Author Issues (Some of Them are Not Fun)

 I'm really on the fence about how I feel about Ingram Spark as a publisher, but because they don't charge me to publish my books it's hard to argue all the little details. However, some of those little details are not all that small.

    The book "Bay Sorrel Ranch" has 358 pages and I set up the cover with that in mind. They, Ingram, ran the book and basically cut off the words I had written on the back cover. Of course, when they sent it to me for approval, it didn't look that way. It was only after I approved it, ordered it, and received it, that I noticed.  I complained, but they kept writing back to me saying it was approved. HELLO...it was approved, but the image I received in the approval did not match the actual cover!

    Because Ingram Spark doesn't charge, they also don't give good customer service; not really.  They email, and they send vague answers. You have to write to them several times to get someone who will actually work with you. I've found a way to somewhat "assert" myself, but I always feel like a bully when I do it. They really should just do their job and then we authors wouldn't have to strong-arm anyone. 

    I have to say things like, "You know, I've published 13 books with you now, Do you think you want to work with me on this issue or should I escalate this to your supervisor?" When I say that, someone usually comes through for me. The sad thing is, I have to say that. I shouldn't have to. They should DO THEIR JOB!!

    One of the issues I've had over and over again with Ingram Spark is that they accept my manuscript interior or exterior file and then they reject it saying there is corruption, but they don't tell me, and they won't tell me, what that corruption is. Thankfully, a man at Adobe told me that 100% of the time he has seen that, it is usually a font that hasn't been "embedded" or "flattened".  He explained that to me as well, and how I need to literally check a box before I save the file. Geez.

    Anyway, after I've done that, and send it back to Ingram Spark to publish, I've had them reject it again as if there was still corruption. What I do at that point is send the same damn file back to them but I change the name and date, and Viola! They accept it. That proves to me that there was NEVER corruption in the first place. It was just some worker over there in the Philippines who didn't want to go through the motions to do his or her job. Maybe it was too close to the time they went home; I don't know. But they LIED and they constantly lie, and I'm just about done with them.

    With "Bay Sorrel Ranch", they cut off my cover and I had to redo it.  Since they accepted it and told me it was the right size, I argued with them saying I would not pay the revision fee. They sent me a code to use so I didn't have to pay for it. That made me happy.  I sent the revision up today and hopefully in a couple of days it will be fine and I'll be able to put it back on the market.  It's not as if hundreds or thousands of copies were being sold, but the fact is if only ONE was sold to someone who paid $18 for a good book and that person had the same experience I did, they would think it was ME that cheated them. 

    Believe me, no one blames the publisher for something like that. They put the blame on the author! Why? I have no idea, but they will say my books were miscut, I didn't have the withal to find a better publisher, or whatever. It was literally a few pages too fat for the cover, but they didn't tell me that. The book cover generator I used said it was OK. I hope this one is. I don't like doing things over three or four times.

    I think in the future I'll make the book cover a good 10 pages bigger than the actual book and see if that works. I'd hate for it to be too big and be rejected...this is an art form, people. It really is. You have to have a subscription to something like CANVA and then use a generated book cover template from KDP or someone, and you have to superimpose it onto your Canva project and work through the prompts. 

    I am super excited that Canva, Adobe, and KDP as well as Ingram Spark exist. I can literally write my books, edit my books, create the interior formatting, and design the cover for next to nothing. I can upload them for free, and they pay me the same as Amazon or any other platform would pay me for a copy of a book. An author gets about $1.40 per $18.00 book. It's not glamorous. I'm excited about putting the books on EPUB or E-book platforms because I can charge $3.99 for the book and earn $2.80. That's the ticket.  That begins in June. Woot!