The book was thin. At first I thought that Titanic Books had edited out many
of my stories to shrink the size of the book. What I originally sent them was 200 pages of text; what came in the box were books that were close to 118 pages. I flipped through the pages of one of the copies. What Titanic Books
did was change the font to something much smaller so as to not waste space
on a page and thus put all my content into a more compact format. It was straightforward and done very professionally. Perhaps the Internet flamers
were wrong about Titanic Books.

I discovered that my book was being carried by all the major books venues in cluding Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and even Walmart. This was very impressive to a struggling author like myself. I got onto Messenger and told The Vector that I got samples of the book in and if he wanted a copy.
Of course the answer was, "Yes!" Going to family and close friends I began to hand out copies of the book. Some were willing to pay for it but I insisted that no money needed to exchange hands -- just go on the various book websites and give their honest review of my book. If they like it, say so; if they
hate it, say so; if the burn it, beware of the fire marshall. As for myself
I put one copy of each, hardbound and softbound, into my bookshelf at the house.

However, what the Internet said about the royalty checks that came from
Titanic Books was spot on. In May 2011, I went to my bank to deposit my first royalty check (a whole $16+) and the bank rejected the check almost
immediately repeating what was said on the website Vector directed me "Titanic Books" has a tendency to pass bad checks to their authors. I went down to my local payday loan company and tried cashing the check and got the same
results. Now I was stuck with a supposedly bogus check and no where to cash
it. A little touring of town finally produced the fruit of a financial institution that would cash the check (for a 3% fee). Yet, despite the
evidence that Titanic Books came through on most of its promises, I dedicded that I would never go through them again. I was already working on my second Commodore themed book. The search for a new publisher was on.

Over the short span of a few months I picked up another job to help with my bills that were piling up because I spent $3,000 of money I didn't have to become the first member of my family to get into print on something other than a rap sheet. I was working the evening shift at the Chat N' Scat convenience store located on 75th and State Line Road just on the west side of the
Missouri state line. I was so close to the Kansas/Missouri border at this
store that all I had to do was walk west across the street and I was in
eastern Kansas. "Run/Stop-Restore: 10th Anniversary Edition" was done and now in the capable(?) hands of Titanic Books. There was nothing more on my end to do but wait and see how things were going to develop over the next couple of months. Still, I was burning up the Internet looking for a new lead for a different publisher.

"Have you tried publishing on Terra?" the British gentlemen asked me. The person who was addressing me as I helped him with his purchase of Marlboro Lights was white haired, stood about six feet tall, and possessed a perfectly curled white handlebar moustache. I learned over time that his name was Powell and he worked at the local hospital as a night guard. He was on his second marriage to an American nurse who worked at the same hospital and had about three grandchildren back home in England. He knew all about my publishing experience. Mr. Powell had a soothing voice and was easy to talk to. Over a
few short months I told him all about what I went through with Titanic Books.

"Sorry you went through all that, old chap, but you should have done a more extensive research over the Internet than barking at the first tree in the forest," he gently chided. "The deed is done, Mr. Powell," I answered. I
looked up at him. "What was this about a publishing company called Terra?"

Mr. Powell gave me the Reader's Digest version of Terra Publications, a self publishing business that does its work over the Internet and publishes "on demand." All the books they receive from authors are stored in a massive database and are only called off for printing when someone orders a copy.
You can set your own royalty percentage, where you want to be published
around the world (provided you have obtained the copyright in that part of
the world), and you can do as much or as little marketing that you want. It sounded like the same thing I experienced with Titanic Publications at the
end of 2010. "How much does all this cost?" I asked Mr. Powell as he was heading out the door with his purchase. He turned back and gave me a quick glance.

"It's free," he said as he walked out the door.

"WHAT THE BLAZES!?!" I said in thought. "Why did I waste my hard earned money on Titanic Books when there were free resources on the Internet that offered a similar deal at the prefect price" !FREE! I was excited. My heart pounded hard in my chest. I couldn't wait to get off work and research Terra Publications
on my own. When I finally got off work I practically flew home, bursted
through the door, stepped around the cats who sat near the door to to welcome me, grabbed my laptop and was soon exploring the Internet for all the information I could find on Terra Publications. In short, they did everything Mr. Powell said they did. All they asked for in exchange was 40% of the total royalties gathered by the author in payment and Mr. Powell was right, it was free. I couldn't believe it.

I sent Vector a message and asked him to explore Terra Publications on his
end and see if he could find anything in the way of negative reviews. He was more proficient on the computer than me and knew exactly where to look for the proper information. The only thing he could come up with is that an author

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* Origin: Dragon's Lair BBS: dragon.vk3heg.net Prt 6800 (39:901/280.0)