Book Country - The Newest Way to Screw Writers

I didn't believe it at first when I saw this over on Konrath's blog.

Penguin U.S. has set up something called Book Country. One side of it, the critique side, doesn't bother me. If that's your thing, go for it.

But what Konrath and other writers object to is this announcement to self publish and format your ebook for a fee.

Outrageous Fees

This part of Book Country's "self publishing" site states that "Let us do the work for you! When you choose the Professional option, Book Country formatters will transform your raw manuscript file (.doc, .docx, .rtf, or .txt files accepted) into polished print and ePub files. Choose from six different elegant interior styles designed specifically for genre fiction." Sounds great, right? You don't have to do a damn thing except provide the document, and they'll format it for you.

For $549.

Wait, what?!!!!

There are plenty of formatters out there (just go to Smashwords, and you can request a list of them, if memory serves; or try Kindleboards, if you can't/don't want to do it on your own) who charge WAY LESS than what these bozos (no offense to Bozo the Clown) are charging.

Let's see...is there another option? Why, yes, the lovely folks at Book Country have come up with something that is so ridiculous that it's almost laughable (almost): a user-formatted option.

Think I'm kidding?

I wish I was kidding.

To wit (and I use the word "wit" very loosely here): "Are you more the hands-on type? Your Publishing Kit includes a special Book Country interior template designed to work for both print and eBook, instructions for preparing your manuscript and front matter for production, a checklist to keep you on track, cover design tips and recommendations, and ideas for marketing your book after it has been published."

Why would I want to pay a whopping $299 for this? Formatting isn't as hard as some people think, and if you don't put in any weird formatting marks, you should be fine. There are plenty of low-cost classes/courses on cover design using whatever publishing program you're familiar with, and as for marketing ideas - come on, even Penguin and the other so-called Big Six don't always have a clue as to what works and what doesn't.

So, what am I getting out of this that I can't do by uploading on my own?

As for their (introductory price) US$99 ebook-only package is crap; again, I can do this all on my own, with a minimal amount of money. (And what's going to be the price after the introductory US$99 goes away? $139? $159?)

If You Just Can't or Won't Format and Upload on Your Own

Very simple. You go through the special section at Kindleboards and ask questions (how much, how long will it take, etc.) of those people who do the formatting. Or go onto Konrath's blog and use someone there. A lot of those who format will also upload, but, trust me, it's really not that hard to figure out. There are steps to take, sure, and you have to have your blurb(s) ready, but the upload for Amazon will take 24 hours; the one for Smashwords is usually anywhere from about fifteen minutes to a couple of hours (that's because Smashwords has to take your story and make it into different formats, like ePUB). With Smashwords it also depends on how big your book is; short stories almost fly through.

But They're Not Done Yet

You'd think that would be enough for Book Country to extract from writers' wallets. And you would be wrong.

If you've been uploading stuff for a while, you know that when you price a book at $2.99 and above you get 70% in royalties from Amazon. A nice, decent split.

But not so with Book Country. Penguin keeps 30% of your royalties. So you keep paying them, and keep paying them. It doesn't look like they do any editing or proofreading, they give you tips on designing covers (big whoop), and they charge you upfront.

And keep charging you. For. Every. Book. You. Sell.


From Book Country's site: For a $2.99 eBook sale of a Book Country title on Amazon, Amazon takes $0.90 and then the author is entitled to $1.47.

Excuse me? The author is "entitled" to $1.47 because Book Country did what? You've already paid them for formatting, if you've with the $599 "deal." Why are they getting a further cut?

I, for one, am tired of being treated like a peon. I get enough of that at my temp job, and it's great to actually have one part of my life under my control, where I'm treated with some respect.

I have one thing to say about this entire thing:

DON'T DO IT!

You have been warned.

Gross is Better Than Net

So what the hell is silly ol' Nancy talking about, hmm?

Well, between this post on Dean Wesley Smith's site, and this post on J. Daniel Sawyer's site, you'll know exactly what I'm getting at.  And it ain't pretty.  (I could segue into some agents setting up as publishers, but I'll digress at this point...)

Join the Cult!

This is a cult you can get into...without being brainwashed.  I think. ;-)

Go to the Writer Beware blog below

Writer Beware™ Blogs!: Atlanta Nights, the Movie: From Hoax to Film

to read about it.  You may even consider throwing a few dollars their way.  (I did.  Anything to bring down Publish America.)

Even if you don't kick in a few bucks (and you don't have to), I think this is a bizarre turn of events for the Worst.  Book.  Ever.  Written.

Read the post at the above link, and you'll understand why.

Happy Wednesday! :-)

Support Atlanta Nights! Down With PublishAmerica

I usually don't post on a weekend, but I just found out about this.

Atlanta Nights: The Movie!

Harlequin Pulling a Big One

This is almost too much to believe, but Harlequin has a new "imprint" out there. So why the quotes around the word "imprint" (there I go again!)? There's a good reason, a very good reason...

More...

According to Fangs, Fur, & Fey, the new imprint, Harlequin Horizons, is pure and simple vanity publishing. Period. Don't get sucked in, because you'll be paying for it. Literally. With plenty of your hard-earned dough.

If you want to get away from the major and smaller commercial publishers, you'd be better off going with Lulu. At least there, they won't be gauging you to print your novel (although self-publishing fiction is almost always not a good idea).

Not only is there the up-front costs of getting your book "published" (in reality: printed), you'll pay for editing, you'll have to do all the marketing, yadda, yadda, yadda.

If all you want is to hold a nice book in your hands for you and maybe a few of your friends to read, by all means, go to Lulu or Cafe Press or some other printer. But if you want to be commercially published - that is, published so that plenty of other people plunk down their money - get an agent interested, who will then pursue the publishing contract for you. Or go directly to those (few) legitimate publishers who have national distribution and cross your fingers.

Again, don't get sucked in! Let's hope that Harlequin decides to rethink this!

Go to the Fangs, Fur, & Fey article for more info.


Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

Could It Be?

OMG.

I can't believe it...but it's true.

Bouncin' Bobby Fletcher and his pseudopublishing empire are going down for the count. (He calls his "publishing company/agenting business" AEG, now, as opposed to Writer's Literary, etc., or whatever the hell else he was calling those entities.)

May the Florida Attorney General remove as much money from his wallet as possible! (Maybe in time for Thanksgiving! We could all give thanks that Bouncin' Bobby's businesses were truly laid to rest and not scamming anyone anymore.)

The mind boggles.

Read about it here and here and here.

Rock on! :-)


Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

Kunati Book Publishers

What a shame.

I'd read early on over at the Watercooler on Absolute Write about this "publisher" out of Canada, and it sounded good.

Almost too good to be true, as it's turned out. ::sigh::

What is it that the sages on writers' boards say about new epublishers? "Wait a year." Wait a year - to see if they're still around. Wait a year - to see if any bad stuff comes to light.

In this case, the fecal matter has hit the fan. It seems that this place was set up to publish one of the founders' books. Which is all and fine; if that's all you want to do. I have nothing against people trying to sell their own books online; it's a tough go, especially if you write fiction, but if you're determined to do it - more power to you. (No. Really. If you really want to do that, go and do it!)

My take is if that's what this guy wanted to do, why did he corral others into it? Let's face it: Editors don't have enough time as it is to help their own stable of authors, so how much time would editor give to those authors if he/she had his/her own book, hmm? And that pubbed book came out with his own publishing company, hmm? (In this case, it looks like one of the principals has come out with something like 6 or 7 books since they started up operations.)

Do you think he's going to spend more energy on his own books or his authors books, hmm?

Methinks...his own? (Human nature, as far as I'm concerned.)

Still convinced this might be the place for your book? (They've stopped taking fiction mss., BTW.) Then look at this Water Cooler thread and look at this post by an editor at a publishing house.

But, my gawd, you say...the woman at the publishing house will have her own book out. BUT, I would say, it's not coming out from the same publishing house where she works. No conflict of interest, no putting herself and her books ahead of her clients.

Totally on the up-and-up.

Form your own opinions, but it's a shame that this has happened. It's especially a shame for the authors they ensnared.

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

Jones Harvest

If you've been scammed by Jones Harvest - a vanity press - go to this blog:

http://jonesharvestfraudvictims.blogspot.com

and see what Bonnie Kaye is doing to try to help those victims. (If nothing else, at least you can vent if you've been taken in by Jones Harvest.

And, hopefully, Brien Jones knows by now that Lee Goldberg is a guy, lol.

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

Light Sword Publishing and LSP Digital

I've been reading Victoria Strauss' and Ann Crispin's great blog, Writer Beware. (If you want to check up on scams and such, it's the blog to read, IMHO.)

So What About Light Sword?

The latest scam/whatever, is the title of this post. Light Sword Publishing is yet another start up to end up in bankruptcy court.

Except this looks like a dodge. Why? Because while the bankruptcy petition for Light Sword claims that it's had no income for the previous 12 months, the owner of Light Sword started up another publisher called LSP Digital (yeah, gee, what does LSP really stand for, eh?) just last June. In fact, Ms. Strauss goes on to say:

A bankruptcy petition has not been filed for Daly's other publishing company, LSP Digital, LLC, which to all appearances is still a going concern, publishing books and accepting submissions.

In a word: Disgusting.

LSP Digital Authors

According to Ms. Strauss, if the petition for LSP is granted, the trustee will probably not be fooled by this, um, workaround (or whatever you want to call), and the authors, unfortunately, will be caught up in a mess - a mess than might go on for years.

Horrible, nasty stuff.

And apparently authors' contracts are looked at by the courts as assets to be sold; after all, the idea is to try to generate some kind of money to pay off the debts.

Alas, Nothing New - Other Bankruptcies

This brings to mind the Triskelion bankruptcy, and other online-only publishers that have gone belly up in the past few years. (There was one that I followed on the Water Cooler that imploded almost before my eyes. It was a one-woman shop, being run by a woman out of her basement. Good intentions are paved with potholes, some with gigantic potholes, people!) Unless the people running the firm have been in the publishing business for a while (and I don't mean just a year or two), don't waste your time schlepping your baby to such start ups.

If your ms. bores you or you just don't care what happens to it, by all means, schlep it to such places.

The Writer Beware post is here, if you want to read it in its entirety.

Me? I'll try the agent route, then onto legit smaller publishers that take mss. directly from writers.

As always - do your homework before you send it out. You'll be able to sleep better at night if you do.

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

Fake SFWA Contest

Can you believe the nerve of some people?

As most writers in the spec field know, SFWA stands for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. In addition to being a membership-type organization (where you can get some gigs that are only available to members, among other things), they also have some very useful articles on writing; those articles are free.

Here is the SFWA site.

Fake Contest - and Some Chutzpah

Jeez. Did they really think they could get away with it? (Apparently so.) The writers community on the Net is quite strong, so it's only going to take a little time to send this around the globe.

I found out about this on the Absolute Write Water Cooler, which lead me to the Writer Beware! blog, where you can find more information.

If you've entered the "contest" (which was put out on Craiglist - sheesh), contact Writer Beware at beware [at] sfwa [dot] org, substituting @ for [at] and . for [dot].

~Nancy Beck

State of Indiana Files Lawsuit Against Airleaf

Do you remember these scumbags? I originally wrote about Airleaf in this post.

What Were They?

They purported to be a publisher. Or something. Oh, wait, that's right - they were like Groucho Marx, trying to come between you and your money.

Except it was no laughing matter for those who coughed up the money.

I went to the Airleaf Victims blog and saw stuff from people who gave this outfit $4,000 and $10,000; it's utterly heartwrenching.

Relief...and Maybe Some Sort of Payment (Hopefully)

On Thursday, May 8, the Indiana Attorney General filed suit against Airleaf

...for taking money without providing the promised services in return. The lawsuit is seeking consumer restitution for at least 120 customers.

How the hell did these people sleep at night? (Obviously, they did sleep pretty well, as long as the money kept coming in.)

The AG continued:

"More than 120 people are named in the lawsuit, including many from Indiana who lost thousands of dollars,” said Carter. “In fact, hundreds more may have lost money. They paid for services. Airleaf did not deliver, and now, those consumers deserve refunds.”

Damn right they do! Let's hope that the poor victims who put up wads of cash get some sort of restitution.

You can read this more in depth at the Airleaf Victims blog.

~Nancy Beck

Curiouser and Curiouser

And I ain't talking about Alice in Wonderland.

This post on the PublishAmerica thread at Absolute Write is quite interesting.

Class Action

Apparently, this man has managed to file a class action lawsuit in Florida. He says, in post further down from the one mentioned above, that the suit:

is based on not only breach of the contract but also fraud and deceptive trade practices that are violations of Florida Law.

Now, I am not a lawyer, nor do I portray one on TV. ;-) But could this be something that finally breaks PA?

This Is Not the Only Thing Happening to PA

And it couldn't happen to a better bunch of people. (Excuse me while I heave.) This is right on the heels of PA suing Dave Kuzminski, who runs the wonderful Preditors and Editors website, so writers can see which agents and publishers are/aren't legitimate. (Don't forget the Donate button I have in the sidebar.)

I mean...PublishAmerica...erm...the lawyer dude PA hired will have to open up his records in court. And now with this lawsuit against them...the business itself will have to open up its books.

Hmm. Kind of sounds like Germany during World War II, when they had two fronts (that's including the infamous Russian front, in case you didn't know).

You know how that turned out, right?

Not looking good. Ah, well. You sow bad karma, you pay for it somewhere down the line.

~Nancy Beck

Anthology to Help Preditors and Editors

Here's an update on the Preditors and Editors situation.

Some fine people have decided to have an anthology printed up, with all proceeds going to help Dave Kuzminski at P&E.

What a wonderful idea! They're taking all genres, and, as stated, everything will be sent to P&E's defense fund. So if you're in a short story writin' mood, why not consider sending something their way?

Rather than just give out a link, here's what Dave wrote at Absolute Write:

HELP THE CAUSE AGAINST PUBLISH AMERICA:

Charity Anthology:

Calling all authors:

In February, it was learned that the business practice known as Publish America is now suing P&E (Predators and Editors)

Predators and Editors is a valuable resource for aspiring writers and publishers on who are who and what is what in the Publishing industry.

I am fully engaged in helping the fight against Publish America and what they are doing to authors across the nation:

David Kuzminski who runs P&E needs your help: His group has been receiving donations for the legal case.

I, Eric Enck and David Kuzminski am asking all writers of any genre to give us some stories. They can be fantasy, horror, SF, bizzaro, romance…it doesn’t matter. We want good stories to put together an anthology for purchase in the beginning of May 2008.

Every cent will go to Predators and Editors for the legal case.

Please send submissions in double space 12pt font (Times New Roman preferred) to

screwpa@hotmail.com

The cover is being illustrated by renown artist, Danielle Serra.

Deadlines for stories is April 5th 2008.

Love that submissions email. :-)

If you have something, send it in and support the cause. Or click on the Donation button up on the right. Or wait until the anthology comes out and buy it.

If you're short on funds (like me, at the moment), just blog about the whole situation, and put up the Donation button on your own blog or site. (Send me an email, and I'll send the code to you; it's quite easy to figure out.)

Go get 'em, Dave! :-)

~Nancy Beck

If You Want to See An Email Deconstructed...

...James D. MacDonald does so brilliantly in this post at Absolute Write's Water Cooler. This is the infamous WL Writers Literary Agency (and The Children's Literary Agency and, aw, you get the idea - check out the thread), and it/they threatened "3 writers" with not just one lawsuit, but a "series" of lawsuits.

Bwahahaha!

Yeah, like they'd ever want to be in a courtroom. BTW, they threatened all last year, and the year before...going back to 2004.

Still no lawsuit (or series of lawsuits) filed, and you know they never will...until someone gets someone in law enforcement to pay attention. Unfortunately, scam literary agents tend to go on under the radar because usually the amounts of money are small potatoes, among other things.

This is why I write blog posts against such scammy "agents."

Because if I can (or any other writer, for that matter) keep people away from such, that's that much less money in the scammer's pockets.

Remember - do your research first! Don't click on Google ads for literary agencies or publishers! And, by all means, have fun and send "Sherry" or Bobby or best (worst?) dreck and see how long it takes you to receive a similar email.

~Nancy Beck

Why Display Sites Are Useless

What exactly, you may ask, is a display site?

The idea of a site displaying your finished fiction manuscript to potential agents and publishers is an old one. Writer James D. MacDonald came up with an acronym for this tired old concept: YADS.

Yet Another Display Site.

After reading all the evidence (blog and board posts), why do I agree with Mr. MacDonald that they're useless?

I'll give you two - count 'em, two - reasons why it's not worth a writer's time.

Plenty of Manuscripts Out There

With the thousands of manuscripts that are handled by agents and some publishers day in and day out, do you really think agents and publishers have the time to look at something like a display site?

Right. They receive plenty of manuscripts already. Publishers that only take agented work are looking at those from agents they know and trust to give them good stuff to look at.

Yes, agents act as slush piles for publishers. That's because although publishers have editors to edit manuscripts (yes, Virginia, editors still EDIT manuscripts, from the high and mighty to the first timers), editors are already stressed out enough as it is to wade through slush (or, rather, have an intern or an assistant do it for them).

Which is where the agent comes in.

Which doesn't mean there aren't publishers that still accept slush; nowadays, it's the smaller publishers, but there are still a few bigger ones that do (Tor comes to mind).

Same thing applies there as to agents, though.

The Time Factor

Then, of course, there's the time factor. Although I alluded to it above in talking about editors, seems everyone at publishing houses these days are busy, busy, busy. As are agents, who get hundreds of queries a day.

So do you think they even have the time to look at YADS?

No.

Agents and publishers are receiving plenty'o'queries and manuscripts every day. They don't need to go looking anywhere else but their own in bins and email boxes for stuff.

So Who Uses Display Sites?

Typically, bottom-feeder agents.

You know the type:

"I deal mostly with first-time authors."

Hell's bells, people! ALL legit agents and publishers deal - and sign - first-time authors. Happens every day. Don't believe me? Check out Publisher's Marketplace sometime. I get their free email daily, with one email a week reserved for just the deals (although it's a small list because it's the free email version of PM).

There are usually 2-3 debuts in that particular email all the time, and I'm sure there are plenty more at the paid on-site version.

Don't you think agents and publishers want the next big thing? Of course they do! Both are in business to make money, and if they think your voice and storytelling ability has a certain something to it - of course they'll sign you/publish your book.

Final Thoughts

So here's the dealio.

Work on your story until it's the best it can be. Send off queries to agents. If that doesn't go anywhere, have someone paste their eyeballs on your query letter and see if it can be improved. Send out more queries. Once you've gone through a slew of agents, then turn your sights onto publishers.

And what have I said until you probably want to stuff a sock in my mouth? Research, research, research all of your agents and publishers ahead of time so no one takes advantage of you.

Oh, and ignore YADS. You and your novel deserve better than a look-see from a scam agent who will try to come between you and your money.

~Nancy Beck

Would You Really Want to Do Business With This Outfit?

What I'm talking about is Kevin Trudeau's "publishing company," Alliance Publishing Group Inc. (not to be confused with Alliance Publishing Group of Birmingham, AL, a legitimate publisher).

I read this post over at the Absolute Write Water Cooler, not believing that someone would be interested in this, um, endeavor (or whatever you want to call it).

Folks, Kevin Trudeau is out to get your money, nothing else. The info he has in his books could be had anywhere on the Internet. But, you say, it's nice that he's put it into one package. That would be true if he didn't keep charging you and charging you and charging you...

I'm sure you get the picture.

In case you don't, paste your eyeballs on this.

And this same guy wants to publish your book? HAH! What kind of money are we talking about here? Because you know for damn sure you'd have to cough up plenty'o'dough for good ol' Kev to print your book.

RESPECT YOURSELF, PEOPLE! From my perspective, I took a year or so to write my WIP; it then collected dust for at least another two years. It's on the backburner again, but do you think I'm going to go this route?

Hell, no.

If, at some point, I've exhausted all the avenues, I might consider self publishing. Then again, I just might put that particular book away again and write something else.

But by all means, RESEARCH your options. Don't just sign with the first thing you see - because the first thing you see might be some scumbag vanity press (or a place, a la Publish America, that insists it's a "traditional publisher" when it's nothing of the sort).

If it takes a week or a month or two months to do your research - so what? You spent a lot of time and energy on your story, so why should you skimp on the research? You shouldn't, especially as the publishing world isn't exactly like Corporate America. (Check out the threads on the Water Cooler on how publishing really works; if that doesn't make your head hurt, I don't know what would.)

Write and finish your story. Revise it. Then do like I did and research your options - agents and publishers. Only when you're well armed should you then proceed into the wacky, weird world of commercial publishing.

~Nancy Beck

Another Publish America Sting

Do these people never learn?

Apparently so, for Publish America (PA) has been stung yet again. This time, the Canadians decided to get into the act, throwing some horrendous poems this "traditional publisher's" way.

Called Painful Poetry by Alphabet, Pete Vere at SooToday included a couple of poems on his site.

Have some fun and read some of his intentionally crappy poems here.

That story begat another story, this time involving an "acquisitions editor" (why bother with such a title, when you except almost anything?) asking Mr. Vere to remove said acquisitions editor's name from the original post.

Priceless.

~Nancy Beck

Hallelujah - Airleaf "Publishing" Is Out of Business

A so-called "publisher" has gone out of business - Airleaf Publishing (aka Bookman Marketing, aka who-the-hell-knows-what else). They spammed the crap out of plenty of writers, but those were the "lucky" ones; the unlucky ones put up tens of thousands of dollars for...nothing.

If you were scammed by Airleaf/Bookman, don't throw away those emails or any other paperwork you have. You might want to check out the new PODdy Mouth's post here for more information.

Who says Christmas wishes don't come true? ;-)

~Nancy Beck

Poetry.com Is a Scam

This is probably old news to those who've been writing a while or to those who've researched the crap out of stuff (like me, heh).

Poetry.com and all of its iterations are SCAMS. Period.

This organization is as bad as PublishAmerica (PA) because they take everything. Want to see your poem with your byline? Buy one of their over-priced books (about $50).

Stay as far away from this one as possible.

Still unconvinced? That's okay; you should always do some research before sending off your babies. Try these:

Literary Scams

Absolute Write - Bewares and Background Checks

Ink For Blood LiveJournal - Poetry.com

If you want ideas as to where to send your poems as well as some nice support, the Absolute Write forums has a Writing Poetry section under Writing Studios. People there will give you the straight poop as to where to send your poems, payment, etc. (And by no means look for a literary agent; agents don't rep poems because there's not enough money in it for them, unless you happen to be well known, like Maya Angelou. If someone does offer to rep your poems, tell them to get lost: They're a scammer, only intereseted in separating you from your money.)

~Nancy Beck

Airleaf Victims, Unite!

Read up on this on the Absolute Write Water Cooler (see the sidebar for the link to the general site), and on the Writer Beware site. Apparently, Airleaf aka Bookman Marketing, has been spamming the hell out of people for a few years.

That would be bad enough.

What's worse is that Airleaf enticed enough poor souls to part with their money, to have their book, er, published.

Which makes sense in a few cases.

But Airleaf bilked these people out of more than $1,000 in a lot of cases. Well, Bonnie Kaye, who coughed up $1,850(!!) to Airleaf, decided it was time for revenge against this sham marketer and/or publisher (or is it both? Sheesh!). She's started a website to get back at them. It's called Airleaf Victims Fightback, and on it, she gives her story and those of others who've been scammed.

Good for her and 90+ authors who've decided to take legal action against the company in the state of Indiana. Go to the website and read some of the stories - one poor man was taken for $10,000!

Airleaf must be completely shameless. I hope for the best for Bonnie and all authors who've been defrauded. Maybe the law, at the very least, shut down Airleaf!

~Nancy Beck