Letters To The Editor For March 30th
Letters will return next week.
Letters will return next week.
I have written to several (well, a lot, to be honest) publishers and agents about my self-published books, and the response is always the same; interesting, but not for me …
I was under the impression that self-publishing would prove beneficial in approaching a traditional publisher if the story was intact.

When I first published my historical novel, I promoted it full steam ahead. I garnered reviews from small-town papers (including my home town, which gave a huge article with pictures) and from authors writing on similar subjects. I hosted book clubs; spoke at venues around the country; and at libraries and bookstores here in New York City. I sold a few thousand copies, which is very good, I’m told, for a self-published book.
Then I eased up my efforts and focused on writing my next book…
Last Friday, it was 60 degrees here in Bangor, Maine, the warmest day we’ve had in four or five months. Despite the mud, all the kids went outside to play, including our adult kiddos. I was working in the living room on my laptop, and getting quite a bit done due to the quiet, when Max (age 9) ran in and said, “Is Mason in here?”
“WHAT?!” I squawked. “NO! WHERE IS HE?!”
Max said, “We don’t know!”…
Wow! That nice POD publishing house representative wants to hear “more about your book!” Is it finished yet? Did you have it edited? Are you going to included pictures? What’s your target market?
Hi Angela,
I’ve been doing a slow burn and thought I’d share it with you. I recently joined a website that’s intended to be an outsourcing website for writers, web designers, programmers, etc. Freelancers place bids on projects: I think you probably know where this is heading!
Their straplines say it all! check this out:
The world’s largest outsourcing marketplace!
How would your business change if you had virtually unlimited labor at next to no cost?
I kid you not! Their writing projects essentially pay less than pennies each for articles. Businesses expect to get quality writers of, let’s say for example, a batch of 700-word articles for payments of $8 per article. And many are even worse than this. Needless to say, I’m unsubscribing from their website!
I wish there was some way to put these guys out of business!! They really make me see red.
Thanks for letting me vent!
Warm regards,
Lee

No wonder I had not received any response. The story was indeed being written, only it was not being written by me.
he other day I wrote a book proposal for a collection of my stories.
Yesterday, I sent it to a publisher who once gave a review of a Chicken Soup for The Soul book that I had a story in. The publisher gave the book a bad review, but singled out my story as a shining point in the book.
I figured she’d be a good start to send my proposal to. This morning she requested a copy of my completed manuscript and my marketing plan…
Writing is as much about communication as it is about expression. I learnt this the lucrative way when I inadvertently got involved in a client’s ongoing project…
As most of you know, our daughter and her boyfriend were in a head-on collision a month ago. For their privacy, I am referring to them as “A” and “M” when writing about the accident. The last installment of the story is HERE.
We have been quickly losing confidence in A and M’s orthopedist (Ortho #1), and desperately trying to get a new orthopedist (Ortho #2).
Over the past month, Ortho #1 has told us she did not need surgery, she might need surgery, and, most recently (seven days prior), that it was too late for surgery. This past Monday, he scheduled a surgery date for her…