Dealing with Automated Systems while Self-publishing

Hi, lovelies! 💖👋

Welcome to the blog. Today’s it’s a new ranting since it seems there are so many ups and downs that one have to go through, but lately it has become increasingly annoying.

If you’re on Smashwords, you might know that you can set pre-sales, pre-releases and the sort, and you have to update a final manuscript before a certain date or they will automatically push the release date of your book further down the road until they are satisfied that everything is set.

I hadn’t experience a problem before, but this time around my newest book was pushed from Feb, 14th to the 17th and then 18th, even though I updated the final manuscript. So, I decided to write to support, which to be honest is fairly quick and they don’t only follow a script, they give an actual answer. That was nice.

Well, if you have upload books in the platform, you’ll know that you can’t include links to “competitors” on your manuscript, I confess that I forgot about that but they kindly told me to remove it, I did and uploaded the new version, but then I got an email informing that the release had been pushed once more because I hadn’t uploaded the final manuscript. Lies.

Since I got annoyed with the automated system, I decided to go to support, who informed me that it was because I had referenced other online bookstores and to please remove it and they would fast-check or track or whatever the new manuscript. They hadn’t told me this before, and what gets on my nerves is that they send an email as if they had, I’m not a mind-reader, I wish I were but I’m not. Good things is, the book should be published no later than Feb, 18th if I cannot get them to change it back to the 14th, and if you’re one of those that got a copy on the pre-sale and have already read Friendly Wishes, my new short novel, then thank you for downloading a copy.

This book is basically free on Smashwords as the reader sets the price, but if you want to set it to even $0.99 that’d be perfect as well.

That’s all on my part, I will make a proper entry for the new book and tell you a bit more about it but meanwhile, now, that it’ll be available on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon, and Smashwords, among others.

Thanks for stopping by the blog, and if you’re not subscribed to it, you can do it today to receive all the new stories about my writing journey. 📚💖

Cheers!

Update:

Yes, the system is annoyed but that’s what happens when you deal with automatic stuff, but if you write to support they will answer promptly, “nicely”, and will be kind enough to say exactly what’s wrong and how to solve it. And it’s all set again! Feb, 14th is officially the release date for the book once more! 🙂