My career as a writer followed a predictable path. I began writing for local magazines “for fun”, did a stint as a stringer at my local newspaper, then began moving up the writing chain to larger markets, and more well-known publications. I was willing to try any kind of writing
On Sunday, I checked the weather and it looked like we were only going to get sporadic snow showers for the next 10 days. I told Richard, “Good news! No snowstorms are expected before we leave on our trip!”
On Monday morning, we woke up and it was snowing pretty hard.
We suspected Amazon would want to settle before discovery began and we were right.
We announced the Amazon Settlement to our BookLocker authors this morning. Here are just a few of their responses.
There are many differences between successful and unsuccessful freelance writers that have nothing to do with their relative abilities to write. One of the most important is how well they manage the critical business functions that are essential to surviving in the writing game.
I saw an ad online for a company claiming to give authors a “great opportunity.” They’re hiring people to write textbooks. Have you heard of these guys?
As a rule, I don’t say it. Yet, when a source, editor, or publisher wants to talk with me on the phone, it’s got to come out: “I’m deaf.”
One of our adult children (I won’t say which one) needed some very expensive auto repairs performed. We try not to step in and help if they want to take care of something themselves but we are always here to offer advice. In order to save money, they hired a co-worker, who I will call Dimwit Don. Dimwit said he ran a small auto repair shop out of his home garage on the side. After being paid in cash up front, Dimwit then kept the car for four months, after originally quoting “2-3 weeks” for the repairs to be done. During that time, the entire family was shuffling while sharing our two remaining vehicles. With so many drivers in the family now, you can imagine how much of a pain that became after just the first few days. After two months, it was ridiculous. After four months, and one excuse after another, Dimwit was fired from his regular job (for other reasons)…meaning our adult child no longer had daily contact with this individual. That was more than worrisome for us…especially since that’s when Dimwit stopped returning phone calls…
Many authors ask me if they should choose a POD publisher based on the traffic the publisher’s website gets. This is what I tell them:
A common misconception among new authors is, “If I put it online, it will sell!”
Complaints Received About Shannon Ferguson / Words By Keystroke / wordsbykeystroke.com
Greetings Angela,
I enjoy the WritersWeekly newsletter and all that comes with it!
I have a comment on the “2 COMPLAINTS about Shannon Ferguson / Words By Keystroke“. At the very beginning of the first complaint, TL mentions that she originally bid on a project at oDesk, but that she and Ms. Ferguson agreed to contract the project outside of oDesk.
My comment: you are probably already aware, but websites like Elance, Guru, and oDesk have clear policies (to which providers are required to agree) regarding projects/providers acquired through their websites. Each of these businesses have their own regulations requiring employers/providers to keep their business within the website
