I admit I get a bit miffed that so many people assume that I will drop everything, and spend several minutes to several hours reading their work, and giving them a list of things that are good and not good, and details about how they can improve their writing. Some of them are downright rude...…
"Your publisher, an author meat market, CLEARLY doesn't care about their own reputation...nor yours."…
"Thought you might like to see an email I received yesterday regarding my book. They even asked for the PDF! I've never heard of these guys before, and..."…
"My husband’s great grandfather wrote an amazing regional book decades ago. It is no longer in print. I’ve tried to contact the publisher, (name removed), but I can’t find any information..."…
"I've already had a couple of people tell me they bought his books instead of mine..."…
"I am finishing up a novel that has three distinct parts. Each part is as long as a book..."…
In talking to many independent authors, there is a growing awareness of the penalties of not collecting Sales Tax. In several states, if you exceed the tax threshold, you must register and file financial documents with the tax authorities of those states...…
"Should I my how-to videos on my own website or should I use YouTube. I know YouTube gets a lot more traffic than I ever will..."…
"My book contains speeches by others that have grammatical errors. What do I do?"…
If an author has any enemies (or suspected enemies), I recommend he or she remove those people from their social media friends' lists, as well as their email lists long before marketing of a new book begins...…
My publisher told me they have a commitment for 500 printed books by "a large bookstore company" but, to close that deal, I have to buy the insurance. A business friend told me that sounds bogus...…
"What do you recommend for authors when they are creating a..."…
"If they accept the article, but never print it, can it be sold to another publication?"…
Ah, "hybrid." Such a cool sounding word, right? But...…
What still always shocks me is when authors assume that someone who is their friend today will still be their friend tomorrow. We've heard of family members suing authors for what was written, even when names were changed...…
"If I get rid of the paperback, people will buy the hardcover one instead and my profits will increase, right?"…
"I'm helping a friend assemble a baseball book and he wants to include photos of Topps Baseball cards..."…
"I recently retrieved my dusty copy of (the author's) original synopsis and first chapters I produced and decided I wanted to continue to make it into book. I have tried to contact the originator by letter and email..."…
"Another author published a book in 2015 that has the exactly same title as my book, which was published in 2010."…
"Because I hear so many horror stories about companies like this agency scamming authors (and yes, they approached me first!), I’m..."…
"I currently have an illustrator for my book. Do the illustrations have to be in a specific format for publishing?"…
"If Amazon can blatantly rip off a vendor's hard-line design, what's to stop them from hijacking an author's book?"…
To be completely honest, questions like this always make me cringe. By contacting me today, this author may have avoided a lawsuit, or two, or a few...…
"I need your advice on a proposal just sent to me by an agency..."…
Authors must pay more than $1,000 to be included. It costs even more if the author wants his or her name on the cover...…
"I realized later that maybe I was not supposed to do that. I tried for find the original artists to ask permission but..."…
"I am in possession of a journal that was published in the 1940's. Is something like this publishable?"…
Why can't I just buy the software at a higher price and use that without being charged every month? Do you have a work around?…
I received an unsolicited phone call from a senior marketing consultant at a company that displays books at book fairs. She said her company was only taking 10 books to a book fair in Europe and they chose mine...…
"I have not seen anything in writing about who owns the rights to the manuscript..."…
