When being tempted by a publisher who is trying to upsell you on marketing products and services, you should balance the cost of the service with the income you expect it to generate. And don’t fool yourself. Very few of these expensive products and services are going to generate enough sales to warrant the initial expense.
I am writing to thank you for the article you have posted on Writer’s Weekly titled How to Deal with Online Media Pirates by Alicia Karen Elkins. A couple of weeks ago I googled myself to see what might show up. Was I surprised when two articles were listed that I had no idea were posted. One I had submitted almost a year before and the other one I had never submitted. While both sites gave me credit for having written the articles, neither had contacted me for permission or payment.
I read WritersWeekly.com every week and remembered reading this article. I promptly printed it up and started following the steps Alicia suggests for getting paid. It worked!! I received checks from both sites. I never had to get ugly or threatening, I just firmly demanded payment and it came through (after about three weeks). Thank you for keeping valuable articles like this on your site. It really helped this freelancer and probably many more.
Best regards,
Martha Miller
Like many other writers trying to make it in the world, most of us have had an unfortunate experience in the publishing industry. With the incredible number of publishers out there who are ready and willing to make your dreams come true (or take advantage of you), what can you do to help prevent your next contract from becoming a nightmare?
“You should consider being a writer.” Famous words, I thought, trying for another slam dunk with the 24th crumbled re-write. Who ever said writing was easy? I shouldn’t have listened. The teaching position certainly looked appealing right now. Teaching twenty-six students was a piece of cake compared to battling with pen and paper.
We had such a wonderful day yesterday! It reminded me of what it’s going to be like when we retire someday…no work and all play! Since it rained all night and was supposed to rain all, we decided to go do the touristy stuff instead of sitting in the RV all day long. The first fun thing we encountered after leaving the campground was a detour due to the flood…
Read the entire story and see lots of photos at: https://www.wirelesstrips.com/archives/travel_essays/001878_08012004.php
Hugs to all!
Angela
P.S. Want to read real query letters that landed these contracts?
Woman’s Day – $2,800; Redbook – $3,500; Ladies Home Journal – $3,000; DiscoveryHealth.com – $2,000; Lifetime Magazine – $3,000; Life Extension magazine – $6,480; Natural Remedies $11,300; and many more!
See: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/1409.html
Letters will return next week.
The title of the novel and movie Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, refers to the temperature at which book paper burns. Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore’s new movie, is a criticism of George W. Bush and his handling of events on and after September 11, 2001. The former is about a society that seeks out and burns all books, forcing its people to memorize and become one book or another. The latter, equally political in its own way though maybe more pointedly so, shares a portion of the title, and is to all but the most obtuse observer, a rather transparent attempt to play, for commercial gain, on the recognition generated by the former.
I’ve tried pretty much everything in the writing business. I got my first check for a magazine article 22 years ago, and writing has been a slow, steady sideline ever since.
I self-published two nonfiction books in the mid-90’s. For my third book, I went with a trade association press. My fourth was a little thing (40 pages) put together for a local historical society. Not enough to make a living on, but they’re bringing in enough money to make me realize it’s possible to get there.
While our drive through Mississippi last week was so uneventful that we had a hard time staying awake, our drive through Alabama and Tennessee couldn’t have been much more exciting.
We left Mississippi and drove through Alabama, with Nashville being our afternoon destination. Somewhere in Alabama, the sky turned black and I said, “Richard, wake up! Grab the camera!”
He yawned, “Why?”
I excitedly replied, “Because it looks like tornado weather and I don’t want to miss it!”
Read the rest of this story at: https://www.wirelesstrips.com/archives/travel_essays/001847_07252004.php
Hugs to all!
Angela
P.S. Want to read real query letters that landed these contracts?
Woman’s Day – $2,800; Redbook – $3,500; Ladies Home Journal – $3,000; DiscoveryHealth.com – $2,000; Lifetime Magazine – $3,000; Life Extension magazine – $6,480; Natural Remedies $11,300; and many more!
See: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/1409.html
I’ve compared prices and services at the major POD publishers and it’s appalling what some people are charging for the same print run…literally! All the major POD players use the same printer! It’s even more discouraging that most of them aggressively try to up-sell authors for worthless marketing products and services.
Here’s a checklist to help you avoid the naughty ones…
