When Freelance Writers are Toxic, Unstable, and Abusive to Editors By Angela Hoy
You know, there are all types of people out there. Sane (and not), stable (and not),…
Angela’s Desk
Last Chance to Sign Up for the Summer 24-Hour Short Story Contest! By Angela Hoy
This Saturday, at 12:00 p.m. (noon) Central Time, the topic of the WritersWeekly Summer, 2015 24-Hour…
12 Ways To Get Quickly Rejected By An Editor By Angela Hoy
Actual submissions from freelance writers... …
Topic, Common Themes, and Winners of the WritersWeekly.com Spring, 2015 24-Hour Short Story Contest! By Angela Hoy
For the past six weeks, we've spent every spare moment judging the hundreds of entries submitted for the WritersWeekly Spring, 2015 24-Hour Short Story Contest. In case you're not familiar with our quarterly contest, this is how it works. On the date of the contest, at start-time, we send out the topic for that specific contest to all registered entrants, while also posting it on WritersWeekly.com. Entrants must be registered before the contest begins and there is a limit of 500 participants per contest. Entrants then have 24 hours to write and submit their stories via email. The stories "must deal with the topic in some way to qualify" and they must not exceed the pre-assigned word count, which is announced with the topic. After reading the entries for each contest, we can see how difficult it is to come up with a unique plot when working with an assigned topic. But, inevitably, a few writers do manage to successfully break away from the pack... …
Stop Trying To Promote Your Book BEFORE It’s Finished! By Angela Hoy
It happened again today. An author sent me a note, apologizing for taking so long to edit her book. She stopped the editing process a few weeks ago in order to concentrate on promoting her book...her UNFINISHED book. …
The Dangers of Using Automatic Book Cover Generators
Automatic book cover generators are probably NOT the option you want to use for your book. …
Can I Use Well-Known Fictional Characters / Places, Or Real Products / People In My Fiction? By Angela Hoy
I am currently starting a third novel, and was wondering if legally if I could mention (fictional) characters from other works by name. Would I be able to mention (a very famous cartoon character) that my main character idolizes or would I need written permission from the companies that own those characters? …
More World’s Worst Book Proposals And Query Letters! By Angela Hoy
It's only been about six weeks since the last one but we've been getting lots of queries and book proposals lately. So, today I'm going to share another installment of our popular column, World's Worst Book Proposals and Query Letters. Featured are real quotes from query letters and book proposals submitted to us over the past few weeks. …
Disturbing Allegations In The New Author Solutions Lawsuit! By Angela Hoy
As most of you know, yet another lawsuit has been filed against Author Solutions, which owns AuthorHouse, Xlibris, iUniverse, Trafford, Wordclay, and others. The lawyers are seeking class-action status, of course. I have provided a break-down of the highlights from the lawsuit HERE. Today, I'm gonna rant... …
What Might Get You Sued? Using Real People On The Cover Of Your Book, Regardless Of The Source! By Angela Hoy
Now, I have nothing against erotica but I do know I wouldn't want the most romantic moment of my life splashed on the cover of a book containing phrases like "out comes his stone pillar of a (part of the male anatomy)" and "my quivering flesh, open and available." You get the picture, right? …
More Lulu Complaints – Thinking Of Using Lulu To Publish Your Book? You Might Want To Read These Authors’ Complaints First! By Angela Hoy
It's been another three years since the last update so we thought we'd pop into their forums once again. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of complaints (new ones, of course)... …
Mailing Free Books To Bookstores And Libraries Can Backfire by Angela Hoy
It's considered very bad form to send free copies to a bookstore or library.…
More World’s Worst Book Proposals And Query Letters! By Angela Hoy
Oh, yes! We know you've been waiting for this!! Today, I'm going to share another installment of our popular column, World's Worst Book Proposals and Query Letters. Featured below are real quotes from query letters and book proposals submitted to us over the past few weeks... …
“I Want To Hire You To Write My Book!” (But, Only For A Paltry Share Of Future Royalties!) By Angela Hoy
Each week, while researching freelance job listings to feature in WritersWeekly, I see "employment ads" from folks who have a "great book idea," but don't want to write the book themselves. Some of them offer an hourly rate (that's fair, as long as the rate is respectable), while others offer promises of future fame, glory, and a small percentage of the royalties... …
BookScan vs. NovelRank vs. Others – Where Can I Find Real-time Sales Data For My Book?! By Angela Hoy
An author recently sent in the following when asking about his book sales... …
My Amazon Ranking Shot Up For One Day! So, Why Didn’t I Get Paid For That Sale? By Angela Hoy
What she sent wasn't a screenshot of a "sale" at all. It was just a picture of the ranking history on Amazon.…
Topic, Common Themes, And Winners of The Writersweekly.Com Winter, 2015 24-Hour Short Story Contest! By Angela Hoy
For the past six weeks, we've spent every spare moment judging the hundreds of entries submitted for the WritersWeekly Winter, 2015 24-Hour Short Story Contest. In case you're not familiar with our quarterly contest, this is how it works... …
ANNOYING! Don’t Ask People to “Vote” For You Online! By Angela Hoy
An writer recently asked me to go to a website and "vote" for her. She wanted me to have our readers also click to vote for her, even asking me to post notices on Facebook and Twitter. I receive those types of requests all the time and, frankly, they're insulting... …
Another Shocking Reason to NEVER Accept Book Returns! by Angela Hoy
Losing money on your book because it is returnable? Changing it to non-returnable takes six months.…
How to Test Your POD Publisher’s Sales Reports By Angela Hoy
On occasion, we hear from authors who are accusing their distributor of theft because their Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com "ranking" moved...but their actual sales numbers did not. Several years ago, one author claimed she was owed millions because her Amazon ranking was...in the millions. As you've probably guessed, this is a common problem. New authors often try to use bookstore rankings to estimate their sales and that doesn't always work...especially if those authors don't understand how the rankings are calculated... …
From WritersWeekly Short Story Contest Winner to Simon and Schuster Contract! By Angela Hoy
Last weekend, I received the email below. It was, by far, the nicest email anybody has ever sent to me. It made me cry... …
POD POACHERS! When Bottom Feeders Lure Authors Away from Their Existing Contracts, and Charge Thousands More! By Angela Hoy
Slick sales talk and false praise will always draw in a certain percentage of the gullible population. For vanity publisher salespeople, it can be difficult to find folks who are in the process of writing a book, or who are considering writing a book. But, after someone has published their book, it's very easy to find those books and, subsequently, those authors online. I'm not going to tell you the simple method these folks use to find these authors because I don't want to give other scammers any ideas. I can tell you, however, that it's very easy, and only takes a few seconds. Unfortunately, new authors are frequently the target of spammers and scammers. Many authors report receiving spam from a variety of firms shortly after their books were released. And, it happened again this week. One of our authors asked about terminating their contract. They said they were contacted by a "reputable publisher." I first assured them our contract at BookLocker.com is non-exclusive, and can be canceled at any time. But, I've seen this type of victimization of authors before so I, of course, searched for that firm's name on Google. I wanted to save this particular author from the heartache others have endured. What I found didn't surprise me... …
Writers, Are You TRYING To Get Ripped Off?! Yet Another Reason To Avoid Pubs That Pay Crappy Rates! By Angela Hoy
I received an email from a writer who wrote seven articles for a website. She stopped at that point. She wanted to wait until she got paid for those before starting on more. And, she waited, and waited. It's now four months later and, not only has she not been paid for the original articles, but the publisher already published her work, and, according to the writer, has now refused to remove her articles from his website... …
Think Twice Before Gifting An E-Book, Memoir Lawsuits, Throwing Away Review Copies, A Book Becoming A Lifetime Move, And Much More! By Angela Hoy
I'm swamped! Our son, Matt, is arriving tomorrow, followed shortly thereafter by my cool step-mother-in-law, Rita, and then more fun family! So, this week I'm sharing a few of our popular articles... …
Why You Should Publish Your Print and Ebook Editions AT THE SAME TIME! By Angela Hoy
Should you publish your print book or ebook first? Or, should you publish them simultaneously? …
Is That Free Ebook Site REALLY Violating Your Copyright? Maybe Not… By Angela Hoy
The good news is, they probably don't really have a copy of your book. They may simply be tricking people into downloading a virus. …
More World’s Worst Book Proposals and Query Letters! By Angela Hoy
Today, I'm going to share another installment of our popular column, World's Worst Book Proposals and Query Letters. Yes, we can learn from others' mistakes! Featured are real quotes from query letters and book proposals submitted to us over the past few weeks... …
EMBARRASSING! When Friends and Family Lie About Buying Your Book By Angela Hoy
Well, it happened again. An author accused us of not paying royalties on friends and family book sales...that never occurred. He was unable to provide copies of receipts from the loved ones he claimed had purchased his book. In addition, he refused to provide any information about the purchases, nor the buyers, nor the stores where the purchases had (not) occurred. Even though he had zero receipts, and even though he didn't forward any correspondence to me from those individuals, and even though he could not or would not give information about even one "missing" sale, he insisted I get the money... …
ORIGINAL BOOK COVER DESIGN – How Much Should You Pay? By Angela Hoy
There are three types of book cover design services in the self-publishing industry... …
Topic, Common Themes, And Winners Of The Writersweekly.Com Fall, 2014 24-Hour Short Story Contest!
After reading the entries for each contest, we can see how difficult it is to come up with a unique plot when working with an assigned topic. But, inevitably, a few writers do manage to successfully break away from the pack...…
DON’T BECOME ANOTHER VICTIM! When Amateur, Start-up POD Publishers Take Your Money…and Go Out of Business By Angela Hoy
What happens when a POD publisher goes out of business? Authors are left floundering, their pockets empty, and with no book on the market.…
AUTHORS BEHAVING BADLY – A Rant
Sometimes you just gotta rant! At BookLocker.com, we have published more than 6,000 print and electronic…
Print Books Are Not Dying. In Fact, They Seems To Be Making A Comeback!
According to TechRadar, the “dedicated e-reader may have a limited lifespan.” It seems folks are opting…
More World’s Worst Book Proposals And Query Letters! By Angela Hoy
Today, I'm going to share another installment of our popular column, World's Worst Book Proposals and Query Letters. Yes, we can learn from others' mistakes! Featured below are real quotes from query letters (and two book proposals) submitted to us over the past few months... …
Can Your Publisher Get YOU Sued For Copyright Infringement? Yep!! By Angela Hoy
This author wanted to move their book elsewhere after getting upset with his current publisher. That author admitted up front that the graphics in the book were pulled from the Internet without permission... …
LIST OF TOPICS (And Winners) FROM PAST FALL 24-HOUR SHORT STORY CONTESTS! Get Inspired! By Angela Hoy
Are you thinking about participating in the 24-hour short story contest, but don't know what to expect? Here's how it works... …