I am a longtime reader of your newsletter and short time freelance writer. I won an essay contest in May. My check was supposedly lost or stolen in the mail and I have still not received payment. I don't want to make waves or any rookie mistakes in my correspondence with them that would create problems for me so early in my career path... …
Someone recently brought to my attention that on Amazon, there is a listing for people to buy a "new" or "used" copy of a book (that's from a P.O.D. source) for a reduced fee or sometimes an extraordinarily high fee. Do you know where these books come from or where I can learn more about this? …
I received an email from (an online book contest). It is for recognition. Is this kind of thing normal? The entry fee is $50 at this time. …
I don't think my publisher is reporting all my sales. Can I get this info. directly from Ingram? …
According to (my P.O.D. publisher), I have NOT sold ANY books - ever. They also claim the printer (which is owned by the distributor) "won't give out those stats." However, I have been contacted by international fans who have purchased both paperbacks and ebooks, so this is mystifying, to put it mildly. …
My book was published by (one of the largest POD publishers) and I am not happy with their service or prices. They designed my cover but I want to move my book to BookLocker. Can you use the cover they designed? Can they sue me for leaving? …
I am contemplating using a service to send out a press release for my book. Seems like it may be a good investment of $300.00. I wanted to get your input on the subject though. What sort of thoughts would you have about press releases in general? …
Can you publish my book immediately? My current POD publisher (one of the largest ones) is trying to get more money out of me for marketing so they are STALLING, and have been stalling for about two months now. I told them I am not giving them ONE CENT MORE!!! …
My printer said they overprinted my books and that they're selling them at half-price. They are paying me no royalties. They did not have my permission to do this. When I asked my printer about this issue, I was told, quite curtly, that there was nothing that could be done, that I had no recourse and "printers selling cheap, brand new books without permission is a simple fact of publishing." I consulted a lawyer on this and other matters and was told that this action was NOT an accepted or legal practice, as far as his research showed. Am I totally out of line assuming that this is NOT acceptable? …
I work with a not-for-profit company, writing materials for them such as volunteer handbooks, procedures and policies. I am a contractor, and I submit monthly invoices to them. I did not have a contract until now, and now they are asking me to sign something which includes the lines: "All Copyright in all works, (including those works originating prior to the signing of this contract) procedure, policy, training materials, discovery, invention or process made, designed, drafted or discovered by you whilst engaged by the Organization will be the property of the Company..." I'm not okay with this at all and I've mentioned to the CEO before that these documents are my intellectual property. It wasn't work for hire. They were paying for my time in constructing these materials. Do I have a right to the materials I have already written? I want to keep working with the organization but I feel they're making a huge assumption here. I have also written an extensive groundbreaking document for the organization that I wish to draw on in future works. I'd appreciate any advice you can give, I'm so confused. …
My brother in law has a traditional publishing house, small to be sure. He has ceased dealing with Ingram not only because of the discounts they demand, but also because of the mountains of returns he gets months later of books with torn covers, etc. What is your experience? …
I have been reading your site for a few months, and I was wondering if this would be appropriate for Whispers and Warnings. I have written four articles for a national women's magazine, one every month or two. The magazine's policy is that writers are paid 60ish days after publication. The first was paid late (in the meantime, I was working on the 4th), and after much haranguing, they finally paid about a month late with excuses about how the financial department was held up due to this or that. Now we're at over 90 days on the second... so I'm detecting a pattern. I never signed a contract (I know, I know...) My emails asking about payment for the second are going largely ignored (my contact keeps saying, "I'll check on it for you!" and then never responds). I've Googled, and I can't find anything from writers with similar experiences... what do you think? Thanks! …
Do you have any suggestions on how we can get the paperback edition of my book to appear first on the Barnes and Noble website? When shoppers look it up, the hardcover comes up first and I think the price is going to scare readers off, especially if they don't know how to navigate to other formats of the book. …
I have written four articles for a national women's magazine, one every month or two. The magazine's policy is that writers are paid 60ish days after publication. The first was paid late (in the meantime, I was working on the 4th) and, after much haranguing, they finally paid about a month late with excuses about how the financial department was held up due to this or that. Now we're at over 90 days on the second... so I'm detecting a pattern. I never signed a contract (I know, I know...). My emails asking about payment for the second are going largely ignored (my contact keeps saying, "I'll check on it for you!" and then never responds). …
Remember me? I miss you. You are by far the best publisher I've met so far. You answer e-mails, you keep promises, and you pay royalties on time to your writers. My current publisher doesn't do any of that, and that's why I'm contacting you. I plan to enter a complaint into your Whispers and Warnings section, but I want to touch base with you before I do it, and explain. (My other publisher) started off as a dynamic, responsive and very active publisher when she initially persuaded me to sign on. In September 2011 she did the royalty accounting and paid me a big check for the months up to and including May 2011, which covered the first month of my sales surge. I sold over 17,000 e-books on Kindle that May. In June, I sold over 19,500, over 10,000 in July and over 6,000 in August. I don't have exact figures because she never sent me exact figures after May. The problem is that she has not paid me royalties covering the period June 2011 to the present. And, she stopped sending me monthly sales figures around the same time. Also, she stopped answering my e-mails, except for very occasional one- or two-sentence responses that never mentioned royalties. It has now been 14 months without a royalty payment to me. Her other writers I am in touch with have similar problems with her, all centering around a lack of communication, missed deadlines and royalty problems. What else can I do? …
I recently collaborated with a much-published and widely read author to edit one of her pending publications. We discussed my literary life, too. She indicates I should get an agent to market my newest manuscript. What do you think? …
I messed up. I published my book with 1st Books, now named AuthorHouse. I want to have an ebook to sell, but not thru AuthorHouse. Do they own publishing rights? I know they have sold some books, but I have not received any money from them in years. …
Your price (at BookLocker.com) for cover design is much lower than freelance designers, I find myself wondering what I would get for $200. …
Do you guys know of any places where I can write online and make money for my articles, while retaining copyright? …
I checked my out-of-print books at Amazon and the print versions are still "available". However, their message to customers is that there is only one copy left, and on backorder. If there is only one copy left, where's the money for the other ones? How are they sold? In batches? I'm not getting anything because my book is out-of-print, so where's the money going to? …
I am working on a book trailer. Do you know of any people who create those professionally? …
A (local) man decided to do an anthology with the proceeds going to a charity. I submitted a poem and it was accepted with a small, simple contract offered. Everything was fine until the anthology came out and the man had listed himself and his wife as the authors of the book. Now, individual poems were listed by author but the cover / title page and back of title page showed the couple as authors. …
I was referred to you by a friend. I just found an article I wrote, that was published in March, also published in April in a completely different magazine. I had no idea it was being published in April, have never heard of the publication, and received no payment. I am trying to figure out the best way to handle this... is this not copyright infringement? …
My POD publisher recently released an ebook version of my book without telling me. I only want a print version of my book available. What can I do? …
I have a question about first electronic rights. I have a writing blog where I "publish" a lot of my writing, including short stories, articles and poetry. If I've published something on my blog, can I no longer submit it to anyone requesting first electronic rights? My blog is set to public, but I don't have a ton of followers or anything. Do you know the legal ramifications on this? …
Some POD publishers imply their books are available in all bookstores but you don't make that claim. Why? …
My publisher, who placed my book on the Kindle, has disappeared. He previously obtained my royalties and forwarded them to me. I have been unable to contact him or anyone at Amazon so that arrangements can be made for me to deal directly with Amazon. …
I have many friends asking me for a signed copy of the book when it is published. As I have thought about this, I need to ask for advice. Do I order the books and sell them? Do I direct them to a particular bookstore and ask the store to order so many copies? I want to have a book signing for them as there were many who supported me in this effort and I am not sure of the best course to accomplish this. Thank you in advance for your input. …
There are so many sites with ads that seem desperate to hire writers. I think most of them are content mills. How can I easily spot one? …
Do you feel there is high risk in replying to a blind ad with a Craigslist address? …
