Ohh the joys of wisdom.

I vividly remember waltzing into the local writers guild meeting with my head high and shoulders back. The majority of those folks had self-published. A real publisher had signed me. I had every right to be airy with my attitude. Even if they had a master’s degree in literature or had been fine tuning their manuscripts for decades, self-publishing had a taint to it that just made it laughable.

Yes I judged that. Yes I thought I was the cream of the crop. I don’t have the excuse of being young. I did when I wrote the novels maybe, mainly the first which was penned at eighteen to twenty-three. The sequel wasn’t even conceived until I was twenty-five and it was a few years more before I transferred the original handwritten pile of poppycock to the computer.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my stories, I love my characters and I love the foundation and heart of the story. The point I am getting to is that the writing is pathetic (Try saying that, not pleasant but absolutely the best thing I ever did). I am beyond ashamed of that harebrained chicken scratch – NOW. The truly damning aspect of it all is that it was published, meaning people have read those words and seen MY name attached. Stupid me didn’t want a penname, thinking I was proud of my masterpieces and wanted all to know they came from me. Now I have a file on my desktop with penname ideas so I can have a clean slate when/if I finish the current story.

To cover my tracks, sometimes I say they were my ‘practice novels’. Hoping to give the impression that the effort was not at full force and to lighten the stain. As a wise person said, writers who create bad books put in the same effort as those who write great stories. (Paraphrasing, but that’s the general gist I think) I agree with this. What I do not agree with is bad publishers putting in the same energy and effort as good publishers. Not even remotely close.

I was thrilled. Beyond the moon with joy when I learned the stories were going to be made into real books. I was an authentic author! Even have a couple of wonderful reviews on Amazon! (I don’t get it either.)

Sure seems I’m ungrateful doesn’t it? It’s true. I look back now as a more experienced mind and can’t help but think that the young aspiring writer could have benefited so much more if she had been rejected and told what she needed to work on. Instead, she was published with basically no editing and her own concepts for cover, title and so on. (I had to edit the editor, cause he changed crossties to crossfire – horse folks may understand) They even kept the stupid smiley face in her acknowledgements! I mean come on! It’s like letting a kindergartener supervise and perform surgery and the performance being met with wild applause. He thinks he did a great job but the problem is the patient was a doll. Wouldn’t be so great when he went to cut into a classmate to show off his celebrated skills.

Another interesting part of the experience is that they took both books, publishing the sequel (Woman of Honor?) about a year before they released the first one (Girl of Virtue?) Yep, Publish America is a learning experience and yep, I never showed my face at that guild group since then. I can only hope they have had other laughable guests to take the light off of this foolish girl.

I had more pride in those stories when the piles of loose-leaf papers were stashed in a suitcase in my closet. It’s all good though, I shall redeem myself!

Rachel

Thank you! Only posted in my newbie thread when I registered but have been regularly visiting, seeking the mystical and profound words of wisdom from the regulars.

It's a fantastic spot and a great collection of talent.

~Rachel

I read someone's PA books were gone from their site, so went to look. Haven't typed that web addey in years now but sadly mine are still there: http://www.publishamerica.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?Search=Yes

I did not know that, thank you. Had it in mind to stick out the contract and quietly fade in the distance, burying the books for a few decades. They get a little attention by folks, usually enough in the wittle bitty checks to add up to two copies each. Maybe it's minimal enough for them to consider retiring them. Will look into it

And nope, never even bought a single one myself.

Thanks so much for all the tips and inspiration! I did send off email as suggested and received this in return today. My math skills are nothing fancy but suddenly feel them sinking lower. S'ok, shall have nice shady ceremony for the stories on their dates of death!
Anyhoo, if anyone needs to tend to it themselves, here's what I did =)

Dear Rachel Romero:

We have noted your request not to continue with the contracts
following the expiration dates. Therefore, Woman of Honor? will go
out of print on April 2, 2011, and Girl of Virtue? will go out of
print on April 9, 2011.

Thank you,
Alexzandra
PublishAmerica Support
[email protected]

Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 09:46:11 -0400
To: [email protected]
From: Rachel Romero <[email protected]> (by way of "M.N. Prather"
<[email protected]>)
Subject: Concerning renewal


Greetings folks,

I was informed that it is good policy to touch base on the topic of
renewal. When the contracts for my books, Girl of Virtue and Woman of
Honor have run their course, I do not desire to extend the
partnership beyond those dates. Is there anything I need to tend to
regarding this? Appreciate your time and consideration.

Rachel Romero

I skimmed around and didn't see this posted already. I don't typically read the multi-sent emails PA sends out but the hardcover mention caught my curiosity. I cut it off before the end. I have to say, I'm pleased to see the offer of text editing. I won't personally use the option but it was a pleasant surprise and may help out some other folks.

Dear Author:

Care to see a copy of your hardcover? It's available right now! And it will pay you royalties!

Thousands of PublishAmerica hardcover books have already been sold this week. Uniquely, they carry the same list price as the softcover version.

Let's make this easy for you: you can now obtain your book in hardcover from PublishAmerica's online bookstore here: www.PublishAmerica.com. Click on the Online Bookstore tab at the top, search for your book, select the hardcover version. This offer is valid three-business-days-only!

There are no volume restrictions, no additional purchase of softcovers is required. You may buy as little as one copy of your hardcover if that's all you want. Royalties will be paid on all online hardcover purchases, regardless of whether the author is the buyer of the book.


**And here's an extra option for those who have indicated that they want some changes made to their book's text.

While we typically cannot allow this after a book has gone to print, we will now accept limited text changes (spelling, grammar, no major overhaul) for FREE before we print the hardcover version, from those authors who purchase at least five copies. Just leave a note under "Order Comments and Special Requests" in the shopping cart, and we will contact you to coordinate production.