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 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”
Published on February 4, 2009
This sounds like a fundamental quest for any writer. The problem is that it sounds easy. If your writing career has been going smoothly, you are blessed. For the rest of us, let’s look at the issues realistically. Someone wants your work. You deliver and getting paid turns into one big headache. As far as I know writers are the only professionals who get treated this way. The world as a whole does not treat us professionally. Professionals get a decent wage and get paid on time.
Published on February 4, 2009
I am considering two different POD companies, BookLocker and CreateSpace. From what I can see, CreateSpace (owned by Amazon) has no set up fee but you pay a little more for each book sold. Honestly, after reading all the information you provide, I like your approach and I have purchased a book from you and I like the way it feels and looks, but I am having trouble justifying paying $500 when I can pay $0 in set up fees. Can you tell me if I am missing something with CreateSpace? I see they are not one of the companies you discussed in the comparison article. Thanks for any additional information you can provide!
Published on February 4, 2009
I’d heard from other writers that posting in the services section of CraigsList.org was a good way to gain more clients. Though I was skeptical, I figured it was free, so I forged ahead, promoting myself as an online copywriter and blogger. I didn’t hear anything right away, and then almost a week after I’d posted, I got an email from someone saying he needed a writer to ghostblog for his law firm. I was still skeptical (after all, I don’t have a law degree and I’ve barely sat through a complete episode of Law & Order), but I agreed to a phone interview to find out more.
