Indie publishing Nightmares

This is a rant. You have forewarned that I might cuss a bit (or a whole goddamn lot) in the following paragraphs. I’m also not giving a good god damn about editing, or anything because I’m RANTING. *growls* I’m really upset about a lot of things right now, but there is one thing that (aside from the potential of losing my job due to the massive flooding here) is taking up a lot of my head space and is sincerely making me want to quit with the writing game.

As you know, I started out in March by choosing to publish with an indie start up. I was sincerely unhappy with the way things went and I chose to have my books pulled from distribution and dissolve my working relationship with the company.

I am still very bitter about the way things went, and it has left a horrible taste in my mouth regarding indie publishing, and is a prime example of what NOT to do both as a publisher and a writer. I feel that I took a leap of faith with this company and the rose coloured glasses were lifted as things started to come apart.

That’s all I will say, currently, because I feel that this could be considered defamation if I continue to rant much more about why I chose to leave them. Suffice it to say that it had a lot to do with the services I was and was not getting through this agency.

Anyway, now I’m stuck with two properties that have been “previously published” and are both the first in a goddamn series. Both are series I have been working on for a long damn time. Blaze Tuesday is my PI and he has about 8-10 books in my head that I’ve been plotting for years before I actually sat down and started to write. (November is the 1 year anniversary of Blaze actually taking life on paper) and the Pathogen series is a three-book zombie romp, and this August marks the 1 year anniversary of Patient Zero making me cry every time I read it. (Or edit it.)

So I’ve put a lot of time and effort into these books. Blaze is slowly dying in my head because I can’t give him the attention he deserves, and Pathogen is… well, it’s a zombie series, what more damage can I do to it?

Patient Zero is getting self-published very soon, but the process is a goddamn nightmare for me. My brother works for a small press and they are helping me go through all the legal loopholes regarding ISBN numbers and stuff. And yes, there WILL be print versions of Patient Zero that you will be able to order from me when this all gets going, but right now I’m in an eternal loop of ISBN self publishing hell just because shit didn’t go right with that indie publisher.

And finding this information is FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE because I feel like no one involved with the previous publication will talk to me and it’s starting to sound like they don’t know what’s going on or what needed to be done. There’s information I need that I can’t find and I feel like they either have it and won’t give it to make my next step goddamn impossible, or they literally don’t know what I’m asking for. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen but it’s certainly how I’m feeling.

Suffice it to say that I’m really pissed off about the indie publishing world. (I’ve since been rejected a couple of times by indie publishers for other stuff that I’ve written, so you know, maybe I’m too big of a risk for a small publisher? I dunno.) And I really don’t want to self publish but I don’t see much other choice.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and someone out there will want to give Blaze a chance? Noir is a good genre, and Blaze is likable, right?

For now though, I get to deal with these fucking hoops that I have to jump through and I have to play nicely with everything and it’s pissing me off.

The more energy I have to spend on the business side of things, the less time I have to write. Or rant on my blog. Or read and review books. Or beta read for my friends.

It’s really frustrating and this is the kind of shit that you need to look out for when you sign a contract. So take heed my friends, take heed. Indie publishing is a great step in the publishing world, but it’s also dangerous if you find yourself in the water with people who don’t have proven success rates, and don’t fulfill their contractual obligations or promises.

Okay, rant over. I need a breather.