Published on February 11, 2009
We did it! We escaped Bangor for a week, heading south to my sister’s house to meet our sweet little nephew for the first time. As I’m typing this, we’re racing south on I-95. There’s tons of snow on the ground so we’ll be looking for the drifts to get smaller and smaller, the further south we get. It is supposed to be in the upper 60’s at my sister’s when we’re there so we all packed shorts. You think I’m kidding? This time of year, we think anything above freezing is a warm front!
Published on February 11, 2009
Lots of people think self-published authors had to print and then store zillions of copies of their books before Print on Demand came around. Actually, that wasn’t always the case. Some of us went an alternative route to avoid large up-front costs. Today, I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane to my early days as a self-published author.
Published on February 11, 2009
Lulu responded to Angela’s article. Since the letter contained over-the-top marketing blurbage, I’ll cut to the chase.
She claimed what we wrote were “misperceptions” and claimed the title of my article was “incorrect.”
The title was:
“Lulu CEO Admits They’ve ‘Easily Published the Largest Collection of Bad Poetry in the History of Mankind'”
She then went on about the author being the publisher, not Lulu, blah blah, and said, “Bob was actually saying, as he always does when asked, that Lulu authors have easily published some great work with our site – we are also home to the largest collection of bad poetry in the history of mankind.”
That’s followed by more marketing blurbage and then she insults us by saying, “I am always happy to provide you with any information you might need to ensure accuracy.”
Here’s my response…
Published on February 11, 2009
Two seemingly unrelated things happened to me recently; I joined Facebook and I watched an early morning news segment about guarding our reputations
Published on February 11, 2009
Between what I’ve written prior to your class and all the new stories cascading from your memory triggers, I need some advice. I’m writing to ask a question about naming real characters in stories.
Since this is a memoir, I figured it’s appropriate to keep honest and name names. It’s certainly easier to keep track of everyone this way.
However, some of the people I have written about are not likely to appreciate this. For example, I had a fourth grade teacher who went around the bend one day. I’m quite sure she’s dead, but who knows? Then, there was the bully at school. Although his crime was nothing to alert the S.W.A.T. team over, it had a huge impact on me.
Oh, and my family? I had 41 first cousins, 35 on my Mother’s side. They couldn’t agree on a memory if they were there. HELP!
How do you suggest I handle this?
Published on February 11, 2009
I never would have thought I could make money from my writing. While I always enjoyed reading, and dreamed of being a multi-million dollar bestseller author (who doesn’t fantasize about this?), I had no serious expectation that I could put two words together to make a coherent thought, must less anything that someone would actually buy. Later, when I ventured feeble attempts at dipping my toe in the novel business and mailed off some of my fanciful fiction stories, all the rejection letters that arrived proved my earlier self-doubts.
Published on February 11, 2009
Whispers and Warnings will return next week.
Published on February 4, 2009
Well, the groundhog definitely saw his shadow here…and he bolted back into the hole he’d dug through the three feet of packed snow we have on the ground. Our poor RV looks so lonely and cold outside. I’m sure she’s just dying for a trip but she is out of luck.
Published on February 4, 2009
One of the banes of our existence as a POD publisher is that most of our competitors don’t vet manuscripts for quality and, thus, publish a lot of garbage. Sure, there are some gems in there but, heavens, if you saw what we see on a daily basis, you’d be amazed. I’m not trying to be harsh or to hurt anybody’s feelings but, honestly, wouldn’t you want somebody to tell you if your book was really, really bad before it went into print? Sadly, most POD publishers are far more interested in how much money they can get out of you than they are in the quality of your book.
Published on February 4, 2009
This Week:
- KUDOS TO: You and Me – American’s Medical Magazine!
- When POD Pubs Confuse Authors Regarding “Distribution”
