Believe it or not, there are two Peggy J. Herrings who are writers of romance. I knew this when I started looking for a publisher because the other woman's name showed up on Internet searches. (Actually there's a third Peggy Herring who's a college professor/science writer.) I chose to write under Peg Herring, having always been called Peg anyway, and figured that would differentiate us.

Wrong. My publisher got an email from the Library of Congress when they applied for an ISBN#, saying they had my birth year wrong. We wrote back and said, no, the year was correct, and explained the situation. They got the birth year right, but still listed me as Peggy J. Herring. As a result others who take their info from LC have ignored the two different birth dates and assumed that Peg Herring and Peggy J. Herring are one and the same author. In the WorldCat info, my book comes up in with the other author's. I'm sure she isn't happy, and neither am I.

I've been trying since January to get someone at WorldCat to pay attention to their mistake. My publisher's staff is doing the same with the LC. Neither process will be easy, and of course anything already in print is uncorrectable.

I tell this to the world for two reasons: catharsis, hopefully, and as a warning. If I'd thought more carefully about the title page information when my ARCs came, I might have deduced that someone somewhere wasn't getting it. The little LC box has my full name, not my writing name, and there, as they say lies the rub.

Moral: When you get an ARC, don't just check the copy. Check EVERYTHING. Like most of life's mistakes, what's done it cannot be undone.

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Comment by Peg Herring on April 12, 2008 at 6:09am
You mean we get paid? All this work and frustration and money too?
Comment by Grant McKenzie on April 12, 2008 at 2:40am
Let's just hope they don't get the royalty cheques mixed-up, too ;-)

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