There are times when a man must let go of all the bullshit in his life and focus on the positive, and then there are others when he must stand up for himself and set the record straight to protect his good reputation. So, here it goes:
Several years ago I befriended Joann H. Buchannan. At the time she was a fledgling writer with great potential. Although I found her writing to be somewhat trite, I saw the appeal she would have with the teen horror genre. She had posted the beginning of I Am Wolf on her blog, and when I read it, I fell in love with her style.
Apparently, the Fiction Editor for Book Reviews for the L.A. Times liked her writing too, and sent her a message asking when the book would be out, because he wanted to read it. Joann contacted me in a panic, and asked me what she should do. I told her to tell him that she had just been signed with a reputable agent and that her book was in editing. Somewhat shocked by what I told her, I asked her to check her email. I had just sent her an Author-Agent Agreement, told her to print out two copies, sign them, and send them to Chamein Canton Literary Agency, whom I was a part of back then. Then I told her that I would edit her manuscript at no charge.
We worked together for months on that manuscript, and at the end, Chamein was happy. Joann was really struggling, and her fiancé only had part-time work. So, for Christmas, I sent her family a money order for $300.00, so that she could see her parents for Christmas. I also gave her several books to help in her writing endeavors, including The Elements of Style, which she never read because she found it to be too boring. I guess good grammar didn’t interest her.
So, I donated several months and countless hours of my time free of charge to help her get a foothold in the publishing business. I even went as far as signing her on spec, and when my agent found out, she told me she would drive to my house and kill me if she did not like that manuscript. I told her not to worry.
Joann reciprocated my good will by building my blog, The Love of the Written Word. She admitted that this was probably a $300.00 job. I was thankful. She went even further and offered to promote Swiss Chocolate when it was released January 28, 2011. Toward that end, she and her sister, Chantell, formed C & J Public Relations and took me on as their first client. I was ecstatic!
Joann got busy and started writing press releases, and Chantell told me stories about all the media kits she had built. To facilitate her job, I had my publisher send all 100 of my author copies to Chantell, so she could get them into the right hands. I also sent Chantell $1,000.00 to cover expenses. She said with that kind of money we could easily do three major pushes.
It didn’t take me long to figure out there was a problem when Chantell started making up excuse after excuse as to why she couldn’t send me an example of the media kits she said she had made. Although my publisher, Casey Swanson, is a pathological liar, I believed him when he told me he never received a single media kit. When I went to Joann about the problem, she nearly took my head off for slamming her sister.
She changed her tune very quickly when Chantell did not return her calls either. Finally, Joann realized that her sister had burned me, apologized for what happened, but told me this had nothing to do with her, and that it was between me and Chantell. I had no recourse, because Chantell lived in the Midwest, and I lived on the East Coast, and at best, this was a small claims case, even though it involved several thousand dollars.
Joann had already finished the first draft of her second novel and sent it to me to read. She asked me three times if I had started reading. I was so disgusted I couldn’t, and I felt completely used. Finally, after being kicked in the nuts so hard by my best friend, I completely fell apart, and our relationship turned into a huge catfight. There was absolutely nothing I wouldn’t have done for her, and I had proved that with my incredible generosity. If one of my sisters had burned my best friend for thousands of dollars, I would have beaten down her fucking door to find out what happened.
Later, I heard Joann completely rewrote I Am Wolf, and is now telling people that I destroyed her book with my poor editing skills. That just hurts. There are also lies about me collecting some sort of insurance claim on my books. That is not true. I never did see my books or money again, and I have never been compensated a single dime for all my losses.
Now, there is also some shit flying around about my relationship with Chamein Canton. I let her go because she simply was not doing her job, and she became abusive and extremely negative. That is all. Nothing more.
This discussion is closed, and I will not be accepting comments or questions. All comments will be deleted.
Love to all!
James M. Weil
