Bookstore On Date Night! Yea!

When we got home, the boys excitedly went through the bookstore bag. Max grabbed MY book, and said, “Yea! You bought me Orange is the New Black!”

Is Your Book Description Killing Sales? By Angela Hoy

It happened again today. I asked an author for a short description of her book for Ingram, the world’s largest book distributor, which sends an automated feed to the online and physical bookstores. The feed is used to create book listings on sites like Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, and other stores. The author responded right away. This was last line of her description –
Read on as justice is served and police take down the vicious killer.
Yep. She gave away the ending. Who wants to buy a book if you already know what’s going to happen? Giving away the ending will definitely hurt future book sales!

Sent By Mail, On A Real Card! This Made Our Day!

Sent By Mail, On A Real Card! This Made Our Day!

Angela Hoy,
I thought I’d write a quick note to tell you how much I appreciate WritersWeekly.com, especially the 24-hour contests. As a freelance writer, I look forward to those contest days when I can just focus on a fresh fiction idea.
All the best to you!
Meredith M.

30 Queries In 30 Days Worked For Me! By Diane Stark

Recently, I took an online writing class called “30 Queries in 30 Days” by Mridu Khullar Relph. The goal of the class was obvious: to send out 30 query letters in a month. Every day, Mridu would send a lesson via email that taught us how to research magazine markets, generate ideas, write query letters, or some other how-to of marketing our writing…

Whispers And Warnings For July 30th

Links to the stories below can be found here:
https://forums.writersweekly.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9382
IF YOU CAN’T PROVE IT, DON’T PUBLISH IT! YOUR FAMILY MAY HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR WORDS AFTER YOU’RE GONE!
Jesse Ventura wins lawsuit over ‘American Sniper’; passage to be deleted
“A federal jury in St. Paul awarded Ventura over $1.8 million in damages on Tuesday, finding that a section of the book defamed Ventura.”
HAVE YOU BEEN BULLIED BY AN ADULT ON SOCIAL MEDIA?
Bullying not just child’s play
“Cyber harassment is the adult form of teen cyber-bullying. It is used to elicit hostile reactions toward the victim and may include defamatory posts, copying, altering and sharing of photos without copyright permission, or sending unwanted e-mails and texts.”
GROSS. JUST…GROSS.
Journalists subpoenaed in ‘pink-slime’ suit
“At least four journalists and a writer have been ordered to hand over documents to attorneys representing the largest manufacturer of “pink slime,” the latest development in Beef Products Inc.’s $1.2-billion defamation lawsuit against ABC News and others.”
THIS ISN’T SURPRISING…
Why Is Amazon’s Net Income Since ’97 Less Than Facebook’s in 2 Years?
“Facebook’s profit totals about $5 billion since its second quarter of 2012, the first quarter following its IPO, according to its earnings reports. Amazon’s total profit since 1997 is $3.1 billion, though the company’s accounting methods vary in some of its quarters, according to financial data firm FactSet.”
SCHOOL LIBRARIES IN WISCONSIN SEVERELY CULLED BY NON-LIBRARIANS!
Librarians concerned over removal of books
“Dozens of Unified faculty, staff, students and parents called on the Board of Education Monday night to stop district workers from removing thousands of books…”
Links to the stories above can be found here:
https://forums.writersweekly.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9381
RELATED:
Archived Whispers and Warnings are HERE.

Ali Picked Out Her Wedding Dress!

Ali Picked Out Her Wedding Dress!

Ali’s future mom-in-law, Sharon, came into town again last week so we gals hit the road in search of the PERFECT wedding dress. I honestly thought we’d have to go to several stores over several days but, within three hours, Ali had picked the perfect dress! And, it was the very first one she’d tried on!

SELF-PUBLISHING CONTRACT FINE PRINT EXPOSED: Who Can Keep Selling Your Book For A YEAR After Termination? By Angela Hoy

Good news! You just landed a traditional contract for your self-published book! Better news!! Your current self-publishing service (a POD publisher) has a 30-day termination clause. That’s good because the traditional publisher offering you a nice advance isn’t going to want to wait for you to get out of another contract. Some traditional publishers require proof that an author’s book is no longer under contract elsewhere, and no longer for sale. In fact, if you can’t provide that proof, they may rescind their offer, and offer that contract to a competing author instead.
Guess what? If you’re an Xlibris, AuthorHouse, or Trafford author, terminating your book isn’t as simple as their “30-day” contract termination clause may appear…

Authors – Avoid Being Victimized by Bookstores

Authors – Avoid Being Victimized by Bookstores

Hi Angela-
Re: The item concerning marketing to bookstores in which you state:
“I recommend selling a few copies to a bookstore on consignment instead. I must warn you to not sell them more than a handful at a time because chances are most will be returned. One author reported a bookstore telling her all copies of her books were stolen. (They never paid her and I, of course, didn’t believe the bookstore was telling the truth.)”
I urge that authors selling to book stores:
1. Get paid up-front.
2. Give them written notice, with a copy duly endorsed by the store for the author’s files, that the Author will refund the price of any unsold copies returned in salable condition as determined by the author via prepaid shipment.
Some 10 years ago, my co-author and I provided some copies of one of his books on consignment to one small bookstore and one distributor. He has yet to receive payment or returned copies from the bookstore.
As to the distributor, another bookstore had recommended it to Eric and, when he mentioned he had difficulty collected the amount due despite repeated assurances to the contrary, the bookstore owner paid the invoice amount and told Eric no problem, she would deducted the amount from the next invoice she received from the distributor. It would not complain because she was a good customer.
After that, it was prepay only.
Harvey Randall, Author
A Reasonable Disciplinary Penalty Under the Circumstances
Layoff, Preferred Lists and Reinstatement (2014 Edition)
The Discipline Book (2014 Edition)
The General Municipal Law Section 207-a and 207-c Case Book

The Rule of 5 for Writers By William Ballard

I learned the concept of the Rule of 5 at a seminar, “The Rule of 5 for Leadership,” by John Maxwell. Since then, I’ve heard the Rule of 5 for just about everything. The Rule of 5 is a list of the five key things that you must do every day in your business, in your writing, or whatever goal you may be pursuing…

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