This week, I had a nightmare come true.
Let me qualify that; no one got hurt and no one died, the house didn’t burn down and I still have a job, so on the grand scheme let's keep things in proportion…but as a writer, things don’t get much worse than this. You see my latest book, Eulogy's Secret, has just come off promotion on Amazon and had a staggering 28,000 free downloads.
Fantastic! Wonderful!
Except the next day my editor emailed to warn me that the book's formatting had been corrupted. "Eulogy's Secret" was no longer a thing a beauty but had transformed from historical romance into a horror story. The perfect indents, page breaks and paragraphs had been lost and my labour of love had become an amorphous stream of words… currently uploaded onto 28,000 reader's Kindles.
I never again want to feel that sinking sensation; the horrible feeling of being out of control, of wanting to explain but not being able to make people hear. I couldn’t concentrate on anything, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t write (which is my comfort in times of stress) until the book was re-formatted and uploaded.
Deep breath.
Three days later and Amazon has things in hand. A newly formatted version is live and the wonderful people at Amazon will email each and every person who downloaded the book to offer a replacement copy…but you have to admit, as nightmares go - it's a good one. Which brings me neatly back to my book.
At the beginning of "Eulogy's Secret", we join our heroine, Eulogy Foster, alone in London as she searches for her estranged brother, Lord Lucien Devlin. But on his doorstep she is attacked and robbed of the papers that prove her identity. At knife point, ruffians carry her off down a side street where she fears for her life. But luckily, her cries for help are heard by a passing stranger, Jack Huntley. A scuffle breaks out and Jack rescues Eulogy from one nightmare… but with no money, alone and without a bed for the night, for her problems have only just started.
Part of Eulogy's nightmare is that she is powerless to make people believe the truth…and then ironically, if she told Jack Huntley her secret, she may never know if his growing feelings for her are real, or influenced by other factors..
My problems are insignificant compared to Eulogy's, but I'm sure you also have some horror stories. So please, do leave a comment. Do share your disaster stories!
Grace x
Where you buy Grace's books:
Eulogy's Secret:
Amazon US
http://www.amazon.com/Eulogys-Secret-Huntley-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B005XD5IBA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329588117&sr=1-1
Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eulogys-Secret-Huntley-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B005XD5IBA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329588223&sr=1-1
A Dead Man's Debt
Amazon US
http://www.amazon.com/A-Dead-Mans-Debt-ebook/dp/B0046REKBS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329588148&sr=1-1
Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Dead-Mans-Debt-ebook/dp/B0046REKBS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329588251&sr=1-1
Cat Pies - Feline Historical Trivia.
Amazon US
http://www.amazon.com/Cat-Pies-historical-trivia-ebook/dp/B006IDCSBC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329588173&sr=1-1
Amazon UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cat-Pies-historical-trivia-ebook/dp/B006IDCSBC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329588274&sr=1-1
Yes that happened to me, Grace. Horrible! Writer's emotions soar and sink on a daily basis, lol. Great news about the book though.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, Maggi, how awful.
ReplyDeleteDid your nightmare have a happy ending?
G x
Hi Grace and April,
ReplyDeleteWhat a nightmare for you, especially after the conversations we had been having about certain aspects of the books editing.
I am glad to hear that Amazon got their act together so quickly and I hope that they have sorted out the ease with which this violaton seems to have happened.
I know that it is not quite the same when the figures are mostly free downloads, but 28,000 is still a staggering success rate and it all helps to get your name known out there!
How is the follow up to 'Eulogy's Secret' coming along?
Yvonne