Last year, while perusing ebay.com for antique dolls (one of my hobbies), I stumbled upon a category of dolls I'd never seen before. They're called reborns. Reborn dolls are regular baby dolls that have been seemingly transformed into living, breathing, adorable infants that nobody can resist! …
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. …
Angela's column will return next week. …
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... …
We're officially "on vacation" this week. You can follow our adventures at http://www.WirelessTrips.com. Angela's column will return next week. …
Before I became a business owner, I'd heard stories about mom and pop businesses that failed when mom and pop got sick of each other and got divorced. I'm often asked how Richard and I manage to stay happy while working side-by-side all day long, every day. Not only do we work side-by-side, but we work at home, so we work and live in the same space. We've abandoned the home office for the time being because it's too hot in there this time of year. So, we work in the bedroom during the day and watch TV in there together at night (with all the kids lounging around, too). Come to think of it, the only time I'm not with Richard is when one of us gets up to go to the bathroom. We even go to the grocery store together (that cabin fever sets in every few days). …
We recently ran a warning under WritersWeekly Whispers and Warning about an individual who owed a writer money. It wasn't a huge sum, but enough to feed a small family for a month or so. Shortly after the warning ran, I started receiving a string of emails from this individual (I'll call him Deadbeat Dan). The emails were poorly written, almost illegible because of the spelling errors. I couldn't believe this person supposedly published a line of magazines. One funny thing about his emails is that he inserted a copyright statement under his letters. That made us laugh out loud. I guess he'd never heard of paraphrasing and I guess he figured we'd never be able to share his words with our readers if he copyrighted his "work." …
Authors can come up with some pretty creative reasons to convince themselves of why they're book isn't selling. When you know as many authors as I do (more than 800) and you see the variety of successful and not-so-successful marketing techniques used today, there really are only two excuses for poor book sales...bad marketing or just a plain old bad book. …
Angela's writing blog will return next week. To see an encore presentation of this column (that's a fancy, French way to say "repeat"), click here. …
Last week, I received a credit card order from a bookstore...by mail. I was curious why they'd sent it by mail instead of ordering online or by fax. But, they did. When I read the scribbles on the side of the order form, I was stunned by the insulting nature of the correspence. Without even asking for a quote on shipping, he said our price for shipping was "ridiculous" and that he "wouldn't pay more than $10" to ship UPS Ground (for 40 copies). …
Is customer service devouring your writing and marketing time? At Booklocker.com, we are frequently approached by authors who are weary of all the problems they've encountered while trying to sell their books themselves. While they started out wanting to write for a living, they now find they're spending most of their time on website repairs and upgrades, customer service, troubleshooting, fulfillment, and even dealing with credit card fraud and bounced checks. …
I received a disturbing email this week from a writer who was published, but not yet paid. You see, the publication was located in another country. They refused to pay her by check or money order and also refused to pay her via Paypal. How did they want to pay her? They requested her bank information so they could transfer the funds to her account... …
With the affordability of print-on-demand (POD) publishing, there is something you can do to encourage creativity and communication with your child, while teaching your child about the publishing process and giving their self-esteem a boast as well! …
In response to last week's article on Dirty Marketing, I'm posting readers' responses... …
When someone boasts their book is a bestseller on Amazon.com, can you trust them? When someone brags that they've sold 10,000 copies in a month, are they being honest? When you type in a website URL and a competitors' pop-up ad appears on your computer screen, do you assume they're in business together? When someone says you're winner, are they trying to fool you into spending money? …
I am adamantly against donating your time and writing to companies that seek to profit from your efforts while not sharing cash with you. However, if you are managing the distribution of your free work and it's for a good cause (and nobody's greedily profiting from your free work), then that's an entirely different scenario. …
Ordering something with no intention of paying for it is fraud, plain and simple. Unfortunately, there is a growing problem with this online that I want to make you aware of. The typical scenario is the customer orders a book, claims it's lousy, demands a refund, and threatens to report the author to the authorities if they don't comply. I recently received a letter from an ebook author who was the victim of one of these jerks. This week, I'm sharing her letter here along with my experience dealing with these types of criminals. …
I hope you enjoy this humorous, yet real, account of how deadbeat publishers have tried, yet failed, to get their name removed from WritersWeekly.com Whispers and Warnings... …
Angela is still on the road and her column will return next week. …
Angela's column will return next week. …
I didn't realize that attorneys are the single most impersonated professionals! Of course, it is a crime to impersonate an attorney. I not only heard from others who were victims of phony lawyers, but I also heard from four, yes four real attorneys. I was thrilled! …
A year or so ago, I was contacted by an attorney representing a firm that is listed in the Whispers and Warnings section of WritersWeekly.com. He said he would sue us if we didn't remove the complaints about his firm from our website. His emails were quite menacing...so menacing in fact that we became suspicious. Aren't attorneys schooled in the art of subtle manipulation and vague threats? Aren't they trained to keep their cool at all times in order to prevail as the more intelligent animal in any debate? …
This week, I want to bring your attention to a stellar publisher who, despite his popularity and fame, always makes times for his readers and for other publishers and editors as well. …
I think it's pathetic that some of the major freelance writing sites are too lazy to keep their boards clean and keep the information on their sites accurate... …
I'm pretty swamped this week with the children out of school for winter break, so I'm going to share a marketing tip with you that worked for Ed Bonapartian, author of The Stories of Our Lives: A True Story of Emotional Healing Utilizing Dreams and Intuition. Here's his letter... http://www.angelahoy.com/writing/archives/001254.html …
In Angela's blog this week you'll find book review submission information for Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, Midwest Book Review, Los Angeles Times Book Review and Hollywood Inside Syndicate. See Angela's writing blog HERE. …
Could the title of your book be hurting sales? Perhaps. This week, I'll discuss the five most common titling mistakes made by authors... MORE >> …
Personalize, Localize, Editorialize and Sensationalize! What makes a press release end up in print instead of in an editor's garbage can? Many marketers resort to pleading to get their products and service in the public eye for free via the press release. You, too, should offer PLEAS to editors, which means your press release should Personalize, Localize, Editorialize or Sensationalize... MORE >> …
It's going to be terribly cold here this weekend. The weather will be perfect curling up with my big pillows and reading some great fiction! MORE >> …
Well, we have another inductee for the Copyright Infringement Hall of Shame! We were recently alerted by a reader that some of our original, copyrighted market listings (which we create after interviews with each editor) were copied and pasted to "Calls for Submissions" - a discussion list on yahoogroups, without credit. Yep, blatantly copied and pasted without credit given to anyone! MORE >> …
Despite a backache and my failed attempt to rid the bathroom of that endless pile of dirty laundry, I was actually in a pretty good mood this morning. I've been pretty cranky lately, which is the end result of dealing with too many jerks (rude people online), deadbeats (those publishers appearing in our Whispers and Warnings forum), and freaks (One guy keeps threatening to show up on our doorstep if we don't remove his warning. We had to get our attorney involved because we think he's a psychopath.). One of my New Year's Resolutions is to not let people get me down. I figure if I meditate enough and practice my new form of exercise, yoga, at least once a week or so (I have a phobia about exercising in front of other people), I will be able to be a calmer, more peaceful person. However, a fax I received this morning blew my New Year's Resolution right out of the water... MORE >> …
What's the golden rule about speaking out in anger? Count to 10 before you open your mouth. This is true in personal relationships as well as in business. When someone angers me, I not only count to 10 before I open my mouth, but I also count to 10 before I start replying to their email. I then put that email on hold for a day or so to give myself the chance to reread my comments when I'm in a calmer frame of mind. In the past week, I have received emails and copies of emails that contained extremely abusive comments... MORE >> …
Putting a price on your book, article, or writing service is always difficult. If you price yourself too high, you risk losing sales. If you price yourself too low, you not only risk losing sales to people who assume your product or service is “cheap”, but you also may become the victim of a Cocky Client. If you’ve ever had a business relationship with someone who made it clear they were your superior, you’re no doubt familiar with the Cocky Client Clause... MORE >> …
Every day at WritersWeekly.com, we receive emails from writers requesting advice on how to write query letters and how to improve their existing query letters. While we…
In response to last week's article, today I'm posting more creative and inexpensive holiday gift ideas sent in by readers. MORE >> …
Well, on Saturday it will be November (already?!). And that means less than a month until the holiday season begins! While Walmart has had their Christmas trees up for awhile now (do they ever take them down?), I'm just now getting around to making my list. And each year (while balancing my checkbook), I try to think of ways to turn my creativity into homemade gifts. …
