The Saga of “Weapon in Heaven”:

The best little twice published book no one ever had a chance to buy.

“What you will find between two covers is humorous, ironic, heartbreaking, and human.” Laurel Johnson Midwest Book Review

I knew a small publisher was the way to go with my first novel. It is a small book and as a newcomer attracting the attention of a major player in publishing was, maybe possible, but certainly more work and expense than I was willing to put in. I’m a writer, not a business person and slogging through endless streams of agents and publishers is actually physically painful. I did send out twenty or so queries, then entire manuscripts, and then heard praise for the book but all rejections. They said it was too small, or too controversial, or too something else.

Anyways, I jumped at the first offer, which was from a new small press. Now, at the risk of liable I won’t say about any actual promises, but lets just say I thought sure there would be a print run, and returns, and reviews, and etc…and I was pretty excited. When the book was “released” it was POD. The Amazon sale price for my 150 page paperback was Forty dollars! And I was heartbroken. Amazon sold all four copies but didn’t order more. I live in Western Mass, a haven for indi bookstores and I went to all of them. I sat in offices and listened while bookstore owners and managers tried to order my title only to find that after a tiny discount from retail and exorbitant shipping prices and no returns, even if the bookstore sold my title they would make no profit. My “Published” book was only available through the publisher’s website and even there at a ridiculously high price. We’re talking college textbook high price.

Fed up, I found another publisher willing to pay me enough of an advance to buy back the rights to my book (I’m certain the most money publisher A ever made from a single title) and then reassign rights to publisher B. Publisher B asked for edits I was all too willing to do. However, after my edits, after some time passed, after some more time, I found this publisher’s website shut down and rumors of unpaid bills floating around the internet. The person hasn’t been heard from and emails return to sender. I had to wait for the contract to expire.

Now, here I am with the best little book no one ever read. Check out the reviews for the out-of-print first edition at Amazon.