The Dam Breaks

The Dam Breaks

By the time I got home that evening, I felt a creative dam was breaking. I flew in the door and up the stairs to my laptop and dove head first into a new novel. When that was finished, I went onto the next. It wasn’t until I got word that the agent had extended her leave of absence, that I felt the flame begin to dim.

Then I thought; what am I waiting for? I have the professionally edited manuscript. I can self-publish it. So that’s what I did. I designed a cover, got a professional picture of myself & sent it to the publishing company (with a hefty fee) and published it.

Weeks later….

The agent in Toronto returned only weeks after I published. She was ready to take the professionally edited book (Onions) to a publisher. My heart sunk. I told her that I had just self-published it, but I could cancel it. She said it was too late. In order for anyone to consider Onions, I’d have to have it sold in major retailers, stocked on shelves, with reviews and orders to show its success. She gave me an amount that seemed so overwhelming. She also explained that in some cases, a ready readership can help an author, but only if they’ve got sales to back it up. So that was my goal; to get Onions on shelves everywhere and create the readership.

And we’re off…

Onions did well immediately out of the gate. It was tested in selective stores throughout the States and sold out. On the third restock of a store; I was invited for a book-signing. I accepted and drove to the states and had my first book-signing. The books sold out quickly. Not long after, I had another book-signing in Canada that sold out as well. At this event, I was interviewed by (what was then) the A-Channel News. Then, I was interviewed on the radio with (what was then) Kicx106FM months after; when Onions was accepted into Wal-Mart. That lead me to my third book-signing, the biggest of them all; the Wal-Mart book-signing 2010. I signed 200 copies in a day. Onions went on to be a top-seller in Wal-Mart in two stores for two consecutive promotional periods.

The Lesson

Despite my sales, the publisher refused to pay me. In fact, they refused to pay most of their authors. They’ve since been shut down by the Better Business Bureau in the state of Indiana. Some of the other authors have launched a class action lawsuit against the publishers, while others like me, have just moved on.

The Choice

I had a choice to make. I could either continue wasting positive energy by focusing on the negative; or I could focus on the positive and keep pushing Onions through. I figured as long as it’s selling; I’m at least getting a readership, which is what the agent wanted. I told myself that the publisher could steal my money, but they can’t steal my success. People were still reading, which meant a readership was growing, regardless of whether I got paid for it or not.