Tag: publishing

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General

Raw Meat Release Issues and Fallout

This is just another update on the status of my novel Raw Meat. Following months of technical problems with Amazon, I’ve decided to withdraw the book and find another way of distributing it next year.

None of this is Amazon’s fault, exactly. The process for registering ISBN numbers and releasing books is complicated, and I was doing it all for the first time. I made the mistake of registering the ISBN number several weeks in advance of self-publishing the book, and that seemed to cause some truly monumental issues with Amazon’s content review system.

I’m grateful for the help Amazon’s support staff have offered. Unfortunately, the technical issues started to get so serious that they were affecting my account, and I don’t feel confident releasing Raw Meat on Amazon any longer in case it results in me being unable to self-publish future projects with them.

There a couple of reasons I’m now postponing the release until next year. The main one is that I’m obliged to honour a 90-day period of exclusivity with Amazon. But honestly, even if I did not have to wait out the exclusivity period, I’m also just exhausted. This process has been stressful and demoralising, and I need a break for a few months before I try to take on the release process all over again.

I’m sincerely sorry to anyone who was thinking about buying the book and hadn’t gotten around to it yet. I will find a way to publish it next year, even if it’s just making it available to read here on my website.

In the meantime, I’m going to focus on my latest writing project and learn whatever lessons I can from everything that went wrong with this attempted release!

Categories
General

ebook launched

I had some good news today when I woke up to find that the Raw Meat ebook has launched on Amazon.

Unfortunately the ongoing technical issues are still preventing me from releasing the paperback version of the book. But the ebook release is great news nonetheless.

Once the technical issues with the paperback version have been resolved, I will probably try to promote the book more on social media and Amazon in an effort to get a few reviews. Until then, I’m treating this as a ‘soft launch’.

If you’re interested in reading the ebook, it is currently free to read for anyone with a subscription to Kindle Unlimited. For those without Kindle Unlimited, the ebook is available on Amazon for £3.99. Just search for Raw Meat by Edmund Axton on the Amazon app or site, and you should be able to find it.

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Uncategorized

Publishing Setbacks and Writing Slumps

Going into this year, my plan was to self-publish my novel Raw Meat around the start of October. Raw Meat is a dystopian urban fantasy horror set in a city struggling to control the spread of an endemic lycanthropic virus. Including rewrites and edits, the novel took me four years to complete.

You may have noticed that it is almost the start of October, and the novel is still not out. Unfortunately there have been some technical issues with the distributor, and I’m still waiting for those to be resolved. At the moment, I have no idea if or when those issues will ever be fixed, so as things stand the release is indefinitely paused. I can’t even release the novel for free here on my website, as this could potentially cause further complications in the future.

It goes without saying that falling at the last hurdle like this, after so much hard work, is disappointing. It’s made me question my approach to releasing my writing, especially self-publishing, which I’m now much more hesitant about in general. I had no idea technical problems like this could even happen, let alone cause such prolonged delays.

Earlier in the year I was making good progress on a horror novella, but for the past couple of weeks I have taken a break from writing fiction. I can’t bring myself to do it right now, after such a frustrating setback. Doubtless I will pick it up again soon, though. I always do.