Light Sword Publishing / LSP Digital, LLC

[Kalelski]

Based on the seeming lack of ability to form a sentence using proper syntax, I can only conclude that Althelyna is, in reality, Linda Daly, who writes in the same garbled, barely coherent style. This, of course, is only my opinion. You might say it's nothing more than conjecture on my part. However, if you look at the "style" that the Light Sword web site is written in, and compare it to Althelyna's cheerleading posts, I believe you will see a more than passing similarity.

Have a nice day, y'all.

[Saundra Julian]

You know, that crossed my mind too.

I would have thought anyone with a good knowledge of the publishing industry could spell it.

[Althelyna]

I am not Linda Daly. As far as my sentence structure goes, that has to do with typing while being interrupted by my two young children. I lose my train of thought. I do have ADD and I do take medicine for it. This will be my last post in this thread. I have learned a lot in this thread and I have thanked Victoria personally and ask questions. She has kindly answered them. Everyone here has been helpful. I do know that my grammar and punctuation needs a bit of work and I am attending the Institute of Children's Literature to help me with this matter. I am rusty. After being in the military and going through a bad depression, it has taken me a bit to get back into my writing. I will get better and I love that my editor has great patience with me. I was not cheerleading for Light Sword Publishing. I stated in many of my post it could have been any publishing company. I notice that a lot of new publishing houses get picked on. Victoria told me why it seems that way. I agree with her. She also helped me see my mistakes and where I misunderstood what I was told. Thank you for all of your wonderful advice and I wish you great success with all of your endeavors.

Take Care Now,
Althelyna

[victoriastrauss]

I've gotten PMs from Althy, and I don't think she is Linda Daly. I also think she's really trying to learn how things work.

- Victoria

[BarbJ]

Athelyna - You're right, Victoria is wonderful. Have you checked her and Ann's blog over at Writer Beware? Another good site for info is Miss Snark, the Literary Agent; she doesn't post any longer, but the site is still up and it's great, both her postings and the comments. And welcome!

[Popeyesays]

Originally Posted by victoriastrauss

I've gotten PMs from Althy, and I don't think she is Linda Daly. I also think she's really trying to learn how things work.

- Victoria

I don't think so either, and I regret that the tone of posts made her feel uncomfortable.

Regards,
Scott

[Saundra Julian]

Good luck with your writing, Athelyna.
You're always welcome to visit us again.

[Kalelski]

Originally Posted by Popeyesays

I don't think so either, and I regret that the tone of posts made her feel uncomfortable.

For the most part, Althelyna seems to have accomplished what she wanted to do. This thread started out as very critical of the methods used by Light Sword Publishing and she deflected the subject quite nicely. She also made a brief similar appearance on the Writer Beware blog using a slightly altered name, Althea, and posted some nonsense about me telling half-truths with regard to my wife's twenty-two day publication run with Light Sword Publishing. My guess is, she forgot how she spelled the name here and 'winged it' when she went to the Writer Beware blog, but that is merely more conjecture on my part, isn't it?.

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2007/0...nferences.html

Have a nice day, y'all.

[BarbJ]

Kalelski, you are also welcomed. Here's yours: and I regret if the tone of the posts made you feel uncomfortable. This is a place for discussion. TBH, my opinion of Light Sword hasn't been changed.

[brianm]

Welcome to the cooler, Kalelski, and thank you for the link to WB.

I hope you will keep us apprised of your wife's continued experience with this publisher. It's very helpful to have first hand knowledge from a writer who has been published by this company, as opposed to Althelyna's views which are based on conjecture.

[Kalelski]

Originally Posted by BarbJ

I regret if the tone of the posts made you feel uncomfortable.

I'm quite comfortable, and I'm actually extremely grateful to Althelyna, or Althea, or whatever her real name is, for dropping the bread crumbs that led me here. I like bread crumbs and I will always follow them wherever they might lead me. I will NEVER initiate a discussion regarding Light Sword Publishing, but I will happily show up wherever one is being held.

My wife's experience with Light Sword Publishing could have been a LOT worse. She's free of the contract, and that's the best thing I can say about the way things went. I'm going to do something a bit out character right now. I'm going to publically THANK Linda Daly for terminating the contract between Light Sword Publishing and my wife. I'm not aware if the contract has changed recently or not, but when my wife signed her contract, it was a three year agreement and Light Sword Publishing could have held my wife captive for the duration of that contract.

Have a nice day, y'all.

[brianm]

Originally Posted by Kalelski

I'm quite comfortable, and I'm actually extremely grateful to Althelyna, or Althea, or whatever her real name is, for dropping the bread crumbs that led me here. I like bread crumbs and I will always follow them wherever they might lead me. I will NEVER initiate a discussion regarding Light Sword Publishing, but I will happily show up wherever one is being held.

My wife's experience with Light Sword Publishing could have been a LOT worse. She's free of the contract, and that's the best thing I can say about the way things went. I'm going to do something a bit out character right now. I'm going to publically THANK Linda Daly for terminating the contract between Light Sword Publishing and my wife. I'm not aware if the contract has changed recently or not, but when my wife signed her contract, it was a three year agreement and Light Sword Publishing could have held my wife captive for the duration of that contract.

Have a nice day, y'all.

I'm sure Victoria would be interested in reviewing the contract, if you have not provided a copy already.

[Althelyna]

I did not forget how to spell my name. Althea is my middle name and Althelyna is my gaming name. I play Everquest 2 and Althelyna is my 55 warlock's name. I was given wrong information and I have been corrected. Victoria has talked to me and I have owned up to my mistakes. I wish your wife the best of luck with her book. I am happy that she is with a company that has made her book wonderful.

I would like to say congrats and I am sorry that Light Sword treated her so badly. I sincerely had nothing to do with your wife's book or what has happened to her. Her book does sound interesting and I have put it on my wish list to buy.

Again have a wonderful day.

[Kalelski]

Originally Posted by Althelyna

I did not forget how to spell my name. Althea is my middle name and Althelyna is my gaming name. I play Everquest 2 and Althelyna is my 55 warlock's name. I was given wrong information and I have been corrected. Victoria has talked to me and I have owned up to my mistakes. I wish your wife the best of luck with her book. I am happy that she is with a company that has made her book wonderful.

I would like to say congrats and I am sorry that Light Sword treated her so badly. I sincerely had nothing to do with your wife's book or what has happened to her. Her book does sound interesting and I have put it on my wish list to buy.

Again have a wonderful day.

I will thank you to not put words in my mouth,. I never said "Light Sword treated her so badly" or used any other phrases of that nature. If I say anything regarding the details of my wife's experience with Light Sword Publishing, I will be deadly specific, stating nothing generic at all, only facts that can be backed up with hard copy documentation. If you have questions, ask them specifically so I can address your concerns. If you wish to quote me, do it verbatim, or I am stating catagorically that you're telling a lie, period.

I also never stated that "she is with a company that has made her book wonderful" either, although in my opinion the book IS gorgeous now. She is with another micro-mini start-up publisher, the only advantage being that this time, although the publisher isn't any smarter or more experienced than the last publisher, he IS willing to bleed vast amounts of time and money to promote this book. How much money is going to be spent? Well, for starters, we're giving away FREE BOOKS to anyone willing to exchange their LSP edition for a copy of the It's ME! Ink Press edition so we can BURN THEM. I'm anticipating there will be plenty of promotional value in it since nothing stirs controversy like a good old-fashioned book burning. Of course, all the local media will be invited, and with any luck at all, we'll get a bit of spot coverage nationally. I digress, but thank you for the excuse to mention the book-burning. I'm REALLY looking forward to that.

http://www.beaufortfalls.com/

The book is BACK, and you can order a copy online at Barnes & Noble today, or wait until it's officially released on October 25th and buy a copy at your local bookstore.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...79858307&itm=1

This isn't about you, Althelyna/Althea. This is about my wife and the truth as well as the subject of whether Light Sword Publishing is a viable option for someone looking to have a book published that will be distributed and marketed properly. You stated on the Writer Beware blog that " Mari's husband is not telling the whole truth about the whole situation with Mari's book." What SPECIFICALLY does that mean? What were YOU told was the truth? What did I say that you were told was incorrect, and who told you that? Here I am. I'm Mari's husband. Say what you have to say to me and be very factual, because if you aren't very factual, you're going to eat every word you've typed.

Alan Gershenson
Partner, COO
It's ME! Ink Press

[Kalelski]

Originally Posted by ME!

This isn't about you, Althelyna/Althea. This is about my wife and the truth as well as the subject of whether Light Sword Publishing is a viable option for someone looking to have a book published that will be distributed and marketed properly. You stated on the Writer Beware blog that " Mari's husband is not telling the whole truth about the whole situation with Mari's book." What SPECIFICALLY does that mean? What were YOU told was the truth? What did I say that you were told was incorrect, and who told you that? Here I am. I'm Mari's husband. Say what you have to say to me and be very factual, because if you aren't very factual, you're going to eat every word you've typed.

I will be happy to answer any questions about Light Sword Publishing from my wife's experience that I was involved in to the best of my ability, as objectively as possible, based on nothing other than hard facts and verified documentation.

[J. R. Tomlin]

Alan Gershenson
Partner, COO
It's ME! Ink Press

I know pretty much nothing about either company, but "Mari's husband" does seem to have a vested interest in It's ME! Ink Press. *shrugs*

I had no idea the angst and arguments that went on in publishing until recently.

[victoriastrauss]

Originally Posted by Kalelski

This isn't about you, Althelyna/Althea. This is about my wife and the truth as well as the subject of whether Light Sword Publishing is a viable option for someone looking to have a book published that will be distributed and marketed properly.

This thread is indeed about Light Sword Publishing. Let's keep it on topic, please.

- Victoria

[Mari Sloan]

Originally Posted by victoriastrauss

This thread is indeed about Light Sword Publishing. Let's keep it on topic, please.

- Victoria

Hi! I'm Mari, the author who has been mentioned as having been published by Light Sword Publishing, and who is no longer under contract to them. My husband is Kalelski, and while we sometimes debate different avenues of travel, we are a team and are definitely on the same page and headed for the same place. I am more than willing to answer questions about MY EXPERIENCE with Light Sword Publishing, keeping in mind some very basic facts.

My last experiences with Light Sword Publishing that were concerned with anything having to do with their ability to prepare for publication, publish, or market a book were previous to May 2nd of this year, the day I was released from my contract. Any questions I answer pertaining to those subjects will date from before, or on, that date. I did have a rather unpleasant experience while attempting to collect my royalty from the publisher, dating from July 27th of this year, when the company sent me an insulting and inaccurate royalty statement with an inaccurately calculated check for $11.35. After a heated argument, copied to Writer Beware and Editors and Preditors, Light Sword Publishing decided that it did owe me an additional $112.87, which it sent with no corrected or businesslike, unbiased, royalty statement to clarify what it actually thought that it was paying me for. We are still trying to get that verification for our records. I have copies of all of this, as do the agencies already quoted.

In giving out information I am more than happy to give facts, but there are things that are not that important. I cannot see what importance can be given to the fact that Light Sword Publishing used a POD printer. Almost anything digital is done in small print runs or POD now. I was always surprised that Linda Daly, the person I had the most interaction with, reacted so badly to any accusation of that, since it is an avowed small press, but the size of the "print runs" were always a closely guarded secret. I know the name of the printer as I had materials sent to me from it, but that does not mean that Light Sword Publishing still even uses that printer. Much of my information is of that nature, dated, and not that important now.

I have stated that I was not happy with the presentation of my book and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be re-releasing it. My husband and I DO have a strongly vested interest in It's ME! Ink Press, and are VERY proud of it. If you check my profile, you will see that I do, indeed, sleep with my publisher. :-P On the other hand, we do not take submissions and have no plans to publish OTHER authors while we are learning the ropes ourselves. The way that we handle ourselves with OUR OWN publications will speak for itself.

What we have found out is that producing the book, while a headache at times and requiring a hefty learning curve, is the EASY part of the process and the hard part is yet to come. While we have turned the mechanics of distribution over to a capable and reputable source, SELLING the book is up to us. How well we do this will determine whether or not we are sucessful publishers. The publisher generally makes the connections to market the book, and has to make the book acceptable to be sold in bookstores. The writer's committment is to show up and do everything he or she can to support that effort.

To sum up, I will cheerfully answer questions, but the answers may not mean that much anymore. Kalelski (Alan) and I are partners in every way, and each of us is pretty able to take care of ourselves. ASK away, but keep in mind that my experience may not have all that much in common with authors undergoing the "Light Sword Experience" right now. I can only explain MY situation almost six months ago, and anyone visiting our webpage will see, spelled out, that we do not recommend that publisher. It's a personal decision, founded on personal experience.

I'm happy to be a part of the Absolute Write Water Cooler and I'm looking forward to moving past this and learning from the many different rich areas of this resource.

Thank you for having me!

Mari

[victoriastrauss]

Thanks so much for your post, Mari, and welcome to Absolute Write.

- Victoria

[JulieB]

Welcome to the 'cooler, Mari. Glad you're here to tell your experiences.

[Deirdre]

Originally Posted by Kalelski

Based on the seeming lack of ability to form a sentence using proper syntax, I can only conclude that Althelyna is, in reality, Linda Daly, who writes in the same garbled, barely coherent style.

This coming from the "publisher" who let syntax like:

"Nothing is what it seems, in BEAUFORT FALLS" grace the cover of a book?

Or have it described as a "Supernatural suspense thriller"?

"Secrets of the river, are carried to the grave." NO.

"Graves don't stay sealed, in Beaufort Falls." NO.

"Eliza returns, to avenge her murder." NO.

I think this says a lot about Light Sword, none of it pretty, but it says a lot more about people who come here right before the "re-release" of a book trying to pump up their paychecks.

[Mari Sloan]

Originally Posted by Deirdre

This coming from the "publisher" who let syntax like:

"Nothing is what it seems, in BEAUFORT FALLS" grace the cover of a book?

Or have it described as a "Supernatural suspense thriller"?

"Secrets of the river, are carried to the grave." NO.

"Graves don't stay sealed, in Beaufort Falls." NO.

"Eliza returns, to avenge her murder." NO.

I think this says a lot about Light Sword, none of it pretty, but it says a lot more about people who come here right before the "re-release" of a book trying to pump up their paychecks.

Thank you, Deirdre! You went to a lot of trouble to look up the book, and oddly enough, you chose some of my favorite quotes from it above. It's written somewhat "tongue in cheek", and while it's obvious that you do not appreciate my style, you represented it with phrases that I had a lot of fun writing. You GO, Girl! Can I use any of this as a review?

If you have any questions about Light Sword Publishing that might relate to my personal experince with them, I'd be happy to answer them. A paycheck is a good thing, BTW. I still have my day job.

:-P
Mari

[DaveKuzminski]

Then you're missing the point that some of those sentences were bad grammar. That's fine if all you're aiming at in the market is illiterates who wouldn't know the difference, but not many of them purchase books. You should really aim higher to make your sales.

[Mari Sloan]

Originally Posted by DaveKuzminski

Then you're missing the point that some of those sentences were bad grammar. That's fine if all you're aiming at in the market is illiterates who wouldn't know the difference, but not many of them purchase books. You should really aim higher to make your sales.

The book is aimed at the part of the reading audience who have a very subtle sense of humor, and that includes some very literate readers. It's part spoof, part serious, and all fun. I strongly considered leaving the commas out, making it more grammatically correct, and decided that they should remain. In some other part of this forum, my husband wouldn't mind explaining why he chose the elements that he used on the cover, but in this forum, the only appropriate discussion is why it is so much more appropriate a cover than the one designed, and used, by Light Sword Publishing for the same story. I thank you for your comments. I want to know what you think, even when it's not favorable.

Mari