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More Money-Wasting “Opportunities” for Writers
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Following on my last post about how authors can waste money on promotional strategies, here are some more cash-sucking “opportunities.” Book Your Trip to Hollywood, from Outskirts Press Self-publishing service Outskirts Press–home of some of the sillier “book marketing” services–is taking advantage of one of writers’ most fevered pipe dreams with its new Book Your Trip to Hollywood service. Of course, the press release doesn’t put it that way: These services solve a real problem for many authors who dream of making it big in Hollywood. In fact, just getting Hollywood’s attention is nearly impossible, but with the Book Your Trip to Hollywood suite of services from Outskirts Press, authors receive turn-key, full-service assistance with the push of a button. And with each option, authors receive the feedback and/or participation of a real Hollywood producer and production company; the final results are added…
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More Money-Wasting "Opportunities" For Writers
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Following on my last post about how authors can waste money on promotional strategies, here are some more cash-sucking "opportunities." Book Your Trip to Hollywood, from Outskirts Press Self-publishing se...
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Author Solutions Introduces BookStub
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Author Solutions has just introduced a new marketing service called BookStub, which it describes thusly: Loyalty card-sized BookStubs display your cover on the front side and ordering instructions on the back side. Once you distribute a BookStub, the reader can visit your title’s detail page, add your e-book to the cart and check out with a digital copy of your title. Basically, it’s like a plastic business card, with a scannable QR code that enables would-be readers to use their cell phones or tablets to access your book’s order page, and a promotional code that lets them download the book for free. I have to say that this seems like a pretty cool idea. Freebies can be a really effective marketing tool, especially for authors with multiple published books, stimulating sales not just of the free title but of other titles by the…
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Author Solutions Introduces BookStub
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Author Solutions has just introduced a new marketing service called BookStub, which it describes thusly: Loyalty card-sized BookStubs display your cover on the front side and ordering instructions on t...
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Review of EMBASSYTOWN by China Mieville
Embassytown by China Miéville My rating: 5 of 5 stars I won’t even attempt to summarize the complicated premise of EMBASSYTOWN. The novel is a bit slow to start, and the characters aren’t deeply drawn–especially the protagonist, who is more a narrative device than a real character (rather like the vestigial narrators in some 19th century Russian novels, who serve principally as camera eyes to reveal the doings of others). I also have some misgivings about the premise–for instance, if the Ariekei’s unique language doesn’t allow for abstraction, how could they ever have conceived of the need for similes? But these are quibbles. Overall, EMBASSYTOWN is a beautifully written, profoundly original, intellectually challenging, and completely immersive novel that demonstrates yet again that China Mieville is one of the finest writers currently working in any genre. I was strongly reminded of Ursula Le Guin’s THE DISPOSSESSED–not because of any similarities of…
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Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against PublishAmerica
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware I can’t count the number of questions I’ve received over the years from unhappy PublishAmerica authors, wondering whether a class action lawsuit against PA has been/might be/ever will be filed. Frankly, I would have bet against it, given the cost, the difficulty of gathering plaintiffs, and the ambiguities of PA’s business model. Now I get to eat my words. On June 11, 2012, a class action summons and complaint was filed in Maryland District Court in Baltimore against PublishAmerica LLLP, by plaintiffs Darla Yoos, Edwin McCall, and Kerry Levine (Case Number 12-cv-1696). The full complaint can be viewed here. Attachments include the contracts for the three plaintiffs. Quoting from the Introduction to the complaint–this will all sound very familiar to long-time PA observers: Defendant PublishAmerica is a book publisher that portrays itself as “a traditional, royalty paying publisher.” But unlike traditional publishers, which…
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Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against PublishAmerica
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware I can't count the number of questions I've received over the years from unhappy PublishAmerica authors, wondering whether a class action lawsuit against PA has been/might be/ever will be filed. Frankly, I w...
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Pictures From My Garden
These photos were taken in late May–not a lot in bloom yet, but plenty of variety in foliage shape, texture, and color. In my part-shade garden, foliage is the backbone. This is a photo-stitch, so it’s not quite accurate, but it gives you an impression (click on the images for larger views): You’re standing at the right rear corner of the photo above, next to the garage, looking left: A view from the bench at the left rear corner of the back garden: Standing at the rear of the back garden, looking toward the right corner: One of the foundation beds at the front of the house: The bed by the driveway, to the right of the house (can you tell I love hostas?) A color combination I especially like, showing that you really don’t need flowers to make your garden pop:
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BEA Report
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware BEA 2012 was fantastic! I got home Wednesday evening--I'd debated spending an extra day, but now I'm glad I didn't because I woke up Thursday with a migraine and spent much of the day with an icepack on my ...
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Judge Grants Class Status to Authors in Authors Guild v. Google Lawsuit
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware An important legal ruling was handed down yesterday by Judge Denny Chin in the five-year-old Authors Guild v. Google class action lawsuit over Google's scanning of millions of in-copyright books. (A bit o...