Back in 2009, we published THIS ARTICLE, which featured numerous complaints about Lulu, posted directly to Lulu's forum by Lulu's own authors. I recently surfed back to their forum to see if things have improved. Apparently, they have not. Below are quotes taken directly from Lulu's own author forum... …
Well, it happened again. An author submitted a novel and a so-called "fictitious", non-profit organization he created for his novel was accused, in his novel, of being involved in a child abuse ring. He listed the "fictional" organization's name and website URL in his novel. I've seen this before and it took me a mere second to Google the name and the website address and, guess what? They both exist... …
For the past six weeks, we've spent every spare moment judging the hundreds of entries submitted for the Fall, 2011 24-Hour Short Story Contest... …
At BookLocker.com, we have always provided authors with free copies of their ebooks. It costs us nothing to send the author a copy of their own ebook so why in the world would we charge them to do so? If an author writes in asking for a copy of their ebook, we send it to them - with a smile. I have no idea what justification other publishers have for charging authors for copies of their own files but there is no shortage of those that do! …
As you can see from our "World's Worst Book Proposals" series, there are plenty of really bad books being shopped to publishers and, unfortunately, most Print on Demand (POD) publishers will print anything and everything just to get an author's money... …
Today, I'm going to share another installment of our popular column, World's Worst Book Proposals. Yes, we can learn from others' mistakes! …
Imagine you just finished your new book. You came up with the perfect title years ago, when you first started thinking about writing it. You've paid a cover designer to design the perfect cover and you've paid your POD publisher to design the interior. You spent weeks or months on the publishing process and you bought a domain name that matches the title of your book. Your website is finally live and your book up for sale! Then, just as your starting the marketing phase, you're completely blindsided by a nasty letter from a law firm. They're demanding you immediately cease and desist using THEIR trademarked phrase... …
For the past six weeks, we've spent every spare moment judging the hundreds of entries submitted for the Summer, 2011 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. We also post it online. Entrants then have 24 hours to write and submit their stories. The stories "must deal with the topic in some way to qualify" and they must not exceed the pre-assigned word count. 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. So, today, join two newlyweds embraced on the beach, and learn what he's been keeping from her... …
Last month, we received a manuscript with a book title that featured odd punctuation and characters in the middle of words in the title. Last week, another author submitted a book with three of the four words in the title purposely misspelled (all the s's had been changed to z's). Some authors think they're being clever in this regard, or perhaps they think this will make their book title more memorable and that these things will increase sales. However, the opposite usually occurs... …
The industry is abuzz this week over a class-action lawsuit filed against Apple and six of the big publishing houses alleging ebook price fixing. Amazon is mentioned several times in the press release, which states, "The complaint claims that the five publishing houses forced Amazon to abandon its discount pricing and adhere to a new agency model, in which publishers set prices." Amazon is not listed as one of the plaintiffs (two ebook buyers are) but it's difficult to imagine Amazon is not somehow involved because the name Amazon is mentioned eight times in the press release... …
Long, long ago, when we first started publishing print books back in 1999, we used to offer all retailers, schools and libraries credit. Some had ridiculous terms, like "Net 90" (meaning we had to wait three months for a check that sometimes never arrived), while others blatantly violated our purchase terms... …
An author of books already in print contacted me last week, saying she's considering abandoning her print books because there has been so much in the news about ereaders and ebooks. I told her that would be a huge mistake... …
In January, 2005, I published what would soon become one of my most popular articles, Deadbeat Editor Giving You The Run-Around?. I later heard from dozens of writers who used the advice in that article to collect money from deadbeat editors and publishers. There have been lots of updates online, of course, and today I am adding a supplement to that article. …
Just about every journalist and periodical editor has received countless press releases by email, fax and mail. While at WritersWeekly.com we don't publish press releases, and never have, we are still inundated with them on a daily basis for everything ranging from publishing services to insurance for the self-employed. But, we get far more "new book release" press releases than anything else. And, let me tell you, even though I'm an avid book reader and buy several books each month, it is very rare that I receive a new book press release that keeps me interested past the first sentence... …
While we're busy moving over the next three weeks, Angela will be updating her most popular columns. Is customer service and fulfillment 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. …
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. So, step out into the sunshine and have a conversation with an outdoor food vendor... …
Today, I'm going to share another installment of our popular column, World's Worst Book Proposals. Yes, we can learn from others' mistakes! Featured below are real quotes from book proposals submitted to me over the past few months... …
Over the years, several authors have written to me, sharing a "unique" idea they had about getting bookstores to stock their books. They walk into a store, pull a couple of their books out of their purse or jacket, place them on a shelf, and walk away. It's like backwards shoplifting. We call it shopdropping....and it's a very, very bad idea... …
POD Publishers that use Ingram's printing division to print their books incur a $12 annual fee for each title/ISBN. They call this their "Catalog Fee." Ingram's catalog fee provides: "Access to our worldwide distribution channels (the largest portfolio of wholesalers, distributors and booksellers worldwide)." Basically, this means they send out an automated feed to bookstores that includes all the available titles and it costs $12 per year to keep a book in their feed. Most POD publishers pass this fee onto their authors but under a variety of names. While it's common to mark up a fee a small bit for a variety of reasons (administrative costs, their own file hosting expenses, etc.), some POD publishers take "marking up" to a whole new level. …
As I wrote last week, "Some companies will say or write just about anything to get your business..." …
At BookLocker, we are frequently contacted by authors who say they are surprised by our candor. We never tell authors their book might become a best seller...because it probably won't (most traditionally published books never become best sellers, either). We don't twist our words around to make it appear an author's book will be stocked by "25,000" bookstores. It won't. And we don't publish verbiage that makes an author think we do something we don't. We just don't do business that way. Authors appreciate our honestly because they have read so much confusing blurbage on other POD publishers' websites. 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... …
It's disgusting but it's true. Some POD publishers will do anything to make it financially and logistically impossible for you to switch to another POD publisher if you are unhappy with their services in the future. We call this a "forced marriage." One way they might do this is to include verbiage, buried in the middle of their contract (or multiple contracts as some POD publishers offer different contracts for each service), that states they own all rights to the materials you have paid them to create... …
Last week, we discussed how most POD publishers' websites not only do almost nothing to promote their authors' books, but also tell everyone their authors paid to have their books published. This week, we'll look at those ridiculous "free book!" offers. …
Your book is finally on the market. You print business cards, update your website, and send out press releases. You know you'll get higher royalties when someone buys your book from your publisher's website, so you send people there. But, wait! What does your publisher's homepage tell your readers about your book? …
Tempted to sign up with one of those POD publishers that are claiming to be FREE? Think again! If you're a graphic designer and you can layout your book on your own, and if you can create a professional and original book cover on your own, too, and if you want to severely limit your book's availability (and salability), that's one thing. But, if you want to get your book published for "free", in some cases you can forget about having an ISBN (which online and brick and mortar bookstores and libraries require), forget about being distributed by Ingram, the largest book distributor, and forget about a lot of other things as well... …
Wow! That nice POD publishing house representative wants to hear "more about your book!" Is it finished yet? Did you have it edited? Are you going to included pictures? What's your target market? …
For the past six weeks, we've spent every spare moment judging the hundreds of entries submitted for the Winter, 2011 24-Hour Short Story Contest... …
This week, we're going to look at how some POD publishers upsell authors on products and services that should already be included in their outrageous setup fees... …
When authors are researching POD publishers, they often just look at the setup fees, glance at the royalties (not knowing what they're a percentage of), and go from there. Unfortunately, they don't always think about asking what the list price of their book will be, don't understand how the royalty structure works or when royalties will be paid, and don't always ask how much they'll have to pay for copies they purchase themselves after the book is ready to sell... …
You did it! Your book is finally in print! After months of sweating over details like editing and cover colors and even the final list price, you're ready to start that marketing campaign! You've even figured out that you can make more money buying copies at your author discount and doing your own fulfillment at appearances than you would if you sent potential readers to your publisher's website. But, wait... You just tried to place an order for 100 copies of your book...and discovered that your publisher is charging you around $1 per small, paperback book for shipping and handling! Say what?! That blows your budget right out of the water! …
In 2007, I wrote a popular series of articles exposing many tactics being used by some POD publishers. Four years later, it's time for an update... …
This week's story makes me sick to my stomach. After last week's article about an author who admitted manipulating Amazon's sales rankings and reviews, I received an email from a reader who had applied for a freelance writing job online. The company in question wanted to pay writers for book reviews....but only for 5-star ones. …
It never ceases to amaze me how excited or infuriated authors get about their Amazon ranking... …
Not sure if you caught this news yet or not but, according to Publisher's Weekly, some publishers have suspended shipments to Borders after Borders suspended payments to them. Borders is apparently saying they now have new funding, that they want to meet with the publishers, etc. but I can't help but wonder why any investor would throw money at that sinking ship... …
Below is a recent email I received. I have removed identifying information for obvious reasons. I'll call this victim Regretta. Dear Angela, Three years ago, I started a blog and website describing my talents as a writer. They were both under one domain name. All this setup was done by my best friend. He had handled all the money matters and setup as he is a technical guy and worked as a web administrator. We were also involved emotionally and I trusted him blindly... The email went on to say that the "friend" hadn't worked on the site in two years, and didn't make any updates, but kept encouraging Regretta to grow the blog. He was earning Google Adsense money on the blog and he was sharing the revenues with her. By now, you know where this is going... …
Okay, I admit I'm being lazy with the writing this week because I have a TON of stuff to do before the relatives arrive on Thursday. I've been trying to fit this in somewhere and this seems like the perfect time. Below is part of an email that somebody forwarded to me by mistake. I usually delete these immediately when I realize they aren't meant for me but I didn't realize this was one of those until I'd finished reading. I was shocked by what it said. Would love to hear your opinion, too. Am I being too cynical in thinking this person intended to read and then return the print book whether he/she liked it or not?? This would definitely explain why some bookstores return books that look so shabby! Here it is: I have two important errands. I need to pick up a book and I could only find it at Borders. The book is 20 bucks and I could get an ebook but I wanted something I could return. Comments? Questions? Have a similar ditty to share? Email Angela at angela-at-writersweekly.com. …
