MJ Allaire, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by MJ Allaire
Thinking about publishing through AuthorHouse? 4/13/2008 6:52:54 PM
I'm currently in the middle of publishing my 3rd YA Fantasy Novel (in a series of 5) through AuthorHouse and really having a rough time with them this time around... Well, I was really hoping that my next blog would be filled with a satisfied author's excitement, saying, "They've finally done it! AuthorHouse FINALLY finished my galley!" ...
But I'm not.
Well, let me rephrase that. After over 6 weeks of waiting (since the design meeting) for them to DO the galley, it WAS done, but the page count was too high. After I tried contacting anyone within the company that I thought would make a difference would be successful in expediting this process, I finally left a voice mail early last week with a Production Manager. He never called me back (I'm not surprised, to say the least), but the next day I see in the Author Center where it says in big red letters "This Book Needs Attention!". So I go there and woooooohoooooooooo there's a link to download my galley!!!
Yippppppppppppeeeeeeeeee!!
So I click on the link trying to quell my excitement, anxious to finally get a glimpse of what the inside of the book is going to look like, but instead, what do I see?
A message smack dab in the center of the page. Where this message is, it would normally have an adobe acrobat icon to click on which will then prompt me to open or save the galley file, but oh no, there is no adobe icon.
Instead, there's another message that tells me there is an error with the download, and it's either because they're still working on my galley (but WHY would there have even been a link on the previous page that said "download galley"???) OR the file is larger than 50 MB.
You've GOT to be kidding me!
Right away I send an email to both Trent (he was in charge of my cover design, and I guess he's also in charge of my galley design now too) AND the author support center telling them I CAN'T download my galley. Again, not surprisingly, I end up getting the silent treatment from them.
Finally on THURSDAY (4/10) I get a call on my cell phone from Trent. He says they're working on my galley and they're aware that I want the page count to come down. He also says that his supervisor is now working on it with him (ABOUT TIME!) and they can delete 4 blank pages in between where one chapter ends and another begins. This will drop it down below the 318 pages (which is what I requested back in Feb when I had the initial design meeting) and he wants to know if this is okay with me? I said absolutely, I need my book to get finished! He assures me that they will either do it that afternoon, or on Friday. When they are done, he will EMAIL me my galley, and if I'm satisfied with it, I can email them back agreeing with it, and then that part will be DONE!! The only other things left to do will be to do the pricing agreement (which I won't do until they get the page count down and I've seen the galley) and pay for the book seller's return program....
Well, it's now Sunday, and believe it or not (I know, not is not an option... sigh)... I STILL don't have my galley.
I'm so fed up with AuthorHouse, it's really not funny anymore. With my prior two books, the entire process took about 3 months. I'm now almost at the 3 1/2 month point and by the time this book goes live, I'm sure I'll be over the 4 month point. Someone at AuthorHouse dropped the ball on the production of this book and I'm really not happy about it. Hopefully my next blog will be filled with nothing but happiness!
Hugs and have a good week!! MJ
(For more info on what's been going on, please read my other blogs...)
www.mjallaire.com
www.myspace.com/mjallaire
4/14/08 update!!
As of this morning, AuthorHouse FINALLY finished my galley an I was able to sign off on both that AND the pricing agreement!!! IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! It only took 7 weeks, almost to the day! Now I just have to pay them for the Book Seller's Return Program for Dragon's Tear, and hopefully, I say HOPEFULLY, the book will go live by the end of NEXT week!!
