Some of you might remember that a few weeks ago I received an offer from an epublisher to re-issue my romantic comedy short story, Deceiving Derek. After an interesting discussion and much thought, I decided not to accept the offer. I let the acquiring editor know late last week, and she was very gracious about keeping the door open for future submissions.
The publisher in question has a good reputation, but, in the simplest terms, the timing wasn’t right. For me. Yes, Deceiving Derek is “only” a short story, and, yes, it’s been published before, so this would have been a re-issue and why not just get the story out there again? Because. It’s not enough to just put the story out there again, how and when it goes out has to work for me. Unfortunately, because of other opportunities that may or may not pan out, the “work for me” and the “timing not right” issues outweighed the thrill of the contract offer. Because it’s always a thrill when an editor and house wants to publish your work, but, in this case, the thrill alone wasn’t enough.
How about you? Having you ever said no to a contract? Am I insane?