It's definitely time for a PBW Public Service Announcement.
There is someone publishing author bibliographies on Amazon.com, and yes, they're selling mine for $2.99. I had no idea it was that valuable. Why didn't you guys tell me to publish my bibliography? I could have made tens of dollars!
Okay. If you would like to view my correct bibliography, in reading order, please do not buy it from Amazon.com. I keep it on the blog. As it happens, I've had it on the blog for many, many years. Simply click here to access it.
Oh, and you can send me $2.99 if you want, but unlike this Amazon.com seller I'd rather you not pay me for something that has always been provided for free by the freaking author herself.
That concludes the PSA. Thank you for your attention, and have a wonderful day.
Showing posts with label scams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scams. Show all posts
Friday, October 20, 2017
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Fake Agent E-mail Scam
I just read about this today over at YAHighway, and since this is a horrific scam I thought I'd post the info as well as my comment here, too.
From Publishers Lunch:
Writers House has learned that a series of fake emails claiming to be from WH agent Jodi Reamer have been circulating to self-published authors this week. "These emails, which contain a number of false statements, have not in fact come from Jodi Reamer and should thus be disregarded." One easy "tell": they advise that any e-mail from a non-Writers House address "expressing interest in representation is counterfeit."
I've been a client of Writers House for twelve years. When I queried WH back in 1998, I had a personal rec from a Big Name Author and a two-book contract offer from a major publisher in hand. My agent (Robin Rue) did not sign me instantly; she asked to see the full manuscripts plus other samples of my work, and then she called me to talk about my career goals. Then she had to think about it. The whole thing took about three weeks.
While some agencies or agents do move faster, and occasionally a promising writer will end up having agents fighting over them, when it comes to signing with a prestigious agency it generally does require some time.
From Publishers Lunch:
Writers House has learned that a series of fake emails claiming to be from WH agent Jodi Reamer have been circulating to self-published authors this week. "These emails, which contain a number of false statements, have not in fact come from Jodi Reamer and should thus be disregarded." One easy "tell": they advise that any e-mail from a non-Writers House address "expressing interest in representation is counterfeit."
I've been a client of Writers House for twelve years. When I queried WH back in 1998, I had a personal rec from a Big Name Author and a two-book contract offer from a major publisher in hand. My agent (Robin Rue) did not sign me instantly; she asked to see the full manuscripts plus other samples of my work, and then she called me to talk about my career goals. Then she had to think about it. The whole thing took about three weeks.
While some agencies or agents do move faster, and occasionally a promising writer will end up having agents fighting over them, when it comes to signing with a prestigious agency it generally does require some time.
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Another E-Reader Scam
I hate to kick off December with news of an online e-reader scam, but with so many people out there shopping online booksellers for holiday gifts this one is especially vile.
According to Rob Pegoraro over at the Washington Post, Amazon.com is actively charging Kindle customers for public domain e-books that are available for free download from Project Gutenberg. These books appear to have been copied from Gutenberg files and stripped of the volunteer site's license information before being uploaded for sale.
This statement is included in the beginning of all of Project Gutenberg's e-books:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org.
Amazon.com has been advised that they are selling bootlegs of Gutenberg's free e-books but appear to be uninterested in taking immediate action. Maybe someone should tell them they can use the Huffington Post to explain to everyone how it's not their fault that readers are getting scammed, and/or back-pedal on their unethical policies enough to avoid getting sued. Worked nicely for Scribd.com after I discovered them ripping off my readers.
In the meantime, I recommend Kindle users follow Rob Pegoraro's suggestion to avoid getting ripped off by Amazon.com: "Search the Gutenberg site for a title you're interested in buying for your Kindle and download it from there if it's available. Not only does that site usually offer books in Kindle formats, you can even download them directly to a Kindle."
According to Rob Pegoraro over at the Washington Post, Amazon.com is actively charging Kindle customers for public domain e-books that are available for free download from Project Gutenberg. These books appear to have been copied from Gutenberg files and stripped of the volunteer site's license information before being uploaded for sale.
This statement is included in the beginning of all of Project Gutenberg's e-books:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org.
Amazon.com has been advised that they are selling bootlegs of Gutenberg's free e-books but appear to be uninterested in taking immediate action. Maybe someone should tell them they can use the Huffington Post to explain to everyone how it's not their fault that readers are getting scammed, and/or back-pedal on their unethical policies enough to avoid getting sued. Worked nicely for Scribd.com after I discovered them ripping off my readers.
In the meantime, I recommend Kindle users follow Rob Pegoraro's suggestion to avoid getting ripped off by Amazon.com: "Search the Gutenberg site for a title you're interested in buying for your Kindle and download it from there if it's available. Not only does that site usually offer books in Kindle formats, you can even download them directly to a Kindle."
Friday, September 24, 2010
Scribd.com Apologizes
It's been almost a month since a reader informed me that Scribd.com had begun scamming their users into paying to download the e-books I've provided for free for the last ten years. Much uproar followed.
If you missed the debacle, it was pretty short-lived on this end. I don't associate with scammers, so I yanked all my e-books off Scribd.com and deleted my account. I also went through my entire blog archive to mark every single post where I've mentioned Scribd.com with a link to my post about the scam. Then I paid for a file storage account with Google Docs to temporarily host my library while I explore other options. Took me about a week to get it all done -- and that's all I did.
News of people getting ripped off by an online publisher tends to go viral, and so my post started making the rounds. I understand that Scribd.com responded to it indirectly by soft-selling their scam on the Huffington Post. GalleyCat evidently also defended them. Disclaimer: I've not read the posts. I was not interested in Scribd.com's excuses for ripping off readers. I was done with them.
Since I'm now being regarded as the one who blew the whistle on them, however, it's only fair that I post a link to Scribd.com's public apology for their greed. Here's the gist: they have not shut down the scam, but they've provided some ways for their authors to opt-out of it, and they are very sorry we misunderstood their intentions.
I'm not buying it. If daily operations actually have gotten too expensive for Scribd.com (this was the excuse they gave me when I e-mailed them about why they were using my content in their scam), they should have come to me and asked me to pay for the space I was using. I'd have been happy to pay them a reasonable annual fee for hosting my little online library. I now pay Google Docs $5.00 a year for 20 gb of file storage space; I pay Photobucket $40.00 a year to host my online photo archive. But instead, they chose to violate my copyright and non-profit distribution notice in my e-books to rip off readers for something I have always given away for free. They are very sorry about it, though.
And now I am done with Scribd.com.
If you missed the debacle, it was pretty short-lived on this end. I don't associate with scammers, so I yanked all my e-books off Scribd.com and deleted my account. I also went through my entire blog archive to mark every single post where I've mentioned Scribd.com with a link to my post about the scam. Then I paid for a file storage account with Google Docs to temporarily host my library while I explore other options. Took me about a week to get it all done -- and that's all I did.
News of people getting ripped off by an online publisher tends to go viral, and so my post started making the rounds. I understand that Scribd.com responded to it indirectly by soft-selling their scam on the Huffington Post. GalleyCat evidently also defended them. Disclaimer: I've not read the posts. I was not interested in Scribd.com's excuses for ripping off readers. I was done with them.
Since I'm now being regarded as the one who blew the whistle on them, however, it's only fair that I post a link to Scribd.com's public apology for their greed. Here's the gist: they have not shut down the scam, but they've provided some ways for their authors to opt-out of it, and they are very sorry we misunderstood their intentions.
I'm not buying it. If daily operations actually have gotten too expensive for Scribd.com (this was the excuse they gave me when I e-mailed them about why they were using my content in their scam), they should have come to me and asked me to pay for the space I was using. I'd have been happy to pay them a reasonable annual fee for hosting my little online library. I now pay Google Docs $5.00 a year for 20 gb of file storage space; I pay Photobucket $40.00 a year to host my online photo archive. But instead, they chose to violate my copyright and non-profit distribution notice in my e-books to rip off readers for something I have always given away for free. They are very sorry about it, though.
And now I am done with Scribd.com.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Warning Ten
Many people in NetPubLand have already commented on the latest PublishAmerica plan to separate aspiring writers from their money, and I really have nothing more to add, except maybe some hastily-ejected saliva aimed in the direction of the CEO's head.
There are some things I've noticed about money-making/writer-faking entities in Publishing that do shriek scam to me the minute I see them, so I thought I'd compile a ten list on them:
Anything and Everything: There are a few major publishing houses that do publish a fairly wide range of books, but no one publishes everything. Generally a publisher wants to see a limited range of genres, and if they solicit any type of new submissions it's usually whatever they think is going to be hot in two years. If a publisher says you can send them anything written in any genre of any length, it's like code for "We don't care what you write, we're just interested in your wallet."
Big Promises: There is no secret handshake. Please, let me repeat that again: there is no secret handshake. So when a publisher claims to have some insider top-secret shortcut way for you to achieve the recognition you deserve, that will absolutely positively put you on the road to success, and make this kind of promise to everyone in the world who reads their schlock, guess what? They are LYING to you.
Bonuses: This comes in a variety of packaging, like: Submit in the next ten days and you'll receive a 10% discount on premium cover art! or Refer one of your writer friends to us and earn $100 toward the cost of production! Look, over the years I've referred other writers to publishers, editors, and agents. I've never been offered or accepted a dime for it. Occasionally it's cost me. So if there is some cash or discount incentive being dangled, they're probably only offering it so you'll pimp their schlock for them while you still pay for their questionable services.
Conspiracy Theories: Hard as it may be to believe, Publishing at large is not conspiring to prevent your genius from being made known to the world. However, anyone who suggests or even implies that is happening to you, and uses it as a reason to purchase their services is conspiring against you. They have hatched a dastardly plot to feed your paranoia in order to deduct large amounts from your checking account. Don't let them get away with it.
Miracle Diet Tone: You know that swallowing two pills, no matter what's in them, is not going to make you lose weight (unless they're an emetic. Then you're going to puke up a pound or two.) To ditch those unwanted love handles, you're going to have to exercise and modify your eating habits. Same thing with publishing. There are no miracle solutions to getting a publishing contract. If there was, no one would sell it to the general public, I can assure you.
No-Name Blurbs: If you don't recognize the name of the published writer pimping the publisher's goods, chances are the blurb is made up or was written by someone who got a 10% discount on their premium cover art in trade. Reputable, successful authors do not blurb scam artists.
Number One: You know who the number one publisher in publishing is? Depends on the yardstick you use, frankly. Scholastic is definitely the largest children's publisher in the world; Bertelsmann AG owns Random House, which is the largest English-language trade book publisher. I wouldn't spit on Lagardère SCA, either. But I can almost guarantee you that PubYourBookNow.com is not, as they claim to you to be, number one in Publishing.
Unsolicited E-mails: Any venture you are tempted to try because you received a wonderful-sounding e-mail that was also sent to all of your writer friends is not wonderful. It's SPAM, which rhymes with SCAM; treat it as both.
Upfront Fees: Unless a writer decides from the beginning to self-publish (and I am not trying to imply there is anything wrong with this; I've self-published and I'll probably do it again some day) we do not pay anything for the privilege of getting our work into print. Neither should you.
Web Site Testimonials: Testimonials on the publisher's web site all have several things in common: they sound awesome, they promise the moon and the stars and other chunks of the universe, and they're all nothing but sales tactics. A legit publisher does not have to sell themselves to writers; they get all the submissions they need every day plus a few thousand they don't. Seeing a testimonial should be like a big red flashing sign in your face that says "We are in the business of making money off ignorant slobs. Are you one of them?"
Finally, there are two things you can do to protect your income from scam publishers. One is to do your homework, research them and ask questions about them around the writing community. Talk to authors who are published and gather opinions. Ethical, professional writers will be the first to tell you about the scam artists in the industry.
The other thing is simply to refuse to pay anyone in order to get published. Submit only to publishers who don't charge you for the privilege. Make that your #1 rule and it will never steer you in the wrong direction.
There are some things I've noticed about money-making/writer-faking entities in Publishing that do shriek scam to me the minute I see them, so I thought I'd compile a ten list on them:
Anything and Everything: There are a few major publishing houses that do publish a fairly wide range of books, but no one publishes everything. Generally a publisher wants to see a limited range of genres, and if they solicit any type of new submissions it's usually whatever they think is going to be hot in two years. If a publisher says you can send them anything written in any genre of any length, it's like code for "We don't care what you write, we're just interested in your wallet."
Big Promises: There is no secret handshake. Please, let me repeat that again: there is no secret handshake. So when a publisher claims to have some insider top-secret shortcut way for you to achieve the recognition you deserve, that will absolutely positively put you on the road to success, and make this kind of promise to everyone in the world who reads their schlock, guess what? They are LYING to you.
Bonuses: This comes in a variety of packaging, like: Submit in the next ten days and you'll receive a 10% discount on premium cover art! or Refer one of your writer friends to us and earn $100 toward the cost of production! Look, over the years I've referred other writers to publishers, editors, and agents. I've never been offered or accepted a dime for it. Occasionally it's cost me. So if there is some cash or discount incentive being dangled, they're probably only offering it so you'll pimp their schlock for them while you still pay for their questionable services.
Conspiracy Theories: Hard as it may be to believe, Publishing at large is not conspiring to prevent your genius from being made known to the world. However, anyone who suggests or even implies that is happening to you, and uses it as a reason to purchase their services is conspiring against you. They have hatched a dastardly plot to feed your paranoia in order to deduct large amounts from your checking account. Don't let them get away with it.
Miracle Diet Tone: You know that swallowing two pills, no matter what's in them, is not going to make you lose weight (unless they're an emetic. Then you're going to puke up a pound or two.) To ditch those unwanted love handles, you're going to have to exercise and modify your eating habits. Same thing with publishing. There are no miracle solutions to getting a publishing contract. If there was, no one would sell it to the general public, I can assure you.
No-Name Blurbs: If you don't recognize the name of the published writer pimping the publisher's goods, chances are the blurb is made up or was written by someone who got a 10% discount on their premium cover art in trade. Reputable, successful authors do not blurb scam artists.
Number One: You know who the number one publisher in publishing is? Depends on the yardstick you use, frankly. Scholastic is definitely the largest children's publisher in the world; Bertelsmann AG owns Random House, which is the largest English-language trade book publisher. I wouldn't spit on Lagardère SCA, either. But I can almost guarantee you that PubYourBookNow.com is not, as they claim to you to be, number one in Publishing.
Unsolicited E-mails: Any venture you are tempted to try because you received a wonderful-sounding e-mail that was also sent to all of your writer friends is not wonderful. It's SPAM, which rhymes with SCAM; treat it as both.
Upfront Fees: Unless a writer decides from the beginning to self-publish (and I am not trying to imply there is anything wrong with this; I've self-published and I'll probably do it again some day) we do not pay anything for the privilege of getting our work into print. Neither should you.
Web Site Testimonials: Testimonials on the publisher's web site all have several things in common: they sound awesome, they promise the moon and the stars and other chunks of the universe, and they're all nothing but sales tactics. A legit publisher does not have to sell themselves to writers; they get all the submissions they need every day plus a few thousand they don't. Seeing a testimonial should be like a big red flashing sign in your face that says "We are in the business of making money off ignorant slobs. Are you one of them?"
Finally, there are two things you can do to protect your income from scam publishers. One is to do your homework, research them and ask questions about them around the writing community. Talk to authors who are published and gather opinions. Ethical, professional writers will be the first to tell you about the scam artists in the industry.
The other thing is simply to refuse to pay anyone in order to get published. Submit only to publishers who don't charge you for the privilege. Make that your #1 rule and it will never steer you in the wrong direction.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Reading the Fine Print
No good or bad news to report, but one more vexing situation to add to the current bunch. I have a half-dozen returned packages from my holiday giveaways, which due to a data entry snafu by the shipper were all sent back to me as undeliverable. I will be heading over this morning to inspect them before we send them back out (I want to make sure they haven't been damaged in the process) and I'll e-mail each of the winners involved to let them know what happened and when to expect the redeliveries.
Every time I log on I've been out looking around the writing job and market listings for sub ops, and lately I've noticed a few things that trouble me. Some of these listings need to be read carefully before you respond to them. Take this one from Craigslist NY:
Gay-themed writing wanted by new magazine: "...non-fiction articles and essays, opinion pieces, fiction and stories to be serialized."
This sounds pretty good -- they'll even take love stories (no "porn") and they pay $100 per piece upon acceptance. Depending on what length they want, this could be a good market. But here's the kicker:
"All accepted material becomes property of the magazine."
Uh-oh. Hello, hundred bucks, goodbye, all the rights. That's not such a good thing.
Here's another interesting job listing for Manhattan:
Interactive Copywriter freelance to full time position. Job description from ad details "...working on everything from banners to landing pages, however, this is more about ideas and where you take initial concepts. The content you will be working on is more "branding" focused."
They're offering a lot of money for this job, too -- the freelance (starting) position is $45/hr (DOE), and the full time salary is $80 - $100K.
Two problems I see with this one:
1) DOE in a job listing generally means "Depends on Experience." So I interpret that to mean they might pay as much as $45/hr, or $45/hr is the highest end of their scale. If you were not making $45/hr at your last job? You're not going to make it here.
2) $80 - 100K -- maybe salaries have skyrocketed since last time I checked, but I don't know any full-time starting copywriters who pull that in -- they're lucky if they make half that. It is possible that I'm wrong, too, and this being a job located in Manhattan = better pay, but six figures for a copywriter? I'm in the wrong damn job.
Finally, I found this:
Boutique publisher Havenhurst Books is advertising that they're seeking ten new titles for 2009 publication, according to this craigslist ad.
Very little real information was offered in the listing, so I went to their web site. I found almost no useful information there, either, but read at least two points that made me think this is a dressed-up subsidy (vanity) publishing outfit:
Havehurst charges all submitting authors a non-refundable $15 "processing fee" (NY publishers do not charge fees for reading submissions. They do it for nothing. So why the $15?)
Havenhurst also made this statement: "Our writers are highly self-motivated and typically have an established platform to market their books. This reduces the risk of sluggish sales that, in old guard publishing, must be absorbed by other writers on the imprint" (This just sounds uber squirrely to me.)
If you're out hunting writing jobs and sub ops, be careful to read every word of the ads and market listings, and maybe even do a little research on the publisher or publishing entity before you submit. Definitely get all the facts before you sign. If you have to pay anything to submit or apply for a writing job, don't go there. Be aware of what rights the publisher expects to acquire. And don't fall for the dangling 18K gold carrot of high pay; get the actual pay or salary terms upfront, preferably in writing.
Every time I log on I've been out looking around the writing job and market listings for sub ops, and lately I've noticed a few things that trouble me. Some of these listings need to be read carefully before you respond to them. Take this one from Craigslist NY:
Gay-themed writing wanted by new magazine: "...non-fiction articles and essays, opinion pieces, fiction and stories to be serialized."
This sounds pretty good -- they'll even take love stories (no "porn") and they pay $100 per piece upon acceptance. Depending on what length they want, this could be a good market. But here's the kicker:
"All accepted material becomes property of the magazine."
Uh-oh. Hello, hundred bucks, goodbye, all the rights. That's not such a good thing.
Here's another interesting job listing for Manhattan:
Interactive Copywriter freelance to full time position. Job description from ad details "...working on everything from banners to landing pages, however, this is more about ideas and where you take initial concepts. The content you will be working on is more "branding" focused."
They're offering a lot of money for this job, too -- the freelance (starting) position is $45/hr (DOE), and the full time salary is $80 - $100K.
Two problems I see with this one:
1) DOE in a job listing generally means "Depends on Experience." So I interpret that to mean they might pay as much as $45/hr, or $45/hr is the highest end of their scale. If you were not making $45/hr at your last job? You're not going to make it here.
2) $80 - 100K -- maybe salaries have skyrocketed since last time I checked, but I don't know any full-time starting copywriters who pull that in -- they're lucky if they make half that. It is possible that I'm wrong, too, and this being a job located in Manhattan = better pay, but six figures for a copywriter? I'm in the wrong damn job.
Finally, I found this:
Boutique publisher Havenhurst Books is advertising that they're seeking ten new titles for 2009 publication, according to this craigslist ad.
Very little real information was offered in the listing, so I went to their web site. I found almost no useful information there, either, but read at least two points that made me think this is a dressed-up subsidy (vanity) publishing outfit:
Havehurst charges all submitting authors a non-refundable $15 "processing fee" (NY publishers do not charge fees for reading submissions. They do it for nothing. So why the $15?)
Havenhurst also made this statement: "Our writers are highly self-motivated and typically have an established platform to market their books. This reduces the risk of sluggish sales that, in old guard publishing, must be absorbed by other writers on the imprint" (This just sounds uber squirrely to me.)
If you're out hunting writing jobs and sub ops, be careful to read every word of the ads and market listings, and maybe even do a little research on the publisher or publishing entity before you submit. Definitely get all the facts before you sign. If you have to pay anything to submit or apply for a writing job, don't go there. Be aware of what rights the publisher expects to acquire. And don't fall for the dangling 18K gold carrot of high pay; get the actual pay or salary terms upfront, preferably in writing.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Another Scam
Most of you know that I'm a big fan of Gerard over at The Generator Blog. For years he's provided endless fun and inspiration for his visitors by hunting down online generators the same way I go after freeware.
It seems that an overseas blogger has copied the content of Gerard's entire blog and is posting it as his own blog under a slightly different title. Gerard has repeatedly tried to contact the copycat to have him take down the blog, but he's been unable to get a response.
I'm not going to link to the jackass who did this, but I have flagged the offending blog and I'm going to write to Google and ask them to take down the copycat. If you'd like more details on the situation, you can read Gerard's post about it here.
Bloggers get bootlegged and ripped off all the time, especially if they're as popular as Gerard, but there are things you can do about it. The most comprehensive information I've found on how to go after bootleggers and hijackers is What to Do When Someone Steals Your Content by Lorelle.
It seems that an overseas blogger has copied the content of Gerard's entire blog and is posting it as his own blog under a slightly different title. Gerard has repeatedly tried to contact the copycat to have him take down the blog, but he's been unable to get a response.
I'm not going to link to the jackass who did this, but I have flagged the offending blog and I'm going to write to Google and ask them to take down the copycat. If you'd like more details on the situation, you can read Gerard's post about it here.
Bloggers get bootlegged and ripped off all the time, especially if they're as popular as Gerard, but there are things you can do about it. The most comprehensive information I've found on how to go after bootleggers and hijackers is What to Do When Someone Steals Your Content by Lorelle.
Winners & Scammer Announcement
The winners of the RW: Quince giveaway are:
Heather
Gutterball
Sherri
Winners, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get your winnings out to you.
I've been expecting to be hit for quite a while, but up until recently I've not had a problem with scammers entering my contests and giveaways. In this case, the scammer is one person who pretends to be six or twelve or thirty by setting up false blog profiles, and uses all of the identities to enter one contest or giveaway and increase their odds of winning. Often scammers work in small groups, too, sharing information with like-minded cheats and pooling their resources. Usually an author finds out they're being contest-scammed after a growing percentage of their winners all appear to be living at the same address or next door to each other.
Listen, I'm not interested in exposing anyone or pointing fingers. Nor am I going to come up with any sort of complicated registration or validation process for my giveaways. And no way are scammers going to stop me from holding giveaways and contests. What I will do is put comments back on moderation and start deleting suspicious-looking entries as they come in. I will also make a list of suspicious-looking identities and profile addies and send it to every other author I know, and ask them to do the same to all the authors they know.
However, if you would like a free book, and are willing to play fair, you're welcome to enter any giveaway or contest here -- just quit cheating and enter only once, like everyone else does. I give away a lot of books here at PBW, so odds are pretty good that you'll win one. And think of how much better you'll feel about yourself if you win it fairly.
Heather
Gutterball
Sherri
Winners, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get your winnings out to you.
I've been expecting to be hit for quite a while, but up until recently I've not had a problem with scammers entering my contests and giveaways. In this case, the scammer is one person who pretends to be six or twelve or thirty by setting up false blog profiles, and uses all of the identities to enter one contest or giveaway and increase their odds of winning. Often scammers work in small groups, too, sharing information with like-minded cheats and pooling their resources. Usually an author finds out they're being contest-scammed after a growing percentage of their winners all appear to be living at the same address or next door to each other.
Listen, I'm not interested in exposing anyone or pointing fingers. Nor am I going to come up with any sort of complicated registration or validation process for my giveaways. And no way are scammers going to stop me from holding giveaways and contests. What I will do is put comments back on moderation and start deleting suspicious-looking entries as they come in. I will also make a list of suspicious-looking identities and profile addies and send it to every other author I know, and ask them to do the same to all the authors they know.
However, if you would like a free book, and are willing to play fair, you're welcome to enter any giveaway or contest here -- just quit cheating and enter only once, like everyone else does. I give away a lot of books here at PBW, so odds are pretty good that you'll win one. And think of how much better you'll feel about yourself if you win it fairly.
Friday, April 15, 2005
5% Solution
You writers out there, stop what you're doing, this minute. You don't have to chase agents, or slog through the slush piles, or slam your head against Publishing's permanently locked vault door anymore. You don't even have to write books.
No, all you have to do is compete for one of eight spots on this Fall's newest TV reality show, Book Millionaire.
Host Lori Prokop says "Books are about fun and business. Ninety-five percent of the success of a book is believing in it, the ability to market it and getting the message out there in front of readers. Five percent of the success is writing."
That's right, and you know, Lori's on TV, which means Lori is an expert. Lori is also the bestselling author of . . . something. Not this, or this, but something.
Anyway, according to Lori, in order to be a success, 95% of our time as writers should be spent believing in the book, marketing it, and spreading the propaganda. Actually writing the book, a mere 5%. And it's not a hoax, or if it is, someone is carrying it to extremes.
M.J., I think we're gonna need a lot more aspirin.
(Story and link hijacked from Nick Mamatas' Journal)
Update: Lee Goldberg says it's an infomercial-scam. That explains much.
No, all you have to do is compete for one of eight spots on this Fall's newest TV reality show, Book Millionaire.
Host Lori Prokop says "Books are about fun and business. Ninety-five percent of the success of a book is believing in it, the ability to market it and getting the message out there in front of readers. Five percent of the success is writing."
That's right, and you know, Lori's on TV, which means Lori is an expert. Lori is also the bestselling author of . . . something. Not this, or this, but something.
Anyway, according to Lori, in order to be a success, 95% of our time as writers should be spent believing in the book, marketing it, and spreading the propaganda. Actually writing the book, a mere 5%. And it's not a hoax, or if it is, someone is carrying it to extremes.
M.J., I think we're gonna need a lot more aspirin.
(Story and link hijacked from Nick Mamatas' Journal)
Update: Lee Goldberg says it's an infomercial-scam. That explains much.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Risky Business
Eleven years ago I wrote to a literary agent who advertised for clients in the back of a trade mag. You're wincing already, aren't you? Well, you should. It was a dumb thing to do. But I couldn't get much response from querying editors, and I'd read an article in the same mag that said a literary agent could help.
The agent responded (quickly and warmly) and asked me to send my full manuscript to him (which I did) and then about a week later informed me that I should be (cautiously) excited as I had written a fine novel. All I needed was a little professional help and I'd be in print in no time. He referred me to a "book doctor" agency.
Encouraged, I sent my manuscript on to the agency, and the head book doctor himself responded immediately. Congratulations, I had a good novel, very promising, sure to make it into print, and he was just the man to help me. He'd even pay to call me long distance from New York, so when could we have a teleconference?
I had him call during nap time and we talked. He praised me, my talent, and my novel, which was really good but rough around the edges and desperately needed editing to make it "professional quality." He also told me an industry inside secret: all pros hired book doctors to polish their manuscripts, they just didn't talk about it. And, since I was an unemployed stay-at-home Mom, he would definitely give me a price break. $1300 and he would get my novel ready to be published.
The guy was good. By the time I got off the phone, I was almost convinced. Only one tiny problem: I couldn't pay $1300 to get published because that broke my great big rule of being a pro writer, which is "I don't pay them, they pay me."
I talked it over with the husband, and although we were on a tight budget at the time, he was willing to write the check. But my mantra kept ringing in my head, and while I knew nothing about publishing, I knew I had to be the one who got paid, not the other way around.
It killed me to turn down the book doctor, especially when he called a second time and offered to let me pay in installments. He warned me (gently) that I was making a huge mistake, and that I might not ever get another offer like this one. He almost had me again a few times, too, but my great big fat rule kept smacking me in the head, and finally he accepted the no-thanks and wished me luck.
The book doctor whose wonderful if expensive offer I turned down? Was Bill Appel of Edit Ink.
The book Bill said desperately needed editing? Didn't get any, and still sold to a major publisher a few years later. Five years after publication that book is still in print, with a 91% sell-through on fifty thousand copies to date. In fact, you folks bought another two thousand copies of it over the last six months.
As for making a huge mistake, well, yesterday some royalty statements came in and beefed up my career running total nicely. I now have over one million books in print.
Aspiring writers, make it your mantra: you don't pay them, they pay you.
The agent responded (quickly and warmly) and asked me to send my full manuscript to him (which I did) and then about a week later informed me that I should be (cautiously) excited as I had written a fine novel. All I needed was a little professional help and I'd be in print in no time. He referred me to a "book doctor" agency.
Encouraged, I sent my manuscript on to the agency, and the head book doctor himself responded immediately. Congratulations, I had a good novel, very promising, sure to make it into print, and he was just the man to help me. He'd even pay to call me long distance from New York, so when could we have a teleconference?
I had him call during nap time and we talked. He praised me, my talent, and my novel, which was really good but rough around the edges and desperately needed editing to make it "professional quality." He also told me an industry inside secret: all pros hired book doctors to polish their manuscripts, they just didn't talk about it. And, since I was an unemployed stay-at-home Mom, he would definitely give me a price break. $1300 and he would get my novel ready to be published.
The guy was good. By the time I got off the phone, I was almost convinced. Only one tiny problem: I couldn't pay $1300 to get published because that broke my great big rule of being a pro writer, which is "I don't pay them, they pay me."
I talked it over with the husband, and although we were on a tight budget at the time, he was willing to write the check. But my mantra kept ringing in my head, and while I knew nothing about publishing, I knew I had to be the one who got paid, not the other way around.
It killed me to turn down the book doctor, especially when he called a second time and offered to let me pay in installments. He warned me (gently) that I was making a huge mistake, and that I might not ever get another offer like this one. He almost had me again a few times, too, but my great big fat rule kept smacking me in the head, and finally he accepted the no-thanks and wished me luck.
The book doctor whose wonderful if expensive offer I turned down? Was Bill Appel of Edit Ink.
The book Bill said desperately needed editing? Didn't get any, and still sold to a major publisher a few years later. Five years after publication that book is still in print, with a 91% sell-through on fifty thousand copies to date. In fact, you folks bought another two thousand copies of it over the last six months.
As for making a huge mistake, well, yesterday some royalty statements came in and beefed up my career running total nicely. I now have over one million books in print.
Aspiring writers, make it your mantra: you don't pay them, they pay you.
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