100 Meters From Shore, Part 2a: Constant Delays: The Documentary Evidence

In this portion of "100 Meters From Shore" we'll look at and detail four major delays that are documented with email evidence.  The way I'm going to do this is by actually citing the emails verbatim with my comments or observations beneath them.  In all truth, I wish to state the unvarnished facts without embellishment.  So quoting the emails, to me, is the best way to accomplish this sense of fairness, whatever it's worth at this point.

 

 

The Graphical Timeline

However, first, let's get familiar with the timeline.  I have decided to include three graphical timelines which show the major events as documented by the email exchanges between myself and PWP.  I believe these visuals will aid the reader's understanding.  First examine these and then we shall come to the email evidence.



Timeline 1



Timeline 2



Timeline 3

Now that you've had a chance to examine the timelines, we will turn our attention next to the first two of four major delays that prevented this manuscript from reaching a conclusive release before the cancellation email of October 1, 2012.


The Email Evidence of Constant Delays

     Delay 1

Let's begin with the first major delay discovered by me via an email to the PWP senior editor in charge of manuscripts, dated Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 1:13 PM.  Note that I was not informed of this more-than-one-month delay until I inquired as to why it was taking so long to edit my manuscript.  My original email inquiry is included below.  The reply comes at 3:37PM that same day.

**********

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

3:37PM

Hi Cedric,

You manuscript was assigned to one of our editors back on 11/15/2011, however, she fell very ill. I did not receive a notice of this until Friday when I sent an inquiry as to why she had the manuscript for so long. Your manuscript has been reassigned. Our apologies for the delay.

You may just want to let people know you have a book coming for now. I see you are on schedule for your cover design this month. I would wait until you receive it to give people something to look at.

(name omitted)
Senior Editor
Passionate Writer Publishing

--- wynstromword@(omitted) wrote:

From: Lal Wynstrom <>
To: "<omitted@passionatewriterpublishing.com>" <omitted@passionatewriterpublishing.com>
Subject: Re: Shroud of Shadows
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:13:57 -0700

Hi (name omitted),

Ced Crawley on this end. Just wondering where I am in the process right now since I sent my reedited critique back to you in October.
 

Also, is there anything I should be doing now to "pre-promote" my story's release?

Good day to you!

**********

  

The timeline shows the original submission of my returned content edit to PWP on 10/31/11. 

Note: For those who do not know the difference between a content editor and a copy editor, the difference is simple.  A content editor looks for consistency in the story - plot holes, need for clarification, consistency of the story, etc.  A copy editor checks more for grammatical errors - commas, periods, sentence structure, and the like.

So, my story had already gone through a content edit at the point of the January 11, 2012 email above.  That critique (the content edit) was returned to me via email on September 27, 2011.  As stated above, I returned that critique, with recommended changes and more, on October 31, 2011, within the allotted timeframe given by the PWP senior editor.  Sixteen days later (November 15, 2011), my story was assigned to a copy editor who fell "very ill" but failed to inform anyone of their health issue until more than 1.5 months later.  I was not informed of this matter at all until I asked about it on January 11, 2012. 

This not only points to a communication problem between author and company (which I noted again and again with PWP, and was my first complaint) but also to the fact that there seemed to be a communication gap between the assigned editor and the senior lead editor.

While I do not fault anyone for becoming sick, it was odd to me that no one at PWP bothered to inquire of the assigned editor why they failed to report in until more than a month after they were given a manuscript to edit. 

It was also disconcerting to find that PWP failed to inform the author of this matter of their own initiative, keeping the author in the loop as they should have.  Instead, the author had to engage in a process of "discovery" to find out what was going on, of his own volition, after hearing nothing for more than 2.5 months after turning in a critique he was sent back in September 2011, and returned, on time, in October 2011.

     Delay 2



The second major delay constitutes a succession of emails over a period of almost three months.  Let's begin with this one from the PWP formatting lead dated Monday, August 6, 2012 at 7:25AM.

********** 

Monday, August 6, 2012

7:25AM



Hello,

This is an update to let you know I'm now on your manuscript. I had two very long ones before yours so it put me about a week behind.

(name omitted)

Team Lead
Formatting
Passionate Writer Publishing

********** 

Why is this email significant?  Because (as you see from Timeline 1) my copy edit was returned to PWP on March 22, 2012.  This was the last major step before the formatting stage.  Also, note again from Timeline 1 that nearly two additional months pass before I am informed of what's going on by PWP on May 8, 2012.  And also note, once again, that it is my own volition to inquire what's going on.  PWP does not take the necessary time (or concern) to inform me of what's happening or where I am in the process.

For greater clarity with regards to the succession of emails that leads to the reasoning I've articulated concerning the above email from Formatting, see this string of exchanges between myself and the PWP senior editor dated Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 1:28PM.

 

********** 

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

1:28 PM

 

Cedric,

You manuscript has been passed along to formatting. (PWP Formatting Lead, actual name omitted) will contact you once (their) team is on yours.

(name omitted)

Senior Editor
Passionate Writer Publishing

--- wynstromword@(omitted) wrote:

From: Lal Wynstrom <omitted>
To: "omitted@passionatewriterpublishing.com" <omitted@passionatewriterpublishing.com>
Subject: Re: Shroud of Shadows
Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 12:24:48 -0700 (PDT)
 

Hello (name omitted),

 

Just getting an update on where the story is in the finalization processes and when I'll be contacted about any additional details needed.

 

Good day to you and all at PWP!

 

Ced Crawley

 

********** 

Note the date of this email (May 8, 2012) and the date that Formatting finally says they are proceeding with my manuscript (August 6, 2012).  Nearly THREE additional months pass before my manuscript is even being worked on!  The question is: WHY?  A further question is: why was I not informed of the situation until (again) I asked about it?  A final, and very important question is: what was causing a near 3-month delay in getting my manuscript to the formatter's desk?

Were there other manuscripts being worked on concurrently with mine?  Was my manuscript set aside in order to give priority to another, perhaps more important manuscript?

These are speculative questions given rise to because of observations made by this author after visits to PWP's website over the course of these events.  However, the above questions are unproveable and so will remain unarticulated on.

Conclusions at This Point

Not only do all of these emails point to a lack of communication - a fact that persisted throughout my association with PWP - but they also point to the fact that the October 1, 2012 cancellation email did not, ever, need to apply to my manuscript, at all, and only became relevant to my manuscript because of issues caused by Passionate Writer Publishing's delays, errors, and/or ineptitude. 

Yet there is more evidence of my reasons for saying these things, and of my grievance with PWP.  We will examine two additional major delays, and their supporting evidences, in the next followup to this report.

Until then...

To the upward reach of man.