April 18th-Falling from Cloud 9 (Vanity Publishers)

How about a quick catch-up to what I have been achieving with my writing. I took up the A to Z blogging challenge as a way to get me out of a mindset of writing but also to try new genres. Let me tell you that it has been a rollercoaster of emotions and distractions. I have huge plans for some, maybe even all of my shorts super excited to finish the challenge. There is such a great and encouraging community of writers, bloggers, and artists that offer support and I’m thrilled to see that people are actually reading my writing.

So here is how I went from being on cloud 9 to falling back into my world. That isn’t a bad thing don’t get me wrong but this is more of a cautionary tale. I received an email from an individual from a publishing house. I was excited but then became very leary. I did some research and noticed that the person’s email ended in a ‘.com’ and the publisher’s website ended in a ‘.net’. So, I reached out to the company via their Facebook inquiring about the individual that contacted me. I was then informed that indeed the solicitor worked for them and they hoped to get a submission from me. I didn’t quite celebrate but allowed myself to get excited. I should have known better!

I thought maybe the whole company is one of those publishing houses that want you to pay money to submit. So I searched through blogs until I came across a post that talked about VANITY PUBLISHERS (never once did I come across their blog until I went to there website). My heart sank so fast, even my coworker asked if I was ok. ‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ I said on the outside but one the inside I felt like a sucker for getting hopeful. The bummed as hell that it wasn’t a real publishing company. Then my husband came through and said, ‘There is still no reason you can’t self-publish. You have some amazing stories. Don’t stop writing because a company tries taking advantage of new writers. You are not a victim because you followed your instincts.’

I’m not saying, ‘Never get excited,’ what I’m encouraging you to do is research something before committing. Please don’t fall for companies like these. I’m going to sulk for a bit then maybe cook dinner when I get off work.