Another Shocking Reason to NEVER Accept Book Returns! by Angela Hoy
Losing money on your book because it is returnable? Changing it to non-returnable takes six months.
How to Test Your POD Publisher’s Sales Reports By Angela Hoy
On occasion, we hear from authors who are accusing their distributor of theft because their Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com “ranking” moved…but their actual sales numbers did not. Several years ago, one author claimed she was owed millions because her Amazon ranking was…in the millions. As you’ve probably guessed, this is a common problem. New authors often try to use bookstore rankings to estimate their sales and that doesn’t always work…especially if those authors don’t understand how the rankings are calculated…
From WritersWeekly Short Story Contest Winner to Simon and Schuster Contract! By Angela Hoy
Last weekend, I received the email below. It was, by far, the nicest email anybody has ever sent to me. It made me cry…
POD POACHERS! When Bottom Feeders Lure Authors Away from Their Existing Contracts, and Charge Thousands More! By Angela Hoy
Slick sales talk and false praise will always draw in a certain percentage of the gullible population.
For vanity publisher salespeople, it can be difficult to find folks who are in the process of writing a book, or who are considering writing a book. But, after someone has published their book, it’s very easy to find those books and, subsequently, those authors online. I’m not going to tell you the simple method these folks use to find these authors because I don’t want to give other scammers any ideas. I can tell you, however, that it’s very easy, and only takes a few seconds. Unfortunately, new authors are frequently the target of spammers and scammers. Many authors report receiving spam from a variety of firms shortly after their books were released.
And, it happened again this week. One of our authors asked about terminating their contract. They said they were contacted by a “reputable publisher.” I first assured them our contract at BookLocker.com is non-exclusive, and can be canceled at any time. But, I’ve seen this type of victimization of authors before so I, of course, searched for that firm’s name on Google. I wanted to save this particular author from the heartache others have endured. What I found didn’t surprise me…
Writers, Are You TRYING To Get Ripped Off?! Yet Another Reason To Avoid Pubs That Pay Crappy Rates! By Angela Hoy
I received an email from a writer who wrote seven articles for a website. She stopped at that point. She wanted to wait until she got paid for those before starting on more. And, she waited, and waited. It’s now four months later and, not only has she not been paid for the original articles, but the publisher already published her work, and, according to the writer, has now refused to remove her articles from his website…
Think Twice Before Gifting An E-Book, Memoir Lawsuits, Throwing Away Review Copies, A Book Becoming A Lifetime Move, And Much More! By Angela Hoy
I’m swamped! Our son, Matt, is arriving tomorrow, followed shortly thereafter by my cool step-mother-in-law, Rita, and then more fun family!
So, this week I’m sharing a few of our popular articles…
Why You Should Publish Your Print and Ebook Editions AT THE SAME TIME! By Angela Hoy
Should you publish your print book or ebook first? Or, should you publish them simultaneously?
Is That Free Ebook Site REALLY Violating Your Copyright? Maybe Not… By Angela Hoy
The good news is, they probably don’t really have a copy of your book. They may simply be tricking people into downloading a virus.
More World’s Worst Book Proposals and Query Letters! By Angela Hoy
Today, I’m going to share another installment of our popular column, World’s Worst Book Proposals and Query Letters. Yes, we can learn from others’ mistakes! Featured are real quotes from query letters and book proposals submitted to us over the past few weeks…
EMBARRASSING! When Friends and Family Lie About Buying Your Book By Angela Hoy
Well, it happened again. An author accused us of not paying royalties on friends and family book sales…that never occurred. He was unable to provide copies of receipts from the loved ones he claimed had purchased his book. In addition, he refused to provide any information about the purchases, nor the buyers, nor the stores where the purchases had (not) occurred. Even though he had zero receipts, and even though he didn’t forward any correspondence to me from those individuals, and even though he could not or would not give information about even one “missing” sale, he insisted I get the money…