Published on March 21, 2007
After bragging last week about our temperatures getting up into the 50’s, we had a massive winter storm on Friday night. We only got about six inches of snow but then we were deluged with ice and then rain and flooding. On Saturday morning, we literally had a muddy river of cold water flowing down our street, complete with ice chunks.
Published on March 21, 2007
I frequently receive emails from authors who have paid a company to publish their book, but who are later surprised by some of the terms of the contract they signed (that they usually didn’t read), and are also flustered by the myriad of add-on services offered by their POD publisher. Understandably, they can’t believe a company that they paid to publish their book has taken such liberties. There are some things you should never, ever agree to when paying another company to publish your book. And, there are optional extras that will cost you a small fortune, and will, in all likelihood, never be paid for with any resulting book sales. Here, I’m examining the contracts and add-on services offered by the most popular POD service companies – iUniverse, AuthorHouse, Xlibris, Lulu and BookLocker (the latter of which I own, by the way). All the information below assumes the book is a standard, black and white interior paperback with similar distribution (through Ingram).
You wouldn’t believe the ways some of these companies milk authors!
Published on March 21, 2007
Letters will return next week.
Published on March 21, 2007
Few writers know this, but Editorial Assistants (EAs) are the gatekeepers of publishing. In the world of towering slush piles and deep agented-submissions bins, EAs are often the first to look at submissions. They screen calls and fend off anxious authors and would-be authors.
Published on March 21, 2007
Hi Angela,
What do you do with difficult editors? I just ran into two situations with two different editors that have set my teeth on edge. It’s one of these situations where their procrastination becomes my problem. Essentially, I messed up by agreeing to do an article with a very short deadline, but I did let the editor know that I was concerned about my interviewees not cooperating with me in such a short time period.
Published on March 21, 2007
A few years ago, I knew I would never, ever write a book. I’d written short stories, a few plays, even a screenplay or two, but a book? A book was two-hundred (plus!) pages. A book had characters doing God-knows-what, chapter after chapter, and staying interesting at the same time. A book had the interweaving of types and archetypes with subplots and symbols and…
Preposterous.
Published on March 14, 2007
It’s finally warming up a bit in Maine. The thermometer actually got above freezing last week and it was over 50 today! Some of the snow is melting, but there’s a ton of it so it’ll take awhile.
Published on March 14, 2007
As WritersWeekly.com Whispers and Warnings becomes more well-known in the industry, there is a growing list of writers who I just can’t and/or won’t help.
Published on March 14, 2007
- Add a “Publish-By-Or-Pay” Clause to Your “Pays On Publication” Contracts
- Promote Your OWN Website, Not Your Publisher’s
- Giving Writers Leverage
Published on March 14, 2007
Part 2 of 2
Last week, we looked at the insulting rates writers are often paid by electronic writing publications.