I’m really in a muddle about epublishing because I can’t figure HOW it works. If I put my book online and someone wishes to buy it, how does that happen? I do understand there is no way to prevent people from burning my book on CD’s and selling them or giving them away. That’s the down side. But I don’t understand why people cannot just download the book to begin with. Please explain at your convenience.
My own foray into freelance writing came quite by chance in 1973. I was in college studying art, and was looking for a part-time job on the weekends. I went to our local weekly newspaper, thinking they might need a graphic artist. They didn’t. What they did need was someone to be in the office Saturday mornings and if I could write, they also needed a freelance weekend reporter. I jumped at the chance to do both.
I wanted to send you an update on Richard. On August 12th, I posted that he had a type of vasculitis that only 20 to 30 people per million have. Well, we have since learned that Richard is not quite that unique…which is a good thing!
You must opt-out of the Google settlement this week or be bound to whatever terms they specify for *your* books!
Dear Angela,
Go for it, David, er, I mean Angela and Richard! Knock this Goliath off his high horse – or whatever it is he sits on.
All the best,
Bob
Do you suggest getting an agent for nonfiction books? Or sending the book proposal directly to a publisher?
I devoured every page of my favorite magazine – the one I dreamed of seeing my byline in. Since divorcing and entering a new, sizzling relationship, even the Dear Amy column intrigued me.
A reader asked, “How can I get my boyfriend to stop kissing me in public?”
The answer I read would change my writing career.
When we heard Hurricane Bill was heading our way last week, and that we were supposed to get waves over 20 feet high, Ali (age 18) asked if she could drive to Bar Harbor with her boyfriend over the weekend to see them. I said, “The roads into Bar Harbor aren’t 20 feet high so you could get stuck there. No, you can’t go. In fact, you can’t go anywhere this weekend.” She didn’t argue, knowing that I was 18 once, too. There were plenty of times when I told my Mom I was going one place when, in fact, I was heading for the beach. (Sorry, Mom…)
Over the past few months, at WritersWeekly.com, I’ve been posting a missive about the common themes in entries submitted for the previous 24-Hour Short Story Contest. We’ve received lots of positive feedback so I’ll continue to do this for future contests.
The article is good as far as it goes.
But it presumes throughout that deadbeat publishers are out there, hoping against hope for a reversal of their fortunes.
It doesn’t report in full on serial scamming deadbeats who with malice aforethought hoodwink writers and advertisers.
Writers should be alert to the special warning signs attached to serial scammers.
One, for example, is a publisher with whom one has never worked before who nonetheless requests more than one article for a single issue of a publication.
What the scammer is trying to do is to accumulate content, to attract advertising dollars. Then, surprise surprise, the multiple articles don’t get published in the issue for which they were commissioned; lots of luck collecting the money you’re due from the serial scammer.
Unless one has worked with a publisher and consistently been paid on time, one should never accept multiple article assignments for a single issue of a publication without receiving at least one half of the fee upfront before work begins. If your existing work is of such conspicuous high quality that the publisher is sure they’ll want to publish two, three or four articles by you in a single issue, they should be willing to pay at least half up front.
Scott Rose
