Several months ago, we started offering a “disgruntled author’s special” to authors who aren’t happy with their current POD publisher. If they move their book to BookLocker, they only have to pay $99 in setup fees, which is the same special we give to all returning authors (meaning authors only pay $99 setup fees on their second and subsequent books published through BookLocker). Why do we do this?

Returning authors (authors of two or more books) are usually more serious about their books and more likely to be interested in promoting their books. Authors of multiple titles sell more books. It’s that simple. If an author is angry enough with their current POD publisher that they want to pay $99 to move their book to BookLocker, we’ll welcome them with open arms, provided their manuscript is accepted for publication, of course (we reject most manuscripts because, unlike our major competitors, we screen for quality and salability).

The current, top two BookLocker best selling authors are professionals who were previously using other large POD publishers, but who decided to move to BookLocker because they were unhappy with their last publisher.

One of them, Bill Henderson, was previously published by a very large POD publisher (you can probably guess who). His book, Cancer-Free, has been the BookLocker #1 best seller for over a year now. Not only is Bill an expert marketer, but he is a super sweet guy! Have you ever met someone who’s so gentle and loving toward every human being that they make you want to be a better person? That is Bill. We met Bill for dinner in his town last Spring and he and his wife were recently here in Maine, meeting up with us in Bar Harbor for a fun afternoon and evening.

To see how Bill is so successful at promoting his book, sign up for his great newsletter here:
https://www.beating-cancer-gently.com/123nl.html

Also coming to us from another major POD publisher was Karen Bishop, author of several books, including Remembering Your Soul Purpose, Staying In Alignment, Stepping Into the New Reality,
The Ascension Primer and The Ascension Companion. Whenever Karen releases a new title, we have to watch our server continuously to ensure nothing breaks from the traffic! She released another book on
Sunday night. Richard woke me up on Monday morning to tell me how great Karen’s new book was already doing.

To learn from Karen’s successful marketing efforts, sign up for her ezine here:
https://whatsuponplanetearth.com/

We receive emails from authors who are unhappy with other POD publishers all the time, both big and small. In almost every case, they’ve sent numerous complaints to these companies but their problems were never rectified. They had no choice but to find someone else – someone who would listen to them and not charge them an arm and a leg (what the large POD publishers do).

The moral of this story is it takes a long time to get a customer…but only a moment to lose one. I’m not just talking about publishing companies. This is true in any business. A customer almost always complains, giving you the opportunity to right your wrong, long before they jump ship and move to one of your competitors. If one of your writing customers, be it a corporate client, a magazine editor, or even a traditional publisher, has a legitimate complaint, and if you want to keep that customer, you must do everything in your power to make it right. Otherwise, they will find someone else to do your job. And, that someone else is going to be earning the hundreds or thousands that would have otherwise been in your bank account.

Unfortunately, there are lots of people in business who don’t do good business. You might consider offering special deals to individuals and companies that decide to move their needs from another writing service to yours. Succeed by bending over backwards for your current customers, and by offering a cost-saving safe haven to your competitors’ disgruntled customers.

Angela Hoy is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com and co-owner of BookLocker. WritersWeekly provides free job listings and new paying markets for writers every Wednesday. BookLocker provides a cost-saving alternative to traditional book publishing. Setup fees are $299 for first-time authors; $99 for returning authors. Cover design (optional) is $175 for original cover design; $125 for a template. You can reach Angela at angela – at – writersweekly.com.