This Time Last Year

Every once in a while I enjoy to take a walk down memory lane and remember what had happened in

the past. It can be anything from years ago to only hours behind, and each memory brings with it varying feelings. Now as I look back, I'm recalling this time of year last year.

Last year I released two Halloween stories, Toy Soldier (Cauldron of Tales Anthology) and To Die Tonight. Those books were being written, contracted, and/or edited about this time a year. With Toy Soldier it was a fun and happy experience as a few of my fellow authors and friends came together and decided to self publish this little collection of stories. I enjoyed every minute of working with my girls on producing this little project. We all pitched in with edits, and promo, and although the anthology didn't make us a ton of money, the warm memories will always remain.

After a year, I'm saddened to say that our joint project has been pulled and our rights returned back to all of us. Yup, Toy Soldier, my little short story of a toy come to life, is no longer available for purchase. I recently read over Toy Soldier as I considered publishing it elsewhere, but I feel the story needs to be extended and improved, and I don't have enough time to do so in time for this Halloween.

However, my other story, To Die Tonight, has the opposite experience. This one was sold to a publisher that had a lot of negative press due to them forgetting to pay their authors for almost a year. A few months after I signed my contract with Noble, the news broke and all their authors went on a rampage, warning readers and fellow authors to stay away from this cheating press. After learning all this, I didn't want to become one of their unpaid statistics and tried to pull my rights several times and was met with no responses or denials of rights. Although my editor with them was great, my thoughts of the publisher were bad compared to my experiences elsewhere. This publisher promised me one release date, then neglected to inform me that they were going to delay it for a week with no reason as to why. They actually released my Halloween themed story in early November. I didn't even bother to promo the book was it was released after the holiday it was about. I had given up hope on getting my rights back for this book, and knew that I will just have to accept that it's with Noble for the next seven year.

And then, Noble announced they are exiting the industry and returning rights back to author. Needless to day, I'm happy as a clam to have my little book back. I don't know what I'll do with it, and I don't know if it will come out this Halloween or will I have to wait for next year, but I'm also out of a contract that I had regretted signing.

It's kinda strange how two different stories, one with a happy experience, the other not so much, both came back to me in search of a new home.