We had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving Day! It snowed here all day long and between that, and the homemade hot chocolate, and the cute snowman Frank built, and the children bringing down the Christmas decorations from the attic, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation playing in the background, the day couldn’t have been more warm and magical.
What does it matter if the market is “saturated” as you put it, when “oceans” of POD books fail to sell?
If “cold turkey”, a POD publisher suffers no financial loss in readying a book for sale, does it really matter whether it is thought of as a late comer?
One feels loathe in thinking that they, i.e. the POD publishers at large, presume to be gifted with an un-erring ESP as to what will sell and what won’t.
No letters this week. I guess everyone was too busy eating! 🙂
Let’s say that you followed the advice of several publishing professionals and prepared a complete book proposal. Good for you! It’s clear to anyone reading your proposal that you have a handle on your target audience. You did a good job of showing that there is a need for your proposed book. Your synopsis and chapter outline are superbly written. And your promotional plan is impressive, indeed, except for one thing. It’s fake, counterfeit, phony, bogus.
I’m curious. What happens to the unpaid (except in signed copies of the book) contributors when a well-known celebrity publishes a book with the stories and “wisdom” from ordinary writer folk? Do the ordinary folk get any publicity or press in the ensuing publicity tour? Does it hurt/help a writer to have their selections published in someone else’s best seller? I’ve been selected to have a story I wrote published in a celebrity’s book and folks are asking ME what happens and I have to say, I honestly don’t know! Can you clue me in?
It’s been almost eight years, and I can still feel the gut wrench. Up to that day, I’d been contributing tens of thousands of words to a prominent how-to publisher’s books, all at a handsome per word rate, for an editor I’d met only by phone but adored.
Now, the voice on the other end of the line was telling me she would be in charge. This Ms. LB would give me a small sample assignment at the usual per word rate, but no promises.
This Week:
Isn’t technology great? We can watch TV shows from all over the world now. Case in point? Postman Pat. Here in the U.S., HBO airs this darling children’s show each day. Max adores it and we even hear him talking in a British accent sometimes when mimicking lines from the show. (He also uses a Texas accent when mimicking lines from King of the Hill). Anyway, Max really wants a Postman Pat Doll (and his kitty, too) for Christmas. The problem is, I can’t find anybody in the U.S. who sells Postman Pat products. Oh, I found tons of people and companies in the U.K. with the dolls, but nobody will ship to the U.S. – not even amazon.co.uk!
This Week:
How much do you make PER HOUR writing articles? $100? $50? Less than $10? Here are two critical questions: How much do you need to make every day, week or month to run a profitable full-time or part-time freelance business? How does this income requirement translate into an hourly rate?
