Lots of people think self-published authors had to print and then store zillions of copies of their books before Print on Demand came around. Actually, that wasn't always the case. Some of us went an alternative route to avoid large up-front costs. Today, I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane to my early days as a self-published author. …
One of the banes of our existence as a POD publisher is that most of our competitors don't vet manuscripts for quality and, thus, publish a lot of garbage. Sure, there are some gems in there but, heavens, if you saw what we see on a daily basis, you'd be amazed. I'm not trying to be harsh or to hurt anybody's feelings but, honestly, wouldn't you want somebody to tell you if your book was really, really bad before it went into print? Sadly, most POD publishers are far more interested in how much money they can get out of you than they are in the quality of your book. …
Here's a letter I received last week from a disgruntled Xlibris.com author. This has nothing to do with the purchase of the company as this has been going on at Xlibris for years. …
There aren't too many things that frustrate me during the course of a day. If Mason potties on the floor instead of making it to the toilet, that frustrates me. When my computer shuts itself down before I've saved my current document, that frustrates me. And, when somebody asks me to Google something for them, when they obviously can very well do it themselves - and faster than it took them to email me - that frustrates me. The people that frustrate me the most, however, are the ones that send me emails like the one below. …
Last week, I wrote about the new trend of authors who "just want to sit at home and write" and who don't want to market their own books. Many hopeful authors mistakenly believe a traditional publisher is going to pour marketing bucks into their book. This just doesn't happen. I wrote, "I'd love if some of you who have traditional contracts would contact me and tell me what your publisher did or didn't do to promote your book vs. what you had to do to promote your book. It's rare to meet an author who feels their publisher has adequately promoted their book." Of all the responses I received, only one author claimed he was happy with his publisher's marketing efforts. Here are some of the emails I received... …
I'm noticing a disturbing trend. At least once a week now, I'm contacted by an author who is seeking a self-publisher that actively markets their book for them...for free. …
Several months ago, we ran a feature that revealed the shipping costs charged by POD publishers on author orders (large-quantity purchases). Today, we're comparing the shipping costs POD publishers are charging YOUR readers - the customer who drops by to order a book from the publisher at the recommendation of the author. Yes, inflated shipping costs CAN impact your sales! …
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. …
Last week, we talked about FORCED MARRIAGE: When POD Publishers Take Your Money AND Your Rights. This week, I'm going to discuss a disturbing trend among POD publishers. The list prices of some POD publishers' books are going up - and fast. Some of these prices are so high that authors know potential readers will not buy their books. Authors should not spend hundreds to thousands to publish a book that will ultimately be priced beyond what the market will bear! …
A year ago, I published POD SECRETS REVEALED: You Pay...But THEY Own the Rights, an article exposing how many POD publishers charge authors for services, but then claim the rights to the materials the author paid them to create. Let's face it. If an author pays hundreds to thousands to a company, and then can't get copies of their production files to use elsewhere, how in the world can that author afford to move their book to another publisher if they're unhappy? …
Author Thomas Rey Benjey filed a lawsuit against Amazon/BookSurge alleging copyright infringement. …
After the Summer contest, I posted a missive about the common themes in entries submitted for the Summer 24-Hour Short Story Contest. We received lots of positive feedback so I'm doing it again this quarter. …
Several months ago, we started offering a "disgruntled author's special" to authors who aren't happy with their current POD publisher. If they move their book to BookLocker, they only have to pay $99 in setup fees, which is the same special we give to all returning authors (meaning authors only pay $99 setup fees on their second and subsequent books published through BookLocker). Why do we do this? …
Think you're safe from the Amazon/BookSurge ultimatum because you're in the United Kingdom? Think again. You might be next! Amazon has launched a POD service in the U.K. While they say "We are offering titles that are being produced by other print on demand providers" - they don't say they'll continue to do so. Read more HERE. …
This week 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 year. …
Sometimes I read stuff online that makes my blood boil. I'm serious. My face gets red and my heart starts pounding because I get SO MAD! …
While I see lots of "employment" ads each week asking writers to write for free, I can count on one hand how many people have approached me directly, asking ME to write for free over the past decade...because most people know how I feel about writing for free. Last week, I ran a link to a video showing Harlan Ellison talking about how insulting it is to ask a writer to write for free. So, I was shocked when the owner of a writing blog wrote to me this week, asking me to write for her...for free. I'm going to share our exchange with you below but I'll paraphrase her emails since she refused to give me permission to publish them. …
In the past several years, I've done the majority of my Christmas shopping online at Amazon.com. Since we boycotted and sued Amazon after they tried to force us to pay them to print our books, I've been scurrying around online, trying to figure out where I can send my Christmas business this year. …
After running last week's article, Who REALLY Controls That ISBN You Bought? Probably Not You!, I received the following email from Andy Weissberg at R.R. Bowker... …
Last week, I received an email from a guy claiming to be the head of Bowker, the ISBN agency. Whoa! Why was the "head" of Bowker contacting me? The email implied we were doing something wrong... …
I've been making notes about common themes that are emerging in the entries for our Summer 2008 24-Hour Short Story Contest. I thought I'd share these with you today so you can see how difficult it is for some writers to come up with completely original variations of a common theme. …
Through WritersWeekly Whispers and Warnings, we publicize deadbeats, scams targeting writers, and even lowly spammers (who also target writers). The names of these jerks pop right up on google, through our Whispers and Warnings posts, and also through other websites, like ripoffreport.com. They are ripe for the picking by any writer willing to take the time to google a potential client's name. Sadly, I hear from writers all the time who type a varying version of this: "Aaarghh! I wish I'd googled that deadbeat's name before working for/with him/her!" …
Last week, I received an email from an author who was perturbed that we didn't offer something similar to what he received via email (spam!) from another POD publisher. What was it? A $199 manuscript evaluation. If you paid and then decided to use that POD publisher later, you could deduct $199 from your setup fees. They could (probably do!) then upsell you on their expensive editing services that their manuscript evaluation very likely will say you need. Now, come on. Do you really think they're going to tell you your manuscript is perfect? No way... …
Each week, when researching job links to distribute through WritersWeekly, I see specific red flags in some job ads. This week, I'll share some with you. …
Many authors sign up with a self-publishing/POD company, innocently expecting to pay a certain price...only to discover they'd need to pay more for services you'd expect would be included in every basic package. Here are some not-so-humorous examples... …
This week, we're going to pitch ourselves as interview sources to online radio shows. …
Lots of authors are turned on by the bells and whistles offered by some of the POD publishers. They seem to think if they just buy this, that, or the other, their book will be a success. Before they know it, they've spent several hundred to several thousand dollars... …
Yesterday, after work, while flipping through the mail, you find a postcard from Author Anne. It's a pretty postcard. It shows her book cover on one side, and has a brief description of the book on the other. But, you receive marketing postcards everyday...and you can't pick up the book and thumb through it. You're not online right now so you can't click to read more about the book. You leave it on the counter and forget about it. Later, you use it to push some crumbs into the sink and then you throw it away. …
A couple of years ago, I published this article - My Time to Whine: When A Contest Sponsor Gets FED UP! It primarily described how the actions of some writing contest entrants can make somebody want to stop hosting a popular contest completely. Today, I'm going to give you some hints on how to stand out in the crowd during your next writing contest. …
This article appeared in Monday's Special Edition of WritersWeekly.com. You may reprint this article or quote from it at your discretion. You can read/post comments here: https://antitrust.booklocker.com BookLocker.com has filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon.com in response to Amazon's recent attempts to force all publishers using Print on Demand (POD) technology to pay Amazon to print their books. …
We recently received an angry email from a woman who claimed her father's book, which we published, constituted a violation of her privacy... …
This article was ready to publish a month ago when we exposed the Amazon/Booksurge Ultimatum. While we're, of course, still publishing updates about Amazon/Booksurge, I'm VERY happy that we're able to get back to book selling this week! …
Well, if it looks like a competitor, and acts like a competitor, and smells like a competitor... …
$500 Reward Offered for Information Leading to the REAL Identity of PODdy Mouth Imagine being contacted by one of your customers one day and being alerted to a blogger who is posting false statements and insults about you and many of your competitors on a continuing basis. Furthermore, the blogger is writing under a fake name...which previously belonged to someone else in the industry - a respected person - who had recently retired. To add insult to injury, when you approach this blogger to correct some of the numerous errors in their blog, they post more false statements about you, attack you personally, call you names like "ugly" and "self-masturbatory", and then blacklist you so you can no longer post comments in your own defense...all the while continuing to post false statements and refusing to correct the previously published inaccuracies. This situation is occurring right now. Read the entire story on Preditors & Editors HERE. ~~~~ REWARD!!! If you are the first to tell us the real identity of PODdy Mouth (not the original POD-dy Mouth, but the one mentioned above), and can provide verifiable proof of his/her identity, we will send you $500. We will, of course, respect your identity, but you must tell us who you really are because PODdy Mouth may very well try to trick us into implicating someone else. Please spread the word. If you know who PODdy Mouth is (or even if you want to weigh in with a guess for fun), contact: angela - at - writersweekly.com If you or your business has had a similar unfortunate experience with PODdy Mouth, we'd like to hear about that as well. Three industry executives, when recently asked on separate occasions who they think PODdy Mouth is, all immediately gave the EXACT same answer... …
Since WritersWeekly broke the Amazon Ultimatum Story two weeks ago, news has traveled quickly across the globe and it didn't take long for everyone, including book buyers, authors, publishers, and writing organizations, to weigh in against Amazon's actions... …
Tuesday, April 1st, was the rumored deadline Amazon.com gave to some POD publishers to sign an agreement allowing their printing division, BookSurge, to print each publisher's book to be sold through Amazon, or risk having their "buy" buttons turned off on the Amazon.com website... …
