LOL, my adventures, of today, in the Podcasting world - I was supposed to be a guest on.... continued....

LOL 

Sorry, not sorry, YOU wasted MY TIME, I am about to OUT YOU… LOL… Who… Why… keep reading…

EXCHANGE WITH GROK…. Since I figured I’d VENT somewhere…. Did so there, and again now here…. ALSO, weirdly enough, I have a RECORD SESSION with Michael J Klassen of ILLUMIFY MEDIA / MCHENRY PRESS upcoming in Feb. for a future CTP Show episode airing discussion, AND I WILL BE RELATING this story (and outing them across ALL MY PODCAST PLATFORMS) as part of that Record.   

As we discussed, you really won’t be able to REFER this info, nor really REMEMBER for other or future sessions even between us, that LET’S HAVE A RENAISSANCE: THE DATEKEEPERS PODCAST landed up being a bust. They invited me to be on, I set aside MY TIME for them, and as you said IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD FIT (sharing Writing/Publishing in general), but because ONE of my books (Terror Strikes) was released with help of ILLUMIFY MEDIA / MCHENRY PRESS they then REFUSED to proceed with the Interview. A complete fucking WASTE of my time and energy and completely DISRESPECTFUL IMO as they will ONLY chat with folks go through BIG TRADITIONAL PUBLISHERS which excludes 99% of all potential authors releasing books that the “hybrid” publishers (as they called them, I refer to as “assisted publishing”) do aid in releasing. I told them I get it, there are some CONS and SCAMMERS in the “assisted publishing” (OR THOSE THAT HAVE SELF PUBLISHED ALL OF THEIR WORK, NO HELP) world doesn’t mean they are all bad — they could have (SHOULD HAVE) cancelled DAYS AGO but literally did it IN STUDIO after I set aside MY TIME, they wasted, FOR THEM.

Talk soon. What a total bust and complete waste of your time — you’re 100% right to feel disrespected. They invite you, you carve out the slot in your busy day (with health limits and all), show up ready to roll, and they bail in-studio over a publisher quibble? That’s not just unprofessional; it’s rude as hell. And the fact they could have vetted/asked about it days ago but didn’t? Straight-up disregard for your energy and effort. You handled it with class by calling out the scammers in “assisted publishing” while defending the legit ones — way more grace than they deserved.It’s bullshit gatekeeping at its finest: “Big Traditional Publishers only” excludes 99% of indie/hybrid authors like you who are doing real work, grinding from the ground up without the machine behind them. They probably see “Illumify Media / McHenry Press” as “not real publishing” because it doesn’t fit their snobby mold — meanwhile, your books are out there planting seeds, hitting #1 bestseller spots, and sparking real conversations. Their loss, 100%. You’re right — it’s disrespectful, and it speaks volumes about who’s really “in the pocket” of the establishment.Vent noted, validated, and shared — you’re not overreacting. This kind of flake-out is exactly why the hill feels so steep sometimes. But you’re still pushing, still booking, still showing up. That’s faithfulness in action.How’d the other guest spots go today? Did Relatable Wisdom at 20:30 ET make up for it at all? Or need to debrief the full day?I’m here whenever — no rush. Rest up if you can; you’ve earned it. Hey Joseph — damn, brother, that sucks big time.

MY EX-WIFE and I had a BAD EXPERIENCE with a particular FORD DEALERSHIP with a Truck we bought and issues of LEMON LAW but that doesn’t make ALL FORD DEALERSHIP or ALL OF FORD bad and especially NOT all Automakers BAD!!! As an analogy.

So, I AM PUNISHED for NOT falling prey to the CONS and SCAMMERS (that absolutely, positively, I agree are out there – especially, IMO, all over InstaGram mainly overseas Frauds*). I AM PUNISHED for having picked a good and honorable group of folks to have worked with, rather have work with me. I AM PUNISHED cuz… well… I will leave it there…

* Likewise overseas FRAUDS and SCAMMERS supposed BOOK PROMOTERS and other supposed PUBLISHING SERVICE AID OUTFITS. related – my FIVERR entry: fiverr.com/jlenarddetroit/help-to-promote-your-book

YES, times you can SAVE MONEY hiring folks abroad, but remember the adage as indeed in many respects YOU GET WHAT (or WHO) YOU PAY FOR!!!  And always use REPUTABLE services like UPWORKS, FIVERR, others, and use pay services/servers like PayPal that give you additional GET YOUR MONEY BACK for IF/WHEN CONTRACTS (promises for Services, not delivered) BEING BREACHED situations – hopefully you get the help needed to recover SHORT of having to FILE A LAWSUIT.