#1 New York Times Bestselling Author & TV Producer
The Fourth Annual Scribe Awards are now open for submissions. The Scribes, presented by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (www.iamtw.org), honors excellence in licensed tie-in writing—novels based on TV shows, movies, and games. Here are the submissions guidelines: The Scribe Awards and How You Can Enter The IAMTW will present SIX AWARDS in … Read more
Amazon won’t carry any print-on-demand books unless they are produced by Booksurge, the online site’s own POD printer. This is clearly an attempt by Amazon’s Booksurge to steal market share from their arch rival Lightning Source, which produces the majority of POD titles for companies like iUniverse and PublishAmerica. This news has, of course, rocked … Read more
I still keep getting unwanted emails from Jennifer Crowder at Lightsword Publishing, even after I ridiculed her company’s inept promotional efforts and ugly covers here… and after I asked her to please take me off their mailing list. Today, I got not one, but two spam emails from them, one with the headline "You Don’t … Read more
Book marketer/publicist Michael R. Drew has put together a site called beneaththecover.com under the guise of helping aspiring writers with expert advice…except all the "advice" is coming from publicists and self-publishers looking to sell their services to the unwary. In an apparent bid to legitimize their effort, they have been reaching out to "hundreds" of … Read more
I’ve run into a lot of old friends on the picket line and it has been great catching up with them. It’s made me wonder why it took a strike for me to finally see them again. So one of my new year’s resolutions is to stay in better touch with my friends. The day … Read more
The Boston Globe reports that Brunonia Barry has sold her self-published novel THE LACE READER , and another to-be-written book, to Morrow for $2 million. This news will become the rallying cry for vanity presses everywhere…and the example gullible aspiring authors will use to justify throwing away their money. What the hordes of desperate aspiring … Read more
I keep getting emails from J. Crowder at Lightsword Publishing. The emails have no message, just a link to their site. Brilliant marketing, huh? I finally gave in and clicked it. The link takes you to an astonishingly amatuerish website. But if you think the site looks bad, you should see their book covers. They … Read more
I got this email today: I am thinking about submitting my mystery/romance/thriller to Hilliard & Harris. What can you tell me about them? In my opinion, Hilliard & Harris are essentially a Print-On-Demand vanity press that gets you to pay on the backend rather than upfront (if you don’t include what you pay to buy … Read more
I got an email today from someone with lots ideas that she wants to sell: I have heaps of story ideas, but I am not good at creating characters. Is there a place out there for people like me? Somebody who buys the basis of a story. So far I have written shorts of a … Read more
Edgar Award-winning author Burl Barer, who also happens to be my Uncle, sent me this note about his encounter with a book biz get-rich-quick huckster: I received the following email on MYSPACE…no doubt well intentioned, but it irked me. Here it is. "While reading your wonderful profile I could not help but notice that you … Read more