We received an interesting email last week that brought to light a possible scenario that could have been very bad for us…and completely NOT our fault.

A gentleman submitted his book to us quite awhile ago and it was rejected (we accept less than 5% of manuscripts for publication on BookLocker.com). He emailed us later, asking for the status of his submission, and I emailed him back, again telling him his book had been rejected and sending him a copy of my previous email. Awhile later, he again emailed asking the status of his submission and I again sent him copies of my previous correspondence.

This type of email confusion usually results from aggressive sp*m filters which, while they do help somewhat, also hurt businesses and individuals by hiding important and legitimate correspondence. Had he emailed again, I would have tried to find his physical address and would have printed and mailed the emails to him. But, thankfully, that was not necessary because he emailed us one final time.

Apparently what happened is this. After lamenting about our lack of response to his submission and subsequent emails, his wife finally admitted to him that she’d been deleting our emails. She was afraid of what a rejection by a “self-publishing company” would do to his self-esteem. While I admire the obvious love and protectiveness she has for her husband, I was pretty mad thinking about what this individual could have done to our reputation had his wife not come clean about her actions. And, I bet she’s not the first person who’s tried to protect a spouse from disappointment in a similar manner.

If an individual makes false statements about a company’s responses, even if they never saw the company’s responses, it is considered libel. If an individual accuses a company of doing something that they never did, the accusations are false, even if the person didn’t know their statements were false.

So, if you’re not getting responses from an editor or publisher, and you share your computer with a devoted spouse, you might want to ask them some gentle and detailed questions before firing off angry emails and reporting the unresponsive editor/publisher to the writing forums. And, always contact a company in writing, via regular mail, before taking drastic action against them. Your or their sp*m filter may be the culprit for the undelivered communications.

Got questions about Print On Demand and Self-publishing? Ask Angela Hoy.

About The Author

Angela Hoy is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the author of 19 books, and the co-owner of BookLocker.com (one of the original POD publishers that still gets books to market in less than a month), PubPreppers.com (print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish), and Abuzz Press (the publishing co-op that charges no setup fees).

Angela has lived and traveled across the U.S. with her kids in an RV, settled in a river-side home in Bradenton, FL, and lived on a 52 ft Irwin sailboat. Angela now resides on a mountaintop in Northwest Georgia, where she plans to spend the rest of her days bird watching, gardening, hiking, and taking in all of the amazing sunrises.

WritersWeekly.com - the free marketing ezine for writers, which features new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday.

BookLocker.com - According to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is: "As close to perfection as you're going to find in the world of ebook and POD publishing. The ebook royalties are the highest I've ever seen, and the print royalties are better than average. BookLocker understands what new authors experience, and have put together a package that is the best in the business. You can't go wrong here. Plus, they're selective and won't publish any manuscript just because it's accompanied by a check. Also, the web site is well trafficked. If you can find a POD or epublisher with as much integrity and dedication to selling authors' books, but with lower POD publishing fees, please let me know."

Abuzz Press offers FAST and FREE book publication, but only accepts a small percentage of submissions, and only works with U.S. authors.

PubPreppers.com - "We Prep, You Publish!" Print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish. Offers formatting and design services only, and then provides simple instructions for authors on where to sign up to have the print and ebook editions printed/listed/sold. Cut out the middle man. Keep 100% of what bookstores pay for your book!

Angela's POD Secrets Revealed Series can be found HERE.

Have a POD Book with another publisher? See if BookLocker can give you a better deal. (BookLocker offers "disgruntled author discounts" to those who want to move from other POD services.)

See BookLocker's publishing packages HERE.

ANGELA ON TWITTER https://twitter.com/AngelaHoy

BOOKLOCKER ON FACEBOOK - Provides links to free excerpts!
https://www.facebook.com/booklockerbooks

ANGELA ON FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/angela.hoy.750

ANGELA ON LINKEDIN
https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelahoy/

Angela is the creator of the Original 24-Hour Short Story Contest!
https://24hourshortstorycontest.com/

Read More Of Angela's Articles HERE