Publishers Suck and Here's Why
The first time I tried getting published I was 14 years old. I wrote a book about teenagers with special powers and thought I was really something. I had been writing stories and my own books for two years and obviously knew what I was doing. I decided to tackle submitting query letters to literary agents, thinking I might be able to break through into this world. My goal was to have my first book traditionally published by the age of 17, to be someone that other teens who wanted to do this could look up to.
So, with the help of my mom, 14 year old me sent out a handful of query letters. Most of the time, there's a 6-8 week wait for responses with these things. I anxiously anticipated the emails, telling myself I wouldn't get my hopes up, but I did regardless. The first rejection letter came as I was getting ready to go to dance class. I tried to pretend I didn't mind, but I ended up crying and was almost late. Every other one after that was the same generic response, "I'm sorry, but I don't think you're a good fit for our company," or something along those lines. Each one stung a bit.
I kept writing. I created a new book, a murder mystery, that I was genuinely so proud of. I was 15, still holding onto that same dream of publishing a book by 17. I somehow got connected to this group called UpAuthors. They wrote blog posts of advice for up and coming writers and hosted contests. There was a first chapter contest where winners would be selected from a list of different genres as well as a single overall winner. I entered the first chapter of my book and a few weeks later I got the news I had made it into the top 6. A few weeks after that, I was crowned the winner for the Young Adult Fiction genre. I was so thrilled to have the validation that I was actually good at this thing that I loved so much. Through this contest, I stayed in the loop with the man who ran UpAuthors. He created this workbook that was supposed to be targeted toward like 7-10th graders wanting to develop their writing. And he was piloting it. The premise of it was you'd work through the book to develop a story which he would co-author with you and it was guaranteed to be published. It was something like a 5 or 6 month course with steps to help grow your story. I, of course, signed up to be a part of it along with another younger girl. We were the first two and would help this man really establish what the program was supposed to entail. At least, that's what we were promised. The idea was we would finish the workbook, go through the rounds of editing, and then he would send it to his publisher. Once everything was settled, we would attend conferences in middle and high schools with him to not only represent this program but promote our books.
Only, it never happened. I made it to the editing point. He marked up my document and sent it back to be with the revisions that needed to be made. I worked and I worked on those edits and sent it back. And then.... nothing. I waited around... two months, I think? Then I reached out to him again to check in. And another time after that. When I finally heard back, he told me that he would no longer be able to work with me, due to this whole slew of legal issues he had gotten himself into where he was getting sued by a family of a boy he was supposed to be writing the story of. Or something of the like. He would not be publishing my book. He gave me the name of another company to contact that might be able to work with me.
That was probably my first heartbreak, honestly. But I tried moving forward and contacting the publisher he told me about. They were my first breakthrough. Not only did they accept my query letter, but they wanted to read the first 3 chapters of my book. However, it ended the same as all the others. The guy I was communicating with told me he wished they could work with me, but they just "didn't have the time" to take on another book.
And that's how it went for a long time. I sent so many letters. Got just as many rejections. Never made it further than them requesting more chapters, just to turn me away. 17 came and went with my dream of being that inspiration to other writers out there. Which is a good thing, as my writing can only improve the older I get. But there's always been that little twinge of despair that I never accomplished that.
Fast forward to 20 year old Shelby, going into her junior year of college and just had surgery on her ankle. I was laid up in bed for a month and really couldn't do much of anything. So I decided why not submit some more letters for the book that took me 3 years to write. Battle Scars. My pride and joy. And what do you know? I stumbled across a local publishing company based in Downtown Pensacola! Who would've ever thought? It felt like fate. I sent them a letter of interest immediately, without doing an sort of research into it. Surely, they were the real deal AND they were in my hometown. It couldn't be anymore perfect, right? Well.
For the sake of I'm afraid they'll send real life hit men after me (we'll get to that), we'll refer to this company as Blue Lagoon.
Maybe about a week after submitting my letter, on my birthday actually, I got a phone call from Blue Lagoon. They were interested in working with me! They wanted to read my full manuscript and set up a meeting for the next week as a first date of sorts to just sort of discuss what working with them would mean. I had a boot on my foot and couldn't drive myself anywhere, but luckily my best friend volunteered to escort me to the coffee shop I was set to meet these men at. The day same and we set off on what I was hoping was the start of finally achieving my dreams. When we get there, I'm greeted by a rather young guy-probably mid-twenties-who introduced himself as the man I had spoken with over the phone. He seemed legitimate enough-he was friendly, well-spoken, and the business partner of the man who had opened Blue Lagoon. He ushers me over to the table where the main guy is sitting and, well basically, I shook the hand of a mob-boss. Straight out of your imagination, the ideal image of what a leader of a mob would look like. Tall and broad shouldered, jet black hair that was greased back against his scalp, with that one little lock flopping forward over his forehead. A navy pin-striped suit, rings the size of my hands and studded with (probably) fake diamonds on his fingers. He spoke with a tone of confidence that screamed he knew he had control over the situation, that he could smooth talk his way through any and every conversation. From that day on, this man was forever deemed Mafia by me and my friends.
Anyway, so the meeting begins and they're sitting there with a laptop opened to my manuscript, scrolling through it as we speak, to "ask about specific notes." Mafia promised me he had already read the full book, but just wanted it open to remind him of details. Makes sense, right? His little side kick sat next to him, legal pad in hand, scribbling while I spoke. Pretty confident he was just doodling to look busy. They asked me to give them a run down of what my book was about in my own words, claiming even though they had read it they just wanted me to explain it. As soon as I finished, Mafia took over the whole meeting. He told me how they would want to create a platform for Battle Scars to be a representation for self-help and naturalistic healing. He said they could create a whole plethora of merch for it-from cards that would somehow be a tool to ease anxiety, to dolls (????), to God knows what else all centered around self-treating and managing your mental health. Now, if you know me you know that I'm a firm believer in seeking professional help for any sort of mental health related issue. I stand by using medication if you feel the situation is out of your control and you need help gaining your self back. Because guess what. A lot of problems arise from an actual chemical imbalance that require more than just meditation and essential oils to solve. But that's another rant for another day.
If you've truly read Battle Scars, you know that it's the exact opposite of a self-help book. The main character has the worst coping mechanisms she can possibly have and there's really no way to twist it to promote the idea that it represents anything really healthy. I mean, none of them ever deal with their issues. At all. But somehow, that was going to be the image we were spreading? Yeah, okay. On top of that, Mafia promised me they would have me on Ellen within the year. Doing what exactly? Beats me, but hey cool why not. I left feeling vastly overwhelmed and like we had talked in circles for an hour. Thank the Lord Katy had gone with me as she was able to talk me out of this fog Mafia had created for me and point out all of the impossibly lavish promises he was making.
I emailed Blue Lagoon and told them how I wasn't comfortable promoting my story in such a way, that it wasn't the message I was intending to spread. I also requested more information on the actual publishing aspect of the deal, the details that had been conveniently glazed over in the meeting. Long story short, after receiving all the information pertaining to what would happen if I signed with them and going through all these back and forth emails, I got a sketchy email from Mafia that requested me to join this app similar to PayPal where others could request money from you. And I was dumb and opened it because his name was attached to it, but when I did that, suddenly all my emails connected to that account were deleted. To this day, I'm not entirely for sure what happened there. But, something about that set really wrong with me. So I decided to look up reviews on Blue Lagoon, which led me to looking up reviews on Mafia himself. Turns out, this man was on the run from Missouri for scamming individuals out of thousands of dollars with the promise to host business conferences and leadership seminars. He would require they pay him up front and he would just never show up, or keep rescheduling, or a thousand other excuses. One person straight up said, "Watch out, publishing is his next venture."
I cried myself to sleep over this. I was so scared they would steal my book or what would've happened if I had gone through with the deal. Would they warp Battle Scars into their own, somehow? They kept calling me and emailing me, but I stopped answering. I wanted nothing to do with these people. Thankfully, to my knowledge, nothing came from it. They're still in business, as far as I know. Last I checked though, they were still pushing the same 12 books they had when I was interviewing with them. But like I said, still slightly afraid they'd send the mob after me if I openly bashed them on the internet. No doubts he could murder me if he wanted to.
But now here we are, two years later. I self-published that same book and am so proud of that. It may be way after I had hoped and it won't reach much of an audience at all, but it's a stepping stone. I have ran into at least 3 other instances of publishers claiming to want to work with me, only to find out they're all the same and just are in it to take your money and never give you the product. It's a corrupt field, I've decided. A lot of people know they can take advantage of those like me who simply want their work out there to hopefully impact someone and offer what sounds to be the perfect deal to reel them in. I'm smarter now, though; I Google review everything before even submitting to them. I'm not about to get myself mixed in with another mob. I like my freedom.
I still hope to one day find a traditional publisher who truly wants to represent me and my work, instead of ripping me off. But for now, I'm content with putting my own work out there. It's more fun that way, anyway.
So, with the help of my mom, 14 year old me sent out a handful of query letters. Most of the time, there's a 6-8 week wait for responses with these things. I anxiously anticipated the emails, telling myself I wouldn't get my hopes up, but I did regardless. The first rejection letter came as I was getting ready to go to dance class. I tried to pretend I didn't mind, but I ended up crying and was almost late. Every other one after that was the same generic response, "I'm sorry, but I don't think you're a good fit for our company," or something along those lines. Each one stung a bit.
I kept writing. I created a new book, a murder mystery, that I was genuinely so proud of. I was 15, still holding onto that same dream of publishing a book by 17. I somehow got connected to this group called UpAuthors. They wrote blog posts of advice for up and coming writers and hosted contests. There was a first chapter contest where winners would be selected from a list of different genres as well as a single overall winner. I entered the first chapter of my book and a few weeks later I got the news I had made it into the top 6. A few weeks after that, I was crowned the winner for the Young Adult Fiction genre. I was so thrilled to have the validation that I was actually good at this thing that I loved so much. Through this contest, I stayed in the loop with the man who ran UpAuthors. He created this workbook that was supposed to be targeted toward like 7-10th graders wanting to develop their writing. And he was piloting it. The premise of it was you'd work through the book to develop a story which he would co-author with you and it was guaranteed to be published. It was something like a 5 or 6 month course with steps to help grow your story. I, of course, signed up to be a part of it along with another younger girl. We were the first two and would help this man really establish what the program was supposed to entail. At least, that's what we were promised. The idea was we would finish the workbook, go through the rounds of editing, and then he would send it to his publisher. Once everything was settled, we would attend conferences in middle and high schools with him to not only represent this program but promote our books.
Only, it never happened. I made it to the editing point. He marked up my document and sent it back to be with the revisions that needed to be made. I worked and I worked on those edits and sent it back. And then.... nothing. I waited around... two months, I think? Then I reached out to him again to check in. And another time after that. When I finally heard back, he told me that he would no longer be able to work with me, due to this whole slew of legal issues he had gotten himself into where he was getting sued by a family of a boy he was supposed to be writing the story of. Or something of the like. He would not be publishing my book. He gave me the name of another company to contact that might be able to work with me.
That was probably my first heartbreak, honestly. But I tried moving forward and contacting the publisher he told me about. They were my first breakthrough. Not only did they accept my query letter, but they wanted to read the first 3 chapters of my book. However, it ended the same as all the others. The guy I was communicating with told me he wished they could work with me, but they just "didn't have the time" to take on another book.
And that's how it went for a long time. I sent so many letters. Got just as many rejections. Never made it further than them requesting more chapters, just to turn me away. 17 came and went with my dream of being that inspiration to other writers out there. Which is a good thing, as my writing can only improve the older I get. But there's always been that little twinge of despair that I never accomplished that.
Fast forward to 20 year old Shelby, going into her junior year of college and just had surgery on her ankle. I was laid up in bed for a month and really couldn't do much of anything. So I decided why not submit some more letters for the book that took me 3 years to write. Battle Scars. My pride and joy. And what do you know? I stumbled across a local publishing company based in Downtown Pensacola! Who would've ever thought? It felt like fate. I sent them a letter of interest immediately, without doing an sort of research into it. Surely, they were the real deal AND they were in my hometown. It couldn't be anymore perfect, right? Well.
For the sake of I'm afraid they'll send real life hit men after me (we'll get to that), we'll refer to this company as Blue Lagoon.
Maybe about a week after submitting my letter, on my birthday actually, I got a phone call from Blue Lagoon. They were interested in working with me! They wanted to read my full manuscript and set up a meeting for the next week as a first date of sorts to just sort of discuss what working with them would mean. I had a boot on my foot and couldn't drive myself anywhere, but luckily my best friend volunteered to escort me to the coffee shop I was set to meet these men at. The day same and we set off on what I was hoping was the start of finally achieving my dreams. When we get there, I'm greeted by a rather young guy-probably mid-twenties-who introduced himself as the man I had spoken with over the phone. He seemed legitimate enough-he was friendly, well-spoken, and the business partner of the man who had opened Blue Lagoon. He ushers me over to the table where the main guy is sitting and, well basically, I shook the hand of a mob-boss. Straight out of your imagination, the ideal image of what a leader of a mob would look like. Tall and broad shouldered, jet black hair that was greased back against his scalp, with that one little lock flopping forward over his forehead. A navy pin-striped suit, rings the size of my hands and studded with (probably) fake diamonds on his fingers. He spoke with a tone of confidence that screamed he knew he had control over the situation, that he could smooth talk his way through any and every conversation. From that day on, this man was forever deemed Mafia by me and my friends.
Anyway, so the meeting begins and they're sitting there with a laptop opened to my manuscript, scrolling through it as we speak, to "ask about specific notes." Mafia promised me he had already read the full book, but just wanted it open to remind him of details. Makes sense, right? His little side kick sat next to him, legal pad in hand, scribbling while I spoke. Pretty confident he was just doodling to look busy. They asked me to give them a run down of what my book was about in my own words, claiming even though they had read it they just wanted me to explain it. As soon as I finished, Mafia took over the whole meeting. He told me how they would want to create a platform for Battle Scars to be a representation for self-help and naturalistic healing. He said they could create a whole plethora of merch for it-from cards that would somehow be a tool to ease anxiety, to dolls (????), to God knows what else all centered around self-treating and managing your mental health. Now, if you know me you know that I'm a firm believer in seeking professional help for any sort of mental health related issue. I stand by using medication if you feel the situation is out of your control and you need help gaining your self back. Because guess what. A lot of problems arise from an actual chemical imbalance that require more than just meditation and essential oils to solve. But that's another rant for another day.
If you've truly read Battle Scars, you know that it's the exact opposite of a self-help book. The main character has the worst coping mechanisms she can possibly have and there's really no way to twist it to promote the idea that it represents anything really healthy. I mean, none of them ever deal with their issues. At all. But somehow, that was going to be the image we were spreading? Yeah, okay. On top of that, Mafia promised me they would have me on Ellen within the year. Doing what exactly? Beats me, but hey cool why not. I left feeling vastly overwhelmed and like we had talked in circles for an hour. Thank the Lord Katy had gone with me as she was able to talk me out of this fog Mafia had created for me and point out all of the impossibly lavish promises he was making.
I emailed Blue Lagoon and told them how I wasn't comfortable promoting my story in such a way, that it wasn't the message I was intending to spread. I also requested more information on the actual publishing aspect of the deal, the details that had been conveniently glazed over in the meeting. Long story short, after receiving all the information pertaining to what would happen if I signed with them and going through all these back and forth emails, I got a sketchy email from Mafia that requested me to join this app similar to PayPal where others could request money from you. And I was dumb and opened it because his name was attached to it, but when I did that, suddenly all my emails connected to that account were deleted. To this day, I'm not entirely for sure what happened there. But, something about that set really wrong with me. So I decided to look up reviews on Blue Lagoon, which led me to looking up reviews on Mafia himself. Turns out, this man was on the run from Missouri for scamming individuals out of thousands of dollars with the promise to host business conferences and leadership seminars. He would require they pay him up front and he would just never show up, or keep rescheduling, or a thousand other excuses. One person straight up said, "Watch out, publishing is his next venture."
I cried myself to sleep over this. I was so scared they would steal my book or what would've happened if I had gone through with the deal. Would they warp Battle Scars into their own, somehow? They kept calling me and emailing me, but I stopped answering. I wanted nothing to do with these people. Thankfully, to my knowledge, nothing came from it. They're still in business, as far as I know. Last I checked though, they were still pushing the same 12 books they had when I was interviewing with them. But like I said, still slightly afraid they'd send the mob after me if I openly bashed them on the internet. No doubts he could murder me if he wanted to.
But now here we are, two years later. I self-published that same book and am so proud of that. It may be way after I had hoped and it won't reach much of an audience at all, but it's a stepping stone. I have ran into at least 3 other instances of publishers claiming to want to work with me, only to find out they're all the same and just are in it to take your money and never give you the product. It's a corrupt field, I've decided. A lot of people know they can take advantage of those like me who simply want their work out there to hopefully impact someone and offer what sounds to be the perfect deal to reel them in. I'm smarter now, though; I Google review everything before even submitting to them. I'm not about to get myself mixed in with another mob. I like my freedom.
I still hope to one day find a traditional publisher who truly wants to represent me and my work, instead of ripping me off. But for now, I'm content with putting my own work out there. It's more fun that way, anyway.
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