First, I got hit with some massive abdominal pain about 2 hours ago, so I’m not doing too hot. The event that I’m about to mention and warn people about didn’t help. Now, I’m not saying that this is the fault of a vanity press, but it’s a danger that I didn’t realize until recently.
There are companies out there that will buy every book that they can find. They then attempt to resell through auctions and other methods. Usually for an obscenely low or high price. There’s an old version of my book for $76.62 out there and for a few cents. Unfortunately, this can come back to haunt you when you severe your connection with the vanity press to publish independently.
Today, somebody found the old version of Beginning of a Hero on Goodreads and said it was a shame that it was out of print. This was a note in a discussion board at the bottom of the page because I can’t access the book description. I had also mentioned what the cover of the new version looked like. This person didn’t seem to notice that and promptly bought a used copy of the old version. They are also claiming that they will write a review, which is terrifying because that old version is about 5 edit sessions ago. I had tried to contact Goodreads about this before, but I never got a response. The publisher, in turn, has it written into their final letter that they are not responsible for leftover stock in retailer inventory.
It seems I can’t do anything about this since I’ve called, chatted, and e-mailed Amazon (the source) and Goodreads a few times to no avail. My suggestion for anyone else that decides to switch from publisher to independent, get them to write that their edition is out of print on the sites or do something to make buyers aware. They might not do it, but at least try because the alternative is people reading old versions of your book and getting angry. If I could afford to, I’d buy all those old copies, but that $76.62 one makes that impossible.
Legends of Windemere 
Thanks for the advice. Sorry you’re not feeling well. Hope you feel better soon.
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You’re welcome. I hope I bounce back soon. I had the shortest chapter of book 4 to edit today and this just knocked me out of it. I was starting to get better when this little debacle happened and then it kind of surged back.
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Stress upsets my stomach too. Grab up a comedy or something comforting to watch to settle your mind for a while, it might help. And leave Ch. 4 for tomorrow, no reason to add pressure on yourself while feeling down.
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It’s actually chapter 13 of book 4. Won’t be able to relax until the munchkin is down for bed. He’s on a pretty nasty tear.
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😦 that sucks, I’m sorry.
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When it rains, it pours sometimes. Nothing I can do about it.
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Sorry you’re having troubled times. Hopefully people will use their heads and Google a little bit to see that they don’t need to pay $76 for an old copy (unless they really, really wanted to I guess).
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I have my fingers crossed on that. The cheapest one is 3.99, but I can’t see how they’re finding this one and not noticing the other one. Personally, I would be curious as to why an author has two different looking with the same name. A small investigation would reveal the situation. Hopefully, this person realizes this.
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Hope you feel better soon and thank you for the information
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I’m so glad you posted about this. I hope you’re able to feel better soon!
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I’m getting better little by little. The sudden panic probably made it worse. From what I can tell, my method of jumping from laptop to printed novel might have caused me to pull something in my lower back. I have to be one of the only authors to pull something while editing.
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🙂 Definitely something to keep in a journal!
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This sounds like an opportunity for an interview/article on Goodreads and/or review on the latest edition of the book which could address the ‘out of print’ issue. Is that helpful suggestion. Sorry if its not.
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Thanks. I actually didn’t know Goodreads does interview or articles because I’m fairly new to it. That could hep the issue. Do you happen to know how I would set that up?
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Not exactly. I do see that authors can post to their page. I get alerts to postings on other authors that I follow. These have included announcements and reviews. Nosy around your author page. If you don’t have one yet you should see to that. Hmmm, a reviewer could write a review and interview.
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I have an author page and I put as many notes on the old version as I could. I’ll have to look into it.
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