The writing and publishing history of Annabelle of Anchony

The Rocky Road

At the time when the Harry Potter books were being made into movies and The DaVinci Code was all the rage—with the controversy of whether the books lead their readers away from Christ—Ruth wondered why there couldn’t be a novel that lead people closer to Christ and His Church.

 She pondered, “In what situation would someone be in when all they had to do was to learn about Christ?” She settled upon desertion on an island, but there had to be someone on the island to teach the person. This is how Annabelle and Peter came to be on the Forbidden Island. As for age, it made more sense for Annabelle to be a child.

 Ruth then pondered, “What else could be learned from being on this island?” Naturally, a person would have to learn how to survive on the island (which berries/leaves are good to eat, how to make tools, what animals to avoid, etc.), but that didn’t seem like it would fill the time enough. Hence, a multitude of hours (years) are devoted to Peter teaching Annabelle in the “art of self-protection.”

“Why was Peter so skilled? What was he doing on the island to begin with? How did Annabelle end up there?” were the next questions, which is how the whole plot worked itself out.

Once working on the story for a few years (writing it for herself), Ruth began to think, “This is pretty good. I want to share it with the world.” Only at this point, did she pursue publishing.

 Googling “Christian publishers” (there weren’t very many Catholic publishers pursuing fiction at the time, and she didn’t want all of the spirituality to be removed from the book if going to a secular publisher), she came across a press out of Oklahoma. Calling themselves a traditional publisher (Ruth knew nothing about publishing at the time), they stated they would publish her book for free, she just had to get a publicist. She could get one of her own, which could cost in the tens of thousands range, or use one of theirs, which would be in the thousands range. This is called a vanity press, though they used deception to disguise it.

Wanting to evangelize, Ruth saved up and signed up with them. The first book, Annabelle of Anchony: Burdens of the Mind, was released in 2012. It went on to receive the Catholic Arts and Letters Award in 2013 given by the Catholic Writers Guild for the best Catholic fiction.

 Ruth published the second and third books, Annabelle of Anchony: Heart’s Relief (2013) and Annabelle of Anchony: Kingdom’s Call (2014), through this vanity press. It was clear during the editing process of the third book that their quality was decreasing (they had outsourced to the Philippines).

 In January 2017, Ruth received a cryptic email from the vanity press that didn’t make sense to her, stating she could purchase her files back from them. She decided to wait it out and see what would happen. A few months later, the vanity press tried to re-open under a different name and was promptly closed down by the attorney general of Oklahoma.

 Her books were no longer available for purchase on the internet. Disheartened but not hopeless, Ruth contemplated how she was to resurrect Annabelle’s tale with serious thought—yet hesitancy—of independent self-publishing. But, with more knowledge of the publishing world, Ruth recognized the benefits of using an established, traditional publisher. Wanting Annabelle’s story to reach as many as possible and knowing that would only happen with a traditional publisher, she approached a Catholic publisher known to publish fiction and was turned down.

Ruth trusted her books’ fates to the Father and the intercession of Our Lady and her Immaculate Heart (to whom, along with her family, she had dedicated her first book). Then, while networking at the Catholic Writers Guild/Catholic Marketing Network’s joint conference in 2017, she learned Marian Press was searching for young adult novels and was asked for a review copy of Annabelle of Anchony: Burdens of the Mind (2012). A year later, Ruth signed the agreement with Marian Press to re-publish the books in the series and to publish book four for the first time.

Annabelle of Anchony: Burdens of the Mind (2019), Heart’s Relief: Annabelle of Anchony Series Book Two (2020), and Kingdom’s Call: Annabelle of Anchony Series Book Three (2023) were released through Marian Press.

While the fourth book was going through the editing process, Marian Press decided to exit the fiction market, informing Ruth in June of 2024. Initially shocked, Ruth eventually concluded that, since her rights had come back to her twice, God was trying to tell her something. She decided to publish the fourth book and any future books through her own press: The Apollonian Arts Company.

Though it has been a rocky road, Ruth is now content that she has complete control over the Annabelle of Anchony series and other future projects.