The majority of my signed & personalized books are sent to the USA via Royal Mail International. It is the least expensive option I can offer and takes 42 days. With that said, many have told me their order arrives much faster which is fantastic.
7 days ago, Royal Mail International was hacked and went down. I have a few unfortunate orders that I’ve not sent out yet as I was hoping that Royal Mail would be up and running quickly. No such luck.
I have been turned away 3 times now and their website seems to be expecting a long ‘winter’ of digging out from all the backed-up packages.
I am having to raise my prices and switch to another international carrier until the situation is resolved. I will keep you informed. If you are planning on ordering and have checked my prices out already, please do keep in mind the situation with my apologies for the price rise.
I’ve also had a few returns which has never happened to me since I have been signing books and personally sending them out in 2016.
From now on, I will be using a Tracking Number and need to make it clear that a signed and personalized book with the buyer’s name on it can’t be returned as I can’t resell them with someone else’s name written on the inside of the book.
I do buy them myself from the partner publisher. I am not a corporation and everything is handled out of my own home. In the age of Amazon, it is easy to forget that small, independents can’t operate in the same 24/7 manner.
All authors will agree with me when I say that this is not an easy occupation. It can take years of training, research, and 6 months to a year to write a book that can be read in a relatively short time. It is more than a full-time job and often at odd hours of the day and night which means having a ‘reliable job’ – impossible.
I have been very blessed to have built up positive online friendships with so many readers, fellow researchers, and podcasters! I have wonderful Patrons who have made my work possible. I have been blessed with appearances on The Curse of Oak Island and now with director Luca Centoni. I’m getting there! But it’s an uphill climb.
Thank you for understanding the changes regarding shipping and a non-refundable policy going forward on the signed books.
The following is a website link for Royal Mail’s current status:
https://personal.help.royalmail.com/…/detail/a_id/12556
Thank you for your understanding,
All my best wishes to you and yours,
Gretchen Cornwall
