Last week, we heard from yet another author (I'll call him Author Al) who is accusing his distributor of theft because his Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com rankings moved. A few years ago, another 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. …
A few weeks ago, I posted an article that contains a sample, no-nonsense letter for writers to send to deadbeat editors. I'm happy to say that, for those who have reported using the letter, almost 100% have subsequently reported being paid (and paid quickly!) as a direct result of using that letter. …
I am a firm believer in Internet forums and discussion lists, which are public places where people can easily and instantly post their opinions, complaints and more online. Unfortunately, not everybody with a computer was taught manners by their parents and there are more people than I ever realized in this world who are crooks... …
This article may be reprinted/republished freely. Please share this information with others. Imagine this. You stumble upon a letter from a young man who could very well be your brother, your son, or even your neighbor. He is a marine and is stationed in the desert in Iraq. He has red hair...and a horrible sunburn. He desperately needs sunscreen and, while he can receive mail every week or so, he doesn't have access to a store. What would you do? Then you find a note from a female soldier stationed in Afghanistan who has no family. While other soldiers in her area get letters and packages daily, she has never received anything. She doesn't want food, clothes or toiletries. She just wants a pen pal or two. What would you do? Still another soldier wants to know if people from home can send him a couple of bags of candy or some inexpensive school supplies, like crayons and paper. He hands these items out to local Iraqi children to see them smile, but he's starting to run out... …
We were recently approached by a firm wanting us to post a "job ad" for them. The ad involved hiring writers to email pre-written articles. These "articles" were promotional and the emails would be unsolicited, meaning the writers were being hired to spam others. …
After I ran last week's article, Don't Argue With Editors After Rejection, I received an irate email from a woman whose article was recently rejected. (Contrary to our guidelines, she'd submitted an unsolicited piece without querying first.) She called my writing "a sham of an article." …
I'd like to share some advice on how not to ruin your chances of writing for a publication... …
Beware of Companies that Guarantee to Get Your Book on Bookstore Shelves by Angela Hoy We've seen lots of marketing ploys and blatant sp*m from so-called PR and book marketing firms that say they guarantee to get your book on bookstore shelves. Authors should be very, very wary of these claims. In most cases, the author will pay much more to the "PR" or "marketing" firm than they'll ever get back in book sales. And, they just might end up with a pile of returns from the bookstores... …
Does an editor or publisher owe you money? Are they giving you numerous excuses and even claiming to have already mailed the check? Here's what you should do... …
Over the past few weeks, we've banned a record number of users from our forum. Some people think they're clever when they create more than one identity and try to make it appear that multiple people have a complaint about company or when they complement their own posts with other like posts from "other" users. What these not-too-smart-people don't realize is how easy it is for us to figure out when this is happening! …
Each year, I share an idea or two for homemade gifts that creative folks (writers!) can make for loved ones for the holidays. Last week I shared two new ideas, I shared two new ideas, including how to make a quilted felt house and how to create photo ornaments. Here's a new idea for this week. Iron-on Photo Dolls... …
Loving and Inexpensive Holiday Gifts By Angela Hoy Each year, I share an idea or two for inexpensive homemade gifts that creative folks (writers!) can make for loved ones for the holidays. Last year's article brought in lots of great as from readers! You can see links to those at the end of this article. In today's article, see how to turn photos of your children, pets, or even yourself into Photo Ornaments using cute, miniature scrapbooking supplies. The article includes a photo! Also, read how to turn the image in a photo into a small, framed felt quilt... …
This week I'm happy to share a letter I received recently from someone seeking slave labor, along with my response. Enjoy! …
We received an interesting email last week that brought to light a possible scenario that could have been very bad for us...and completely NOT our fault. …
Every business owner, even freelance writers, occasionally comes into contact with a customer whose rage and unethical behavior let you know that the term "the customer is always right" is sometimes wrong. …
I'm often asked how new authors, both self- and traditionally-published, can get their book into bookstores. Traditional publishers often don't get the majority of their new titles on bookstore shelves. There are just far too many books on the market for bookstores to carry all published titles on their shelves. Sadly, many authors think that getting a traditional contract means their book will be in almost every bookstore in the country. That's just not the case. Authors who successfully manage to get their books on a few bookstores shelves are primarily targeting local bookstores which are often happy to help a local author. …
Never let yourself be victimized by someone else's promises of fame... …
The next time you see someone seeking writers for no pay, don't hesitate to respond to their lame excuses for non-payment! …
I used to think I had seasonal book selling fluctuations all figured out. November and December were always pretty busy because of the holidays. Things would drop off in January and February. Revenues would pick up in the Spring, but drop off in July and August when people were on vacation. They'd pick back up again in September because school would be back in session and people would be getting back to business, and so on. Major news items like 9-11, the start of the Iraq war, and even the recent hurricanes affected us, but in a very minor way and for only a day or so. But, this summer, all my theories were proven wrong. …
I was pretty disturbed to receive the following email last week... …
How often have you seen this statement? "All submissions become the property of XYZ Company?" What if you saw that while you were applying for a freelance (or full-time) writing job? If you do, be very wary. …
In response to last week's article, 10 Things You Should NOT Say When Submitting Your Book for Consideration, one reader wrote asking for a list of 10 thing you SHOULD include in a book proposal. I called on our trusty friend and book marketing expert, MJ Rose, who generously offered to pen an article on this topic for us to run this week. Please see this week's Feature Article. …
At Booklocker.com, we receive several book manuscripts each week from authors wanting to get their books into print. While we're not a traditional publisher, we are concerned about offering a high-quality inventory. Therefore, we publish less than 5% of incoming submissions. After another agonizing week of seeing the same mistakes by authors made time and again, I thought we'd try to help those of you who are sending your manuscripts to publishers, traditional and other. Perhaps we can help you avoid one of these common mistakes (and give you a smile at the same time!). …
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. …
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... …
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. …
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. …
