The number of scammed victims is the best kept secret in self-publishing. In writing groups, large and small, fellow authors sit with dark secrets and, like the elderly woman down the street who hasn’t told anyone she sent all her savings to a fake online preacher, you won’t know who they are. Protecting their fear of being labeled gullible, and subjected to pitying glances, they help unscrupulous self-publishing companies to flourish…
I’d like to publish a 200-page, 8.5 x 11 color-interior book. Is that reasonable?
Back in 2010, we’d been writing TV scripts together for almost five years, but had gotten zero traction. No meetings with executives wanting to hire us – there wasn’t even any interest from managers or agents. As we approached that five-year anniversary, we began to wonder if we were wasting our time…
Since I worked the entire weekend for the WritersWeekly Spring 2014 24-Hour Short Story Contest, we played hooky on Monday, and went fishing on Ali and Justin’s boat…
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 (no book proposals today) submitted to us over the past few months.
Angela,
Let me first say, I am not an editor.
I know a lot of people are against the idea of Lit. Journals charging reading fees. I get it. However the reason so many print journals and magazines need to charge a small fee is because so few people actually buy journals or subscribe to them. (I have been guilty of this myself.)
Everyone wants to see their work in print, but many people don’t financially support those very same journals.
I know Gulf Coast comes out of a big university, but we still need to actually buy the journals and support our fellow artists. Blacklisting is a bit harsh.
$2.00 is a modest fee and Gulf Coast is a top journal that most of us would love to be in.
Marguerite
THE PUBLISHER RESPONDS:
If a publication can only exist charging money to those who are working for the publication (writers are, on a contract level), they are not self-sufficient, and should not be in business. In my opinion, what they’re doing is really nothing more than hosting a contest. Writers pay money for an opportunity to be published and a few lucky souls win, get published, and get some money back. The rest are out of luck.
This is a horrible way to do business. In addition, when they completed our form to be featured on WritersWeekly, they didn’t mention a reading fee at all. Again, in my opinion, that was just plain wrong. The blacklisting was well-deserved.
Everyone wants to know the “secret sauce,” the precise steps they must take to become a successful self-published author. While there are no hard and fast rules that will work equally for everyone, here are six basic commandments for self-publishing success…
Yesterday was a good day at Amazon for (my book). But, it is hard to see how many books they sell. Their stated numbers of books in stock is erratic, as is its correspondence to delayed but related sales rank. I have tried a few times to watch the books in stock but it fluctuates according to no apparent logic…
I remember clearly how hard it was to get started so here are three pointers that led to my success as a freelancer…
Last week, I told you how I sprained my knee but I couldn’t tell you how. Now I can. You see, we were trying something out and, if we liked it, we were going to buy our adult children gift certificates for their Easter baskets…