I signed a publishing agreement with Friesen Press on November 7th of 2017 for my children's book Friends on the Spectrum. My intention for this book was to create a resource for parent's, caregivers and educators to use to open the discussion around children and special needs individuals. I had never written or published professionally and I had done my research (or so I thought) between Friesen and TellTale. Friesen had the best "pitch" in my opinion at the time and the better bang for my buck so to speak. I felt at first upon speaking to Joshua Robinson that I had found a team that backed my vision and an individual who was committed to making it happen. Instead I was paired with a lack lustre, uncommitted and un reachable individual to guide me through the process. Even on the day of my official release I contacted him and received an "out of office" message. Prior to publishing he had told me that the bookstore link to sell was only for me to see as a template when it reality it was live the entire time and in that time he had listed my children's book about special needs under terminal illness! That was quite a shock to my audience and myself and it took weeks to have that information corrected. I was bullied into the cost of my book because I wanted to make it affordable but you have to set it in USD and I thought the lower the price would make it more accessible but then they tack on per book shipping because they print in the states. So a book that cost $14 to purchase is also roughly $14 to ship from Friesen Press. My story is beautiful but I am not asking any parent to spend $30 on a single soft cover book. Amazon listing was a nightmare and after 3 tickets they resolved the issue for the influx of pricing by third party sellers. I have repeatedly inquired about terminating the contract which is stated in the contract but not clearly as to how that is carried out and they tell me I can purchase my print ready files instead for $699 plus taxes. I have already spent well over $3500 in attempt to make this an engaging, affordable and accessible passion project and I just deposited another $500 last month to see if I could fix their mistakes in the first product but now I know they are the problem. I have been passed around to numerous specialists who consistently upset me to stay with them because honestly I can't afford to do the alternative. I have used GoFundMe, PayPal, I have a business partner and I sell what little I can because the cost to order books in bulk is ridiculous for personal sales. They want all of their profits through their website which is why the royalties are highest through those channels and the most expensive. I just want to have my intellectual properties returned to me so that I can create the book I envisioned for a community that deserves affordability and accessibility.