$500 Anyone?

For those of you who are family and personal friends, you probably know that I have written two books. They were published in 2010 and 2011. Many of you supported me at the time and attended my book signings, wished me well, or even ordered a book or two. I am still very grateful for that.

Life moved on. My books were on Amazon, but after a few years there wasn’t much movement in sales. What I have since learned about marketing, I could have done much better. But it is what it is. I moved, had a couple of surgeries, and eventually retired. I was not actively involved in writing anymore. When I decided to dive into it again (read last week’s post if you haven’t yet done so) , I went on Amazon to check on my books. Imagine my surprise when my first book, Queen of the Castle, was listed for over $500! The other, Shifting Sand, was the standard price. I spent the next two days  making calls in three different states, emailing any contacts I had, and trying to find out anything I could. As it turns out, my publishing company went out of business about two years ago. Hello???  An email or a letter would have been nice. I am desperately trying to get the rights back to my books. I found out some authors received emails and their rights back which ticked me off even more. My address changed over the years but my email never did. I had even given them an updated physical address.  The reason my book was selling ridiculously high is because the books are out of print and it’s a third party trying to sell it. Ironically, I didn’t have anymore copies of Queen of the Castle, so right now I don’t even own a copy for myself. I know where I can get one so I’m not stressing about it. I do want to get the rights back, change the cover and my new last name, make a few edits and self publish them myself. This time I want to market them better. It’s a waiting game to see if I will hear from the correspondence I sent. (If any copyright attorneys are reading this, please message me.)

As an author who put years into writing these, it’s heart breaking to know what’s happened. Your books and the characters you develop and spend years with become part of you. Other writers will understand. I don’t want it to end here. I will continue to fight for my rights. I was told by someone I don’t  even know and who knew nothing about my books that I still had a story to tell. I was told I should not stop writing.Those exact seven words, I still had a story to tell, hit my heart in a profound way because I had heard them before. Perhaps another post will be about that. So, they maybe out of print but I plan to resurrect them.

For those of you who have copies of the books, you can say you have a Peggy Clement original, 1st edition. It may not be worth more than the words you say but say it anyway. haha (And hold on to them just in case). I may be down but I’m not out.