My Blog

iUniverse CEO Gives Aspiring Authors Advice

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Susan Driscoll, the CEO of iUniverse, has a blog.  In her initial post, she says:

I’ve been CEO of iUniverse for almost three years and spent over twenty
years in traditional publishing before that. As such, I have a pretty
broad understanding of the publishing business and of the unique
concerns of self-published authors. Through this blog, I’ll share
relevant facts about the industry and provide perspective and advice to
aspiring authors. And, since there are many smart publishing people
that I’m lucky to call my friends, I’ll regularly call on those experts
to answer questions of general interest.

The last person any aspiring author should turn to for advice is the CEO of a vanity press. If she was really interested in helping aspiring authors, her first piece of advice to them would be not to pay a P.O.D. company $1100 to "publish" your novel.  It’s throwing your money away.  Just look at the stats: In 2004, out of 18,108 titles iUniverse published, only 83 titles sold more than 500 copies and only 14 titles were actually stocked in brick-and-mortar stores.

While I think going to a vanity press with your novel is a huge mistake, I don’t think the same is necessarily true for non-fiction work — especially if you are giving lots of seminars and  speeches and can sell your books at the events or are teaching a class where your book can be assigned as required reading.

I have several books "published" by iUniverse… my UNSOLD TV PILOTS books and my novel MY GUN HAS BULLETS. But I didn’t pay a nickel for it. All of books were previously published, out-of-print titles which were republished through special Authors Guild and Mystery Writers of America "back in print" programs.  I would never have reprinted MY GUN HAS BULLETS through iUniverse if there was a cost involved…nor would I ever recommend that anybody pay to have an original novel "published" by iUniverse. 

You can see for yourself how much … or rather, how little … I’ve made from these books by looking at some of my royalty statements.

Who Am I? The Sequel

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I got another email from Doug Mannington at Point of Impact today:

Greetings – I am looking to purchase 5 text link ads on neilgaiman.com/journal/

Each ad is two to three words in length and can be placed anywhere on your page as long as the ads are visible on the majority of pages on your website. I would be willing to pay for 3 months of advertising up front.

Would you be interested?

Looking forward to your response,

Doug

I replied to Doug that I’ve double checked my birth certificate, driver’s license and passport and I’m still pretty sure that I am not Neil Gaiman.  But I could be Pierce Brosnan.

Writer’s Digest isn’t for Writers Anymore

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I’ve written here before about the unethically close relationship between Writer’s Digest and it’s vanity press advertisers. Now whatever blurry line there might have been between the magazine and the vanity press industry has been completely erased.  The transformation of WD into a shill for the vanity press industry is complete. I got this email from WD today:

The 6th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition Collection. This exclusive collection published by Trafford Publishing contains the top twenty-five winning entries of the 6th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition, including the  First-Place winner "Brown Pride," by Jeff McElroy. Don’t miss your chance to see these shorts! Visit http://www.writersdigest.com/specialoffers.asp?DMshbklt051806
to reserve your copy of the 6th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition Collection today!

Trafford Publishing is a print-on-demand, self-publishing company. WD can’t claim any journalastic integrity, or that they objectively represent the best interests of writers, while at the same time they are in business with (and lend their name to) a vanity press, which preys on the desperation and naivete of aspiring authors.  Clearly, the purpose of the magazine now is to steer writers to these self-publishing companies…and to make the writers think that all it takes to become a successful author is a credit card.

Bruckheimer is Spelling

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CBS has revamped their Sunday schedule, dropping their weekly movie and replacing it with three Jerry Bruckheimer series: AMAZING RACE, COLD CASE and WITHOUT A TRACE. Bruckheimer owns Sunday, which may be the first time a single producer has owned a night of network programming since Aaron Spelling owned ABC’s Saturday with TJ HOOKER, THE LOVE BOAT, FANTASY ISLAND and later with THE LOVE BOAT, FANTASY ISLAND  and FINDERS OF LOST LOVES (though Norman Lear came close with ARCHIE BUNKER’S PLACE, GLORIA, JEFFERSONS, and ONE DAY AT A TIME on CBS Sundays…the last hour going to TRAPPER JOHN MD).

Bouchercon

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I’ve just booked my hotel room for Bouchercon 2006 in Madison, Wisconsin ( if you attending, and haven’t made room reservations yet, you better hurry — the area hotels are selling out fast). I also received my Anthony Award ballot in the mail this week.  The Anthonys are selected by Bouchercon attendees and any mystery novel published in 2005 is eligible for nomination. I hope if you enjoyed THE MAN WITH THE IRON ON BADGE, and are attending Bouchercon this fall, that you will consider nominating the book for Best Novel when you receive your ballot.  My book aside, I can’t honestly remember all the good stuff that I read that was published in 2005. Please jog my memory with any suggestions you might have in the comment below. The categories are Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Paperback Original, Best Short Story and Best Critical/Non-fiction Work. Thanks!

Everwood Nevermore

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The CW has leaked it’s fall schedule… and it doesn’t include EVERWOOD or REBA.  The sked will reportedly be a mix of old favorites from UPN (VERONICA MARS, AMERICA’S TOP MODEL, ALL OF US, EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS, GIRLFRIENDS) and The WB (GILMORE GIRLS, 7th HEAVEN, ONE TREE HILL, SMALLVILLE, SUPERNATURAL) and the new shows PALM SPRINGS (a soap from Kevin Williamson), RUNAWAY (Donnie Wahlberg is on the run for a crime he didn’t commit), and the GIRLFRIEND’s spin-off THE GAME. The CW didn’t pick-up the WB-developed AQUAMAN, surprising industry pundits who considered it a done deal, since the project was from the folks behind SMALLVILLE.

UPDATE: Les Moonves blinked… and instead of paying 20th Century Fox a $20 million penalty for not picking up REBA (which the late WB had previously renewed for two seasons)… he’s decided to bring back to the show for midseason. Meanwhile, for some reason PALM SPRINGS has been renamed HIDDEN PALMS…which sounds kind of clunky to me.

Welcome Back, Goldberg

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I’ll be teaching the "Beginning Writing for the One-Hour Drama" course at UCLA Extension this summer (taking the baton from my friend Matt Witten). Here’s the info on the course:

Modeled directly on how writers write in the real world of one-hour
dramas, this course focuses on what is most central to creating a
strong script as well as the largest piece (40 percent) of the writer’s
deal with any show: the story and outline. The course goal is for you
to master the process of constructing an airtight story and detailed
outline so that you are ready to write a script for any current show as
quickly and expertly as possible. The steps you take include choosing
the best story for your spec script, mapping it out from beginning to
end, and writing a strong outline in proper script format. In the
process, you learn how to identify and capture the tone, characters,
dialogue, and themes of any one-hour drama series–the key to breaking
and staying in the field. This course also introduces students to the
various genres (police procedurals, medical, legal, etc.) and their
specific rules; what’s popular in the current marketplace; and how to
work within the special requirements of timeslots, outlet, and styles
(for example, single-character drama versus ensemble cast). All student projects must focus on current shows; no pilots.

The enrollment is limited to 20 students, so if you’re interested, act now while there are still some seats left.

Who Am I?

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I got this email today:

Greetings – I am looking to purchase 5 text link ads on neilgaiman.com/journal/

Each ad is two to three words in length and can be placed anywhere on your page as long as the ads are visible on the majority of pages on your website. I would be willing to pay for 3 months of advertising up front.  Would you be interested?

I haven’t been feeling like myself lately…but I’m pretty sure that I’m not Neil Gaiman.

Two New TV Books

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As you know by now, I’m a major TV geek… so I’ve just snagged my copy of  THE "12 O’CLOCK HIGH" LOGBOOK by Allan Duffin and Paul Matheis, which tells the inside story behind the novel, the movie and the TV series. I’m looking forward to reading it, and Bill Carter’s DESPERATE NETWORKS, when I have some free time again…

Romance Author Wins Libel Case Against Authorhouse

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Publishers Weekly reports that a Kansas court has ordered Authorhouse, the POD vanity press,  to pay $230,000 to romance author Rebecca Brandwynne, who was libeled by one of their books, which was written by her ex-husband.

According to court documents, AuthorHouse published Paperback Poison: the Romance Writer and the Hit Man by Gary D. Brock, with his current wife, Debbie Brock, in November, 2003. Some of the more incendiary claims in Paperback Poison
include allegations that Brandewyne broke laws, committed adultery,
plagiarized several of her books, and hired a hit man to kill her
ex-husband, the book’s author.

[…]The Kansas jury ruled for Brandewyne even though AuthorHouse’s
contracts state that the publisher assumes no legal responsibility or
liability “for any loss, damage, injury, or claim to any kind or
character to any person or property” in publishing the works of its
clients. Jay Fowler, an attorney for Brandewyne, maintained that the
“contract does not absolve AuthorHouse of their responsibility.
AuthorHouse published the book, put it on the Internet, did everything
a publisher does. They’re responsible for publishing this book without
vetting it first.”

One of the more interesting aspects of this story is what it reveals about the "success" of self-published POD titles.

Fowler said that AuthorHouse claims 74 copies of Paperback Poison
in total were printed, 21 were given to the author, three were sold,
and the company destroyed the 50 copies they had remaining in stock
after receiving complaints about the book from Brandewyne and others.
“But that book’s still out there,” Fowler said. “Sometimes, [the online
seller] says the book is published by Lightning Source, sometimes
1stBooks, sometimes AuthorHouse. But it all flows back to AuthorHouse.”

Seventy-four copies were printed. Twenty one of those were sold to the author. Only three copies were actually sold to readers. Wow.  No wonder so many aspiring authors flock to these vanity presses. Who wouldn’t pay hundreds — or even thousands — of dollars for a chance at that amazing print run and distribution?

This story just goes to prove what anyone with common sense already knows: that vanity presses make all their money from the authors, not from selling books to readers…and that there is no editorial oversight of any kind.

UPDATE: The folks over at POD-dy Mouth have another perspective on the story:

If in fact, Authorhouse loses on appeal (I’m not a lawyer; I’m just assuming), imagine what that would do to the world of POD?

S-l-o-w- i-t- d-o-w-n.

And
you thought regular publishing was slow! Guess what will happen if (for
lack of a better term) non-publishing professionals have to vet these
books?