Hey Writers. Yeah, YOU.

So I'm thinking about starting a publication...

I've always been a "pay it forward" guy. As a writer, where would I be without publications to which I submit my work? Where would I be without awesome editors who took the time to glance at my stuff, sometimes read it, and in some rare instances publish that work?

With all this in mind, I'm considering another publication. This is all groundwork and nothing is chiseled into a Lovecraftian stone monolith at the bottom of the ocean. If you have a few moments, please take my survey and feel free to share it with other writers. 

Publish This! (a survey for writers)

I'll collect surveys for the next month and share the results on the other side. Rumor has it flying monkeys might bring you a cookie.

I am Alive?

I haven't gone a week without some sort of blathering blog post in nearly five years. Five years.

I missed blogging, slightly, but I've been busy--I wish I was busy writing the great American (horror) novel, but I haven't.

My grandfather passed away on my birthday. He was 97, so it wasn't exactly unexpected, but all the same... death is always sad. We had to adjust spring break travel plans and come home a day early from our little trip to Omaha (zoo, water park...) My mother-in-law stayed with us for three days (breathe...) I got a new job (guidance counselor at the same school) And my Amazon KDP account was blocked.

Ouch.

I'd had a few books for sale under pseudonyms which were compiled of material from my years as an English teacher. Evidently, these were considered "freely available on the internet". Amazon warned me once and blocked a book. Three days later, my account was shut down. I've received nothing but form replies to my queries.Form replies never answer very specific questions.

Me? Bewildered. Sad. Frustrated. Maybe I was a little too ambitious, but I really didn't think anything I was doing violated the TOS. Of course that TOS is slightly ambiguous in parts. I would have unpublished all of my books and started from scratch had I enough foresight, but alas... I didn't.

Amazon, here's a plea from me to future independent authors: Please complete a more thorough review of books before allowing them to be published (you suggest 24-48 hours, but most books are up within 12). Every book you took issue with had been for sale for weeks (if not months) before I had any indication I'd stepped over a line (a line I continued to step over with no warning).

What do I do now? Find a publisher for my books?

And keep writing. Keep writing.

Roadblocks are just roadblocks. There's more than one way to Omaha.