Looking for Mr. Goodwriter

I got this email today. It read, in part: I am looking to license a script for a tv show and to be quite honest I have no idea where to look for writers that are submitting there work for licensing or purchase. Can you be more specific? I have no idea what you mean. … Read more

Typical Day

Today was another typical working day for me (yeah, I know it’s Sunday, it makes no difference). I spent the morning working on my second MONK novel. First, I revised the work I did yesterday, then worked on a new chapter. I managed to write 9 new pages.  I had lunch, then I spent the … Read more

Booksurge

I got this email today: Is Booksurge a vanity press? They are owned by Amazon, which sells the books, so isn’t that different? Yes, Booksurge is a vanity press. Being owned by Amazon doesn’t change that.  The big clue is that  they charge for all their publishing services… starting at $498 for their "Author’s Advantage" … Read more

“Pseudo-Psycho-Fiction”

I got this email today. It’s so, um, unique that the only way to do it justice is to reprint it in full. Dear Mr. Golberg, If you don’t delete this e-mail like I probably would, I would like to ask you a question. I have just completed my first book. I Started this project … Read more

Is this Fanfic…or Sickfic?

Just when I thought "mpreg fanfic" (a fictional TV or movie character impregnating another fictional male TV or movie character) couldn’t be topped, along comes "Real People Slash"…fanfic in which two real people have fictional sex with one another like, say, Mr. T and Corbin Bernson.  What kind of person writes this "Real People Slash?" … Read more

License Revoked

Sean Connery has scrapped his autobiography and returned his $1 million advance because he just couldn’t find a ghostwriter he could get along with.

The Desperate and the Gullible

Sometimes it seems like there’s nobody more gullible than an unpublished author. Blinded by their desperate desire for publication, they will ignore even the most obvious signs of a scam. Peter Winkler clued me into this article from the Times Union about yet another publishing con…one so obvious and blatant, it’s astonishing that any sensible … Read more

Pros and Cons of POD

The Sacramento  News & Review ran an interesting, and very balanced, article about the pros-and-cons of Print-On-Demand publishing (ie "vanity presses"). there’s a difference between the POD printing technology–which has many uses–and POD publishing. In recent years, a number of companies have begun to offer POD publishing services to authors who want to see their … Read more