“Online/Virtual Book Fair?” Don’t Bother….

“Online/Virtual Book Fair?” Don’t Bother….

I was spammed this week by an organization that hosts book fairs. Of course, it’s all online again this year. No in-person meetings. No people walking around viewing books laid out on tables. Nobody shaking hands with literary agents. It’s really…nothing of value to authors AT ALL.

This organization is saying that “meetings” will be held online. And, there will be “digital presentations.”

Here’s what’s disturbing to me. They still want authors to pay waaaaaay too much money to “virtually attend,” and they still want authors to (get this!) send PHYSICAL COPIES of their books to the company!

The authors have to pay for those physical copies.

The authors must pay to have those books shipped.

And, yet, there will be no humans there to BUY those books!

Why can’t the authors simply upload the covers and descriptions of their books? (I have a sneaking suspicion that the organization soliciting free books will end up selling those online later.)

Regular book fairs don’t turn profits for authors, either. So, this whole virtual book fair business is, in my opinion, complete garbage.

Don’t fall for the sales pitches. There are FAR BETTER (AND FREE!) WAYS to promote your book!

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About The Author

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Angela Hoy is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the author of 19 books, and the co-owner of BookLocker.com (one of the original POD publishers that still gets books to market in less than a month), PubPreppers.com (print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish), and Abuzz Press (the publishing co-op that charges no setup fees).

Angela has lived and traveled across the U.S. with her kids in an RV, settled in a river-side home in Bradenton, FL, and lived on a 52 ft Irwin sailboat. Angela now resides on a mountaintop in Northwest Georgia, where she plans to spend the rest of her days bird watching, gardening, hiking, and taking in all of the amazing sunrises.

WritersWeekly.com - the free marketing ezine for writers, which features new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday.

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One Response to "“Online/Virtual Book Fair?” Don’t Bother…."

  1. Pamela Allegretto  October 3, 2021 at 3:13 pm

    I’m glad you brought this up. I have been invited to several of these, and I felt they were a scam. Now, I’m sure of it. Thank you.