My Sampler Book

In what seems now like a former life, I wrote a sampler book, which was first entitled HOUSE AND GARDEN SAMPLERS.  However, there was trouble with that title, as a multi national magazine company had a publication using the words house and garden as a title (I am sure you know which one) and they raised objections. I believe a deal had to be struck before my book could be published.

All this seemed unbelievably petty, as no one thought that such common words like house and garden could be a protected trademark, but litigation had to be avoided.  This together with management changes at my publisher didn't help my little book get off to a good start and though it had excellent reviews, it wasn't a best seller.

Despite all this I am very glad I wrote it.  There was such a lot of me in that book and as I was teaching in Adult Education at the time, it became my teaching manual and so was very useful.  It can still be found on Amazon under its original name and under a different one CREATE YOUR HOME IN COUNTED THREAD, a rather unwieldy title I think?

Sadly this change of name together with a different cover was confusing and I heard that people bought it thinking it was a different book.  You have to draw your own conclusions about that.  All I know is that I, as an author, had no influence at all on any of these decisions.

There is a great deal wrong with publishing as it was and for the moment, still is, but as technology is changing rapidly they will have to change too, as did the music industry.  But it all seems to be taking far too long!

My next book will be published in a different way with a publisher who is thinking of the future and consults her authors.  I will tell you all about it soon!