The reason given for termination was lack of promotion. A Life Gone Awry has its own Face Book page with 120,000 views, has been in three newspapers, had a release party on Face Book, and has been accepted for a silent auction by the Marcus Hook Preservation Society. I also have an author page, a blog, and a book page. A Goodreads Page, and an Amazon page. It is promoted on Troubled Teen Industry. com, Fornits, and several other sites.
ETA: I was also on Susan Schofield's radio show twice and She, her husband and their foundation have promoted my books, and they were on 20/20 last summer, and were on Oprah.
CAFETY and Program Watch also promoted my books because I gave them the royalties. Rough guess, between them, 50,000 to 100,000 fans, likes and members reached
Plus, I almost scored a movie deal with Nick Gaglia, but Danny Bennison screwed it up. (BTW, all of this was done while he was stalking and harassing me)
I don't know what more I could have done.
This all started when I asked about them not nominating my book for an IPPY. I was assaulted for asking. So, I asked why they nominated their own books. Books I had no idea were theirs when I signed with them because they used pseudonyms.
To be fair, I knew one.
The other thing I was criticized for is not running around 5 starring my fellow author's books on Goodreads. I don't do that.
I was asked to start a website, and promote my fellow authors. That's not my job, it's theirs
Speaking of their job. Not one review, interview, and the only blog was the one I wrote. The title is a typo on page iv, and "it's" is used as possessive on the back cover blurb. They also copyrighted Street Life as a novel, so it wasnt eligible for an IPPY. I think it would be a contender.
They claimed that reviewers want money, and I assumed that was true, but, I found it's not. Once again, not my job
The contract specifically says "Author will activly participate in the promotion of his books"
I know I've done things wrong. I'm new to this, and thought I did a pretty good job selling 130 books at $6.99 and $11.99. I got a nasty e-mail saying they have books that outsold all of my books combined.
I got this
You still do not have a website that has any links to where the books can be purchased or to any of the other authors in the house. You seem to be under the delusion that your book is a field of dreams, and since you wrote it, they will come, so therefore you don't have to do anything. This will come as a shock to you, but you are definitely not our top seller. All sales of your three books combined do not even come close to monthly sales of other books
You bet I'm angry. I asked for the titles that outsold mine, and got no response
If complaining about them ruins my writing career, so be it. Is this their attempt to ruin it? What will people think if they find out my books were terminated, and I say nothing?
Anyway, this was the best thing that ever happened to me, and now, it's one of the worst. I'm not just angry. I'm hurt, deeply. i spent two years writing these books, and 10 months promoting them. Not to belittle other genres, but the emotion of writing memoirs like this is off the chart. I've contacted AW members in tears. I kicked a table through my ceiling. I cut myself. I admitted to things no normal human being would consider. I put a lot more than work into them
I can substantiate everything I said here
