Although I won my first national writing competition at the age of 13, it took ten years to see my byline regularly appear in print. I have to thank an article in Writer’s Digest magazine for my breakthrough moment.
Doing our part to keep the economy moving, we’ve almost finished our Christmas shopping.
Here are a few examples of what we believe is “hot air” on some POD publishers’ websites. Of course, this is our opinion. You can form your own.
Ms. Hoy,
Sorry to use this e-mail address instead of registering and posting on the Whispers and Warnings website. (FYI, I am not a freelance writer and have had no interaction with the publication in question.)
Regarding the following thread regarding Texas Coastal Enthusiast magazine (https://forums.writersweekly.com/viewtopic.php?t=8222):
You might be interested in what Damon Gibson is now up to in San Antonio, Texas. See:
https://www.txenthusiast.com/sanantonio.htm
Thanks for all you do for writers.
Many writers in the freelance industry struggle to find their writing niche, yet they overlook the most obvious niche – writing about writing. Any writer who has clocked their hours in front of a keyboard knows a few tricks, techniques, dos and do not’s they could share with other writers. Why not write for other writers and earn money while you’re at it?
I’ve been contacted by a foreign-language publisher who’s asking for foreign rights to my self-published book. What should I do?
A year ago I purchased a new digital camera. I needed it – not because I’m a travel writer and travel writers need pictures to go along with the stories but because someone or something hacked into my website and destroyed it. I needed pictures of me so my computer guru could build another site. He did a fabulous job so I put the camera away to collect dust.
I’ve been checking the weather without luck every single day so I was shocked when Frank woke me up on Saturday morning to tell me it was SNOWING! It was blowing pretty good so I ran through the house, waking up all the children to tell them to get dressed for the annual Christmas Card Photo! Whoo hoo! Of course, the older kids had to call their significant others so we had to wait for them, too.
From a PublishAmerica Author:
Hi Angela,
It wasn’t until I read your newsletter today that I discovered my POD publisher had also increased my book’s price.
My biggest complaint with Publisher America (PA) from the beginning has always been their exhorbitant pricing. At that time, my book (a 312-page paperback) was listed at $24.99. I couldn’t sell it, even to my family members!
In the last few years, the price was reduced to $19.99 (again, they did not inform me – I simply stumbled across the price decrease). However, my book now lists (retail) at $29.99, with a $5 discount to buyers who purchase my book through PA. PA did not contact me at all for this increase. Not sure they had any legal obligation to do so, but ethically, it would have been nice.
So, Angela, I guess you can add me to your list. The real question remains: What can we authors do about it? Answer: Probably nothing. It never pays to argue with PA. Like another author mentioned in your article, PA will ban you from their message board if you dare complain about anything they do. There is no getting out of their ridiculous 7-year contract unless you pay (and it’s a lot more than $300 as per your article!), and since pricing is through the roof, only Mom and Dad will buy your books through this (company). All I can say is, I will be thrilled when my 7 years is up.
Thanks for the heads up! Once again, your newsletter was an eye-opener.
~Julie Donner Andersen
From a Lulu.com Author:
Lulu Price Jackup
My book at Lulu has gone from $9.99 to $11.21:
Wonder what’s up with that?
T.
We’ve all heard the expression “necessity is the mother of invention,” and as the days before Christmas begin to dwindle down, this mother needed to think of an invention that would bring in some extra money for holiday presents.
