I took a book called Treasure Maps of the Superstitions (by Amy Mosier, my maiden name) to Bruce Fischer to be published. I checked him out and he seemed credible. He said he couldn’t publish it under Golden West but that I could under its subsidiary, The Book Studio, a “Self-Publisher”. The fee would be $6000. It would have been paid for fully under Golden West.

I had heard that before from about 50 other publishers so I was already run down by that point. I thought I would get financing. We made a contract in Nov.2005. It said that I would get an ISBN number and it’d be done by Feb.2006.

I would get 600 books. In Feb I went in to proof a galley. There was still no cover. They told me to come back a week later. I came back. There was still no cover. I came back a week later. They finally gave me the cover to proof. Then they said come back a month later for all the books.

By this time it was already past the due date. I came back. The books weren’t done. They didn’t really give me an answer. It seems like they were treating my books like a joke. I came back in June and finally got my books. When I got home, I realized they didn’t have the ISBN number. This number is for the bookstores so that they can inventory, track and make reorders.

You can’t put a book into the large chain bookstores (Barnes and Noble) without it. I didn’t contact the publisher about this because their customer service sucks and I didn’t want to wait another 6 months for corrected books.

His attitude is sluggish. It costs $300 for the publisher to file ISBN with the Washington office. He did this just to save a measly $300 when I gave him $6000. He also put Golden West as the publisher, not Book Studio. This isn’t fair because that would have meant paid by him. I thought I would try to sell the books anyway.

I can’t afford a lawyer and he knew it. I tried the museums with only a little success. I tried to sell on the internet with less luck. I had to settle for ma and pa stores and Bookman’s, which at best pays only $2 a copy. I gave many of the books away to donation. It just wasn’t working. Emotionally I’ve moved on. It’s okay that my books didn’t work.

What’s not okay is that I still have a $6000 fee on my credit card. Now it’s been turned over to a consolidation loan. I don’t qualify for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 sucks because you still have to repay. This publisher will be very lethargic about this story. I’m not sure he’ll do anything but I am going to start making a big fuss, even to the BBB. This has messed up my financial life and it’s completely demolished any trust I’ve had in publishers.

I have always wanted to write a lot of books. I don’t think publishers as a whole are honest people. I’m confused about why there are no complaints with the BBB about him because certainly I’m not the only one he’s done this too and I’m confused by other publishers who stand up for his “Character”.

If you publish with Golden West, you’ll regret it.