cost me $10K. I said I couldn’t afford it, but he kept pressuring me and acted like he didn’t hear a word I just said. After five minutes of repeatedly saying “I can’t afford it”, he says some other things that were off color and unprofessional that also made me feel VERY uncomfortable. That threw up a big red flag in my mind. I also felt like I was dealing with a bill collector who was trying to collect money on a bill I didn’t owe. The tactics were exactly the same! It was a combination of that with a bad used car salesman. Other heated verbal exchanges were made during this conversation, but not very important to mention.

After getting off the phone—FINALLY—I was thinking: the reason why I published my book was because I wanted to and because I had money set aside for this, and it was my time. I felt that this was MY marketing campaign and not his, so who was he to tell me what my budget is, what to spend, and what I should do? Whose name is on this book? Whose money are we spending here? He acted like he was running the show like he was my agent. It’s his way or no way, and the highway is not an option—with a machismo (narcissistic) attitude. I had a budget for marketing, and I was sticking to it—no if, ands, or buts. I thought all his only purpose was  to offer me advice and I take it or leave it, or to tell me about the services and answer questions and help me buy the service that I want and set it up. He shouldn’t be harassing me about something I don’t want and acting like a bill collector. Why is he trying to force me to buy something I don’t want?!

Other confrontations after this last one looked like this: after 10 to 15 firm no’s, he would hang up and call back five minutes later…and again…and again, and this went on for a while. It didn’t take me too long to learn his game, and I felt like I was being harassed nonstop. I start talking to people for advice because something doesn’t seem right, and I was becoming a very stressed out. I normally don’t stress out too much. Everyone had some raised eyebrows and warned me to be careful. They tell me something is not right from a business standpoint, and my dad was one of them because he has been in management. Good business practices don’t include harassing people, and it doesn’t take rocket science to figure that out.

The Phone Wars 

I was beginning to wonder if this is what book marketing and the publishing experience is like, and was this another reason why I was reluctant to publish aside from not getting in the gate at a traditional publisher? If so, then I need to toughen my skin or something before I go mad. I had no idea that publishers were pushy people, and I don’t like pushy people, so now am I supposed to deal with them and stuff like this to go on with my publishing career?

A few days after another powwow, he calls me again about this stupid combo with the campaign and video, but this time I was at work and very busy, but he wouldn’t let me off the phone no matter how hard I tried. I said I would get in trouble, which may happen, but I kind of stretched the truth a bit so he would leave me alone. I had to tell him to hold on because my supervisor had something to tell me. We are allowed to talk on the phone at work, but I didn’t want to abuse this privilege. Just to make him shut up and get off, I went along with his scheme, but I had a plan.

I had already planned to go back and cancel it or once he forwarded me to the collection department, I would say I just changed my mind and I get off…no—didn’t work. She wouldn’t let me off till I did a transaction. What is with these people? Why can’t I get off the phone with them when I want/need to? Don’t they know I have a life? I apologize to my supervisor and she was cool about it, and she had overheard me trying so hard to get off. I had never been hung on the phone before. I am usually able to get off the phone when I want to with normal people and people aren’t forcing me to stay on. I usually am never on the phone at the job even though it was allowed, so they knew I had legitimate reasons for being on the phone. I almost hung up on him so I could get off, but I thought that might be unprofessional.

I call Miguel back to cancel the service a couple hours later, and it seems like the services were cancelled because he said it they were, but I had a gut feeling they weren’t. I check back and it’s not cancelled. I am mad—I’m not mad—I’m ticked off! I couldn’t believe he lied to me straight up! After a few phone wars, the services are still not cancelled. It’s getting close for another payment. I try to go around him to cancel it, but I don’t succeed.  I write him an angry email to cancel the service right now and not to call me at work. He’s lucky I didn’t pepper it with cuss words because I wanted to so bad, and this is saying something because I normally don’t cuss people out. I do have after I blow up, and I was just about there. The services still don’t get cancelled!

A day later I call and try to nail him at work because he was dodging me, and I knew it. This lasted for almost a week. I also find out they have caller ID there, so he would see my number come up and not answer the phone. I leave voice mails without any response. I call and try to find out when he’s there or is coming in. I called him a lot and gave him a taste of his own medicine, but then he turned my email around on me saying that is why he didn’t call me back. That was a load of bull; he didn’t fool me. Somewhere around this time I dubbed him the “Email Nazi” because he was always trying to shove this email campaign down my throat with a crowbar. My parents had a sarcastic comment saying “It’s your buddy” when he would call which I didn’t find very funny at all.

When “Xlibris” showed up on my caller ID, I didn’t want to answer the phone if I didn’t have the strength to deal with him. He would leave a message, and I would have to deal with him sooner or later. After a phone war I would feel worn out, nervous, irritable, and seething, and it seemed like my nerves were exposed and raw. I usually had to find something to hit or kick—I made sure it wasn’t the dog, cat, or my sister. Sometimes I almost threw my cell phone across the room or crushed it in my hands with an angry growl because I was so angry after hanging up. If we didn’t live in a subdivision, I would have stepped out side and screamed at the top of my lungs.

There is one night he calls and tells me he finds out that I had been checking up on him and he scolds me for it. He’s also wondering why I want to cancel the services, insinuated that I was off my rocker for wanting to cancel them. He said everything comes back to him; so in other words, he indirectly told me he was the source of the problem why my services are not cancelled when I want them cancelled. He talked down to me like I was 4 and not 29! He indirectly insulted my intelligence and my age for the fifth time since we had met. I am a young author, but I am not stupid or two years old! I am an adult! “I can’t afford it! How many times do I have to tell you that!” I say nearly screaming and gnashing my teeth. He even told me that need to go to the shooting range to cool down after I said that last hot sentence.

Visualize a mushroom cloud going off behind me like that from Hiroshima at that very second. Can you believe that!? I was like—are you kidding me? Can you say things like that to a customer? If I did that at my job at Chick-fil-a or Publix I would have gotten fired! This and everything else he had done went against everything I had learned about customer service at any job anywhere. I am smoldering after that, and you could have fried eggs on me I was so hot and furious. I thought to myself, “Alright, that’s it—I wouldn’t have to go unload some lead or arrows on a target if you weren’t doing this to me!” He knew I liked shooting and archery from the small bit of small talk and from my author bio. You could imagine what I would have liked to do when I went to the range. I also wished I had a punching bag. I was so stressed out, and I was also sick from a stomach virus about this time. That was it; I’ve had enough. This means war. I was in war mode now.

I call the front office and ask for his supervisor’s name and contact info. I also file a complaint against him. It takes forever for me to get in touch with his supervisor. The supervisor still talks me into that stupid video, but I am able to get out of the original engagement…FINALLY. I also demand a new marketing consultant who wasn’t rude and overbearing. After this I didn’t hear from Miguel again so that was a big relief.

Doubts About My Publisher and Publishing Experience 

I do the video and it was okay, but I had second thoughts about it, and none of the other services were selling books either. All the books I sold were direct sales, but my other channels were still zip. I try to set up some stuff on my own, like book signings, but I got nowhere. I almost had a book signing one time, but when I said who my publisher was that’s when it fell through. I knew I had a problem. I also had trouble selling to family and friends. I was not the problem nor was the book; the publisher was the  problem. I had to either get out or find some outside help for marketing because this isn’t working.

At this time I do some distribution research to widen my channels. I run across Mill City Press who offers traditional channels to self published authors. I go by and check them out and while thumbing through their website, I discover they offer a free phone consultation for marketing help to outside authors. I fill out the questionnaire and set up a talk with Rosey Cashman the Marketing Coordinator for MCP at the time. She gave me some tips and told me about their website exposure and Amazon exposure programs. She even told me about the book trailer service that they were working on then. The prices of the services were much lower than what I was used to seeing at Xlibris by about 10x. After talking with her, I read more about their Expanded Program and while I look for it I find a valuable piece of treasure and a bombshell that I will talk about in the next post “Looking for an Out”.

Guess Who’s Back and More Doubts 

One day out of the blue, Miguel calls me. This was sometime during the time I was investigating marketing, Mill City Press, and other publishers at the time. It had been months since our last powwow. I am surprised to hear from him because I thought we were through. He acts surprised that I cancelled out all these services, and he acted like he knew nothing about it. He tried one more time to pitch that stupid 10M Email Campaign at me again and this time for $2500 with his old tricks and a ‘guarantee’ to boot.

This guarantee stated that I would get my money back, if I didn’t sell any books which I thought may be unlikely. The opt-in campaign was a failure, so why would this be any better? Everything in general was a failure at this point. He says my prior cancellation was a ‘blessing in disguise’. “Humph, yeah…whatever,” I say in my head. I tell him no and put my foot down firmly. He lets me off easy this time. I thought I would have a different marketing consultant at this time, so why is it him again? Did that supervisor not hear me? I almost hoped Miguel had gotten fired by treating people the way he did, but no dice.

He calls again a few days later and tries again, and he wouldn’t even give me room to think without the bill collector/used car sales tactics, haranguing, and begging. I put him off for 24 hours. He had the nerve to call back one time and pressure me some more. I am getting ticked off, and I’m about tell him to stick it where the sun don’t shine if he keeps roughhousing me. I get off, and he calls again at about five minutes later on the dot, and my parents say it’s Xlibris. I say, “I’m not answering it…it’s just Miguel playing his old phone game again. If you answer it, then just say I’m busy, or I just left.” He has the nerve to leave a message with the exact same message as the last live talk like I am that absent minded. We talk the next day, and I cave in because it is much cheaper than $10K, and I was mentally exhausted with deductive reasoning, so I second guessed my reasoning. I ask a few questions before caving in, but he lies to me and gives me some more ‘here’s your sign’ treatment and ‘Duh!’ responses. I began having second thoughts and at this point I have had it and begin looking for a way out.

This right here is what broke the camel’s back and leaves this part of the story. The next story marks the turning point from here and the road to my new publisher Mill City Press. I will also share the bombshell I find in the MCP website.

Next post: “Looking For an Out”