Back in the mists of time, or summer 2025 to be exact, I took some bad advice (or rather, incomplete advice) and I set up Stone Shadows to publish in late April 2026.
Unfortunately, shortly after that, I ended up having foot surgery that I had not been expecting. I thought it'd interfere with life for about 2 weeks. And boy, was I ever wrong.
I didn't write for 3 months. Mainly due to pain issues and not being able to sit comfortably for periods of time that would allow me to write, even with a laptop. I got 3 months behind on Me + You. That, of course, put me 3 months behind on Stone Shadows.
Amazon already punished me once for my delay with Me + You, then rescinded it when I explained the surgery. Now I am about to be penalized again. Even though I've pushed as hard as I could, I'm still 2 weeks behind. And that means Stone Shadows could fail to meet it's pre-order date 5/28. If that happens, Amazon will once again send me to bed without any supper :D Or, cancel all my preorders for Stone Shadows on Kindle, and then lock me out of pre-orders for 1 year. That's in addition to making me create two separate listings for my book, which will keep me from linking the eBook and paperback on the same page like they did to me for Me + You.
So I'm faced with a choice: Fail to upload the manuscript on 5/24 -- they make you upload 4 days early, and then they lock it so you can't update until it's released -- and be punished, or upload the manuscript where the last 10k words are still in revision/proofreading status and give people (initially) a subpar product.
I think the pre-order people are about to get a subpar product. BUT when I subsequently upload the manuscript I WANT people to have, if they have auto updates on, their eBook will automatically update to the newest, better version and they may never even notice. But I'll know it happened. If you know me, you know I don't like to deceive or cheat people, especially people who have shelled out their hard earned money on my work.
If you don't have auto updates on, you will have to manually update your copy. Go to your Amazon account, choose Manage content and devices. Go to preferences. Scroll down and turn on auto update. But you might first have to go to your content library and look for Stone Shadows, and choose "update" from the menu for the book in your library. (You may want to turn on auto update anyway, because other books will occasionally throw out an updated version where they have added info, changed/updated something, etc).
I realize this could irritate people. A lot. They could complain and demand a refund, and they certainly are entitled to do that. I'm not happy with it, either. But! For the people who pre-ordered and got the "If you're seeing this, you do not have the most updated version" message in the ebook, please contact me. There's a contact me option on the webpage or use the link below. If you are in the US, I will send you, at zero cost, a signed paperback copy when I receive them in June.
https://malloryglass.com/contact
The messy manuscript is ONLY going out to pre-orders on Amazon and will not impact any other sellers.
And again, I'm really sorry. I tried to catch up, and it just didn't happen. Amazon would not let me move the date out to early June, when the paperback will be out and the correct eBook will be on other bookstore sites. I do not feel good about this, but I promise to make good with you, the reader, and fix it as best I can.
Thanks for sticking with me on this journey. I hope, at the very least, you enjoy the book once you have the correct copy in your hands.
PS - I spent every weekend since Apr 2 doing events. Some were multi day, some were in other states, some were both. It took a lot of time and energy away from the writing, but wow, is it fun to connect with readers and the other authors and folks at these events! It's one of the best parts of writing. I hope I see you out there.