Something Happened on the Way to Publishing

Hi friends,

So… a funny thing happened on the way to publishing.

Actually, not funny. More like mildly absurd, then infuriating, then existential, then fine. The usual emotional sequence for modern indie authors.

I submitted one of my books to a distributor that prides itself on being author-friendly. I followed every rule. I disclosed what I was supposed to. And I got blocked from Amazon.

Not because of the content. Not because I broke anything.
But because I told the truth about how I worked.

The irony? Amazon was totally fine with it. I didn’t expect to say that sentence in this lifetime. But apparently, if you’re honest with them, they say “thank you.” If you’re honest with the other guys, they say “please go elsewhere.”

So, I went elsewhere. Because the story is still mine.
Because ethics shouldn’t be a liability.
Because I didn’t survive formatting hell just to be punished for transparency.

The book’s still coming. One channel narrower, a few lessons deeper.

And while I don’t plan on becoming that writer who writes essays about writing essays about how hard publishing is in 2025…
Well, here we are.

Also — it’s 80 degrees and mostly cloudy with thunderstorms on deck, which makes it the perfect day to question the system and keep writing through the fog.

📚 Reminder: My books are on sale through July 31

✨ The Inextinguishable Marie Kelly
Coming-of-age. Intergenerational fire. Maybe a little hope.
📅 Use code SSW50 | 📚 $2.49 on Smashwords

✨ The Awakening of Clara Hayes
Resistance. Secrets. A girl who finally hears her own voice.
📅 Same deal. Same code. Same defiance.

🖤 And one more thing…

I’ve officially begun work on the first book in my third series — this time under the name Louise Ashford, where the boundaries are looser and the shadows are allowed to linger.

It’s called In the Devil’s Wake, and it returns me to Dante’s Harbor — a town I thought I was done with, but clearly wasn’t done with me. Over 20 pages were already written, but I had to come back. Re-enter. Rebuild. And now it’s breathing again.

It’s darker. It’s naughtier. It’s mine.
And it’s part of something I’m still learning how to hold.

📷 And because we’re still small here — just one subscriber, just one quiet room — I want to mark this moment.

Here are the covers of the first two books that brought me here.
Two very different stories, each lit by their own kind of flame:

📚 [Grab your copy on Smashwords

📚 Explore The Resistance Chronicles

These are the stories that made me an author.

Thank you for being here — even if you’re the only one right now.
Especially because you’re the only one right now.

Same time next Saturday.

—
A.L. Bellettiere
📚 Author of two books and one slowly smoldering alter ego
✍️ Publishing by candlelight, metaphorically
💧 Still hydrated. Still here.
🌒 Whispering from Dante’s Harbor — rain or shine