Many more months of deliberation followed the revelation that I was not the publisher of my ‘self published’ book. I was advised it is all in the fine print of the contract I signed. Yes, there was a disclaimer advising to get legal advice before signing the contract. For a novice at the level of knowledge I had, this means nothing – one trusts the company to do the right thing by its clients. I finally made the decision to break the Balboa Press contract after being assured that I owned the copyright of the book that was published.
Unfortunately, I was unable to get the source file from them; copyright to the illustrations or the ISBN number assigned to the book. Again, in the fine print it stated. “any illustrations Balboa Press organised(which were a part of the package)were to remain their copyright.”
Learning…learning…learning all the time.
I learned a ‘self-published’ author was responsible for the marketing of their book, which meant I had to start learning about internet marketing! More learning……
At this point in time, I spent many weeks in contemplation; should I just give up – put it all in the too hard basket?
Alec meets Sheikadee was one of many stories I had written over 5 years ago for my grand children – to bring awareness to them of their energy field and how it affected them and others around them; to bring awareness of their sub-conscious mind and how it runs so much of their lives. I never intended to publish the stories when they were written. An unseen force had prodded me for a couple of years to do so, before I decided to still the insistent voice within. I had no idea why I was being led to publish any of the stories.
I searched for the answer to why I felt led to publish.
Was the motivation to leave a legacy for my grandchildren? If the stories were beneficial and enjoyable to my grandchildren, could they be beneficial to children world wide?
If I gave up now, I would not have achieved anything to the standard I have maintained throughout my life. I would feel that I had failed to achieve anything worthwhile. Would the insistent voice, stop pushing me, even after all this difficulty?
After much soul searching, I decided I had to move on; to learn the lesson, find the pathway I needed, and to move forward. I decided the stories did have benefit for children world wide, and I chose to publish all the stories as The Spiritual Heritage for Children Series.
The search began for a way to re-publish Alec meets Sheikadee after revising and adding new illustrations. Without the source file it was not possible to change the book to fit industry standards. It was only when I started down this pathway, I found the book, as it was published by Balboa Press, did not meet industry standards. It has a 24 page spread and the industry standard for this type of work is 32 pages. All the pictures in the book were printed on the opposite page to the industry standard.
Because I could not obtain the source file, nor have copyright to the illustrations or the ISBN, it was necessary to start all over again. I guess by now I am feeling a bit ‘bloody minded’ about it all. There is no way I am going to start a project that is not up to the acceptable standard. There is no alternative- I just have to move on, one small step at a time.
