Was It Intuition? A Publisher Avoided

I'm not going to name names.

Today I learned that a Christian self-publishing company, one I encountered at every conference I attended, was entwined with a cult-like church.

In 2008 I considered them for self-publishing my poetry book Father Daughter Day, but wasn't able to complete the research necessary to make a decision. In 2011 I further considered them, even talking with one of their staffers by phone and e-mail. I decided not to do it, as their costs seemed high and their take on each book printed also seemed a little high. Or maybe that's what I concluded given that the author's royalty seemed so low. Whatever it was, I wasn't ready or willing to pay several thousand dollars to have my book published.

The company's reputation was stellar. At every conference people talked about how this company, among all the self-publishing companies that charged significant up-front fees, actually did a good job with publishing only well-written books, doing good quality production runs, giving the author value for their money, etc. Now, today, I hear of many bad things about the publisher and its entwined church.

Was it intuition that caused me to turn away from them? Or perhaps a gentle nudge by the Holy Spirit?