A bookstore emailed me to see if I wanted them to carry my POD book.
First, I had to send a copy to see if it was “appropriate.” Now they say it is, but they want me to send books to them. They do not want to order them from my publisher. Also, I have to sign a 50/50 contract, meaning I’ll lose money on each sale. I’ll even have to pay postage to ship the books. Wouldn’t I be stupid to do this?
Freelancers who write for magazines know the importance of building and maintaining working relationships with editors. Besides archives of clips and reprints, our lists of editors’ names, needs and preferences may be our greatest business asset. In my experience, cultivating relationships with expert sources is equally fruitful…
We recently hired someone to help with book formatting and I’m now able to find a few spare moments in the afternoons to get more involved in social networking. I’ve been spending time on Twitter and, if you’re truly on there to read and not to just promote yourself, it’s pretty addicting…
Letters will return next week.
It seems to me that Apple wants to corner the market through force, and squeeze more out of everyone, just like Amazon’s been doing for years. How better to increase your income than to claim rights to others’ creations, and force the creators to use your store when selling those creations, all the while further increasing your take?
Would you say that an author buying his own ISBN has almost no advantage over taking the free one from an online publisher such as your company?
Asking editors for a better pay rate has always been something I shy away from. Sometimes I think I do deserve more, but “haggling” isn’t something that I like to do, that is until now…
When we moved to Florida, we decided to rent until we figured out where in Florida we want to live. We love Port Charlotte but we really have our heart set on the Sarasota/Bradenton area. So, we are now actively house hunting, which is so much fun! We considered renting up there instead of buying, but I really want to have a house that we can truly make our own with renovations and, most importantly, a large garden where we can grow lush, tropical goodies, like mangos and oranges…
Angela,
As a freelancer I have subscribed to your newsletter for several years. I find myself on the other side of the desk now, since I was offered and accepted the position of Managing Editor for a south Florida-based magazine in December 2011. Now, instead of begging for assignments and timely payment, I am in the uncomfortable position of refusing assignments and asking writers to take less than what the former editor paid. After just four weeks on the job, however, I see the role of editors in a completely different light. And as a former freelancer, I am able to handle uncomfortable situations with a softer touch than what was sometimes afforded to me.
Thanks for all the free information you provided while I was a freelancer. I will continue to read your weekly newsletter in the hopes that it will make me the best editor (staffer) I can be.
Sincere regards,
Liz Pasch
Managing Editor
Southern Boating Magazine
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
It’s been more than ten years now so I guess I can be excused for not being able to remember who it was that suggested I subscribe to WritersWeekly.com. I wish I could remember though because I would like to thank him or her for steering me in the right direction that would eventually lead to a very successful book writing career…