Need to Vent

@just4him (303392)
Green Bay, Wisconsin
February 8, 2018 4:15pm CST
I've been working most of the day on Scarred. Some of you may know I accidentally deleted my manuscript from my hard drive, and found the copy the editors I fired, sent back to me. I was on Facebook a few minutes ago and saw a post from my friend, with a Voodoo doll saying she was poking pins in it and if her friends didn't feel anything, we were safe. I told her I hoped they were the likenesses of two certain people. That's how I feel right now, after working on fixing all the problems they left me with. When I sent them Scarred to help me with marketing, they did say they were going to reformat it to fit the book size for the publisher they worked for. I can understand taking a manuscript and changing the paper size as necessary. What I don't understand is changing the font sizes, changing the text fonts, making all the changes they did, which frankly made a disastrous mess out of my manuscript. They had three different fonts, and three different text sizes. They had it left, right, center, and left-right aligned so that I am constantly making changes so it all lines up the way it should. It's a mess. They also have words hyphenated that shouldn't be hyphenated. When I sent them the manuscript, it only had one hyphenated word in the entire manuscript and that's the main character's name - Jo-Ann. There shouldn't be any others, but sadly there are. Lots of them. When I got the second edition from them, before I knew what they had done to my manuscript, I found a chapter that had a space in the middle of the paragraph. It made no sense to me how anyone would do that or why they would do that. I now know exactly how that happened as I have been needing to get the first paragraph of every chapter fixed. It's been a royal headache. So far I have the book in the correct size, with mirrored margins. I found the correct fonts I want for the title pages, and the chapter titles. They also renumbered all the pages, not even using the header option. So, I'm getting rid of page numbers. I'll get it all fixed when I get the book properly fixed, though I might do it now. With the mess I have, my 495 page book has 856 pages. I've cut it down from 881. I know there are other authors here, and I only hope you don't ever have the trouble I've run into with your editors, and they are responsible and reliable. It's doubtful I will ever trust another editor. For some good news. I ordered a new set of books for the radio personalities I sent them to back in November, that never reached them, and ended up in the dead letter office. I received them last week, and sent them out UPS. They arrived as they should on Monday. Now, I wait to find out if they will be kind enough to promote them for me. I did work on New Horizons also early this morning, before I started on Scarred. I've put it away for the day, before my blood pressure goes too high for all the problems I'm facing. I got five chapters done today, I think, or I'm starting chapter 5. It's tedious work, making certain I don't miss anything. Thank you for reading my vent.
10 people like this
10 responses
@kobesbuddy (73903)
• East Tawas, Michigan
8 Feb 18
I wasn't going to say this to you, but I've heard something about the owner of Amazon. He's supposedly a crook. I've never had any encounters with him, but Deborah Mitchell voiced this issue on one of her discussions. You can talk to her, if you want to find out what happened. She's a wonderful person!
4 people like this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
9 Feb 18
Amazon isn't my publisher. CreateSapce is. I've never had any trouble with them. CreateSpace is an Amazon company. I've got all my books through CreateSpace. Amazon also doesn't pay out my royalties. CreateSpace does. So, I have no financial dealings with Amazon, unless I buy something from the site, which I've done quite a bit, and never had a problem getting my merchandise from them.
2 people like this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
9 Feb 18
@kobesbuddy That is high.
1 person likes this
@kobesbuddy (73903)
• East Tawas, Michigan
9 Feb 18
@just4him I ordered an $11.00 bag of naturally decaffeinated coffee and they charged me $9.00 for shipping and handling! That's a terribly high amount.
2 people like this
@NJChicaa (115621)
• United States
8 Feb 18
What a nightmare. Just do a little bit each day. There is no rush.
4 people like this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
8 Feb 18
No, there's no rush, since this is already published. However, I do want to get it looking the way it should.
2 people like this
@amadeo (111956)
• United States
8 Feb 18
One do not need this kind of day.Maybe get this worked out better for you?
3 people like this
@amadeo (111956)
• United States
10 Feb 18
@just4him Good luck then.Have a nice evening
1 person likes this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
9 Feb 18
No, I don't need this kind of day. I'll get it taken care of and it will be in good shape again. It probably will be better, which might lead me to putting out a new edition. Who knows what I'm going to do with it. As long as it's ready for whatever lies ahead.
1 person likes this
@DianneN (246452)
• United States
9 Feb 18
I think by now you are your own best editor. I think it would be wise to take a break. Your health is what's most important.
2 people like this
@DianneN (246452)
• United States
10 Feb 18
@just4him It's good you keep extra copies of your manuscripts.
1 person likes this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
10 Feb 18
@DianneN Yes, it is.
1 person likes this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
9 Feb 18
I agree, and I did. You're right. My friend told me I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my writing. I know she's right. It's the only thing I'm a perfectionist about. I won't let another editor touch my work, unless by some odd chance my books get picked up by a traditional publisher. Then I'll just need to worry about my writes as the author. I don't like giving those up either.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323748)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Feb 18
Has Scarred already been published by someone else? I don't understand why you're not comparing it to the printed copy - but perhaps you are. I'm sorry you have so much to do on it now. It sounds a nightmare.
4 people like this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
9 Feb 18
Yes, it's published, thankfully. However, I do like having my manuscript ready in case I need to publish it again, which Scarred is in third edition. It is a nightmare.
3 people like this
@Courtlynn (67002)
• United States
9 Feb 18
Oh man! That's crazy! I'd be so angry! Hope they promote the books!
2 people like this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
9 Feb 18
I hope they do too. It is crazy. I'll be glad when I finally have the whole manuscript sorted out and fixed.
1 person likes this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
11 Feb 18
@Courtlynn It will. I mentioned what happened to my son and he doesn't understand why I still have it on my hard drive since it's published. So, I didn't try to explain it to him.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (67002)
• United States
10 Feb 18
@just4him im sure it'll feel good to have it all fixed.
1 person likes this
@tammys85 (29868)
• Baltimore, Maryland
13 Feb 18
Ugh, I'm sorry. Do you have new editors now? And I hope things get straightened out soon, I know how hard you've been working on your book.
1 person likes this
@tammys85 (29868)
• Baltimore, Maryland
18 Feb 18
@just4him I don't blame you. I'm glad they're published, and I'm really proud of you. I'm sorry I'm always late with catching up; just not on here daily.
1 person likes this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
13 Feb 18
Nope, no new editors. Not going that route ever again. Thanks. It's getting sorted out. I'm just glad both manuscripts are published.
1 person likes this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
19 Feb 18
@tammys85 I understand you don't get here every day. You have more pressing work than being here. Thanks. I'm glad they are too. I'm not looking forward to all the work it will take to get them both taken care of, particularly Scarred.
@jstory07 (133801)
• Roseburg, Oregon
9 Feb 18
I hope the rest of your day goes better for you. Take a break.
1 person likes this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
9 Feb 18
It did go much better. Thank you. I'll be going back to it this afternoon.
@Tampa_girl7 (48855)
• United States
9 Feb 18
Sorry this happened to you.
2 people like this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
9 Feb 18
Thank you. It's going to take a while to get this straightened out, but I think the hard part is over, getting the fonts and the text size taken care of. Now, all I need to do is get the text straightened out.
@KristenH (33355)
• Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
8 Feb 18
Oh man. You've had a rough day. Hope it gets better for you.
1 person likes this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
9 Feb 18
It did. I put it away for the day. Thanks.
2 people like this
@KristenH (33355)
• Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
9 Feb 18
@just4him Welcome. Good for you. Start fresh tomorrow.
2 people like this
@just4him (303392)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
9 Feb 18
1 person likes this