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Wow, that is terrible. I'm sorry to hear that you've been treated that way, but I want to thank you for bringing it to our attention on here. You may have just saved countless other people from being duped as well.
Neil, unfortunately there are a lot of people out there taking advantage of new authors. I am very careful about where to put any advertising money, and it is not often to a place that solicits me with a good sales pitch. I prefer to get referrals from other authors who have used a promo site that doesn't charge ungodly amounts of money and have a proven track record.
Why self publish? Find an agent, and let then do the hard work for you, and use mainstream publishers?
If there is one you are after and is free try Askdavid.com.It is free to sign up, and they will apparently promote your book to twitter. I have used them, they are friendly enough and there is a real person who answers the emails if you get stuck. I believe they are an affiliate site for Amazon so they will only do the amazon link. I am not sure how frequently the promote but I got an email a couple of months ago saying the would promote it. No idea if they did I don't have twitter to check, lol.
It is however free:)
Colin wrote: "Why self publish? Find an agent, and let then do the hard work for you, and use mainstream publishers?"
Colin, if it were that easy to find agents/publishers then everyone who wanted to would. You will find many reasons that people choose to self-publish and I have even heard of literature professors who encourage their students to go that route rather than the traditional one. I don't want to argue with you, but that comment may start a flame war with many self-published authors on here. I'm sure it was unintentional though.
Colin, if it were that easy to find agents/publishers then everyone who wanted to would. You will find many reasons that people choose to self-publish and I have even heard of literature professors who encourage their students to go that route rather than the traditional one. I don't want to argue with you, but that comment may start a flame war with many self-published authors on here. I'm sure it was unintentional though.
I believe the era of agents and traditional publishers is over.
When I get a 10K or 20K advances with 10-15% royalties, makes me feel better
Neil wrote: "I believe the era of agents and traditional publishers is over."
It isn't over, but the landscape is definitely changing due to the multitude of options now available to authors. Remember, publishers and agents need authors more than authors need them these days and the balance of power is slowly shifting. I think it will bring more of a respectful regard toward authors on the part of agents/publishers than ever before when measured against how authors were treated in the past.
It isn't over, but the landscape is definitely changing due to the multitude of options now available to authors. Remember, publishers and agents need authors more than authors need them these days and the balance of power is slowly shifting. I think it will bring more of a respectful regard toward authors on the part of agents/publishers than ever before when measured against how authors were treated in the past.
J. is correct. The negotiation process with my publishers has become easier, as they are less willing to let me walk to another publisher, ergo the money gets better. However, it is still market driven.
The website you listed is not active.
I'm ashamed to say that I spent a lot of money on many scams that did nothing for me and my first book. I was so impatient i just had to get it out there no matter what it cost. Thirteen books later, I've learned better. I hope I've learned more patience also.
sorry. try booksandauthors.net. That site is still active and shows what I'm talking about.
J. wrote: "Colin wrote: "Why self publish? Find an agent, and let then do the hard work for you, and use mainstream publishers?"Colin, if it were that easy to find agents/publishers then everyone who wanted..."
J. I was looking at it from a self preservation standpoint, that's all. I understand why a lot of people do it, but I write so many nonfiction books, I need an agent, and have a great one.
Ive been there before..though I didnt spend $150 but the company tried to get money out of me. Its always best to look into a companies legitimacy to see if their worth it or scammers.
Having had a particularly bad sales day, their gmail ad caught me at the worst time, somehow getting passed my spam folder. They claimed to have a Twitter account with 180,000 eager readers and followers. They have several author’s blurbs on their site claiming how the tweets took their ebooks to the top of the bestseller lists and, like I said, having had a bad day I thought to myself for $150 bucks, the site tweets my blurb for DROP OUT (After overcoming incredible personal tragedy Nathan Cruz meets a terminal, young woman who helps him find the strength to piece his shattered life back together. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U three times a day for a month. Seemed like a good deal to me.
Well, it didn’t go well from the start and after I realized that somehow the site had gained and lost tens of thousands of followers each day, anywhere from 120,000 to 240,000 followers in any given twenty-four hour period (I don’t even know how that is possible) I realized something was amiss. I emailed the site and asked to stop the promotion immediately and refund my money. I did this several times over the next two days, and each time an answer was given to just be patient and wait and see the results. I didn’t want to wait and they refused to refund!
It was right then that I realized I was f**ked. It just wasn’t worth the emotion and mental effort to pursue legal action so I gave up and swallowed my pride realizing that I had been had. The tweets to a hundred thousand ghost followers continued and my sales remained about the same as they did before the promotion.
Now that this Twitter promotion is ending and the wasted money is behind me, I will say one more thing to all writer’s out there desperate to do almost anything to get noticed: Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
Read all about my marketing and promotional endeavors on my blog, ALWAYS WRITING: http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com