This is so lame that I have to write this…

NOTE, before anything else is said, I want to say this ~ I love children’s books and I have two YA books in mind with outlines written.  I think very highly of authors who write children’s book because they help teach and grow young minds, and without that step no one would be reading any higher.  With this post I just wanted to make clear the age group for this book so no one buys the wrong type of book, plus I don’t get bad reviews and I do get sales.  My cover and subject matter would not interest most young children.

When my book (The Strongest Fire) first came out, one of my family members did not get a lot of info about it and started talking and sharing with others about how I wrote a ‘children’s book.’  They did it on the web and to most of my family (before I had a chance) and some friends.  They made it sound like the interest level of it was for about 8 years old.  This wasn’t, and still isn’t, good for my sales at all.  It’s falsely advertizing what my book is, making it sound like something it isn’t, and hurting my sales not just some online but with my family that doesn’t have little ones.  My book is for older teens and up.  My husband (who, as most of you know, is a high school librarian) says it’s what’s called an ‘adult for young adult’ meaning that adults, college age students, and older teens will more than likely enjoy it.  The person who advertized about The Strongest Fire did not talk to me first nor did they have permission, they had nothing to do with this book or any following/future book, and in over stepping every boundary they are still hurting my sales.  Also, they did not get any of the book information from me.

The reason I am posting about this now instead of when it first happened is I tried to rectify the problem back then, discreetly, and I thought I had. But I am still having people ask me how my “children’s book is doing.”  I’ve had a couple family members and one inquiry (non family related) ask in the last month or so.  I am posting about it here in the hopes that I will reach a few people that were falsely told and I hope I don’t have to send out a correction e-mail to all of my family members.  Also, my book was just advertised in Publishers Weekly, with seven other non-children’s books.  They tried to place it with a group of books that would interest some of the same age groups.

To those out there who think that they are helping, get all the facts first (and permission) because you might be like the current flowing in the wrong direction.  Now the ‘helped’ person is fighting with their oars against the tide and their progression has to do more with repairs than getting anywhere.  This is upsetting, wrong, frustrating, time consuming, and hurtful.  It is also more like what an enemy would do, not a friend, and definitely not a family member, even if they thought their intentions were good.

The sad, and upsetting, truth is, if this person had been interested in ‘helping’ with my sales the least they could have done was take 15 minutes of their time, look up my website and learn more about my book… but they didn’t until they had already spouted all the falsenesses about it.  And I really did not want to ever have to write this post.  It sounds bitter and harsh, two things that I am not.  But I am being forced to either correct this, or not have the right types of sales/any sales at all.