"Too Cold for Alligators" Update

I finally heard back after sending updated photographs to AuthorHouse. It only took a week. I opened the file for the new galley to make sure the changes looked good. I thought for sure they’d get it right this time.

These pictures were worse! How can that be? The pictures were all blurry and this time, so were the maps. Why did they alter the maps? It looked like the images were all double exposed, like one image was placed atop the originally. They were all horrible out of focus. This was worse than the first time!

Needless to say, I was devastated. Is this the kind of work AuthorHouse does? I immediately shot off an email and I called. My contact person was unavailable, of course, and I left a message on her machine. When they were first working with me, they’d get back to me right away. This time there was a wait. I guess when everything is early and they are roping people in, the communication is better. I went to bed Wednesday night feeling like I’d been scammed.

Yesterday morning my mind had its usual flow of words and my anger and disappointment escalated. How much time have I spent on this project? How many other projects were left behind? And then to find I am STILL not be done with it? Do I give up? Do I turn into a bitch and rant and scream at them? I was nervous about sending the last complaint and to have to do it again is way beyond my comfort zone. The self-doubt warred with the frustration. Was this a sign my book really isn’t good enough?

Everyone keeps saying I need to stand up and demand satisfaction. This is a year and a half in the process. I can’t just let it go!

I made a list of all my issues so far and the disappointments and after doing my morning chores, I settled at the PC to send off an email. I explained my disappointments, that I felt I’d been scammed, and accused them of talking big and not being able to deliver a sell-able product. I called them amateurish and said if they couldn’t handle images, they should have told me up front. I also asked for my money back.

An apology was received mid-afternoon. She was sorry, but what she sent was a low-resolution file for me to approve, that she should not have sent such a big file through email. She re-sent the higher resolution galley through wetransfer.com (which is what I used to upload the photo file to them) and when I opened the manuscript in that program with the corrections, the photos and mapped looked really good. What a difference! This was more like it and if the book comes out like it looked there, I will be pleased. I signed off on the galley and now it’s waiting to get a printed copy. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.