As a first-time cookbook author, I believed I had found a publishing partner that would help bring my book to readers around the world. In March 2025, I signed a nine-month publishing and marketing agreement for my cookbook, The Balanced Plate. Like many new authors, I relied on the company’s promises, marketing projections, and contractual commitments when deciding to invest thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately, my experience did not match those expectations. The agreement included a 100% satisfaction guarantee if the contractual terms were not fulfilled, or if I was dissatisfied with the services.

It also outlined an extensive marketing campaign that included 15 on-site blog posts and 15 off-site articles each month, 12 press releases, two social media posts per week, monthly performance reports, and a live television interview. Marketing projections also referenced a potential return on investment of 200% to 300%. (Editor’s note: NO company can guarantee returns on investment!)

According to my records, many of these deliverables were either incomplete or never provided. During the 9-month agreement, I identified only 20 on-site blog posts instead of the 135 contemplated by the contract. I was able to identify only 2 press releases rather than the 12 promised. I received only 2 monthly performance reports out of the 9 months, and the live television interview never happened. Despite repeated requests, I was not provided documentation allowing me to verify the publication of the off-site articles.

After approximately 16 months, I am not aware of any book sales generated through the company’s marketing efforts. The only sales I could attribute were the result of my own marketing activities, Amazon listings, and purchases made by friends and family.

Throughout the engagement, I also found myself correcting website SEO, metadata, schema markup, and other optimization issues that I believed should have been addressed as part of the marketing services.

Many blogs published during the campaign had poor SEO optimization, while content I later created myself significantly outperformed the original work.

When I attempted to resolve these concerns, I followed the procedures outlined in the agreement. I submitted written notices, requested documentation, and sought a refund under the contract’s satisfaction guarantee. I also requested the company’s legal business information and service address after my courier package sent to the contract address was returned. My requests ultimately went unanswered.

After making repeated good-faith efforts to resolve the matter directly, I have begun pursuing formal legal and consumer protection remedies.

My purpose in sharing this experience is not to discourage authors from pursuing their publishing dreams. Instead, I encourage every author to perform thorough due diligence before signing any publishing or marketing agreement. Ask detailed questions, independently verify promises, keep copies of every communication, monitor the work being performed, and ensure that every contractual deliverable is documented. Doing so may save you significant time, expense, and frustration.