For nine years, I was a kindergarten teacher. I loved the kids and I loved teaching, but in 2007, after discovering I was pregnant – again! – I resigned from my position. I had always dreamed of being a stay-at-home mom, and now I finally had the chance.
If you’ve been receiving WritersWeekly for more than a year, you probably know that the children and I sow seeds each year in our small outdoor garden. Most of them never come up and the majority of the ones that do end up dying sometime during the Summer. Sometimes, we get lucky (or the garden fairies take pity on us) and a few things actually SURVIVE!
What is up with all these content-hungry websites, you may be wondering? It seems like every other help-wanted ad we see for writers now is from a company that pays measly pennies (or less) per click for a writer’s blood, sweat and tears.
I am currently thinking of offering a (ghostwriting) service to people who want a book written about them for friends, family or colleagues. This will appeal to people with egos, money and the notion that they have something to say. Would you feel that your service would be a good fit for this idea?
ANGELA RESPONDS:
The largest percentage of BookLocker’s revenues come from public book sales. Those sales help us keep setup fees low. Publishing books for anybody and everybody, regardless of quality, just because they have money and an ego, would mean lower-quality products and, thus, a lower percentage of public book sales. Doing this would also harm our reputation. When a reader comes to Booklocker.com, we want them to come to our bookstores again, and again, and again. Publishing anything and everything puts a company’s entire inventory in question and, naturally, discourages customers.
We’re really not interested in working with people who want to publish a book just to impress family members or a few colleagues…or simply because they have large egos or lots of money. That’s not the type of author we want to work with. I’m sorry.
UPDATE:
I have received two mails from people I offended with this missive, one from a ghostwriter who says she runs a similar business and another from a writer whose grandfather wrote his memoirs.
This ghostwriter whose letter appears above was interested in approaching people with large egos and deep pockets (not waiting for business to find her), and suggesting they pay her to ghostwrite books about themselves to impress friends and colleagues. I did not publish her entire letter because I did not think it would be fair to give away her entire business model (even though I disagree with it).
There is nothing wrong with writing an autobiography to document history and to teach future generations about your life. But, paying someone to write a book about you just to give out copies to friends and colleagues to feed your ego? Per my missive, that’s not the type of author we want to work with. There’s a huge difference between a rich egomaniac and a memoirist.
Most writers are aware that using Twitter and Facebook, and advertising on their own web sites, are effective ways to get your name, message and materials to a great number of people. However, there are other avenues to work with…
Several years ago, having cornered the then-limited market for country-music journalists as a freelancer, I had come to an acceptance of the going rate for my work being rather embarrassingly low.
I’m terribly bogged down this week so I have to make this very short. Just want you to know that I did something last weekend that I swore I would never, ever, ever do. I bought…a minivan!
Each week, while looking for legitimate freelance jobs to link to in WritersWeekly, I see dozens of jobs that make me shudder. Below are examples taken from real help-wanted ads – ads that all freelancers should avoid at all costs.
Letters will return next week.
“My company is hoping to interest a new client, and we’re looking for someone to work on a proposal. Do you want to write for us?”
So I’m at a friend’s party, and I’d rather socialize than talk shop, but hey, when you say “I’m a writer” to people, they tend to talk shop whether you want to or not.
“Sure,” I reply. “Why don’t we meet up later this week to discuss fees and deadlines? I bill by the hour or by the word, depending on the project.”
Pause, then the knockout: “Sweetheart, are you expecting me to pay you?
