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By that I assume you mean, the option to buy back returned copies? So I'd lose money for every copy that fell into that category, unless I then took on the hassle of selling and shipping them off from home? And even then, with two (in+out) shipping costs, you might not make money even then.I gather that even if you just have the "returned" copies destroyed rather than shipped back to you, you still deduct at least the printing cost (fair enough) but also a shipping-back-for-destruction cost?
It definitely sounds like selling and allowing returns (i.e. selling into book stores) is an unwise option for a self-published author, unless you become very successful!
The problem would basically vanish if book stores ordered small numbers and reordered when they ran out, and stopped restocking when they had copies they wanted to return.
So maybe my question becomes unimportant, since the major problem the chap in the video had related to what looked like odd stuff going on in regard to the returns.
Marvelous Leaders Publications asked to see my full manuscript a while back. I never did get back to them though the founder added me on Facebook. His name is Marques Lewis, and the only website for them is under his name. He straight away asked if it was a series and mentioned changing the cover etc before he'd even read the full manuscript or talked about what he could offer me. Sounded extremely fishy which is why I never replied.
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Looks like someone attempting to start an independent publishing company. The contract tells you everything you need to know. Pay attention to what royalties he offers, and what rights he wants control of. You can find good independent publishers though, I use one in BigWorldNetwork.
I found a couple websites that have my ebook available for download. My book was posted in mid December and I don't recall ever working with these sites. Brighton-city-hotels is one and oceanplasticmachineryindia (I believe that is the name) is the other. The last one has numerous books listed. Anyone know anything about these sites?
Lana wrote: "I found a couple websites that have my ebook available for download. My book was posted in mid December and I don't recall ever working with these sites. Brighton-city-hotels is one and oceanplasti..."I've had similar experiences of books popping up on sites I've never heard of. On one hand, sites like Smashwords have distribution networks beyond the big ones like Apple and B&N, and some of the places my books appear look legitimate.
However the two you mention sound odd. What have either of them got to do with books? I've seen my first book pop up for free download in some odd places, and they can't be legitimate because the book is not available for free. I looked into one or two and concluded they were scams. They seem to harvest publicly-available details from Goodreads (book details, author bio, and reviews) so they can build a site that looks legitimate, but they require registration before you can download and I bet they are just after your personal info.
Luke wrote: "By that I assume you mean, the option to buy back returned copies? So I'd lose money for every copy that fell into that category, unless I then took on the hassle of selling and shipping them off f..."Hey Luke, I'm in Oz and I use IS and have had no problems. I took their advice while setting up and simply chose not to do returns. As a micro publisher, there was no way I could afford it - so I have bypassed that problem.
Obviously, this doesn't help me with a book store ordering in one of my titles - they'll likely balk at it. But that's the only way I could afford to operate :) Feel free to PM me if you'd like to chat too
Re: Bookbub and questions- as a reader I like and have purchased many books through bookbub that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. My questions: Are there other valid/legit sites that do the same thing? I would like to know some. Also, I review through here and net galley and wonder if there are sites, like net galley, that have a more finished product I could read for reviews. The reason I ask is because 1 out of 10 authors that send me a book through my posts here seem to be in desperate need of beta, proofing and editing before they get to me. I am just wondering about these things and thought this may be the place for this. Thanks.
Luke wrote: "I had been planning to use CreateSpace for producing my print editions, but from what I've learned, IMHO IngramSpark is almost certainly a much better option everywhere in the world except the US (..."I'm using Ingram Spark for my book, and I've been happy, overall, with the process. I just submitted an update with a new cover and better interior layout, and the books are printed very well and look quite professional. If you're willing to do a lot of the work yourself (like formatting the interior layout and hiring a cover artist), Ingram Spark is less expensive than any of the other options I looked into. My book is available worldwide through Amazon, B&N, and lots of smaller outlets (both eBook and POD), and I do not have to manage each of these outlets separately.
Unless you've already got extremely high name recognition, as an indie author, your books aren't going to be on bookstore shelves anyway (except those stores that work with local authors on consignment.) It was disappointing to realize this, at first, but think about it. To even be considered, you need to offer 55% discount and returnability, and since POD means printing costs for each book, any returns will be disastrous to you. There's no limit to how much money you can lose if you allow returns. But even if you did allow it, bookstores still won't waste valuable shelf space on an unproven author no one's heard of yet. Once I accepted this, I found it quite liberating. If I don't have to try to get into bookstores, then I can sell to the entire world at the lowest possible wholesale discount (30% in US, 35% abroad), and I can keep the price low enough that people will take a chance on a new author, and I still make a buck or two per book. For me, the lesson was simple. Indie authors are publishing differently than traditional authors. It's perfectly reasonable that we're selling differently, as well. If you're not a major publishing house, don't offer returns. You could go broke, and there's really no upside in it for you.
Ann wrote: "Hey everyone!In our last moderator's meeting, (yes, we have meetings -- we're official!! ha ha) we thought it might be a good idea to have an option for you all to be able to send us links to var..."
Has anyone had any experience with Green Ivy Publishing? They offer something they call "hybrid" publishing where it's supposedly the best of both worlds of self-pub and traditional, with the author keeping as much as 70-80% of the profits. A lady I spoke with yesterday said that once I send them my manuscript, they send it to their whole team and then have a meeting with the author to discuss what edits need to be made as well as cost if I choose to move forward at that point. (They quoted anywhere between $2000-$4000). I was told that they profit nothing from that fee, that it is strictly the production costs (cover design, marketing, etc.) and that their profits come from the book actually selling.
Does this sound legitimate? That's a pretty heft fee for me to have to pay up front, just to get my book into a "traditional" publication.
Nicole wrote: "Ann wrote: "Hey everyone!In our last moderator's meeting, (yes, we have meetings -- we're official!! ha ha) we thought it might be a good idea to have an option for you all to be able to send us ..."
Always be wary of paying a publisher. A true traditional publisher will not charge you a dime. A print on demand publisher such as Lulu or Createspace may offer formatting packages in which you are paying for formatting, cover, editor, etc, but they also offer the DIY approach.
If the publisher is asking for money up front, then they are a vanity publisher and aside from just losing money, you are likely to enter into a binding contract that could hinder your future as an author. Always, always, always read the fine print.
There is also the option of "print on demand" printing and binding. I have been toying with the idea of producing a hard-cover and expanded second edition of a book I previously had published at Oxford and which retails at 29 UKP. in card-back binding. Roughly estimating the size for the new edition, I discovered that a single copy at a British firm would cost me 12.40 and there are also discounts on bulk ordering (which hardly seems worthwhile as the first tier was an awful lot of books and was only 5%). Even with a copy at a time, there is considerable room for promotional expenditure and the new edition with better binding could easily be priced higher than the fourteen year old first edition. Being an academic book, I got only ten copies for the first edition and no royalties (one gets "paid in reputation") As the supermarket does not recognize this form of currency, a second edition appeals to me (and I do own the copyright).
Just found a site called "novel2u.com" and it has the complete text of my book online - along with complete texts of numerous other books as well. Anyone else run across this? Any suggestions on next steps?
Forget about it. It's a scam site which is just trying to get your credit card info.
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Christina wrote: "Nicole wrote: "Ann wrote: "Hey everyone!In our last moderator's meeting, (yes, we have meetings -- we're official!! ha ha) we thought it might be a good idea to have an option for you all to be a..."
Good point.
Traditional publishers don't ask for $$$. But, an independent author really must act as her own publisher and will have to contract for all services (editing, cover design, printing, marketing and returns). Ugh!
J.D. wrote: "Traditional publishers don't ask for $$$. But, an independent author really must act as her own publisher and will have to contract for all services (editing, cover design, printing, marketing and returns). Ugh! "That is an option. Doing it yourself is also an option. The whole reason this group exists is so that authors can offer their own experiences so that no one has to be taken in my opportunistic scammers.
Christina wrote: "Nicole wrote: "Ann wrote: "Hey everyone!In our last moderator's meeting, (yes, we have meetings -- we're official!! ha ha) we thought it might be a good idea to have an option for you all to be a..."
If you have a contract with a publisher, you will be assigned one and maybe even two editors. They work for the publisher. You as the author pay nothing. Christina is right.
If you go it alone (for whatever reason) you will want to hire an editor. You're on your own, of course. That will include marketing and publicity. The upside is that you will make more money for each book sold. The downside are the upfront expenses.
There are reputable firms that will help you and there are despicable firms that will rip you off. One will help in any way that they can (but, they don't do it pro bono) and the others are out to separate you from your money.
As Christina wrote: "...read, read, read the fine print."
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No I won't.
Dwayne wrote: "J.D. wrote: "If you go it alone (for whatever reason) you will want to hire an editor."No I won't."
Cool!
Mary wrote: "Hi,I recently got a phone call from a guy that represented a company called "Okir publishing" and offered me a fee to market my book the 'right' way. He said that my book was overpriced where it i..."
They called you, told you your book needs to be changed and conveniently, they can help you for $2.5k. Honestly, there is nothing to investigate here. This is a straight up scam. Any reputable marketer would go through your publisher, not you.
Website looks legit and attractive but a phone callto a newly published writer with suggestions of paying $2.5k is beyond belief. They are clearly short of business and must be desperate. As Christina implies, they are to be avoided in my opinion.
I don't know if any marketing companies work this way, but to me the only business model that makes sense for an unknown author is one where they get paid based on sales. If they're any good, that should be a sure bet for them, otherwise they know their services are not worth the fee.
Mary wrote: "Hi again,I was again approached by another marketing firm that proposed to have my book pitched to traditional publishing companies. They wanted to re-do the cover and reduce the price because the..."
In all honesty, you didn't give enough details to really comment, but you posted enough red flags that I'd steer clear.
1. They saw your book at a conference. These typically draw vanity presses and the types of scam marketers who work closely with vanities.
2. You are being told not to create an ebook. This is basically indie career suicide. Ebooks cost you nothing to create and are more likely to be purchased that paperbacks and you can price them less than $5 and still make a better royalty than you'd get through a vanity press.
3. Not sure who your current publisher is, but if it's POD and it's not Createpace, Ingram, or Lulu, you might want to check the fine print as to who gets what.
4. Traditional publishers do not necessarily mean the big five or even a respected small press. You may end up with many offers from companies who have ridiculously one sided contracts.
I received an email through Goodreads from BooksGuy, and for some reason, the alarm bells started ringing. "BooksGuy asked
I am interested in reviewing your latest book. Can you please send me a review copy to doungd56@gmail.com? I accept PDF, MOBI and EPUB. I don't have a Kindle Unlimited account. Thanks. Doug"
When I checked out his profile, his account has been set to private and he has made no previous reviews.
On his Twitter account (douggo45), he offers "affordable book promotion services for authors".
Am I right to be wary?
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Following up on Rosie's post: I got the exact same email from "BookGuy"... or "Doug" and like an idiot, I sent him a copy. (but I chose to give him an ePub, since I don't really use that format). No reply back... but then later that day I got an email from "Jim J." at bookstweet54@gmail.com offering review and promotion services (in a suspiciously worded email). AND it was sent to the email I sent the review copy from... NOT my Goodreads email. The next day I got another, this time from "Rupert M." at tweetbooks22@gmail.com. Making a similar offer, but the wording was similar enough it was clear it was the same person. Then, later that day, another one from "Keith H." at docktradeg1@gmail.com . Again, similar enough wording that I'm sure it's all related. After not responding to any of these, the emails stopped.
I got that message through goodreads and did a little checking. Couldn't find anywhere that any books had ever been reviewed. Facebook, twitter, only asking others for a review copy, never a review or blog. No internet foot print that looked like a blogger or anything legit. Never got back or sent anything. 'Nick' search your book and see if the title shows up in a review blog somewhere for a guy named Doug or worse offered for free somewhere.
Thanks for all your replies and so glad I checked. I'm going to add Doug's email address to my spam folder so I don't get inundated with other messages.
Thanks so much for the heads up! I received the same, and ignored it thinking it was probably a scam. I am a rookie at this stuff though, and couldn't help wondering if I was missing some must-do promotional activity seasoned authors would jump on, hahaha!
I got that exact one too and was suspicious. I looked at his profile and no photo nothing public. A big clue in was the wording. No references to my material. "You're latest book" doesn't even apply to me, as I only have one out. How careless of him, if he plans to succeed. I was planning to write a letter of concern to Amazon re their system for sending to reviewers encouraging scammers. They suggest using the gifting a book button, but the recipient has the option to convert your gift to a gift certificate instead of loading your book. So that leads to scammers asking for books o they can get whatever they want. Scammers could also release books themselves of course. Maybe if a bunch of people wrote to Amazon they would get a better system in place for sending review and promotional copies.
I got a similar request through a Goodreads communication last week. "I'm interested in reviewing your latest book." He wanted it in electronic form. I replied, and asked which book he was interested in, requested that he point me to some of his reviews, and told him that I don't have the books in electronic form. A week later I got the exact same request from him.
He got me as well. I was foolish enough to send him a coupon for a free download on Smashwords. I received a mountain of spam offers in reply.On the positive side, my reputation as the Village Idiot has been enhanced.
Anyone can get caught with a scam, Ubiquitous. That's why we have these support groups. We need to focus on protecting each other, and share the time-wasting task of checking out potential scammers.
Add me to the list. I didn't respond to the phisherman, but still got hit up by "Jim J." and his cronies. They're hanging out in my spam folder as we speak.
I hope I am in the right thread. Please Admin put it where it is most approtpriate. I just discover that Google.docs has put my non fiction book The Inuit Dog of the Polar North recently published as a free download. I went to Google report abuse, and got to the Copyright Removal page. Filled it in, except the last URL for the location of the copyright infringement. I duly entered the Google.docs where my book is located, but the URL gets rejected as invalid. I also tried the URL where the free download is offered but it is a shell of Google.docs so it doesn't work.
Does anyone know what to do next? Is Blasty the best way to go about it? It is impossible to contact Google or is it?
Thanks.
I can see this getting complicated quickly because Google Documents and Google Drive are like Dropbox in that they are online folders that Individuals upload files too. In this case it sounds like. Someone pirated your book and used their account there to distribute it. reporting it as you had, likely notified that user and they either took it down or renamed the file so that it had a different URL.Google doesn't maintain the files in user drive folders so it is likely that you'll have to keep hunting down and reporting the files that users upload of your books.
Additionally, if you are offering the files yourself on Google drive, you'll want to change the permission on the file to "view only" so that people cannot download it.
What strikes me as odd is that context clues here say that you are offering your book on Google Drive/Docs for pay? How are you doing this, as this is simply a cloud-based file storage system?
Do you mean Google Books (separate service altogether)?
Oh no! I am not offering the book on Google drive/docs at all. The book is only available from Amazon. I only discovered google.docs and all the rest when I got alerted my book was offered for a free download. I went into the google docs and found tiny bar that says Remove. So I did click on it. I don't know whether that will do any good. I also signed on with Blasty as my research showed that all my romances had also been pirated.
What baffles me is the fact that I found some document on google.docs that I have never put there. I don't share, don't use social media much at all, never for personal info. It makes me realize how vulnerable indie authors are. They are not likely to go after the pirates with the law because we know we don't make much money.
Disgusting thiefs!
I also received the same e-mail. I decided not to answer.
Trying to delete pirated copies of your book is like playing whack-a-mole.
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That needs to be a meme!!! lol :)
I also got an email (at my work email!) form Jim J. at docktradeg1@gmail.com. I googled the email and found this thread. Thanks for posting! I suspected it was bogus, but this confirms. Hi,
My name is Jim. I organize book review tours targeted by book genre. I have access to a total of 14,000 readers and 2,000 book bloggers on my ARC list and social media platforms. If you are still looking for reviews and are serious about book promotion, you can contact me for details.
Jim
Got this email from Joann B. Pirtle - docktradeg1@gmail.com.“Hi, I organize review tours for authors whose books are published on Amazon. I also offer promotional services for unpublished books, books on pre-order and ARC copies. At present I can organize review tours for ebooks, books and audiobooks. We accept every genre. If you are a SERIOUS author, you can connect with me for more details.”
I googled the email and found this thread. Where I found 2 other comments from 2018 & 2019, same email address used but different names - Jim J & Keith H. Looks like this person is still doing the round. Luckily I am a person who does research before committing to anything. Be Vigilant everyone
Update: just reported that email as spam and checked my spam folder and there was an email from Martha C. Sapp "HI, Are you interested in getting quality, HONEST reviews for your book? I have a large network of 63,861 book reviewers and book bloggers from all genres.
I don't use Ingram, but keep in mind the buyback option is going to cost you a lot more than their standard package, which has a fee as well.