Like I alluded to last week, a number of things have gone wrong with this book, so, I’m thinking… it’s cursed.

In the Beginning…

Before it launched, I added a bit to the beginning; it doesn’t start with the main character, Wystan, a blacksmith, breaking off a sliver of Excalibur. I went back further, to the sword’s creation. Weary of usurpers and invaders trying to claim the throne of Brittania, the head druid, Aglain, curses the land; any foreign conqueror laying claim to the throne would find an inhospitable kingdom. Merlin and the Lady of the Lake create Excalibur, with the caveat that only the true heir could wield the sword and claim the throne, and thus not be cursed. There are other details, but, you know, READ THE BOOK.

As many of you know, this novel was the thinnest of ideas until I used the premise for my Master’s thesis. In the process of refining the novel, I had to throw out some really good sections (I thought, anyway; professors did not. And yes, they were right).

Ready to Go!

It was revised and polished, and polished some more. So, I deemed it ready to go out on submission. For those not authors, it’s a tedious, gut-wrenching, soul-destroying process where you send your baby to agents and/or editors, in the hopes that someone will say “THIS HAS TO BE PUBLISHED!”

Um, no. It didn’t go quite that way. After an Excel spreadsheet worth of “No thanks” I decided to independently publish while I work on other books. This was to keep my name from falling into oblivion (not that I’m not that far from there anyway), and to build what the pubbing business calls an ‘author platform.’ That’s basically a marketing campaign to showcase your personality, your books, your audience who will buy your books, your general appeal. Things move fast in the pubbing industry and today’s Must Read is tomorrow’s Who? So we authors try to constantly put out fresh content to keep people interested (Hence, this post, website, all my memes, etc. I hope you’re still interested.)

Why is This So Hard??

I’m not tech savvy (ask the hubs, the kids, people who know me, anyone I’ve ever talked to). So no way was I going to try to learn formatting because I’m not immortal and it would take me more time than I have to live to learn it (I tried it once. Nuh uh.) I did some reaching out and hired someone to format. Told her what I wanted. She sent me chapter title samples. I chose one and voila! They didn’t line up, sentences cut out midway to start a new line, and spelling mistakes I thought I corrected, were still there. My formatter said she couldn’t understand how these things popped up. She came highly recommended by a fellow author I trust, and she does this for a living. Just my luck, I guess. Anyway, although it took several passes, got everything got fixed! Ok, now I’m on a roll!

Not. So. Fast.

Next came the cover. I have an exceptional cover artist (as you have seen). We went back and forth with ideas and I cried because the cover was so stunning. But… the decorative outline didn’t show up in the proofs. Apparently, Ingram changed its template, so the cover had to be resized and re-centered. A number of smaller issues came out, and we went back and forth but finally everything was good, but it delayed my launch. Launch day, May 12, 2025, came and the book was delayed.

NO!!!!

Here are two covers; one I launched with, the other came later. Notice anything?

Try looking at the title spelling….

Yeah. Spell check changed it from “Excalibur” to “Excaliber”. (I can hear the outrage in the UK… Not my fault!!) The eye sees what it wants to see. And this was AFTER I ordered 200 copies. Which are now sitting in my office. And, pulling the cover (again) delayed filling in orders. If you got a copy with the wrong spelling, let me know- I have a title sticker to put on, covering up the mistake (because it’s spelled the right way in the book, thankfully. Or, you can keep it as a collector’s item.

So tonight I will be sizing and putting on stickers to fix my cover. This has held up videos, marketing, etc. because I don’t want to show the bad cover.

There you have it. Will more bad luck transpire? Or has Excalibur’s curse run its course? One reviewer wants a sequel and I already have the perfect title:

The Excalibur Curse.

I’ll keep you posted.

And if you’re feeling a wee bit sad for my troubles, (for the time being) you can buy the book here:

Buy it on Amazon