Linda Welch's Blog, page 5

Are Simon & Schuster/Author Solutions Primed To Rip Off Writers?

This today on David Gaughran’s “Let’s Get Digital.” Authors, prospective authors, don’t become a victim of shady marketing practices.

“Simon & Schuster has launched a self-publishing operation, Archway Publishing, contracting one of the most disreputable players in the business to run the show: Author Solutions.

We’ll get to that distasteful link-up in a second, but first let’s have a look at what Simon & Schuster are offering prospective customers (i.e. writers).

Fiction packages start at $1,999 and go up to $14,999. If you have written a business book, prices are saucier again: $2,999 to $24,999.

While the upper end of the pricing spectrum is obviously shocking, some of you might think that $1,999 isn’t too bad if you are getting a proper edit and a decent cover.

Not so fast.

That price tag doesn’t include any real editing, just an assessment which – according to their own website – is “not a replacement” for editorial services but “a preliminary diagnostic tool.”

But what if you need proper editing? Fear not! Simon & Schuster is here to help. For just $0.035 a word, you can have a thorough edit of your book. Which sounds cheap until you realize that a standard 80,000 word novel would cost you $2,800. So, in actual fact, the cheapest package, plus their edit, will set you back $4,799 for a standard length book.

As if that wasn’t enough, Simon & Schuster will also take half of your e-book royalties – after Amazon and the other retailers take their cut – and pay pennies for print sales.”

He goes on to talk of how Author Solutions has ripped off hundreds of thousands of authors:

“The has been covering Author Solutions for some time:

The short list of recurring issues includes: making formerly out-of-print works available for sale without the author’s consent, improperly reporting royalty information, non-payment of royalties, breach of contract, predatory and harassing sales calls, excessive markups on review and advertising services, failure to deliver marketing services as promised, telling customers their add-ons will only cost hundreds of dollars and then charging their credit cards thousands of dollars, ignoring customer complaints, shaming and banning customers who go public with their stories, and calling at least one customer a ‘fucking asshole.’”

 

Read the entire article here.

 

 

UPDATE UPDATE READ ALL ABOUT IT!

I thought it was time. . . .

The first draft of Whisperings book six, A Conspiracy of Demons, is done. Bear in mind this is the first draft. I have to let it simmer for a few weeks so I can look at it again with fresh eyes. This one has taken me twice as long to complete as any other, I thought I’d be closer to publishing by now, but sometimes life gets in the way. After I have reread and edited it at least a couple of times, it will go to my editors and beta readers.

What happens in book six? I haven’t worked on the blurb yet, but I can tell you that a new friend pays Tiff a very brief visit, just long enough to really irk Jack and Mel, and provide Tiff with a clue to the death of an old friend. Two decades-old murders are reinvestigated. Tiff and Royal are targeted for assassination. And when the Otherworldy are involved, nothing is quite as it seems.

 

 

 

 

 

I am also working on an urban fantasy novel, Downside Rain. All I’m going to say about it, is it’s a little on the dark side and involves all kinds of monsters.

Here’s a little clue to the theme:

 WRAITH

Definition: Merriam Webster

1.       The exact likeness of a living person seen usually just before death as an apparition

2.       An insubstantial form or semblance: shadow

3.       A barely visible gaseous or vaporous column

Definition: Downside

A being who can partially or wholly shed its physical form

OFF WE GO, INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER!

Husband and I are off to the Caribbean in November. We are so excited! I think we’re the only couple in our circle of friends (and many acquaintances) who have not yet been on a cruise. We rarely go anywhere apart from England every other year and we’re probably the only people in the USA who have never been to Disneyland, so this is a big deal for us. Tours are planned, to-take and to-do list are made. Our adult son, who lives with us, will take care of the animals, mail, newspapers etc. I’m taking my laptop and may get a little writing done, but hope I’ll be too busy having fun to open it up.

TARGETED.

Reviews for Along Came a Demon on Amazon.com have and still are the focus of some malicious action. I won’t go into details as I don’t want to start a flame war. Unless you are intimately familiar with every review for the book as they appeared perhaps four weeks ago – which I seriously doubt – looking at the remaining reviews as they are now will tell you nothing, but believe me, what someone or some person did and is still doing is upsetting to a 61 year-old woman who depends on book royalties to stay afloat.

THE SEASONS CHANGE.

It’s that time of year again. The garden has been tidied, deck furniture covered or stored in the shed, hoses wound and put away, lawn mower put away and snow blower prepped, window canopies rolled up, and the central heating doing its thing. Most of the leaves are off the trees and the grass is dead or dying. Winter is coming, snow and bitter cold. Expect to hear me complaining. A lot. And it looks like we may have snow for Halloween.

Halloween is just another day for us. The first year we lived here, we bought candy and waited at the door with a bowl. At the end of the evening, with nary a trick-or-treater, we ate the candy ourselves. We were still hopeful the next year. We bought candy, although not as much, and it was our favorite candy, just in case. We ate that too. We don’t expect kiddies anymore and we don’t buy candy. We should have realized parents don’t bring their children to an area that has no street lights and most homes are reached by walking up a long, dark driveway.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner after Halloween. Thanksgiving is fun, a big celebration with husband’s family. I also enjoy Thanksgiving because it’s easy! For me, anyway. I rarely have to cook, and when I do my contribution to the meal is something simple. Or we take the wine and potato chips.

And then Christmas. A little more pressure, because I have to actually clean the house, and purchase the gifts, and hang the decorations, and provide food. But I’ve made it easier on myself the past few years. Food is buffet style, most of it bought ready-made. Fewer decorations are hung every year. Gifts are harder, now most of the grandchildren are teens – what do you get a teen who already has everything, or wants something which costs gadzillion dollars? And – bummer – I still have to clean the house.

And then – God no, I don’t want to think about it! 2013. Another year and another year older.

You know what, maybe instead of all the above, I’ll go into hibernation. Want to join me?

LIMITED TIME SALE!

ALONG CAME A DEMON E-BOOK IS ON SALE FOR A LIMITED TIME. ONLY $0.99 USA and £0.77 UK!

The first book in the Whisperings series of paranormal mysteries, Along Came a Demon introduces Tiff Banks, who communicates with the violently slain and sees through the glamour of “demons.” Is the new man in her life a good demon, or a bad demon?

 

Along Came a Demon Amazon USA

Along Came a Demon Amazon UK

Angry Authors. Tar and Feathers.

I’m an independently published author, or if you like, an Indie author, a self-published author. I don’t brag about it, I’m not egotistically proud to be self-published and very definitely not ashamed, because in my mind I’m just a writer who publishes her books and offers them for sale with on-line retailers. I do believe self-publishing can – for many – be more profitable than going the traditional route, and I don’t have to deal with the restrictions, lack of control and lack of disclosure from editors and publishing houses that traditionally published authors must deal with. But this year, I often cringe when I read a new blog post, article or reader’s comment about self-publishing. This year I’m ashamed of, and embarrassed by, the actions of a few Indie authors.

Authors publicly reacting badly to negative reviews. Authors verbally abusing, threatening and stalking reviewers and book bloggers. Public flame wars.

I’m not going to add links. If you Google “Authors Behaving Badly,” you’ll find enough to keep you reading for the rest of the day.

These authors are so self-centered, they don’t comprehend the damage their rants do to their careers, or care about how their behavior influences readers’ opinion of other self-publishers. Unfortunately, we are all tarred with the same brush. People like to generalize, so when the shit hits the fan, it sprays in everyone’s face. The shenanigans of a few can have the power to besmirch an entire industry.

Some book bloggers will no longer review a self-published work. Reader forums warn readers to not buy any self-published books.

Recently on the scene, the revelation that successful self-published author John Locke, the guy who wrote “How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months,” paid a service to write hundreds of reviews for his books, and he’s not the only one. Locke’s (apparent) belief he did nothing wrong saddens and disgusts me. Now the legitimacy of the review system is in doubt and Indie authors are being targeted, although  it’s likely a number of Big 6 authors, or their publishers, also buy reviews and have for a long time.

Indie authors are not the only ones behaving badly.

Traditionally published authors are actively telling writers to not self-publish. I can’t label them “authors behaving badly,” but certainly authors behaving inanely, because they don’t know what they’re talking about. They know little or nothing of the self-publishing industry. Authors, editors, journalists have taken up a kind of mantra: “most self-publishers only sell 100-150 books.” No data or research is ever presented to back this up. Perhaps an editor said it five or ten years ago, it certainly does not apply now. They say self-publishers pay tens of thousands of dollars to publish, and some go on to cite rip-off agencies such Author Solutions (xLibris, AuthorHouse, iUniverse,) that profit more from the services they sell to aspiring authors than actual book sales. And, of course, the old refrain: Indie books are poorly written and poorly edited, by which they mean all self-published works. These trad published authors are totally misinformed on many aspects of self-publishing, and gleefully spread the misinformation.

Indie authors are no different when it comes to propagating fallacies instead of taking the time to research. Hundred of authors mistook a legitimate service that linked readers to books available on Amazon’s book lending program for a piracy site. The site was overloaded with complaints and the host could not cope. The site went down. Readers reacted by publishing the names of offending authors and threatening to give their books one-star reviews.

All this depresses me. I don’t want to be tarred with the same brush. I know many self-publishing authors (albeit in author communities) who are as disgusted and saddened as I am. Why am I writing this? If you do Google “Authors Behaving Badly,” the majority of what you read is about Indie authors behaving badly. I want readers to know these authors are actually the minority. The majority of us behave in an ethical, professional manner. Please don’t lump us together under the same, dirty, blanket.

FREE Along Came a Demon

Along Came a Demon is free as e-book on Amazon today Friday 3rd, Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th. The book will leave the Select program mid-August so this is a good opportunity to pick up your copy.
In the US
In the UK

Old biker chicks never die, they just disappear in a cloud of dust.

“I’m taking the bike out tomorrow. Want to come along?” Husband asked.

A bike, in this case, is not a bicycle or a motorbike, it’s an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle,) a four-wheeler. Husband calls them bikes. Does that make him a biker? Am I a biker chick?

I was about to say, “You are joking, right?” when I saw his kind of cute, hopeful expression.

“Love to,” I lied.

“It’ll be good practice for the camping trip,” he added.

We’re going to the Uintas in August. We’ll stay in a 30-foot trailer in Hill Air Force Base’s private campground. We’ll take our ATVs so we can carom along all the dirt roads and trails. This is Husband’s idea of a good time.

I haven’t driven an ATV for eight or nine years. I only did so before because I felt I should share one of Husband’s passions. I don’t enjoy hunting, or fishing, or hiking, or camping. Okay, so I don’t enjoy four-wheeling either, but it was the lesser evil. Something comes over my normally cautious husband when he mounts his bike. He loses all sense of self-preservation and hurtles along at the speed of light, on trails no sane person would attempt to navigate.

Nope, trying to drive over trails which were no more than a series of deep ruts straddled by roots, with the occasional boulder thrown in, was not my idea of fun.

Thank goodness, our second ATV died.

He bought a replacement two years ago, a big monster with automatic shift, but I managed to weasel out of his mini safaris, or persuade one of the sons to go with him instead of me.

But, to please Husband, I will go this time. And he was right, I do need practice, because I don’t see a way to get out of four-wheeling when we’re in the Unitas.

The day didn’t start well. I couldn’t get to sleep the night before so woke up late. It’s funny, when I want to go somewhere, I can’t get Husband on the road without an effort, but he’s up early all bright-eyed and eager when we’re going somewhere he wants to go. But I woke up late, then had to phone my mum, because I promised her. I delayed the great expedition. No Brownie points for me. We didn’t leave the house until nine AM.

And we couldn’t take one of the local trails. Oh no. We had to drive up to Monte Cristo and head off along the Curtis Creek road. It’s an “upgraded, gravel” road, which means someone drove along it with a grader, leveled off some of the worse bumps and scattered a handful of gravel around.

It’s beautiful country up there. Meadows, magnificent overlooks, forests of aspen, and forests of some of the biggest old pine trees I’ve seen. We stopped at an overlook and I watched gorgeous butterflies settle all around us. The wild flowers were bigger and brighter than where we live. Hawks circled overhead.

The air baked me when we were stationary, and near enough froze me when we drove along. I congratulated myself on taking a jacket.

I can’t say I took in a lot of the glorious vistas. I was too busy watching the road for ruts and boulders, or looking in the mirror to see if anything came up behind me. I had to avoid kamikaze ground squirrels determined to die beneath my wheels. I slowed down to a crawl when we rounded blind bends. I crawled when we went through the pine forest, because those big old trees threw dark shadows over the trail, which might hide nasty bits of road. And I had to watch out for toads.

A sign at the beginning of the road notes all of the things you can’t do at this time of year, like light fires, and it warns you to watch out for Boreal toads. Apparently, they are rare, and if you see one “Do NOT pick it up.” You should take a picture of it (if possible) and note the GPS  coordinates― if you have a GPS with you, which we didn’t this time―and phone the information to the Forest Service. I don’t know what the Forest Service does with the information. Send out a toad rescue crew?

Anyway, apart from the jacket, I was ill prepared. I forgot everything I should have remembered from past years of four-wheeling.

·       Don’t drive too close behind Husband unless you want to move through a cloud of dust.
·        Wear a scarf over your head.
·       Wear a mask or scarf over the lower part of your face.
·       Wear those expensive goggles you bought, the ones which fit over your glasses.
·       Alternately, wear a head to toe spacesuit. That should do the trick.
·       If you take an energy bar, put it in the little cooler on the back of the ATV, or be prepared to lick the melted bar off the paper.
·       Don’t bother to take a drink, because you’re gripping the handlebars so tightly, you can’t hold a drink at the same time.
·       There are flies up there. They bite.

 

When we got home, my hair was thicker than it has been for years. That dust sure adds body. My eyebrows appeared to have grown together. On closer inspection, a bar of thick dust spanned the bridge of my nose. My eyes leaked dust from the corners. When I blew my nose – well, you don’t want to hear about that.

“Did you have fun?” Husband asked.

“I was lovely up there.” Note the evasive answer.

But I’m now confidant I can steer a gigantic four-wheeler and not hit anything―although I can’t be held responsible for ground squirrels with a death wish―or fall off. I’m all set for our mini vacation in August. Once a biker chick, always a biker chick.

 

Pirates of (the) Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone in China pirated an author buddy’s ebook and published it on Amazon. This is not an isolated incident, it happens all the time. After some communication with Amazon, the pirate copy was removed, but not before it had sold several copies.

I’m disappointed in Amazon.

I’m glad to use their platform to sell my books, but I don’t for a moment believe Amazon provides this service from the goodness of its heart. It makes money from my books. Amazon is the provider, I’m the client.

Shouldn’t a corporation protect its clients from fraud?

Surely there could be an automated program which red-flags a suspect product before publication. Hm, look, this exact same book is already on our website, at a different price. And look, this client does not have the same account. Better look into this before we publish it.

An example of how little Amazon cares about publishing illegal works is evident from the fact they will pay the pirate, as if they are the author and copyright holder of this work. Yep, as long as Amazon gets its share, and dutifully pays the publisher their share, what does it care if the real author is out of pocket?

My friend’s book was stolen and someone else profited from it. This is her book, her hard work, yet she’ll get nothing from those sales. She was told if she wants the royalties from this pirated ebook, she has to contact the pirate and get the money from them.

Yeah. As if that’s going to happen.

Fighting piracy on torrent websites is difficult. Sometimes the item will be removed after contacting the webmaster, sometimes not. But blatant piracy permitted by a major online book retailer? Outrageous!

Come on Amazon. Do something. Don’t let pirates take advantage of your services and of honest authors for the sake of a few bucks.

 

 

I Heart You.

 

 

I had an email from author R. Mac Wheeler yesterday. I didn’t know him, he was not in my circle of author friends. He wrote to say he enjoyed Along Came a Demon so much, he was going to give it a shout-out on his blog. I was thrilled. Ecstatic. Over the moon.

Why did his email and subsequent post mean so much to me?

Because I don’t put myself out there. I’m useless at planting myself in the public eye. The most effort I’ve put into promotion this year was to contact sites on a list of who to notify when a book goes free on Select. If you find my books, it’s not because they have been featured on hundreds of book blogs or review sites, and if you did find them on one, it’s not because I submitted my books for review. I have paid for only one ad on a website and it didn’t do anything for sales as far as I could see, do I didn’t bother again. I have – if I remember rightly – sent Along Came a Demon to only three reviewers during the three years since I published it on Amazon. I don’t do that anymore, either.

I don’t do blog hops, because I’m not an active blogger. Sometimes I wonder why the heck I have a blog anyway. How many times have I actually posted here? Not many. I rarely come up with anything I feel will be of interest to anyone, not on national or world events or trends, or issues important in the world of publishing, because a hundred other bloggers have already said it. I’m always too late off the mark, it’s already been done.

You won’t notice me because I review books. I don’t review books because I don’t want readers to think I reviewed a buddy’s book as a favor. Sometimes, I regret that decision, because I’ve read some very good Indie published books.

I only “like” Amazon author pages for authors I know and like, and I’ll “like” a book on the Amazon product page only if I actually like it.

I get email notification of an interesting post on Facebook, but there are already a score of replies by the time I get there, and many have covered what I intended to say, so I don’t bother.

I’m not active in author circles. I don’t post on Amazon reader forums.

I’m not happy about asking for reviews. I notice many Indie authors (in their books) suggest the reader write a review if they liked the book. “It works,” I was told. I finally added a similar request at the end of Demon Demon Burning Bright, but I still feel uncomfortable about doing that.

Sometimes I receive personal messages or emails or comments on this blog, or on my Facebook pages, from people who say they love my books. I KNOW I should ask them to leave a review, but it seems like too much of an imposition. They took the time to tell me they like the books, I shouldn’t shove a review request down their throats.

I know I should do whatever it takes to be more in the public eye. Look at Amanda Hocking – before she got her deal with a traditional publisher, she (said she) spent more time promoting than writing, and we all know how successful she became. But she also said she was exhausted, she would rather write than promote, and cited this as one of the reasons she accepted a publishing contract. If I have time to spare, I’d rather spend it writing.

Any praise I receive for my books – both privately and publicly – is unsolicited, so it means a LOT to me. Thank you, Mac. Thank you, readers and reviewers who give my books nice reviews or mentions. You, and only you, give me a reason to keep writing.

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORY ON FATHER’S DAY

 

THE PRINCESS AND THE GAMEKEEPER
 

The Rushall Horse Trials began in the 1970s. Locals called it the Rough Horse Trials, because they were rough. Horses and riders went over obstacles, under obstacles, through obstacles (rivers and ponds) over very rough ground in forests and fields. Usually wet and muddy. Riders fell off, or were knocked off when they didn’t duck low enough. Riderless horses gaily galloped around the fields. And it happened around our cottage. The cottage sat slap bang in the middle of the course. One year the event was televised; my family sat indoors and got a kick out of seeing their white cottage on the television.

There was some discussion of the availability of Porta Potties the first year. The event coordinators didn’t think they could get them to the event in time. This could be embarrassing, as Princess Anne was competing, as she did every year thereafter. No doubt the princess would also be embarrassed if she got the urge, and nowhere to go.  She wouldn’t have taken kindly to squatting behind a tree. She might have to use the toilet in the cottage.

In England, if the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh or the Prince of Wales patronize an establishment, be it a department store, a butcher’s shop, a saddler, anything in fact, the proprietor may be awarded the Royal Warrant, a picture of the Royal coat of arms with the legend: By Appointment to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  “Well,” Mum said, “if Princess Anne has to use our loo, I’m going to put a sign over the door: By Appointment to Her Royal Highness Princess Anne.”

“Is she uses the loo,” I joked, “she’ll have to wash her hands in the kitchen. You can have the towel framed and hang it on the wall with a little sign: Used by Princess Anne when she was taken short.”

The trials made international news in 1975 when Princess Anne fell off her horse and into the river. Wet and muddy, she smiled, remounted and finished the course.

One evening, Dad got a call from his boss, local land owner Barry Wookey. A man and a woman were in Black Knoll, a small wood on his property. Not only is the land private, they were letting their dogs run all over the place, no doubt scaring the wildlife. It was bad enough some idiots were trespassers on his property, their dogs could kill or scare away the pheasants. People paid good money to hunt those pheasants, so pheasants had to be available for them to shoot. So off Dad went, done up in his gamekeeper regalia, shotgun over his arm. He found the couple easily enough.

He got no closer than 20 feet when four large men wearing suits appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him. And Dad recognized the couple.

He realized he was in something of a predicament. Not only had he approached Princess Anne and her fiancé Captain Mark Philips, he did so with a loaded weapon. Granted, he carried the shotgun broken open over his arm, but it was loaded.

He explained to the men. One of them went to the Princess and explained to her. She beckoned Dad to join her.

Dad didn’t read her the riot act, as he would another trespasser. He said he was sure Barry wouldn’t object to her taking a walk in Black Knoll, but she must put her dogs on leashes. The dogs were leashed, and Dad and the princess had a nice little chat about the horse trials and country matters.

Princess Anne remembered Dad at subsequent horse trials. She took the time to stop and chat if she saw him. People who love the countryside, horses, dogs, and the rural life always have something in common, be they a princess, or a gamekeeper.

 

Thinking of you on Father’s Day, Dad.

 

KINDLE SELECT EXPERIMENT: SECOND ATTEMPT.

In February I wrote about my KDP Select experiment with my short story collection Femme Fatales, my disappointment and doubt the program would continue to be a success for self-published authors.

Here’s the thing: I tried again, and what a difference this time!

My favorite Whisperings book is the first, Along Came a Demon, but I have always seen it as my loss leader. I sold it cheaply because I wanted to get it out there to readers. I wanted them to take a chance on it. I was told selling cheaply resulted in impulse buys and it probably would never be read by most purchasers who had hundreds of books on their Kindle To Be Read list, but  I don’t think anyone pays for a book they will never read. The low price worked. Along Came a Demon sold well and, it appeared, 70-75% of those readers did return for the other books. In 2010, my Amazon ranking was usually in the 1K to 2K. If it slipped to 3K, I worried.

Then came the Amazon summer sales in 2011, and after that KDP Select, which made so many books available for free download. My sales slowed and continued to do so through 2012, and ranking slipped to the 15K range. I had to make Along Came a Demon visible to readers, and that 15K rank wasn’t doing it.

I decided to take the risk of removing Along Came a Demon from all distribution but Amazon and put it in the Select program. But Along Came a Demon will be back with other e-tailers in September, and the others in the series are still available.

It came free on Friday June 1st and Saturday June 2nd. The book soon went into the Top Free 100 List and downloads were great. 13,000 people had downloaded it by the end of the first day. It was #14 on the Top Free 100 List on Saturday morning. I had far less downloads that day but it remained in the top 100. When the two free days were over, 15,879 people in the USA, UK, Germany and France had downloaded a copy of Along Came a Demon. I know authors who have had hundreds of thousands of downloads, but I was happy with my numbers.

When I checked Sunday morning, ranking for Along Came a Demon had sank to the 34K range. Ouch! Never mind, I told myself. A lot of readers who would otherwise never have bought the book now had it on their Kindle. Hopefully, some of them would return for the series. Eventually. I’d just have to wait a while.

But then something surprising happened. Sales for book 2, The Demon Hunters, soared almost immediately, and so did sales and borrows for Along Came a Demon. Then all the other books. My ranking for Along Came a Demon in the USA went to the 2K range. It went to the 1K range in the UK.

All I can say is, some people are fast readers.

Downloads are still trickling in. Sales and borrows are still good. Ranking for Along Came a Demon has slipped to the 6K range, but it’s still better than it was before the book went free.

So what was different this time?

Femme Fatales is a 26,000 word short story collection. Along Came a Demon is a novel, and the first of a five-book series.

With Femme Fatales, I sent out a few tweets and announced on my blog and Facebook page. With Along Came a Demon, I made more of an effort to spread the word. I tweeted to Tweeters who send out the word about free books. I posted on Facebook pages which do the same. I contacted blogs which announce free books (for example, Pixels of Ink.) And a novelist friend saw my tweet and announced the sale to all her Google+ contacts, and she has a LOT of them.

So this KDP Select experiment was a success, and I think I owe it to a little more effort on my part, and to all the great people who helped get the word out.

THANK YOU!