Published on January 21, 2015
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…
Published on January 14, 2015
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…
Published on December 19, 2014
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…
Published on December 10, 2014
Should you publish your print book or ebook first? Or, should you publish them simultaneously?
Published on December 3, 2014
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.
Published on November 25, 2014
worst book proposals and query letters
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…
Published on November 19, 2014
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…
Published on November 12, 2014
There are three types of book cover design services in the self-publishing industry…
Published on October 2, 2014
diversify your writing income
The summer morning started with a frenzy of packing paper goods, dashing to the ATM for change, and unloading one suitcase and two plastic bins worth of wares. Now came the quiet. Fifteen minutes after arriving, we had only to await our customers, from the tattooed anarchists to the curious grandmothers. So we huddled behind […]
Published on October 2, 2014
According to TechRadar, the “dedicated e-reader may have a limited lifespan.” It seems folks are opting to read ebooks on tablets and even their phones rather than devices that are strictly for ebooks. More people are dumping those gadgets. Per the article, which surveyed adults in the UK, only 36% own dedicated e-readers, and half […]
