Wednesday, August 12, 2020

A Twist of Love and Suzan's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

By now, most of you are aware of the cancellation of A Twist of Love. Except it's not really cancelled, just the original Amazon pre-order was cancelled.

A little bit of background first. Amazon requires us to have the final book file uploaded four days before the release date. Then the record is locked until release day. That usually isn't a problem, except...

I freely admit I had difficulty writing the finale for this novel. But I pushed through and finished it. I uploaded the file with fifteen minutes to spare, pressed "PUBLISH" and breathed a sigh of relief.

And that's where things went wonky. I don't know if it was a software problem, my ISP, my own computer acting up, or the thunderstorms that had just crossed the Indiana border causing a power surge. But the screen started flashing like it was caught in a programming loop.

That's when my panic attack started. By the time I got it cleared, it was past the deadline, and the record was locked.

However, the status said "PUBLISHING" so I crossed my fingers.

Tuesday morning, I opened my e-mail. At the very top was the notice from Amazon that the pre-order for A Twist of Love was cancelled for lack of a file.

I didn't want to say anything to you all while I dealt with Amazon and devised a definite plan for going forward. On the plus side, I wasn't punished with the removal of all my other pre-orders (which is usually what happens). On the minus side, the record for A Twist of Love is considered dead and they cannot restore it.

So, here's what's going to happen:

1) I will take Wednesday and Thursday to double-check the file.

2) I will upload A Twist of Love Thursday night under a new ASIN.

3) Amazon can take anywhere from two hours to three days to actually have the book ready to buy. So if you see the landing page, it doesn't mean the books available yet.

4) I'll post here to let y'all know I've gotten the official notice from Amazon the book is live.

To everyone who pre-ordered A Twist of Love, I sincerely apologize for the brouhaha.

For those of you who've pre-ordered Murder Most Fowl? The final file was uploaded when I uploaded Snowfall, so you folks are good to go!

And I will do my Twelve-blessed best not to wait until the last minute ever again!

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