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Call for Guest Bloggers
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Would you like to be a guest blogger for Writer Beware? To vary our subject matter and present differing points of view, we publish occasional guest blog posts on subjects relating to publishing, self-p...
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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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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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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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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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Two Surveys
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Two fascinating surveys appeared this week. They look at opposite ends of the writing business, but dovetail in interesting ways. (This is going to be a long post, so please bear with me.) The Writers' Wo...
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Another Honor for Writer Beware
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Once again, the Writer Beware blog has been chosen as one of Writer's Digest's 101 Best Websites for Writers (the list appears in the June 2012 issue of the magazine, and can be downloaded here if you're...
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Victoria Strauss Wins for Writer Beware in First Annual Independent Book Blogger Award
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware I'm thrilled and honored to announce that Goodreads and the Association of American Publishers have chosen me as the winner of the Publishing News category of the first annual Independent Book Blogger Awa...
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e-Publishing Revo: It’s a New Electronic Self-Publishing Service, But There’s a Catch
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Zooming into my inbox last week: a press release for a brand-new ebook self-publishing service called e-Publishing Revo. Per the website: What makes e-Publishing Revo different from the rest? 1. Perman...