#1 New York Times Bestselling Author & TV Producer
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
I love Lori Prokop. My favorite online huckster never quits. She has re-invented herself yet again and is offering you the benefit of her enlightenment…and another chance to get rich! But before I share her amazing new self and her astonishing new business venture with you later today, I thought we should celebrate all the … Read more
We wrapped our fifth day of shooting at about 1:30 Monday morning and it was past 3 am by the time I got back to my hotel. I woke up at about 11 am and spent a couple of hours doing laundry in the basement of my hotel, where I also ran into one of … Read more
I have been getting lots of emails about THE LAST WORD, the final DIAGNOSIS MURDER novel. I would say that 95% of the response has been positive…the rest, well, far less so. Here’s a small sampling of some of them: From Patrick Casey: I finished reading "The Last Word" last night and I must say … Read more