About Me

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

What Happened To George?

A funny thing happened to George Washington, Surveyor, Soldier, Leader on its way to publication.

For some undisclosed reason, I found it necessary to purchase my own proof copy after the book had already been released. Upon reviewing the print issue, I discovered some serious errors. Well, to me they were serious. Correctable errors in formatting like incorrect page numbering and incorrect placement of objects on the cover. Most disturbing was a Publisher's Note inserted at the front of the book. In it, my book was described as fiction and stated all people, places and incidents were the work of the author's imagination. This notice came at quite a shock since I'd spent months in research, even purchased a copy of George Washington's own diary to be certain what I wrote was historically accurate.

I contacted my publisher at Dancing With Bear Publishing, listing the needed corrections and even offering to send directions for making the corrections. Since the services of CreateSpace was used to produce the book and I was familiar with their procedures, I knew all it would take was correcting the manuscript and re-submitting it.

Her response? An offer to allow me to buy out my contract at a substantial sum. I turned down the offer, replying that I wished only to produce a book that reflected professionalism.

That was when I received a second offer of release from the contract stating a list of charges I would be responsible for. I won't go into the ludicrous details.

When I turned that down, her reply was an expansive email canceling of my contract and accusing me of being an "author diva."

So, unfortunately I've requested that Amazon remove the print copy of the book from their shelves. I have a couple copies to sell as long as they last and have already gotten a request for one. But there's just a few and they are going fast.

Meanwhile - to those customers who purchased a copy through Amazon - I'll be happy to sign what may turn out to be collector's items some day. George's story will have to go back on the shelf for a while more.