Brian Whiddon is the Managing Editor of WritersWeekly.com and the Operations Manager at BookLocker.com. An Army vet and former police officer, Brian is the author of Blue Lives Matter: The Heart behind the Badge. He's an avid sailor, having lived and worked aboard his 36-foot sailboat, the “Floggin’ Molly” for 9 years after finding her abandoned in a boat yard and re-building her himself.
Now, in northern Georgia, when not working on WritersWeekly and BookLocker, he divides his off-time between hiking, hunting, and farming.
HowMaster: The Writer's Guide to Beautiful Word Crafting
Author Linda M. Gigliotti draws from years of practice as a private
writing tutor in the guidebook that teaches writers how to format visceral
writing that pulls readers into their book. She explains with instruction
and samples of published works how to craft writing that come to life in the reader's mind.
HowMaster is a wise choice for the writer who wants to weave words around the reader’s heart.
Author Linda M. Gigliotti draws from years of practice as a private
writing tutor in the guidebook that teaches writers how to format visceral
writing that pulls readers into their book. She explains with instruction
and samples of published works how to craft writing that come to life in the reader's mind.
Practical resource outlining the self-syndication process, step-by-step. Packed with detailed information and useful tips for writers looking to gain readership, name recognition, publication and self-syndication for their column or articles.
It's A Dirty Job...Writing Porn For Fun And Profit! Includes Paying Markets!
Fact is, writing porn is fun! It's also one of the easier markets to crack and make money at while you're still honing your skills. "It's A Dirty Job..." is one of the only resources that can teach you everything you need to know to create your stories and target your markets.
So, You Wanna Be a Ghostwriter - How To Make Money Writing Without a Byline
Many freelance writers find it difficult to break into the publishing world. What they don't know, however, is that there's a faster and easier way to see their words in print. It's called ghostwriting, and it's an extremely lucrative, fun, and challenging career.
But how do you get started as a ghostwriter? How do you find new clients who will pay you to write their material? How do you charge? And what kind of contracts do you need to succeed? All these questions and more are answered in So, You Wanna Be a Ghostwriter...How to Make Money Writing Without a Byline.
Writing FAST: How to Write Anything with Lightning Speed
A systematic approach to writing that generates better quality quickly!
Chock full of ideas, tips, techniques and inspiration, this down-to-earth book is easy to read, and even easier to apply. Let author Jeff Bollow take you through a process that brings your ideas to the page faster, more powerfully and easier than ever before.
Writing is a constant dialogue between author and reader.
The craft of writing involves an interchange of emotions between an author and a reader. An author creates a story line, conflict, and characters, gives his characters words to speak, and then hands off these materials to a reader. This process results in a constant dialogue between the mental imagery produced by a reader and that proposed by the author.
TRAVEL WRITING 2.0: Earning Money from your Travels in the New Media Landscape - SECOND EDITION
Completely revised edition of the ground-breaking travel writing book that provides a road map to success in the digital age. It dives headlong into the entrepreneurial world of blogging and digital books, while still acknowledging the real money to be made in declining print forms.
Drawing on interviews and survey responses from more than 100 successful travel writers and bloggers, this is the definitive guide to creating success instead of waiting for permission. Written by a veteran, award-winning writer with two decades of experience as a book author, online publisher, freelancer, and blogger.
Do you want to REALLY keep 100% of your royalties?
Do you want to REALLY self-publish your book?
Do you want direct contracts with the world's largest Print on Demand printer as well as Ingram, the world's largest book distributor, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, and any other ebook retailer you choose?
7.625 STRATEGIES IN EVERY BEST-SELLER - Revised and Expanded Edition
At this moment, thousands of would-be authors are slaving away on their keyboards, dreaming of literary success. But their efforts won’t count for much. Of all those manuscripts, trade book editors will sign up only a slim fraction.
And of those titles--ones that that editors paid thousands of dollars to contract, print and publicize--an unhealthy percentage never sell enough copies to earn back their advances. Two years later, most will be out of print!
Acquisition Editor Tam Mossman shares seven essentials every book needs to stay in print, and sell!
"A real page turner. I can't wait to read the next installment." -Debbie Martindale Behrends, The Elburn Herald
Nic Pappas, a reporter with the Palatine Star newspaper, is assigned to cover a cold murder case known as The Brown's Chicken Massacre. Pappas meets, and falls in love with, Mary Jane Santos, who lost her brother, Roland, Jr., in the tragedy, tempting Pappas to violate the ethics of the reporter-source relationship. Believing the only way to end his dilemma is to solve the case, Pappas and Santos make a pledge to catch the killers...
Have a Freelance Success Story to share? We pay $40 on acceptance, non-exclusive electronic rights only. Success stories run around 300 words but we're very flexible. Our guidelines are here:
Angela Hoy is not only publisher of WritersWeekly.com, she's also co-owner of self-publishing services firm BookLocker.com and works directly with each author.
That's right, you work directly with the owner of BookLocker. No revolving customer service reps, no layers of bureaucracy to navigate, and absolutely no outsourcing to low-paying overseas call centers. We don't use call centers or telemarketing at all. You will never be shuffled from one "customer service rep" to another because we don't have any of those.
You will communicate directly with Angela about any needs you have at all, as well as Richard (book marketing advice), Brian (ebooks and technical issues), Ali (print formatting), Gwen (color-interior books) and Todd or Nancy (our awesome cover designers).
Since we are selective about which books we publish, we are able to work with every author one-on-one. In the past 18 years, BookLocker has published more than 9,000 titles.
Angela's been in the print-on-demand and self-publishing business for nearly two decades. She's seen it all, and is a great source of information. To ask her anything click here.
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Some or all of these links to writing job have expired. See the latest writing jobs by clicking here.
33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Blind Characters
I admire any writer who wants to tackle a blind character. But so many writers take up this challenge and FAIL. They research blindness by reading other fiction books, by observing their blind colleagues and acquaintances, and by tying on a blindfold and pretending to be blind themselves.
I understand the challenges your characters face, their triumphs, their hopes and their fears, because I've lived them. I work with people who have varying degrees of blindness every day, so I've seen every challenge, every situation you could imagine.
Let me share my knowledge to improve your writing. You can create blind characters that readers will fall in love with.
How would you, and BookLocker’s attorneys, like to proceed with this inquiry?
R.S.
—– Forwarded Message —– Sent: Tuesday, July 9, 2024 at 10:41:31 AM CDT Subject: Collaboration Opportunity for Screen Adaptation of Your Book
I hope this message finds you well. My name is (removed), and I am a film executive with a specialization in commercials and films. I previously worked at (removed) for several years before its closure. Despite the studio’s shutdown, my passion and faith in the film industry remain unwavering.
Currently, I am an independent filmmaker looking to collaborate with like-minded individuals who share the same enthusiasm for storytelling. Last week, I came across your book, (title removed), and was deeply impressed by its potential. After some research, I asked my team to gather your contact details so that I could reach out to you directly.
I am writing to explore the possibility of partnering with you on a screen adaptation of your book. With your compelling content and my expertise as a writer and executive, I believe we have a strong chance of creating something remarkable.
If you are interested, I would be delighted to discuss the details further. We can also negotiate your compensation and royalties to ensure that this collaboration is mutually beneficial.
Please let me know your thoughts at your earliest convenience. I am looking forward to the possibility of working together.
A –
You don’t need our attorneys. 🙂 We don’t take rights from authors. You own ALL rights to your book and files (I think we are the only publisher remaining in the industry that still doesn’t take rights from authors in some form or another) and you can work any independent deal you want.
HOWEVER, I am glad you contacted me! This is very likely a scam. There are tons of scammers spamming authors like this now. as well as using telemarketing tactics. It’s highly likely this spammer has never read your book at all.
Scammers make you think that your book will be a movie at no cost to you….but those scammers then hit the author up for tens of thousands, or more later, while dangling the “movie deal” in front of them. Of course, the movie deal doesn’t happen.
I checked and the sender’s email is a URL that isn’t even a working website.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
My book, a young adult fantasy, is listed on the websites of Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It was self-published by 1st Books (now AuthorHouse) in October 2020. While at one time I marketed it a little, sent it to newspapers for review, it was part of a book club, and it is on Good Reads, I stopped following up. Since that time, I have received over 20 requests from marketers, some very persistent, to represent the book. Frankly, I have never known what to do with it.
On Friday, I received a call from Steve, then David – (979-232-2398). They knew the name of my book and what it was about (I think). They have a decent website with writers who aren’t bad. www.worldwidepublicists.com. For whatever the reason, I did speak to them and considered going with their services. Then my family and I did further research into them (I told them I receive your newsletter, about scamming and such) and found the whole thing fishy. I wrote to Worldwide this morning and rejected their offer to promote my book (David, David Smith by the way, both of these guys are “Smith” – I don’t think so). I might be contacted still by David on Friday, although I asked him not to call.
I am writing to you, Angela, because I trust you and respect your industry knowledge. I suppose I don’t want to take my book down from the sites because … well … it’s there. I reread it yesterday, and frankly, it holds up and I believe it to be good. By the way, I did contact AuthorHouse about two years ago, and received no satisfaction (nor any royalty checks if there are any or have ever been).
I suppose I am exhausted and/or beaten down by this process. As you can see from my website, I am far from a newbie writer.
Can you look into Worldwide Publicists just for my piece of mind (and others, since it seems that they are a start-up). Is there anything that I can/should do with my book? At the moment I am at a standstill, as the magazines I contributed to for years have gone under (Dig, Renaissance and the like).
Thank you, Angela, for any advice you can give to me.
Ellen S.
A –
Any so-called “publicist” who uses spam or telemarketing should be avoided at ALL costs. If they are using those methods to promote their own services, imagine what they might to do the reputations of you and your book. And, only desperate marketers use spam and telemarketing, which speaks volumes.
The Internet is FLOODED with these types of characters right now.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
My discontinued book is for sale on Ebay for many times the price I listed it for on Amazon. It cannot be a used copy as I know everyone who has bought one. Shouldn’t I be entitled to a royalty at least?
– CS
A –
The people selling those copies on Ebay don’t actually have physical copies of the books. Any firm with an Ingram account (that’s the distributor) can pick up Ingram’s feed, and start selling their books. Ingram sends that automated feed to retailers. It’s the same automated feed that third party sellers on Amazon receive.
Unfortunately, many of these small resellers don’t bother to update their listings when a book becomes unavailable.
You can try ordering a copy from that ebay seller. I suspect they will later contact you to say they can’t obtain a copy.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book's Daily Marketing Plan by Angela Hoy and Richard Hoy
Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.
We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts
and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!
Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor,
which makes it fun for creative folks like you!
Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!
I am in the process of having my first non-fiction book printed…to be sold at a retail price to people around the USA and possibly in Europe and Asia.
My total net costs, including printing, envelopes and media mail is $22.00 per book. My intentions are to sell the book at a retail price of $45.00 or $49.00 to include shipping.
What tax implications am I looking at if I sell the book in my state of Arizona? And, if I sell books to other states?
Do I need a sales tax license?
A –
I am not a CPA and this is not tax advice. For specific tax questions, please contact your CPA.
That said…
If you are selling directly to your readers, there are some tax implications, depending on each state.
You will need to collect and remit sales tax in your own state for books shipped to that state.
Other states have thresholds where sellers are required to collect and remit sales tax for items sent to that state. Many of those thresholds are quite high.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
I often receive emails from our authors who are approached by scammers after their books have been published. Almost all of them are outright scammers, as you can see at THIS LINK.
However, every once in awhile, they stoop to a new low. Before I share the email I received, you need to understand that companies that are “Accredited” by the Better Business Bureau PAID for that “accreditation.” It means NOTHING to be accredited by the BBB other than the fact that the company in question paid for that word to be posted on their page on the bbb.org website. A company can have an F Rating on bbb.org, and still be “accredited.”
As I have shared for years, we refuse to participate in that nonsense. We have an A+ rating on bbb.org and AMAZING reviews have been posted there from our authors!
Here is the email I received:
There is a writer on Facebook who wants to help publish my book. I told him I was satisfied with your company. He called back and advised me that the BBB no longer accredited you. He called me back, and I told him there were no issues with BBB and your company, and that you have an A+ rating. He said, and I quote, “You know she is lying.” I responded, “Making that statement says a lot about you.”
If you are being contacted by these scammers after your book is published, know that zero percent of them can help you. They are wanting you to pay them thousands to do what’s already been done – getting your book published.
The ones offering marketing services are even worse! If they have to resort to spam and telemarketing to market their own marketing services, that means they are TERRIBLE!
Finally, if you are contacted by a spammer or telemarketer in the manner our author was above, where the scammer spews lies that are easily proven wrong, let your publisher know about it! I’m sure their attorneys will be very eager to contact the scammer, as ours were.
The only way to stop these scammers is to hit them in the pocketbook by:
1. NOT sending them any money at all
2. Making them incur legal fees when they commit libel, slander, or defamation
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
Good afternoon. For a year I paid a book promotion company, Book Writing Experts, over $10,000 to promote my book for sales and, within that time, only one book was sold. Throughout the process, I was being told that, if I put down a certain amount of money for more promotion, it would reach a bigger audience of readers, which would help my sales. Is there any legal action I can take to get compensation back from the money I lost?
Thank you.
A –
I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice. Please consult with an attorney for your specific needs.
Below my signature are some serious accusations, written by bbb.org, against the company, that I found on that website (where they have an F rating). If they are truly falsifying all of that, yes, I think you’d have grounds for a lawsuit. But, you need to consider several things.
1. Are they really located in the U.S.? If they are not, suing, winning, and receiving any judgment awarded to you would be almost impossible. That’s one reason to only hire publishing services that are actually located in the United States. BookLocker.com is located in Trenton, Georgia, and has an outstanding reputation.
2. Even if they are in the U.S., and if you win, do they have the funds to pay a judgment? Would you be able to collect assets of theirs in place of those funds? You could spend thousands in legal fees, and end up with nothing.
3. Lawsuits can be extremely stressful. We sued Amazon back in 2008 and, while we did eventually win, I can’t tell you how many nights of sleep I lost from the stress. Amazon played dirty. If you do sue Book Writing Experts, we’ll provide info. and updates to our WritersWeekly.com readers.
I did quite a bit of research into Book Writing Experts. I am not believing the 5-star reviews about them online. They may be fake. They just don’t jive with all the complaints.
(One person there reports the business address is a “virtual office” so they may indeed be located overseas. Another person reports that their domain name was registered by a foreign proxy company.)
Authors Guild – Search that page for Book Writing Experts
Also, the sales report you emailed to me has the name Page Publishing at the top of it. So, it appears the two firms are working together. I found nasty comments about them online, too, on yelp.com, trustpilot.com, and bbb.org. Remember that an A+ rating on bbb.org only means the company has responded to all of the complaints on the bbb.org website. It does NOT mean they’re doing good business.
Current Alerts For This Business Advertising Review:
On September 5, 2023, BBB Serving Los Angeles and Silicon Valley requested that the business substantiate, modify, or discontinue claims on the company’s website, https://bookwritingexperts.com/. BBB requested that the business clarify their relationship with various organizations advertised on their website. BBB also requested that the business substantiate, modify, or discontinue rating claims, images/depictions of published books, sale claims, and client testimonials.
BBB challenged these claims based on the following BBB Codes of Advertising: 1. Basic Principles of the Code – https://www.bbb.org/code-of-advertising#Basic_Principles_Of_The_Code
21. Layout and Illustrations – https://www.bbb.org/code-of-advertising#Layout_And_Illustrations
30. Testimonials and Endorsements – https://www.bbb.org/code-of-advertising#Testimonials_And_Endorsements
While the business initially responded to BBB and made some modifications to their advertising, as of October 4, 2023, the business has failed to substantiate, modify, or discontinue all advertised claims brought to its attention.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
I took on a large project and the client paid me up front. The man has been nothing but mean, rude, and disrespectful. I have put many hours into the project but I just can’t continue to work with him. I don’t think he deserves a full refund but I’m willing to part with a portion of the money just to get him out of my life. What would you do in this situation?
M.A.
A –
Been there!! While it would be nice if everybody in the world was…nice, the fact is there are a LOT of jerks out there! You can do an outstanding job, and remain helpful and pleasant, and even finish a project early and jerks will still find a reason to complain. And, they can get downright abusive! In my opinion, these people are narcissists, have a few screws loose, and need to be on meds. He paid you to write. He did not pay you to be the victim of his childish behavior.
On our website, we have a statement that says, “If you are a jerk, you’d be better served by one of our competitors. We don’t work with jerks. We prefer to work with professional individuals…who have manners.” It’s an excellent filtering tool! Authors who are jerks get extremely offended by that statement. Nice authors think it’s hilarious!
I was at the doctor’s office a couple of weeks ago and the check-in window had a sign that said, “Verbally or physically abusing our employees is not permitted. If your behavior violates our policy, you will be removed from the premises and law enforcement will be called.”
Now, I totally get calling the police when somebody assaults someone else. I imagine that don’t do that for people who verbally abuse their employees. Long, long ago, people had manners, and remembered to use them. Some people just aren’t like that anymore. If you’ve ever watched any “Karen” videos on YouTube, you’ll know what kind of people I’m talking about.
We worked with an author to publish his three books. He was extremely sweet. Sadly, he passed a few months ago. I was recently contacted by his son. I checked the author’s contract. His wife was his beneficiary. I contacted her and she said it was okay for me to communicate about the books and author account with her son. When I was changing the contact information in the author’s account, I discovered he had a negative balance of a few dollars. The son said he would take care of it. We had sent a final notice to the author weeks prior, but hadn’t heard back from him. I kept the books active as I knew the author was elderly. The son saw the final notice email, and sternly told me not to send any more final notices. That was odd.
Fast forward a few weeks and I was going through our accounts again, and discovered the son had never paid the fee. I assumed he never would at that point so I terminated the books, and sent a termination notice. The son responded quickly, made personal insults about my character, and threatened legal action. I gave him my email address, and told him to have his attorney contact me. I added that I would give the attorney access to the author account, where he could spend several hours reading all of the emails we exchanged with the author over the years. Hey, if the son wants to pay a lawyer $300/hour rather than paying a few dollars, that’s fine with me.
The son finally paid the small fee (it was less than $20) and I sent him his father’s production files. Haven’t heard back from him again, nor from his lawyer.
There was no reason whatsoever for his son to react the way he did. And, his father’s books are no longer on the market because I refuse to work with jerks. That apple definitely fell far from the tree!
My advice to you is to calculate what percentage of the project you have completed, and refund your jerk client the rest. Explain in a professional manner that you can no longer work with someone who is being unprofessional. Tell him he’s welcome to hire a different writer to finish the project. Maybe, when working with the next writer, he’ll remember his manners. He’s going to react one of two ways. He’s either going to blow a gasket or he’s going to apologize, and beg you to continue. His behavior is highly unlikely to change so I recommend firmly telling him no.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
Authors Press contacted me about adding my book to its network for a fee of $800. It has good and bad reviews, but a good BBB rating.
Would you consider my book in your list of published books?
A –
The only thing a company needs to do to have a good rating on bbb.org is to respond to every review and complaint. They can copy and paste the exact same words over and over again into the response box on bbb.org and it’s still considered a response. Ignore the A+ rating and, instead, read all of the complaints about them.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
As with many things online and in the news now, headlines do not always accurately represent the article written underneath. The article provides lots of confusing numbers (if you’re not familiar with how the ebook/library process works), accuses publishers of charging libraries way more for ebooks than everybody else, and more.
Something didn’t smell quite right when I first started reading.
Then, I did the math.
The article states: “Like many libraries, West Haven has been grappling with the soaring costs of e-books and audiobooks. The digital titles often come with a price tag that’s far higher than what consumers pay. While one hardcover copy of Cook’s latest novel costs the library $18, it costs $55 to lease a digital copy – a price that can’t be haggled with publishers.
“And for that, the e-book expires after a limited time, usually after one or two years, or after 26 check outs, whichever comes first.”
Gosh, that sure makes the publishers look greedy, doesn’t it? But, whip out your calculator, and dig in like I did.
If they pay $55 for 26 copies of the ebook, that means they’re only paying $2.11 per copy. That is more than fair! This article seems to imply that libraries should only have to buy one copy, and then be able to loan it to as many people as they want. I do have a problem with that because I don’t necessarily trust the software or security offered by some libraries. What’s to stop someone from sending a copy of that ebook to others? Furthermore, giving libraries the ability to share one copy of an ebook with as many people as they want, in perpetuity, is not fair to publishers or authors.
And this part:
“While e-books purchased by consumers can last into perpetuity, libraries need to renew their leased e-material.”
Right! That’s because, when a consumer buys an ebook, it’s for that one consumer. It’s not for dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people to read!
When a library orders a print copy of a book, they can only loan that book to one person at a time. If there is high demand, that library is likely to purchase multiple copies. Sure, they can loan that book out for years but, as with all books, demand will decrease over time and the book will eventually be sold at a library sale, or discarded. The publisher and author have earned a fair royalty for the sale of each copy of the print book purchased by that library.
With ebooks, the royalties are FAR smaller. While an author might earn a few dollars for the sale of each copy of his/her print book, they might only earn a few cents for the ebook. So, how is it fair if a library can loan out an ebook to as many people as it wants (including multiple people at one time) after only buying the license for one copy?
Furthermore, the article states:
“Librarians in several states have been pushing for legislation to rein in the costs and restrictions on electronic material…”
That legislation would conflict with copyright law. The United States is a capitalist, market economy country. Business owners should be able to charge whatever they want for a product, and to put security measures into place to prevent the theft of intellectual property.
If the information in this article is correct, that means some libraries are trying to get a lot of something for almost nothing AND that they want to the government to pass legislation so they can get what they want. NOT GONNA HAPPEN.
Oh, and this gem from the article:
“Imagine if a playground was built at a school with tax dollars, only to be taken down after two years of use,” librarian Colleen Bailie said at a recent public hearing.
A playground costs THOUSANDS of dollars! Not $2.11! What a RIDICULOUS statement!!!
And this one as well:
But Julie Holden, assistant library director for the Cranston Public Library in Rhode Island, said, “Taxpayers who fund our public libraries deserve better. Way better,” she said.
Actually, Julie, AUTHORS deserve better. When you start stripping authors of their royalties for “the greater good,” authors will stop writing good books. Then, you’ll only be able to offer “taxpayers” old good books, or crappy new ones. Oh, and I don’t see anything in your quote where you’ve offered to give up some of YOUR income for the greater good.
And, here is the smartest quote in the article!
“They (libraries) do have a funding problem, but the answer is not to take it out of the pockets of authors and destroy the rights of creators and pass unconstitutional legislation,” said Shelley Husband, senior vice president of government affairs at the Association of American Publishers, noting how more people than ever can access e-material that might otherwise have been purchased from booksellers.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
Thank you for taking the time to speak with my grandson regarding my nonpayment of my books (by Infinity Publishing). Growing up in Mississippi, I called Infinity Publishing a lot of times trying to get my money owed to me, but they never sent it. Each time I called they’d say someone will call you and we’ll send your money owed to you, but they never did. Can you please send me the Infinity Publishing and Fast Pencil address? Thank you in advance for doing so. My books are on the web, and I don’t receive any money from any of these online publishers. How can I get my books deleted from the websites?
-B
A –
We started warning authors about Infinity Publishing (later merged with Fast Pencil) as far back as 2017. We published another warning in 2020. After years of authors complaining about non-payment of royalties and more, Infinity Publishing/Fast Pencil finally decided to stop publishing books in late 2023. I’m sure all of the complaints posted about them online over the years contributed to their demise. HOWEVER, they are still doing business (a different type) under the name Opyrus.
Paying authors’ royalties isn’t that hard. When the customer, distributor, or retailer pays you, you put that money into a specific bank account to hold those funds. You then collect monthly reports from each payer, credit your authors’ accounts, and send them their payments. At BookLocker, we pay by the fifth business day of the month. It’s such an easy process that we often pay our authors early. For example, this month, we paid our authors’ royalties on the second business day of the month. Again, it is not a difficult process!
If, however, a publisher is spending their authors’ royalties on their own expenses, well, that would explain why they aren’t paying their authors, wouldn’t it?!
I recommend reporting them to their state’s attorney general. The online form is HERE. At least one author who contacted us was able to get his production files after threatening to do that. However, Infinity Publishing / Fast Pencil has been charging some authors for those, which is horrible because the authors already paid them to produce those files. You would think that, after what they’ve done to their authors, they’d simply send those files to each author for free. But, after all of the complaints I’ve read about them over the years, I’m not surprised by their most recent conduct.
The company could have also simply transferred their authors and files to another publisher to avoid all the problems they’re having now. In fact, they can still do that but I don’t think they will because, in my opinion, they took the easy way out, and figured out how to get even more money from their authors in the process.
Here is their address:
Fastpencil, Inc.
517 Boston Post Rd
Sudbury, MA 01776-7600
Since they no longer have the right to sell your books, I also recommend submitting a copyright infringement complaint to Amazon. Important advice on how to do that is HERE.
HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING A BOOK?
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Angela Hoy is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the author of 19 books, and the co-owner of BookLocker.com (one of the original POD publishers that still gets books to market in less than a month), PubPreppers.com (print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish), and Abuzz Press (the publishing co-op that charges no setup fees).
Angela has lived and traveled across the U.S. with her kids in an RV, settled in a river-side home in Bradenton, FL, and lived on a 52 ft Irwin sailboat. Angela now resides on a mountaintop in Northwest Georgia, where she plans to spend the rest of her days bird watching, gardening, hiking, and taking in all of the amazing sunrises.
WritersWeekly.com - the free marketing ezine for writers, which features new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday.
BookLocker.com - According to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is: "As close to perfection as you're going to find in the world of ebook and POD publishing. The ebook royalties are the highest I've ever seen, and the print royalties are better than average. BookLocker understands what new authors experience, and have put together a package that is the best in the business. You can't go wrong here. Plus, they're selective and won't publish any manuscript just because it's accompanied by a check. Also, the web site is well trafficked. If you can find a POD or epublisher with as much integrity and dedication to selling authors' books, but with lower POD publishing fees, please let me know."
Abuzz Press offers FAST and FREE book publication, but only accepts a small percentage of submissions, and only works with U.S. authors.
PubPreppers.com - "We Prep, You Publish!" Print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish. Offers formatting and design services only, and then provides simple instructions for authors on where to sign up to have the print and ebook editions printed/listed/sold. Cut out the middle man. Keep 100% of what bookstores pay for your book!
Angela's POD Secrets Revealed Series can be found HERE.
Have a POD Book with another publisher? See if BookLocker can give you a better deal. (BookLocker offers "disgruntled author discounts" to those who want to move from other POD services.)
Joel's BookProgram: The Simple Secret To Writing A Non-Fiction Book In 30 Days, At 1 Hour A Day! - SECOND EDITION
If you are a solo professional, having your own book is one of the best investments of time and money you can make, to promote your business and gain more clients. Why?
If you are an author, you are an authority--an expert in your field.
A book is a tangible credential.
Your book can differentiate you from your competition.
It's an opportunity to explain your uniqueness, your "special sauce."
Order "The Simple Secret To Writing A Non-Fiction Book In 30 Days, At 1 Hour A Day!" right away. And picture yourself handing your own book to a prospect, in just a short time!
“BOOK-fine”
The FINE PRINT of Self-Publishing - Fifth Edition - by Mark Levine
The Fine Print of Self-Publishing has been lauded by many experts as the Consumer Reports of the self-publishing industry. This book has helped thousands of authors choose the right self-publishing company and avoid the ones with unfair contracts or low-quality services.
"If you're considering paying a company to publish your book, don't do anything until you read The Fine Print and consider the alternatives. It will save you a lot of time, money, and heartache." -Dan Poynter, The Self-Publishing Manual
“BOOK-bookproposals”
BOOK PROPOSALS THAT WORKED! Real Book Proposals That Landed $10K - $100K Publishing Contracts - by Angela Hoy
Peek over the shoulders of highly successful, published authors to see how they landed publishing contracts worth $10,000 to $100,000! An enticing yet professional book proposal is the key!
BONUS! Successful ghostwriter, Anton Marco, shares his secret for landing ghostwriting clients. Don’t miss Anton’s real ghostwriting contract at the end of this book! It provides an example of what he charges and the payment terms he requires from each client.
“90days”
90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book's Daily Marketing Plan by Angela Hoy and Richard Hoy
Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.
We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts
and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!
Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor,
which makes it fun for creative folks like you!
Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!
“SocialMedia”
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“BOOK-QueryLetters”
QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments
Peek over the shoulders of highly successful freelance writers to see how they earn thousands per article! The query letter is the key!
In these pages, you'll find real query letters that landed real assignments for national magazines, websites, and corporations.
Also includes:
Abbi Perrets' form letter that brings in $30,000-$45,000 annually
Sample phone query from Christine Greeley
The Six Golden Rules of Queries and Submissions...and How I Broke Them! by Bob Freiday
Your Rights As a "Freelancer"
and ANGELA HOY'S SECRET for finding ongoing freelance work from companies that have a stable of freelancers, yet never run ads for them!
“COLOR TEST”
THIS IS A COLOR TEST
“Book – Boyd’s Best Blogs”
The Best of Boyd's Blogs: 87 Solutions to a Life of Better Speaking and Listening
Ever wish you could have your favorite blog in book form? There's nothing like flipping through the pages and reading helpful snippets here and there.
In this book, Steve Boyd gives you that very opportunity. He has intrigued his readers and clients for years with his insightful newsletters and blog posts. This book includes some of his most interesting stories and communication tips, from listening to speaking. As he quotes this Chinese proverb, "From listening comes wisdom and from speaking repentance."
You won't need to repent from your next speech if you use these articles to guide both your preparation and delivery. As an avid reader of his blog said, "These articles are priceless! People need what you have to say."
Steve Boyd's articles on motivation and communication-related topics have appeared
in various publications. His books on public speaking have sold over 30,000 copies.
He is a popular after-dinner speaker and conducts workshops for businesses and associations
whose members want to speak and listen effectively to improve personally and professionally.
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