Second Light Bulb Moment

What I came to find out very quickly was that, like everything else in life, if you have a
dream, YOU have to be willing to take responsibility for the outcome, accept NO
excuses and see that it gets done on time, on budget and with the highest level of
integrity. To my book publisher, I quickly realized that I was just one more new author
and no one was in a hurry to do anything with my book.

Silly me, I actually thought my publisher would be in a bigger hurry than even I was to
get the book published since they weren't making ANY money on the project until it
started selling. Ironically, what I started to slowly, painfully realize was that since I
was a NEW book author, most publishers will not pay much - if any - advance. SO,
while the publisher wasn't making any money on this unpublished book, they were
also not spending any money on it AND the odd advantage for the publishing house
was that when I signed the deal, it took my book off the market for any of their
competitors, which provided them with the opportunity to sit on their hands until they
got around to doing the job they agreed to do or until I pulled the plug on the deal,
which, NO new author would ever do, right?

After four years of waiting for my big New York publisher to finish the book and get it
published, I finally mustered up the courage to confront the head of my publishing
house and demand answers. It was only then that I was told that the contract I had
signed gave THEM complete creative control over MY book (standard practice in the
industry) and that I had NO say in what happened to it. The only choice I had was to
go along with the plan, or pull the book out from under them and take it to another
publisher. Oddly enough, he told me that information with an almost threatening tone,
as if by telling me that I would fall in line and play ball with them, because NO new
author was going to walk away from a publishing deal. SURPRISE! I explained to him
that if this book was ever going to be published, I was going to have to pull the plug on
this publishing deal and move on. He was astonished and said that no other author
had ever done that before - bigger surprise!

I took the same book to a publisher in Colorado, received a new contract and hoped
that the troubles I encountered with the first publisher were just an anomaly and that
all would be great with the new publisher. SURPRISE! Turns out the second publisher
started missing deadlines almost immediately and when I questioned her about it, she
sent me a letter saying there was turmoil in her office and once she sorted it out, she
would get back down to business??? I asked her if MY percentage was going to
increase, after all, I met all the deadlines and her staff was not. She laughed because
she thought I was kidding, after all, 99.999% of all new authors are just so thrilled to
GET a publishing deal that they would walk through fire and put up with anything to
keep it. SURPRISE!

Silver Lining

The best thing that happened to me with the second publisher was that, after she
consistently missed deadline after deadline, she sent me a 10-page-long marketing
packet that she wanted ME to fill out as part of the publishing deal. I suspect she
sent it so early in the process in the hopes it would keep me REALLY busy while she
sorted out the problems in her office. I was happy to do ANYTHING that got my book
published. That is, until I read the entire packet and realized that she was asking me
to layout the entire marketing plan for the book and to do all the research to get all the
contact information for hundreds of magazines and reviewers around the country.

The Life Changing Moment

That was the day that I finally asked myself the big question that all seasoned authors
eventually ask themselves... If I devoted the years required to learn the information
that created the content of the book - If I wrote the book - If I was doing the editing on
the book - And finally, if I was now going to be expected to layout the entire marketing
plan for the book..... what exactly was my publisher going to be contributing to the
process that was going to earn them 90 - 95% of the take from every book sold for the
life of the book? The answer was simple, they were going to do the cover design,
layout the interior of the book, arrange to have it printed, send out press releases to
the extensive list I PROVIDED to them and they would hook me up with national
distribution for the book in book stores and libraries around the country when the book
finally launched.

It was then that I decided to do the research required to find out what was involved in
layout, printing, distribution and order fulfillment. It took me over a year to learn
everything I needed to learn and to find professionals who could do the jobs that I
couldn't do, but when I was done, K&B was created and the rest, as they say, is
history.

Since those early days in the early 90's, we expanded our outreach to include the new
imprint, Whitehall Publishing and have worked with hundreds of happy authors since.
Whitehall is designed to help new authors who want to take control of their financial
and creative future.

My professional passion in life includes two things:

1. Whitehall Publishing which was created by taking all those hard earned lessons I
have been through as a writer and applying all that "EARNED" wisdom to help new
authors reach their goals of publishing their own books without having to go through
the nightmares that I went through. Whitehall Publishing allows our clients to fast
track through the publishing process and jump start their career as a successful
author and I'm thrilled to be a part of that process! We are all about saving you time,
energy and money so you can get on with the point of the exercise.... sharing what
you know with the rest of us without having to waste years of time jumping through
unnecessary hoops in the publishing industry or signing your copyright and creative
control away by signing a traditional book publishing deal.

2. Working with Non profits around the country that run therapeutic riding programs
and dog/cat related shelters. My love of animals fuels this passion. My goal is to help
them learn how to run their businesses more successfully so they can raise more
money to expand the great work they already do. We have filed for a 501(c)3 for our
new website, funding101.org so we can create a non profit entity that focuses on
expanding the business education of non profits nationally so they can multiply their
financial success and, as a result, multiply the good work they do everyday.

If you haven't already figured it out, I am ALL about empowering people to take control
of their lives, their work and their success! My goal is to provide them with the bridge
they need to cross over from author to informed, educated author, publisher,
businessman! If that is what you long to do, click on the Services button, select the
services you want to start with and let's begin your journey together!