Chris Dulabone is not a nice man at all! I will always count allowing him to publishing my first book for me as among the worst mistakes I ever made.
For one thing, he claims to be a not-for-profit publisher who just wants to publish books totally in devotion to the Oz series. However, I am not so sure if the former part of this statement is truthful. I mean, he always publishes other people's books through Lulu.com and lists himself as the publisher. Although he does pay the illustrators of the books by other authors actually. From the beginning after my first book was published by him I honestly found myself thinking "Well, if publishing through Lulu was all he was going to do anyway, then what was the point of me ever allowing him to publish for me at all?"
Chris is one seriously delusional nutcase with a major ego problem. This fact is further supported by how, just as I completed the first draft of my manuscript for my next book, he insisted he found a better illustrator for me then Mike Leuszler. But when I saw the drawing of the Wogglebug he sent me from this other artist, it honestly looked so goofy it would be much more appropriate for some sort of ridiculous parody of Oz I would not even write. Even if I did write parodies, which I do not!
When I said no to Chris about replacing Mike as my illustrator, he kept on ranting and raving about how he much he hated Mike's illustrations. He claimed they sucked and were the worst he ever saw. Since I both, know that Mike's illustrations are beautiful and fit my visions splendidly, and have seen illustrations in books Chris published that have the look of scribbles done by a first grader, I thus had every perfect right to yell at Chris while announcing I'll never publish anything through him again, and then immediately demanded him to remove this edition he published of my first book from being in print.
I am pleased to announce I have republished my first volume all by myself through CreateSpace, with my own logo of WogglebugLove Productions on it. In which the original text is intact as I want it to be. And Mike is my illustrator of it still, and in addition to the first 18 pictures, he also did another 12. While also correcting a very minor flaw in his original design of the Wogglebug. I must encourage all to purchase a copy of my one and only genuine edition of this volume, and stay as far away from this disgraceful product put out only by Chris Dulabone.
When I admitted to Mike how Chris had betrayed me and him he responded: "What was wrong with my drawings for the first book the first time around? Besides the initial mistake I'd made then by drawing the Wogglebug's tongue out, which Chris ought to have pointed out to me, if anyone." That's right!
Mike said this mistake he made at first had been due to some sort of miscommunication on his part. Of course, one small mistake will never make any artist a bad one, or any writer for that matter, either. Especially if that mistake can be easily corrected. I made my mistake by publishing through Chris, and not just myself on my first try. That is now changed forever.
Mike also wanted to know this, "If he thought my art was crap, why did he use the first book's cover image as his Facebook avatar for so long?"
So therefore, writers who are actually interested in publishing Oz-based books intended to contribute to the series out of being a fan, I strongly advise you all to avoid publishing through Chris Dulabone at Tails of the Cowardly Lion and Friends! Also, all artists everywhere who want to work for a publisher who will actually appreciate their art the way it is, and also give constructive criticism when needed, and never deconstructive criticism when not needed, should seriously seek elsewhere as far from this guy as possible! Because Chris has proven he is not interested in the needs and visions of the authors he publishes for. But just interested in appeasing his own ego, which is one that is completely devoid of any common sense or intelligence!
For one thing, he claims to be a not-for-profit publisher who just wants to publish books totally in devotion to the Oz series. However, I am not so sure if the former part of this statement is truthful. I mean, he always publishes other people's books through Lulu.com and lists himself as the publisher. Although he does pay the illustrators of the books by other authors actually. From the beginning after my first book was published by him I honestly found myself thinking "Well, if publishing through Lulu was all he was going to do anyway, then what was the point of me ever allowing him to publish for me at all?"
Chris is one seriously delusional nutcase with a major ego problem. This fact is further supported by how, just as I completed the first draft of my manuscript for my next book, he insisted he found a better illustrator for me then Mike Leuszler. But when I saw the drawing of the Wogglebug he sent me from this other artist, it honestly looked so goofy it would be much more appropriate for some sort of ridiculous parody of Oz I would not even write. Even if I did write parodies, which I do not!
When I said no to Chris about replacing Mike as my illustrator, he kept on ranting and raving about how he much he hated Mike's illustrations. He claimed they sucked and were the worst he ever saw. Since I both, know that Mike's illustrations are beautiful and fit my visions splendidly, and have seen illustrations in books Chris published that have the look of scribbles done by a first grader, I thus had every perfect right to yell at Chris while announcing I'll never publish anything through him again, and then immediately demanded him to remove this edition he published of my first book from being in print.
I am pleased to announce I have republished my first volume all by myself through CreateSpace, with my own logo of WogglebugLove Productions on it. In which the original text is intact as I want it to be. And Mike is my illustrator of it still, and in addition to the first 18 pictures, he also did another 12. While also correcting a very minor flaw in his original design of the Wogglebug. I must encourage all to purchase a copy of my one and only genuine edition of this volume, and stay as far away from this disgraceful product put out only by Chris Dulabone.
When I admitted to Mike how Chris had betrayed me and him he responded: "What was wrong with my drawings for the first book the first time around? Besides the initial mistake I'd made then by drawing the Wogglebug's tongue out, which Chris ought to have pointed out to me, if anyone." That's right!
Mike said this mistake he made at first had been due to some sort of miscommunication on his part. Of course, one small mistake will never make any artist a bad one, or any writer for that matter, either. Especially if that mistake can be easily corrected. I made my mistake by publishing through Chris, and not just myself on my first try. That is now changed forever.
Mike also wanted to know this, "If he thought my art was crap, why did he use the first book's cover image as his Facebook avatar for so long?"
So therefore, writers who are actually interested in publishing Oz-based books intended to contribute to the series out of being a fan, I strongly advise you all to avoid publishing through Chris Dulabone at Tails of the Cowardly Lion and Friends! Also, all artists everywhere who want to work for a publisher who will actually appreciate their art the way it is, and also give constructive criticism when needed, and never deconstructive criticism when not needed, should seriously seek elsewhere as far from this guy as possible! Because Chris has proven he is not interested in the needs and visions of the authors he publishes for. But just interested in appeasing his own ego, which is one that is completely devoid of any common sense or intelligence!
