Fobbed off again by Discovered Authors, I feel. Still no response to any of my emails. Hubby kindly called them for me last week and was unable to speak to the Main Man. Apparently, over a month later, he’s still ‘looking into’ my issues. How long does it take to read a speadsheet and look at a royalties statement? I get so frustrated with this kind of situation and it makes me even more determined to get a positive result. Honestly, if they knew me personally, they’d realise that not many companies get away with treating me badly: I know my rights!

I know there are other people in similar circumstances who are watching with interest to see how this pans out, and I know you wonder why I haven’t gone to the Press. Believe it or not, I like to look for the best in people and hope they’ll come through in the end. As time drags on, it’s harder and harder to understand why I feel any misguided sense of loyalty to these people. Maybe it’s because I felt they had given me a chance, when I was feeling pretty useless…but on the flipside, they are now stressing me out!

The sad thing is that, these days, companies rely on a positive web presence and good word of mouth advertising, between authors/writers. Could anyone be so short-sighted to not realise that even one negative comment would get people thinking…five would make you distinctly uneasy (as I felt when I trawled the ‘net and did some not-so-light reading)?

Should I, like Karma’s Paige, have doormat written across my forehead for letting this go on so long?

Apologies that I haven’t updated my blog for a while. This was for reasons including the usual ME-related stuff, playing FB Scrabble, but mainly because I’d lost my log-in info and couldn’t remember how to get this sorted out!

A few of you have emailed me to ask about the situation with DA. Without going into too many details, I did hear from the MD several weeks ago. He maintained that I wasn’t entitled to the sum I believe to be correct and I believe he is unhappy that I am expressing my disappointment in a public manner. As you know, I have been patiently contacting them for well over two years now, and am not the type of person to say things that are untrue. I also maintain that every person should make their own decisions, based on the information available to them, so I would never tell people to avoid a company based purely on my experiences. Some authors DO have positive things to say about DA.

Anyhow, I responded to this email and provided evidence of sales figures, etc, and he promised to look into it for me. Electronic communication probably isn’t the best way to do things but I’m terrible on the telephone. This responsibility will be foisted (in a nice way) on to a family member, if it isn’t sorted out soon. I haven’t heard a dicky bird since!

On a sad note, and on the topic of electronic communication, I recently discovered that Jack Pickard (who hosted The Pickards web site) had passed away. We ‘met’ online when I was researching Mike Parr, prior to a radio interview. Jack reviewed my book, and attended a talk I gave at the launch of Gateshead Council’s short story contest. He was also a talented writer and a generally kind person. Unfortunately, I did not find out about his untimely passing (he was only in his mid-thirties) until a month later. That’s the trouble with social networking: when someone disappears - even those we class as friends - we may never know what became of them. The internet gives us a wide circle of friends, but can we ever truly be real friends online?

…must you treat me this way? I don’t agree with airing my issues in public, but don’t want anyone else to have similar problems. As usual, I don’t suggest you shouldn’t use the company, as everyone’s experiences are different: read mine and make your own mind up.

Communications between myself and the company have now dried up. Even the previously email-friendly accounts man has stopped replying to my emails. I finally realised that I can’t be amicable any longer? There is a fine line between exceedingly patient and doormat, and I don’t wish to be the latter.

To refresh your memory, my book was released Feb 07. My first royalty statement was due about 6 months later - it arrived, late, but was never paid. After a certain length of time, my contract stipulated that the rights to the book would revert to me (after contacting the company lots of times). The sum that was not paid was VERY small, so I thought it odd that this wasn’t taken care of. An oversight, I thought. So the rights to the book returned to me in Feb 2008 - the company still sold it. I enquired after royalties and was subsequently sold that I hadn’t sold any books…then that I hadn’t sold the qualifying number of books to get paid that period. I did my own research and contact Nielsen, who confirmed that I had sold books (more than I thought).

Since then, I’ve been trying to get paid. It’s not a lot of money, but there’s a principle at stake here, I think. Any money is good for me, but I can’t understand why a company would refuse to pay such a mediocre (to them) sum? I really want to believe it’s all been an oversight, but when everyone stops replying to my weekly emails, I’m not sure that it is. Why can’t people/companies just play fair?

It’s important to note that I did not self-publish, but was published under a traditional contract, after the Undiscovered Authors competition.

I’m sorry I haven’t been keeping this blog up to date, but I was ill over Christmas. My first priority is to wish you all a happy and healthy 2010.

The thing that’s prompted me to write on here is a poll on the Daily Mail website entitled: Is ME A Genuine Illness? Readers of the site are invited to select Yes or No. I’m not only incensed about the callous poll, but about the caustic comments left by some people following various articles on the topic.

So people don’t understand ME? Neither do we and we suffer the day to day (or hour to hour) effects. Neither do the doctors. Just because we don’t understand something, must we dismiss it as false? I would never be so arrogant.

It was the Press themselves who created this stigma for ME sufferers. It began in the 80s (when I was first diagnosed) and they coined the term Yuppie ‘Flu’. Since then, the Press has continued to paint a negative view of those who have to live with a condition that can neither be treated nor explained. Some of the comments left state that they saw someone from ME doing chores or going shopping. How dare they? I, like many other sufferers, often hide how I am feeling in order to maintain some level of normality. Only close family and my dr saw me at my worst because I don’t WANT people to think of me as fragile or incapable. I still have my pride. 90% of my life is spent at home.

There are always going to be people who abuse the term or are misdiagnosed (and recover miraculously) or self-diagnose; this happens with many conditions. Don’t take it as red that someone who has ME is one of those people who simply doesn’t want to work. Most of the people I know who have the condition have lost a lot: jobs, friends, homes, marriages, social lives, etc. We try to do what we can, when we can DESPITE M.E., rather than use it as an excuse to do nothing.

Someone suggested that ME sufferers just whinge all the time: why would we if there was nothing wrong with us? Touche!

I could rant for ages but, ironically, I’m too tired. I actually had an update about my writing but that will have to wait!