Backwards Snowbirds? – Part II
I wanted to thank everyone who wrote in with opinions on safe (and unsafe) cities in Florida! I’ve made a list of the recommended city names that were sent in…
POD SECRETS REVEALED: Ridiculous Hot Air on Some POD Publishers’ Websites – Angela Hoy, co-owner of BookLocker.com
At BookLocker, we are frequently contacted by authors who say they are surprised by our candor. We never tell authors their book might become a best seller…because it probably won’t (most traditionally published books never become best sellers, either). We don’t twist our words around to make it appear an author’s book will be stocked by “25,000” bookstores. It won’t. And we don’t publish verbiage that makes an author think we do something we don’t. We just don’t do business that way.
Authors appreciate our honestly because they have read so much confusing blurbage on other POD publishers’ websites.
Here are a few examples of what we believe is “hot air” on some POD publishers’ websites. Of course, this is our opinion. You can form your own…
Investigative TV Series to Feature Co-Authors’ Story!
Hi Angela,
I just had to tell my fave editor the great news…and to let you know, again, thank you for the suggestion to use Skye Wentworth Public Relations as a publicist for my book!
This fall, Investigative Discovery T.V. series The Will will feature our story, inspired by my co-written book, The Inventor’s Fortune Up For Grabs by Suzanne G. Beyer and John S. Pfarr.
Filming began last week and the French-Canadian film crew is now working their way cross-country to interview the other “characters” in the book.
Best, Suzanne Beyer
https://www.theinventorsfortune.com
Being Honest About a Project’s Commercial Potential By Rich Mintzer
The American Society of Journalists and Authors holds an annual writers conference each spring in New York City. One of the three days always intrigues me. It’s the day in which they have what is called the Personal Pitch. This is an opportunity for writers to meet face to face with editors, publishers and agents and pitch ideas for books, blogs, articles or whatever they have to sell. Pitches need to be concise as this is almost akin to speed dating, except we need not determine that we both love walks on the beach…
What’s a “Blind Ad?”
I always enjoy reading your weekly newsletter. (How you manage to come up with topics each week is, to me, miraculous.)
My confusion comes when I look at the list of jobs available, and you indicate various ones as a “blind ad.”
What is the significance of such a designation to us readers? Proceed with caution?
Who Knew? I Turned Out to Be a Writer, After All!” By Harriet Michael
1976 – Our nation celebrated its bi-centennial anniversary. My town held a writing competition. Students from several area high schools wrote short essays called “Bi-centennial Minutes”. I participated because I had to…it was a required assignment in my English class. A few weeks later, a reporter and a photographer from the local newspaper walked into my school and interviewed me – because I had won the competition!
BACKWARDS SNOWBIRDS?
A month ago, I wrote that we were considering becoming snowbirds, traveling to Florida in the winter. We are now seriously considering relocating to Florida and then RVing to the Northeast during the hot summer months. Why? Maine is absolutely gorgeous and we love it here. Unfortunately, the income taxes are ridiculous. Add in Maine’s death tax (which can destroy a small family business), and the fact that Frank is graduating from high school next month, and it sure seems all signs are telling us to become backwards snowbirds…
POD SECRETS REVEALED: You Pay… But THEY Own the Rights?!
It’s disgusting but it’s true. Some POD publishers will do anything to make it financially and logistically impossible for you to switch to another POD publisher if you are unhappy with their services in the future. We call this a “forced marriage.” One way they might do this is to include verbiage, buried in the middle of their contract (or multiple contracts as some POD publishers offer different contracts for each service), that states they own all rights to the materials you have paid them to create…
How Many Book Sales Needed to Recoup Your POD Publishing Investment?
Angela,
Even at a $30 dollar book price for Xlibris, I never got more than $3 a book. Since it cost $1200 CAD (Canadian dollar was very low when I went into Xlibris and within a week I lost $200 when the Canadian dollar jumped to the U.S. dollar), it is more likely 600 books (required to break even, not just 394 as quoted in the article).
George
PUBLISHER’S RESPONSE:
Using today’s currency conversion, the CAD equivalent of Xlibris’ U.S. setup fees ($1972) would be $1879 CAD. Assuming $3 royalties (10%, which is woefully low but perhaps the author above was permitted to choose his own royalty) on a $30 list price, an author would have to sell around 626 copies to break even. The number quoted in the article was 394.
Because of the convoluted information given on some POD publishers’ websites, I gave each publisher the benefit of the doubt and the best possible scenario. BookLocker.com still came out on top.
PUBLISHER – # of copies needed to sell to break even on setup fees
Booklocker – 93
CreateSpace – 178
iUniverse – 223-278
AuthorHouse – 323
Trafford – 339
Xlibris – 394
Lulu – 574
DO I NEED A DIFFERENT ISBN FOR EACH EDITION OF MY BOOK?
With all of the new publishing formats available, what’s the rule with ISBNs and ebooks, apps, audio guides, etc. Do you need a new ISBN for each format? For instance, if I have a print version of my book available on Amazon, do I need to buy a new ISBN for an ebook that I might create to sell through Amazon, too?