Friday, August 29, 2014

Publishing Snafus

Update: If you read this post on Friday or after, you can see the tizzy that I had worked myself into. I had very little sleep that day, waking up at 2:30 a.m. and staying up until midnight to try to make the necessary changes. At 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, I was finally able to update my novel Trail Mix. It isn't perfect yet because the proofreader hasn't finished, so I'll be making more changes. I hate to have a release without a polished product, but soon it should be where I need it.
Thanks to everyone for your support. Where would I be without you?

So it's 3:30 a.m. and I'm awake in the dark staring at a blinding computer screen.
I've made a publishing mistake and I can feel it gnawing at my stomach. Rookie mistake, I know, but with my third novel coming out, can I really consider myself a rookie. From all the evidence, yes.
I fell for Amazon's pre-order pitch and I put my unformatted novel in place of the one that I was correcting. I knew I could go back and add the perfectly edited, perfectly formatted novel to Amazon, so that the readers who pre-ordered, would get the book I wanted them to have.
That's when trouble began.
My editor, who I love, is dealing with health issues. The date she would have changes to me kept getting pushed back. Yesterday was  my final edit day, and  my proofread novel did not arrive.
So when my eyes popped open at 2:30 a.m. and I tried to go back to sleep, I knew I'd have to get up to see what I could salvage.
I went to Amazon to change the release date for my new novel, and saw, to my horror, that no more changes could be made to the book until it was released.
I've paced the floor back and forth, the wood boards squeaking underneath my bare feet. I've pulled my tangled hair back into a pony tail, holding it with my fist before I release it -- that's as close as I come to pulling my hair out -- I've sat in front of the bright screen and wondered how to make this better.
The only place I publicized my pre-order novel was on my blog, so maybe some of you ordered it. If you did, don't open whatever is delivered to you on Saturday at 12:01 a.m.
I promise a much improved, slicker product will arrive by Monday.
I just feel like I'm letting people down, people who enjoy my novels, and, yes, there are some!
I have a long day ahead of me, teaching at 8 a.m, driving one of my college boys back to school after his doctor appointment and getting him there in time for his 3 p.m. Italian class. Then the 90-minute drive back home alone, where I beat myself up about my mistakes.
And tomorrow night at 12:01 a.m., I'll be in front of the computer again, ready to pull the book off Amazon so that I can replace it with the polished novel that readers deserve
Thanks for listening to my middle of the night rant.

7 comments:

Just Me said...

Absolutely no worris Paulita. We're all fans and you couldn't get rid of us if you tried. Good karma strikes again...you only publicized it on your blog.

Lucia said...

Go get'em tiger! You don't have to worry, it will all be good!

grammajudyb said...

Try to breathe. You've done what you can so far, you will do what needs to be done. I am a fan.

Anonymous said...

oh no, sorry for the nightmare you have to go through! but we love you and your writing, and we know technical problems can always creep in

Vicki Lesage said...

Bummer! Soon enough it will be behind you and your new book will be out there. I recommend a good glass of Bordeaux to calm the nerves :)

Sally Tharpe Rowles said...

Oh don't pull out your hair Paulita.....in no time it will all be far behind you & you will actually be able to laugh about it all!

Unknown said...

Stop being so hard on yourself. It will all work out. What I have read about the new novel is fantastic. keep your sanity.

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