Buckle in: This will be one hell of a rollercoaster!
Hello everyone.
Today’s blog article will be a confusing mess. On one hand, I feel over the moon, and on the other I feel a wreck.
Let’s start from the beginning: After weeks of much consternation–and waiting–I was able to get a few poems of mine published in an Indian anthology–that’s more or less the jest of the story. I was approached by a representative of Rosewood Publications on Instagram, which you know is my preferred medium to interact with everyone and show my own works. I was offered the opportunity to feature in their upcoming poetry anthology, Tranquil Torments, which had an open theme and featured English- and Hindi-speaking writers. At first it seemed like a great opportunity, but the worst was yet to come…
How To Get A Copy:
If you live in India, you can buy this anthology from Amazon as a Paperback (the link is to the left). This is good news for my readers from India, who are the second largest demographic that form my readership!
However, the real bummer is that I doubt that this anthology will be available outside of India in paperback form–at least for the foreseeable future, anyhow.
Even I can’t get a hand on a paperback edition of this anthology, which is slightly annoying [1].
I made it clear to the publishers that I am a UK writer, but they did not check to make sure that I knew that the paperback edition was only be available in India [2]. When their representative asked me where I am from, I told them plainly that I am from the UK, England–just see the message conversation in the gallery near the bottom. To me, their messages didn’t give the impression that me being from the UK would prevent me from getting involved with the project (“Ya” means the same as ‘OK’ to me haha) [3].
An E-book version is available, the link for which is to the right. I understand that E-books aren’t to everyone’s taste (nothing beats holding a physical book!), but unfortunately there’s not much of an option.
Yes, I have got a copy of the E-Book edition, and yes, there are a few editorial decisions that I wouldn’t have made while compiling the anthology; when viewing it on my laptop through kindle, it didn’t seem like the titles of my second and third poem were clear enough–so it would be challenging for some readers to see where one poem ends and another starts. Whether that’s due to a glitch on my computer or a genuine editorial error I can’t say for certain [4].
Also, if you’re thinking of getting a copy so I can get paid, don’t. I won’t be receiving any percentage of the profits.
Cause Of Concern
If you’re still willing and able to get a paperback copy of ‘Tranquil Torments’ then please do! After all, this poetry anthology might contain poems from other writers who are in the same position as me. Just be aware that once you click the ‘buy’ button, I don’t know what’ll arrive at your door!
It might seem that this blog is just one big diss [5], but I feel like I’m obliged to call out bad practice in an industry that I love. I’ll happily admit that I was stupid enough to get ripped off in the first place: I shouldn’t have jumped on board so easily; I should’ve abandoned ship when the first hallmarks of a disaster loomed over the horizon.
Going forward, I will avoid any publication offers from social media accounts, which tell me that I must pay them in order to be featured.
If there’s any changes to this situation–which is doubtful at the moment–I’ll do a mini-update called ‘Mini-Update: A Rant’.
So, what do you think of this situation? Comment, like, and share my story, so new and vulnerable creatives like myself can learn from my experience and avoid making the same mistakes as me!
[1]: Its generally an unspoken rule for publishers, especially UK ones, to give authors one (to a few) free copies of their books, or copies that are ‘heavily’ discounted. As I’m sure you can imagine, it’s quite insulting when a representative of the publisher turns around and asks me to PAY FULL-PRICE FOR ONE COPY, when I already PAID to be part of this anthology.
[2]: I could be wrong here, but if I was a publisher from one country, and I was dealing with a writer from another, surely it’d be essential to double-check and clarify important bits? Or simply not open submissions to foreign writers, when I know they will never get a copy due to delivery issues? Somebody tell me if I’m expecting too much here!
[3]: Miscommunication will be a recurrent theme in the texts I received.
[4]: You’ll also notice that each verse of Homeless actually ‘spill over’ onto the next line, taking up two lines instead of one. When drafting the poems, I used an A4-sized Word Document, so each line went from the left to the right margin. In the published editions, they chose a two-column layout, causing my poems to flow in an…unexpected way. Had I known of this, then I would’ve written the poems in a different style.
[5]: I’ll fully admit that it is to a large degree! HOWEVER, I do still appreciate the fact that they decided to take a chance to publish me, and for that I’m grateful. If nothing else, its been a huge learning experience–one that (ironically) a University degree in English And Creative Writing still hasn’t prepared me for.
Electrify 