Getting published is every writer’s dream. I wanted my book in every bookstore, on top lists, and selling thousands, if not millions of copies. But that dream almost crashed before it began.
In 2012, I started writing Curveball at the Crossroads. The first rough draft was finished in late 2013. I put the manuscript aside for a few years as I went back to school. From 2013 to 2019, I would occasionally submit the first 20 pages to publishers. I had a few dozen rejection letters and even more unanswered email queries. I grew frustrated, thinking the book would never be published.
I was laid off when the world stopped in 2020. With nothing to do besides looking for a new job and hoping the economy would start again, I decided to work on creative projects. The top project on my list was getting Curveball at the Crossroads published. I wanted to get my book in the hands of other bored readers. With no sports on TV, I thought people might flock to a sports fiction novel.
With no success pitching to larger publishers, I googled “Florida book publishers”. I figured if I was a local writer with experience in local publications, if I worked with a local publisher all the money would stay local. In theory, it was a good idea.
I found a list of Florida publishers and emailed several of them the first chapter of Curveball at the Crossroads. Only one emailed me back: Legacy Book Publishing from Winter Park, Florida.
Within a month, I signed a contract with Legacy Book Publishing to publish Curveball at the Crossroads. That was a huge mistake. I should have done my homework.
Gabriel Vaughn is the owner of Legacy Book Publishing. According to Florida business directory Sunbiz.org, Legacy Book Publishing doesn’t exist. Here are Gabriel Vaughn’s companies according to Sunbiz. Of them, only Legacy Press of Florida is active.
Representing a fictional company in a contract is illegal. Even if Gabriel Vaughn changed the name of the company on the contract, I still should not have done business with him. Not only does he have a claim against him by an author on RipoffReport.com, not only is there a scathing review of his lack of services to another author on his Google Business page, he has been sued in the Orange County Court by several authors.
As of 2022, my name is on the top of the list of authors who sued Gabriel Vaughn and his publishing companies.
Gabriel Vaughn provided me a published book in November 2020. Unfortunately, the original printing of Curveball at the Crossroads was littered with typos, including three on the back cover. The cover was poorly designed and not to the level of other books. Lastly, when I opened my shipment of books, several copies had blank pages and misaligned pages in the middle of the book. I was completely embarrassed.
Even worse, as of 2022, Gabriel Vaughn has never paid me for any sales. Nor has he ever told me how many books, if any, I sold through his company.
So I reached out to a lawyer and we sued him. My lawsuit demands four things: monies owned, a list of sales, that he de-list Curveball at the Crossroads off his website, and that he never sell my book again.
Most of the lawsuits against Gabriel Vaughn are for Breach of Contract. Gabriel Vaughn and Legacy Book Publishing is what is known as a “Vanity Publisher”. Gabriel Vaughn charges aspiring authors money to print their books. The authors get published by an actual publisher and avoid the stigma of self-publishing and Gabriel Vaughn gets paid without having the responsibility of selling any books.
Getting paid up front also reduces his incentive to print good products.
Prior to dealing with Gabriel Vaughn, I was under the assumption that self-published meant “bad” or “cheap”. I also thought it meant only distributing through Amazon, which I did not want to do. Not until after I tried selling Gabriel Vaughn’s printing of Curveball at the Crossroads did I learn about self-publishing distribution.
I wanted my book on the shelves at small book stores. That was a goal. Unfortunately, Gabriel Vaughn and Legacy Book Publishing did not distribute through Ingram Spark, the preferred distributor of most small bookstores. The few stores I spoke to would not order books from individual publishers, especially ones they never heard of. They wanted the book to be available through Ingram Spark.
I was stuck with a poorly designed product that no one would order and a publisher who already got paid. I should have had “Sucker” printed on my forehead.
Fortunately, I still had the rights to my novel. I was able to reprint Curveball at the Crossroads in 2021. Reprinting took me almost an entire year. I learned how to commission a cover artist. I learned how to work with freelancers on Fivver.com, to include an editor and a book layout designer. I learned how to submit a self-published novel to Ingram Spark so small book stores can order it. All of the effort was well-worth it. I am proud of the second edition. It is a better product with better editing, a much better cover, and is more widely available.
I doubt I will ever get my money from Gabriel Vaughn. He is a hustler and scam artist who preys on the hopes and dreams of aspiring writers. When I last spoke with my attorney in December 2022, he told me the lawsuit could not be served because the Orange County Court could not find Gabriel Vaughn.
Ironically, Curveball at the Crossroads is about the consequences of signing a contract with the Devil out of desperation. I feel I did the same when I signed with Gabriel Vaughn and Legacy Book Publishing. For future authors, no matter where he surfaces, do not ever do business with Gabriel Vaughn and Legacy Book Publishing.
The much-improved second edition of Curveball at the Crossroads can be found at Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, or ordered through your local bookstore.
