Guys, I’m rewriting Shenanigans again. Again again. Like, this is probably the fifteenth draft, and at least the third rewrite where I tear it down to bare bones and make story altering changes.

Please God, let it be the last.

I can’t tell at this point, if I’m procrastinating

I’m definitely procrastinating, but it’s also needed. I figured out the ‘thing’ that was missing from this book. It needs to be done. But I’m still procrastinating.

I was first published in 2011. The last time I published a book – with that same publisher – they ripped me off. I got bogus data, have no way to know how many copies actually sold, and don’t know how badly I got ripped off. I published three books and a set of novellas with them. Somewhere between the release of the second book and the novellas, after the third had been contracted, sales took a nose dive – around 2013.

I thought it was me. Thought it was poor marketing. Thought I wasn’t good enough to be a real writer. I was just happy to be published. I knew no one in the industry – not well enough to reach out for help. I asked the publisher for better accounting, but for an indie author, there’s no way to prove that I only sold two copies a month at iBooks.  Amazon is a slightly better story – you can login to your Author Central and track the sales rank of your book. Every time it jumps, you can be fairly sure you sold a copy. But was it one copy or two? *Shrugs*

Eventually, in 2016, I pulled everything I had from that publisher and I never received another check, even for the two copies per month they told me I had been selling for the three years previous. Four years later, I’m still gun shy. I also got burned when Silver Publishing went under. And then the place I sent my drabbles went under.

I currently have nothing available for purchase and can confirm my books have been illegally downloaded more times than I have been paid for their purchase. It’s been a rough decade in publishing.

So I’m procrastinating. But this is the year. This is the final rewrite. I have learned sooooooooo many lessons in the last ten years. This time, I’m not jumping in feet first. I’ve spent four years testing the waters with my toes, and I know exactly which lake I want to be a part of.

Write on.

♥SB