November 21, 2021 I have continued to write nearly every day for the last year, at least a few hours a day until lately. A month ago, I got an email from a publishing company who wanted to talk to me about my book. I was completely 'over the moon'! A publishing company?!!! That next morning, I was on a conference call with the editor of Atmosphere Press, a small press from the east coast. My stomach was a jangle of nerves and my heart was pounding. I just knew this was my big break! After the phone call, a contract immediately arrived in my inbox. This was the first red flag. I read the contract very carefully, then called my friends in the writing and publishing world. Nano Taggert, the editor of a poetry zine, said it raised too many red flags that they wanted me to pay a cost upfront before they started working on it. Micah Player, a local illustrator, said it sounded like a vanity press. The kind of publisher who takes any one's writing, and with payments fr...
