Writology – The Silent Religion

And How Corporate America Makes It A Billion Dollar Business

This document represents the result of my research on the current publishing industry, and it serves as a basis for my next novel, American Male Prostitute. It contains a series of entries from my blog at FrogenYozurt.com plus a few new ones. Please excuse that my comments sound a bit sarcastic at times, but I have been through the tiresome and frustrating process of writing, publishing, and promoting my first novel. I have learned the hard way that promoting a novel is one of the most difficult tasks in the business world. Add to this a great number of dubious businesses preying on the unsuspecting, aspiring writer.

Let me quote author TK Kenyon: “Writing, especially fiction writing, is a tough business to get into and a tougher one to stay in. Generally, neither authors nor publishers make a significant profit until an author’s fifth novel is published. Over 195,000 novels are published by traditional publishers in the U.S. every year. Of those, 70% sell fewer than 500 copies.”

Today’s writing and publishing world is shrugging off the old “exclusive-club” mentality, but it is, by any means, not a friendly place for an aspiring writer. As a matter of fact, the industry has turned into a shark tank. When I refer to “the industry” I mean, among other businesses, the traditional publishers, most of who are struggling these days, but they are not the actual problem. The “shark tank” is dominated by new startups in the industry, mostly vanity publishers, who produce significant profit without delivering the results they promise. It seems that scammers possess a much keener business sense than the traditional publishing businesses, and they are taking the better part of a multi-million Dollar business.

Unfortunately, too many writing sites and especially writers’ magazines (I exclude Poets & Writers specifically from this statement) are too busy spouting wonderful stories about the industry. They live from advertisement and a readership that is represented mostly by unsuccessful writers, the number one target for scammers. These days the best paying advertisers are primarily the previously mentioned vanity publishers, because – Duh! – they do have the means to purchase full page ad space.

In turn – to keep their advertisers happy – the magazines’ task is in motivating their readers to “hang on, because we are confident you will find success eventually.” They continue presenting the good in everything and everybody, and they give you the inspirational tour on a regular basis. My advice to everybody who believes in this motivational nonsense would be to start your own religious sect and call it… Writology. Go and worship yourselves. You’re good at that!

Yes, it is true; perseverance is imperative for the aspiring writer, but I question the reason to provide motivation. Their mission is not about helping writers, otherwise they would post warnings, which they – believe me – do not. It’s all about making profit. There is nothing wrong about making profit as long as you do it with professionalism and dignity, but today’s management is only about profit, profit, and profit without an iota of passion for their readership.

Everything you find in this document is based on my own experience with the writing and publishing world, and any statements made are based on my very personal opinion. I would like to emphasize that my writing is not based on anger, but keen observation of the industry. My narrow view is without a doubt not representative for the entire world of writing and publishing, but I am sure that many new writers had similar experiences.

Seizure #367 – Another Inspirational Offering

Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.

- Thomas A. Edison

Yes, I do number my seizures. When, according to established industry standards, you are diagnosed as an aspiring, but most likely untalented writer, you either have seizures, or, due to absence of effective medication, you fall back into religion. I, personally, chose seizures, because my God told me not to have other gods besides him. The other god would have been myself, but we’ll get to that later (see Seizure #366).

I had Seizure #367 after receiving a flyer in today’s mail, offering yet another writers’ magazine. Now, why should I subscribe to this one? Because it delivers advice and inspiration without risk or obligation. You get your hands on techniques and encouragement. Inspiring details inside…

Here we go again. Hallelujah! More inspiration and encouragement for the aspiring writer. And Hallelujah again. Here’s yet another shark in the writing and publishing business preying on unsuspecting victims.

The current situation is: There are hundreds of thousands aspiring writers in the United States alone, all armed with a word-processor and a high-speed Internet connection, and they all believe they have a talent for writing. The harsh truth is that only a discouraging low percentage of them will ever reach their goal of signing a contract with one of the traditional publishing businesses in the United States. There is a vast discrepancy between the number of aspiring writers and the unwillingness of the publishing industry to take chances in combination with a surprising impotence of discovering new, good writers.

The other option for all these wannabe-writers is self-publishing, a choice that is becoming increasingly popular. All you need is the before-mentioned word-processor and a high-speed Internet connection. Yet another harsh truth is, that the vast majority of self-publishers will not sell more than 500 copies of their work, most of them to friends and family. The problem may not necessarily be the lack of talent; the main problem is effective marketing.

And this is where Corporate America comes into action. Imagine hundreds of thousands of wannabe-writers, all of them willing to spend some major money – up to several thousand Dollars per head – trying to reach their ultimate goal of having their book published one way or the other. If you do the simple math, you will find this is a multi-million Dollar business, and the variation of services offered boggles the mind. The majority of these services – in the following called “sharks” – base their business on deceit on the lowest level up to outright fraud, and I will attempt to prove my not-so-bold statement in the following.

Seizure #1 – Here It Comes. My First Novel.

I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paper work.

- Peter De Vries

As you may notice, I don’t record my seizures in the order of their appearance, and I don’t record all of them. Nevertheless, it all started with seizure #1.

A little over two years ago I finally followed my dream of writing a novel. I had written and self-published three technical books before, and they still sell decently well. Let me add that I run my own publishing business. My books are printed and distributed through Lightning Source, an Ingram business unit. Ingram itself is the largest book distributor in the United States. My account with them provides me low printing costs combined with automatic listings on all Online bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but also exposure to the numerous brick & mortar bookstores all over the US.

At the time of seizure #1 I was aware, at least to a certain level, that writing technical literature and writing a novel are two different ballparks, but I was also thrilled by the idea. The writing itself turned out not to be as difficult a task as I had expected. I did, however, thoroughly underestimate the marketing efforts.

Marketing non-fictional literature is a relatively simple task, because, after all, you know your audience, and targeting a specific readership is easy. In case of a novel it is not only difficult to narrow down your readership; you also compete against the heavyweights in the business such as Stephenie Meyer, Dan Brown, John Grisham, Stephen King, and many others. Add to this that you cannot match their book prices. Add to this the vast amount of books that are published in the United States alone in a single year.

Be that as it may, my purpose behind writing my first novel was primarily to get a look and feel of the publishing industry, which, I hoped, would deliver me insights on effective marketing and would help me with writing and publishing my next novels. The result of my research, however, did not produce a solution that I could possibly afford. I now have a much better understanding of the publishing business, but the task of promoting my novel has not become easier.

It was nevertheless surprising to learn how bizarre, if not irrational the traditional publishing industry functions. Add to this the sharks in the business, and we may have an answer what my seizures are all about.

Seizure #366 – Discovering Writology

The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.
- Sir Francis Burton

I just received the latest issue of my favorite most useless magazine, Writer’s Digest. Why I still receive it, I don’t know; I don’t keep track when my subscription ends, and it will hopefully end some time soon. It took me an annoying five minutes to page through the magazine to find there was nothing in there that would even remotely interest me. The only purpose I found in this publication was to investigate the fascinating, yet odd world of writing and publishing.

This last issue of Writer’s Digest, however, made me smile. It is a new year, and, accordingly, Writer’s Digest is taking the opportunity to initiate yet another motivational campaign for all those who are trying – unsuccessfully, I may add – to have their book published. Writer’s Digest’s motivational effort, however, is not a Samaritan approach to help aspiring authors getting a book deal. Their business model is based on the assumption that there are a mind-staggering number of untalented writers out there – these times, more than ever – who are buying their magazine.

The equation is easy: No talent, no book deal. Ergo: If you give up, you won’t buy our magazine anymore. So, let’s step up the motivational efforts.

Accordingly, the articles in the February 2010 issue are titled Why Inspiration Matters, Essentials of the Writing Life, Wake Up That Subconscious, and more of the same utter nonsense. Let me just add that I get inspiration and motivation every time I go to church, and I’d rather listen to our priest.

One article in particular, Why Inspiration Matters by Fred White, caught my attention, yet I have to admit I didn’t read it. However, the article’s seven reasons why inspiration matters caught my attention. They are:

1. Inspiration transforms us from creative readers to creative writers.
2. Inspiration heightens our senses.
3. Inspiration develops our understanding of human nature.
4. Inspiration improves our capacity for appreciating nature.
5. Inspiration helps us achieve mental discipline.
6. Inspiration intensifies our spiritual connection to our craft.
7. Inspiration reinforces our commitment to writing.

Wow! While I do not challenge Fred White’s conclusions, I am flabbergasted by the author’s intensity describing a simple matter like writing. In my child-like thinking, if you don’t feel inspired, if you are lacking mental discipline, or if you lack the commitment to writing, maybe writing isn’t your forte.

Maybe it’s just that I am the simple-minded guy. I go with James M. Berrie, who once said, “Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” If writing is work, and you need to read this inspirational nonsense to write your next novel or poem, maybe you shouldn’t be writing.

My advice to Writer’s Digest, and everybody who believes in this motivational nonsense, would be to start their own religious sect and call it… Writology. Go and worship yourselves. You’re good at that!

Please excuse my sarcasm, but I don’t believe in the nonsense that this magazine publishes on a regular basis. As I said, I am simple-minded. I just sit and write.

Seizure #211 – The Dream World Of Writers’ Forums

To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep.

- Joan Klempner

Most of us aspiring writers sign up for online forums, either to pitch new ideas and wait for feedback, or to ask for advice, but foremost to “build a platform.” “Building a platform” is based on a very basic principle: If nobody knows you, nobody will buy your books.

I always put the term “building a platform” in quotation marks, because, in my very personal opinion, there is a lot of nonsense connected with the idea, especially when it comes to forums. Yes, it is imperative for each new – and even the established – author to maintain a web site and create some attention for his/her work. But forums, with very few exceptions, have close to Absolute Null impact on a writer’s career. Nobody else but other aspiring writers will read your entries. After months of playing with various forums I had decided to cancel all but one of my accounts – I’ll keep the one at AuthorNation.com, because it’s actually fun being there (unless their server breaks down, which it does frequently).

But even on AuthorNation.com you will be pestered by what I call the “forum sharks.” Forum sharks “attack” each single new member and ask to be their Online friend, forcing them to read their – usually useless – blabbering about their books and other writings, may it be about infertility treatment, attracting money with your mind, new paths to riches, or even poems that don’t rhyme (Sorry, maybe I am just plain old-fashioned, but, in my world, good poetry rhymes).

You recognize the sharks by the vast number of “friends” they have, a number close to the total number of members on the forum. Their initial message is usually like “Welcome to the forum, and, by the way, please buy my newest novel…” They literally spend several hours a day to send their “friend requests” (without results that would justify the efforts, I may add – I checked them out).

Forum sharks usually do not participate in member communications, meaning they don’t read other members’ inquiries or offer advice, unless the forum is based solely on member communication. In the latter case, each newcomer will be greeted by a great number of members wishing you well in your efforts to become the next Hemingway, and while some of these greetings may be from the heart, most are designed not only to create readership, but foremost to place yet another hyperlink to their web site.

Again, we’re “building our platform,” and search engines love hyperlinks, and an increased number of hyperlinks will help increase awareness of your web site in the Internet community. Well…wrong! Any SEO (search engine optimization) expert will tell you that the mere number of hyperlinks doesn’t count when it comes from the same source, the same web site. Secondly, depending on how the forum is set up, search engines might not even be able to access member communications and thus not see the hyperlinks.

In another forum, that I signed up for and abandoned after a while, you could only insert hyperlinks into your posts after writing at least twenty-five entries. Ergo, some users invented the “word game.” I write an entry containing a single word, you respond with another, related word, I response with yet another, related word, and so on, and so on. Needless to say, but games like this one do not help to increase the quality of the online forum, but the original purpose of the forum is not important to forum sharks.

Another forum categorizes you by the number of entries, starting at “New Member” (less than fifty entries) up to “Premium Member” (more than 500 entries). So, let’s get our hands at that computer keyboard and write something to improve our rank.

Then there are the “semi-gods,” members who either have participated for several years (and at the same time wasted their time writing literally thousands of entries), or they are real, accomplished authors. Some forums are sponsored by one of the sharks in the publishing industry, and some of them hire accomplished authors to “mentor” the newcomers. The advice they offer is, naturally, in line with their sponsor.

In my very personal opinion, the worst writers’ forum in the business is the one sponsored by Writer’s Digest, my favorite, most useless magazine. Writer’s Digest is specifically in the business of maintaining a dream world for aspiring, yet (hopefully) unsuccessful writers. Their online forum, at the time when I signed up, was dominated by two elderly semi-gods, both with a reputation of a long writing career. At the same time, both were incredibly Internet-illiterate and, consequently, were opposed to radical ideas such as self-publishing. They wouldn’t offer any advice in that direction other than not to self-publish. Self-publishing is still considered the equivalent of lack of talent. I once dared to challenge their views, and their tone became increasingly aggressive, even insulting. In one post, one of these semi-gods stated that 99.9% of all aspiring writers – including myself – have no talent at all, which I thought was the wrong message to be sent to the forum’s members.

At another occasion (at another forum) I inquired regarding the effectiveness of paid review services for an author’s career, and one of the semi-gods blasted me for even posting such a ridiculous question. The last line in his entry was “Cut the crap!” His claim to fame was the publication of a Karate-Kid-replica novel that sold decently well on Amazon.com.

On a personal note, I was shocked by the lack of writing skills that far too many forum members, even the published authors among them, demonstrate in public, not necessarily in regards to style, but especially when it comes to the basics such as proper grammar and spelling. I don’t consider my own writing as perfect, but my excuse is that English is my second language.

My advice to the novice writer: First, browse the Internet for information, but avoid forums. Secondly, don’t buy books on writing; they’re just plain useless. Most importantly, read, read, read, and… read. Read online newspapers, read Hemingway, or even Sarah Palin (Yikes!), everything works. This will be time well spent, and, if managed properly, will cost very little money.

Then, after all, write, write, write, and… write. Write about everything that comes to mind, especially topics you are passionate about. Put these writings on a blog. Continuous reading and writing will improve your writing style.

If you are talented and persevere, you will find success eventually. As a logical consequence, if you are not talented (nothing wrong with that), you will not find success. Online forums play no part in either scenario.

Seizure #43 – Vanity Publishers

Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.

- Senator Dianne Feinstein

It is time to take a swing at the sharks in the publishing business, in this case so-called vanity publishers. To put it in a nutshell, vanity publishers create income by charging authors for printing and publishing their works.

As part of some research for a new novel I had decided to work through a number of older issues of my favorite, most useless magazine, Writer’s Digest.

In the following I am referring to the March/April 2009 issue, page 11, which contains a full-page advertisement by Outskirts Press. In the ad, an author of four children’s books is quoted as follows: “I have published three children’s books with Outskirts Press and I can say without reservation that each experience has been a pleasure. The quality of each book was spectacular. I am writing my fourth children’s book and Outskirts Press will be handling all the publishing details. I couldn’t be happier.”

Good for him! However, let’s do a reality check. As of the time of this writing I found four of his books on Amazon.com. Three of them come with a price tag of $19.95 for a mere 64 pages. His latest publication is priced at $27.95. Needless to say, but this kind of price range, in view of the competitive market, makes it almost impossible to sell the books, and it shows in the sales ranks.

Publishing with Outskirts Press (or any other vanity publisher), in my very personal opinion, is a lose-lose situation. Initially, you, the author, pay substantial fees to Outskirts Press to have your book published. Then you have no choice but to set a high sales price per book, which limits your chances for success substantially. In order to make any profit you need to set the sales price above printing costs plus the (hidden) Outskirts Press sales fee. Let’s assume you spent about $1,000 with Outskirts Press (You can easily end up much higher than that). Let’s further assume your sales price includes a mere $2.00 profit for you, the author. In order to reach a return of investment you need to sell at least 500 copies. This may sound easy, but, yet again, it is impossible with a price tag of $19.95 for a 64-pages children’s book.

It also struck me as strange that two of the author’s books came with a single customer 5-star-rating written by either the author himself, or his illustrator (A word for the author: First, ask friends to write a review. Secondly, Amazon provides a blog service enabling authors writing about their books.)

All books, but one, showed rankings above the 2,000,000 mark, indicating that he sells probably less than ten books a year, if that much. The one book without a ranking, published in October 2008, had consequently not sold a single copy through Amazon at the time of this writing.

Let me say that I am well aware how difficult it is to promote and sell a book, especially fiction and, even worse, children’s literature. I also believe, judging by the books’ titles and the nice illustrations, that the author is most probably a talented writer. Unfortunately, he trusted Outskirts Press, and he has spent a substantial amount of money (I assume a minimum of $4,000, probably more). The way it looks at the moment, he will never produce any profit, and to emphasize it again, his only mistake was to trust Outskirts Press. For his sake I hope they gave him a break by appearing in their ad.

Nevertheless, shame on Outskirts Press to come up with a misleading advertisement like this, and shame on Writer’s Digest to cooperate with the sharks in the publishing business.

A tip for children’s literature authors: Do not self-publish!

Self-publishing involves Print-On-Demand (POD), which allows the print of small volumes. However, compared to the traditional offset-printing process, POD printing costs are higher. This is especially true for books with colored interior, and children’s literature is usually colored. The POD printing costs for children’s literature will automatically push you outside a competitive range in a market where children’s books are priced significantly lower. The traditional offset-printing process, however, demands a print-run of several thousands of books before it becomes profitable, and this can only be accomplished by going through an established publisher. The process can be tedious, but it’s still your best chance for publication.

Also, as I wrote in another section, I strongly recommend the use of blogs for promoting your written work. It’s still the best way to present your talent to the world.

Outskirts Press is a Vanity Publisher!

Per definition, a Vanity Publisher is a publishing house that publishes books at the author’s expense. A Vanity Publisher does not have any interest in the success of the authors they represent. Their main income comes from the multitude of aspiring authors who choose to publish through Outskirts Press.

Be aware, there is a ton of sharks out there, Outskirts Press being one of the worst, preying on the vast number of wannabe-authors who will never have a chance to sell their work, but are nevertheless naive enough to spend their money with useless services. As I said, it is a shame that a magazine such as Writer’s Digest is in business to support these dubious businesses.

Seizure #42 – The Pain With Outskirts Press

Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.

- Frank Leahy

If you are in the business of self-publishing your book and you have done some research, you most certainly have found Outskirts Press one way or the other. I was curious enough to sign up for their newsletter and to receive their publishing guide, but I should have known better.

Just a fair warning: Getting in touch with Outskirts Press is the equivalent of inviting a leech, “Please come, suck my blood and don’t you ever leave.”

There is a fine line between aggressive marketing and harassing current or potential customers. The “Author Services” people at Outskirts Press definitely keep in touch with their potential customers, but in my very personal opinion, they also violate some marketing ethics.

I had tried several times to unsubscribe from their newsletter and replied to their other e-mails, trying to explain that their services were not what I needed, but to no avail. Then I received yet another e-mail from the “Author Services” asking to answer their survey, and that was the point where I got mad. I responded to their e-mail, not very nicely, and asked yet again to be removed from their mailing list. I will also put them on my “Black List” setting on my mail server.

The Outskirts Press ”newsletter” is usually filled with testimonies by authors they represent, who apparently had a positive – nothing short of orgasmic – experience with Outskirts Press. Then there are moving comments by the sender of the newsletter of how proud they are of the success of their customers, and doesn’t that convince you to spend your money with them, because we are sure you are the next John Grisham.

Well, give me a freaking break! I personally maintain a mailing list, but I also know that monthly newsletters should contain information valuable to my customers in order to keep their interest. I strongly believe that my customers are fairly intelligent, and I don’t insult them as Outskirts Press does with their clientele.

I also make very sure that my newsletters always contain an unsubscribe feature, because I believe in good marketing ethics (and the unsubscribe feature may even be required by law).

The Outskirts Press “survey” is designed to lure you back to their web site, because if you haven’t thought about the question, please visit our web site by clicking on this hyperlink. The questions are designed very cleverly, but I doubt the survey was meant to produce any results for Outskirts Press other than sucking the last drop of blood from their customers.

Well, all this explains my personal view on what I call Outskirts Press lack of business ethics, but it does not stop here.

Let me address their offerings: Outskirts Press offers a number of publishing packages for a price between $199 and $1099. The $199 package is nothing short of ridiculous, thus totally worthless, because it doesn’t get you anywhere (No ISBN). You can do the same thing at, for instance, Lulu.com for free and no contract is required; you just pay to buy your own copies.

Many features that are part of the more expensive packages (e.g. Author web store) are free-of-charge on Lulu.com. Beyond that Lulu.com does offer similar services for lower fees.

Naturally, Outskirts Press, just like any other publishing service, promises an Amazon listing, but that is not necessarily a sure thing. Until recently I believed that an Amazon listing is a sure path to success, and that is true for non-fiction literature. People will find your book and buy it, whether you promote it or not. That’s just in the nature of Amazon.com. The situation changes dramatically when you’re in the business of writing fiction. In this case you need heavy marketing that can only be accomplished through a vast amount of time and money. Outskirts Press will do nothing for you in terms of promoting your book, unless you pay them heavily.

Now, let’s have a look at the economics (See also my comments in Seizure #43). In order to be competitive, for instance by setting a reasonable list price, you need to apply very low author royalties, which can be as low as $1…$2 per sold book. When you write a novel you will compete with the John Grishams, Stephen Kings, Dan Browns, and others, whose paperback versions go for a lower price than the printing costs charged by Outskirts Press. If you sign up for the Outskirts Press $1099 package, you need to sell a minimum of roughly 1000 books before you make your first Dollar. The truth is, the money spending doesn’t stop here, because each author is still responsible for his/her marketing, and Outskirts Press will be happy to take your money to support you. Another truth is, that the average author does not sell more than 500 copies and that is the business model of companies like Outskirts Press. They live from the many less-than-500-copies-authors and not from the very few successful writers.

The situation becomes even more discouraging when you try to self-publish fully colored children’s literature. If you think you have the talent for children’s literature, get in touch with an established publishing house. I don’t mean to discourage anybody from self-publishing; I still recommend it and I do it myself, but I do it through my own business and not as a freelance author.

The best chances to publish a book is when you are either an extremely talented novel writer – in which case you really don’t need to self-publish – or you concentrate on niche topics (Have a look at Outskirts Press most sold authors and their books). I made my experience with publishing technical literature on subjects like “Controller Area Network” and “Servo Motor Sizing” with higher-than-standard royalties.

I have also been through the exciting adventure of writing my first novel, not necessarily to become the next John Grisham, but because I can. The last thing I would do, would be signing a contract with Outskirts Press. I had some harsher words for their service in mind, but I tried to be as diplomatic as I could justify to myself.

Well, now it’s time to make that setting on my e-mail server…

Seizure #48 – We Only Want Your Best… Your Money!

Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.

- Stephen Leacock

Whenever you log on to one of those web sites dedicated to writing and publishing you will most certainly see numerous Google ads related to the site’s topic. Sure enough, these ads are placed by vanity publishers looking for more victims. Traditional publishers don’t advertise for writers.

The wording is in the nature of “Have you written a book?”, “Find A Book Publisher Now”, “DO NOT Self-Publish”, and the ever-popular “Free Publishing Guide.” Well, here’s the sure path to useless money spending.

The following is a POD (Print-On-Demand) comparison of various vanity publishers. Without doing any research on my own, I used a compilation I received through an e-mail newsletter. My mere intention is to provide information about how much authors are willing to pay to have their book published.

Note: All publishers as mentioned in the following offer distribution through Ingram, the largest book distributor in the US, as well as listings of their titles on all major Online bookstores (incl. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc.), and regular brick & mortar bookstores. In all consequence, all of these publishers pay the same low printing prices. Their main income is through the initial fees they charge, but they also add a very good profit margin on top of the printing costs, even for books they sell directly to the author.

• Booklocker.com: $517 – Deduct $200 if submitting your own cover. They claim “no hidden fees,” but they charge authors for inclusion on their web site. If your book does not sell more than 5 copies a month in average, they reserve the right to terminate your contract with them.
• iUniverse: $599 – includes 5 “free” copies. They own the files (content and cover), and they charge the author $300 – $1,500 to transfer the rights. They charge extra to include more than 25 images.
• CreateSpace: $763 (Deduct $259 if submitting your own cover). This is an Amazon business unit, and it is the same as BookSurge. Add $500 if you want more than one color and image on your cover. Charges extra for more than 10 images.
• Lulu.Com: $1,369 (Deduct $650 if submitting your own cover).
• AuthorHouse: $1,468. Charges extra for more than 10 images. Expedite fee of $500 to publish within 30 days instead of 6 months.
• Xlibris: $1,573 – includes 5 “free” copies. Charges $349 for expedited service to publish within 2 months instead of 4 – 6 months.
• Trafford: $2,297. No expedite service offered.

Note: Isn’t it funny, that Author Solutions, a holding company, owns AuthorHouse, Xlibris, iUniverse, and Trafford.

All prices as shown here do not include any extras such as marketing services. These are charged extra.

Seizure #95 – Literary Agents Are Snobby Bastards

The best defense against misguided arrogance is a keen sense of humor.

- Kathryn L. Nelson, Pemberley Manor, 2006

You think the title is a little strong? Well, maybe, but there is a truth behind it. I am sure there are some good agents out there, but I stay with my statement when it comes to the majority of literary agents. As a business man I am appalled by the lack of business sense these people display to the public, especially when it comes to rejecting writers not because they’re not talented but due to primitive reason such as violation of the submission guidelines.

As a background information, I started writing technical literature in 2005 and I never even considered going through an application process; I jumped immediately into self-publishing and my business is now officially a micro-publisher with distribution through Ingram. I self-publish simply because I just don’t have the patience to look for the right agent and find the right publisher, a process that usually takes years before your work is published. The whole process is extremely ineffective and it does not fit with my sense for business.

I developed my case against literary agents after reading my most-favorite useless magazine, Writer’s Digest. Well, maybe not so useless, since the content convinced me that their preference for established publishing did not agree with me.

Okay, back to the agents… The September 2009 issue of Writer’s Digest includes an article Real Queries That Worked, sub-titled Agents share queries that hooked them – and insights on what made them effective.

A remark for the novice: In order to find an agent - Writer’s Digest will gladly sell you a list – you need to submit not only your manuscript – or an excerpt thereof – but also a synopsis, which all makes sense. Through the query – in layman’s terms a cover letter – you need to convince the agent that your novel is the best thing since, let’s say, The Da Vinci Code. There are services - Writer’s Digest will gladly sell you a list – that will write you such a letter, and, naturally, they would like to be paid for it.

Wait a minute, you might say. Isn’t that like writing a cover letter that you include with your resume? The answer is, yes, the process is very similar. I know out of experience that many HR professionals, sitting in front of a pile of resumes submitted by hundreds of people applying for the same job, start their selection process by merely scanning over the cover letter. If they don’t like it, it’s out. After that they look at the remaining resumes and actually check for job qualification. Apparently, literary agents work very similar.

In all consequence, writing a professional looking author query is important, and it makes sense to hire a professional service to help increase your chances.

So, what’s wrong about this process? Okay, first of all, submitting a cover letter with your resume or submitting an author’s query with a manuscript are two very different things. An HR professional looks for one – the best – person to fill a particular job, and, naturally, competition is tough.

A literary agent may end up with the same number of queries on his/her desk, but in the end each of these applications could bring them the next Stephenie Meyer, Stephen King, or Dan Brown. Add to this that each query is submitted by a potential customer who, with the sale of the first book, shares his/her income with the agent. This being said, wouldn’t it make sense to read the query regardless of appearance or if it complies with submission guidelines?

As a businessman I would concentrate on the synopsis and make the educated decision whether or not the submission has enough potential for another bestseller. I believe in looking at the actual result of the artist’s work.

The Writer’s Digest article mentions the example of an actual query praised by a real agent saying, “…I was hooked and knew I wanted to read…” the author’s work.

Let me quote from the letter: “I believe this book to be of broad public appeal in that it combines the scintillating fervor of scandal with the true-to-life detachment of history.” It goes on like this – in best lawyer’s English – and, honestly, if his work is written in the same style I personally wouldn’t want to read it – it doesn’t read like, let’s say, Dan Brown. It did, however, convince the agent, and, apparently it doesn’t matter if the letter reflects the writer’s style or not.

Well, maybe I still got it wrong and agents just prefer to receive a clear and precise synopsis, but will nevertheless have a look at the manuscript.

It also seems that agents are increasingly using “modern” technologies such as … e-mail! Some of them ask only for information without the actual manuscript. Many agents need to be convinced first that the writer can prove a writing experience, can provide a marketing plan, has won several prizes in writing contest, etc.

Personally, I have not won any prizes – didn’t even attend any contest – but, yes, I do have a precise marketing plan. With a good marketing plan in place, why go through an agent and publisher? If you need to provide the expertise, why not publish yourself? And, by the way, does my novel have anything to do with this process?

Let me add to my case by quoting some agents’ comments as listed in the September 2009 issue of Writer’s Digest:

-       We prefer a (e-mail) query before you send us your ms (Manuscript)…Queries sent with attachments will be deleted unread.

-       Only (written) queries with SASEs will receive responses. I generally respond to all queries within four weeks. I now accept e-mail submissions, please include my name in the subject line. (Meaning that person is new to Internet technologies and receives e-mail through another source.)

-       Allow 60 days for a reply.

-       All submissions should be free of spelling and grammatical errors. (Duh!)

-       Due to overwhelming number of submissions we cannot respond to all submissions, we cannot respond to all queries, but we do read them and will contact you if interested. (If not, they don’t bother to respond.)

-       If she’s interested in your work, she will respond within four weeks. Snail mail submissions will not be reviewed.

-       If you haven’t heard from her within eight weeks, please assume she is passing on your project. (Now, that reflects an attitude I wouldn’t want to deal with as a writer.)

-       I always welcome submissions from new authors. Follow the submission guidelines on the agency website. (Oops! That’s a good one! This is how it should be!)

-       Agent responds in six to eight weeks.

It goes on like this.

Seizure #94 – Literary Agents – The Way It Should Be

All you need in life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.

- Mark Twain

As a businessman and weekend writer I am continually puzzled by the ineffectiveness of the traditional book publishing industry, and there is not enough time to list their shortcomings. I have done quite some research on the topic of writing and publishing, and, consequently, I have made the decision to self-publish through my own business.

Nevertheless, hope is not lost. There are some agents and publishers that have seen the writing on the wall, and they are adjusting their business policies to be more effective by using technologies such as the Internet and digital printing. In this article I will refer to a positive example of how a literary agency should work these days.

However, first of all, let’s have a look at the conventional process a writer has to go through to have his/her work published:

1. We assume you have finished your first novel.
2. You start looking for an agent – There are businesses that will sell you a list of agents because the majority of  literary agents apparently doesn’t advertise.
3. You submit your manuscript to the agent.
4. Your cover letter was not sufficient, thus the agent didn’t even read your manuscript.
5. You hire a professional service to re-write your cover letter – There are businesses that will sell you a list of services that provide cover letters. Go back to 3.
6. Your cover letter was acceptable, but your work was rejected because it didn’t follow the guidelines such as proper font, double-lining, proper margins, etc. – You re-format your manuscript. Go back to 3.
7. The agent has read your manuscript and finds that it has the potential of selling at least 10,000 copies, but your manuscript needs some editing. – You hire a professional editing service. Go back to 3.
8. After one year your agent has found a small publishing house for you, but they don’t do cover work. – You hire a professional service to create a cover for you.
9. You work with your publisher for about a year until, finally, the book is actually available for sale.

10. In order to sell your book your publisher insists you take over the marketing yourself.

As a matter of fact, it is not quite as easy to find an agent the conventional way, because the average literary agent is bound by a ton of restrictions, such as “I do only women’s literature.”, “I accept only from May through June.”, “I will answer in about ten months.”, etc.

Okay, finally, let’s look at a refreshing way to get a deal with a literary agent. Just by chance I found the web site of a literary agency that looked promising, and I actually did submit my information and parts of my manuscript. I was quite pleased with their approach, and it took about twelve days between sending my submission and receiving their contract. The temptation of letting them take care of things was great, but in the end I opted for my own business, but that was a very personal choice. All in all, I was ready to recommend their services.

However… As I learned much, much later, the whole thing is a scam. The “Literary Agency” was not in the business of finding you a publisher. They were resourceful asking to hire further services for editing, marketing, etc. with whom they had “no professional relationship.” It turns out, they owned these service companies and made some good profits. As I wrote before, scammers know much better what an aspiring writer needs.

Their official business model was to find writers, sign a contract with them, and find a publisher for their client. In return they receive 10% of all revenues. The writer keeps the full copyright of his/her work. Naturally, they emphasize that they can’t guarantee success, but they will let you out of the contract if they were not successful within 90 days – if you choose to do so.

In order to submit your work you go to their web site and fill out a form. The information – besides name, etc. – they ask for is the title of your work, a synopsis of your manuscript, a brief bio of yourself, whether your work has already been edited, etc. They say they will try to answer within a few days and in my case it took them only two days.

If they like you and your work (and believe me, they will), they will send you a very long response per automated e-mail. The whole process seems a little sober, but they do explain in detail why they do what they do. They just want to make sure you understand the process, but they also show quite some effort to make you feel comfortable with their services.

In the next step they will ask you for an excerpt of your manuscript. They explain in length that they don’t necessarily expect another Hemingway. The publishing process involves per default a number of steps to improve the quality of your work and guarantee a sales success.

They also ask for a brief response to a few, very valid questions:

1. Think like a publisher. Who would buy the book? Why would they buy it?
2. How long have you been writing, and what are your goals as a writer?
3. Do you consider your writing ‘ready-to-go’ or do you think it needs some polishing?

Yet again, they explain in detail why they ask these questions.

About seven days after submitting an excerpt of my manuscript I received an e-mail that my work had been accepted. They wrote:

“We choose to represent authors that can demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that their work meets or exceeds industry writing quality standards. That’s our promise to our buyers and publishers we work with. If a writer is willing to improve their work, then we think that writer deserves a chance. It is the willingness to improve that impresses us. You have mentioned that your work needs polishing. We agree and we have developed a process to assist you in taking that step, while at the same time giving us what we need to start selling your work to buyers.”

The contract they sent is as fair as they promise; no strings attached. One further request, though, ticked me off just a little bit. It’s only a minor flaw in their process. With sending you a contract they also ask you to get a “critique”, and they should have mentioned it from the beginning. Everybody wants to know upfront what is involved. A critique by a “third party” (costs less than $100) is an overview of your work; it is not a line edit. Let me point out, that the agency is not asking you for money at this point; they just request you “hire a service of your choice.”

I would like to emphasize again, that during the entire process the agency never asked directly for any financial compensation. They skillfully gave me the impression that what they do for you they do on their own expenses, until you successfully sell copies of your book and give them their fair share.

Nevertheless, this was the point where I left the race, mostly due to my intention to have my first novel published as soon as possible. It is now available through Amazon.com, Barnes & Nobles, Borders, etc.

At the time I did not vouch for the agency’s performance, but, despite being a scam, I did like their professional attitude, and I wished the majority of honest literary agents would learn from their business model.

On a side note, whether you self-publish or not, you should always hire a professional editing service before submitting your work. I do, however, recommend you hire local services, someone who is accessible to you. I learned my lesson by hiring an online service. Their changes were mostly professional, but I had a hard time to correct a few misunderstandings of historical facts. In the end I had to re-read the manuscript multiple times, and I still ended up with one embarrassing error planted by the editing service.

In addition, you might still end up doing most of the marketing work, but that is something every aspiring writer should be aware of. The real work starts after your work is finished.

Seizure #311 – The Impotence Of Discovering Good Writers

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

- Galileo Galilei

I’ll make this one short. Have you ever wondered what happened to literary agents or acquisition editors who rejected the manuscript of, let’s say, Stephenie Meyer?

Stephenie Meyer’s manuscript was initially rejected fourteen times. Since then, her novel Twilight has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide. It spent more than 90 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and it has been translated into thirty-seven different languages.

I always wonder what happened to these – at least – fourteen people, if they are still around in the publishing business after each one of them failed in such an extreme miserable manner. If they did the honorable thing, they should just end their miserable lives or find another daytime job, something that they actually are good at. Chances are, they are still around and do the one thing they are really good at: Bull-shitting.

Seizure #188 – It’s A Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy World!

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.

- Gustave Flaubert

Let’s celebrate Writology! The writer’s world according to Writer’s Digest is a happy, happy, happy, happy world! Whatever is considered “evil” in the outside world, we’ll turn it into a positive experience. Someone gave you a bloody nose? Oh, isn’t Red a lovely color?

Now you may think I am getting a little overboard, but hold your thought for just a minute and continue reading.

In the following I am using the article How Even A Bad Experience Can Make You A Better Writer (WD October 2009) by Elizabeth Sims, contributing editor of Writer’s Digest, as one example of the happy, happy world attitude. Unfortunately, when you read Writer’s Digest you will find a myriad of similar articles, but I am using this one, since it reflects a particularly ridiculous attitude by finding something good in everything, even if it is a malign brain cancer.

So, Elizabeth spent some time at a particularly bad writers’ conference, and she is sharing it in her article. Let’s have a look at the incidents and especially at Elizabeth’s conclusions.

In the first instance she met a literary agent to whom she had sent a manuscript and he claimed to have read it. During the conversation Elizabeth recognizes the man was lying through his teeth. He had no clue who she was, and he had never read her manuscript.

Conclusion: Agents are only human. If they didn’t read your manuscript, don’t whine. Face it and get busy improving your manuscript. After all, it was your mistake, not the agent’s.

Next scenario is about a session with one of New York’s top literary agents, Chanel suit, cougar-lean body, and $100 haircut included. She starts with explaining how to get your book reviewed by Oprah. “You call Dial-A-Prayer,” she laughed into the face of her audience.

Conclusion: Individuals who take pleasure in making fools of others reveal a morbidly fascinating neediness – so, you can benefit from observing them.

The keynote address was a bust, too, and I won’t go into details, but Elizabeth, yet again, finds something positive to write: When disappointed by a speaker, try to empathize, but more important, try to analyze why.

Last, but not least, a word from me to Elizabeth: Liz, you are an incredibly talented writer. I loved your style, and the article was fun to read, but don’t waste your time working for Writer’s Digest. With your talent you can do a lot better. And, by the way, get rid of that submissive attitude.

Seizure #232 – Copyright Infringement? That’s Wonderful!

Sometimes what’s right isn’t as important than what’s profitable.

- Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Prehistoric Ice Man, 1999

Back in November of 2009 I became aware that two of the books I publish (both in print and as eBook) were freely available as a download through scribd.com (see also next chapter – Seizure #231). Add to the situation another victim like some English author named J.K. Rowling – and many more – and you get a picture of the magnitude of this case of copyright infringement.

I e-mailed several writers’ magazines and newspapers; they all didn’t show any increased interest in the subject, and to a certain degree that’s fine by me. I am aware that I am just a regular guy, and the rest of the world doesn’t listen to me. I can live with that.

I did, however, receive an answer from my favorite, most useless magazine, Writer’s Digest. Melissa from Writer’s Digest thanked me for letting them know.

“You’ll want to take those concerns directly to those sites to resolve the problem,” she wrote. Meaning, we won’t take a stand; that’s up to you.

“Those sites” were their VIP program and the Writer’s Digest community, which in my personal opinion, is even more useless than the printed magazine.

So, first of all, the “problem” was not important enough to be addressed in their magazine, even though it affects writers directly, meaning they loose royalties. But sorry, I forgot, we don’t address controversial issues in the Writology world.

Secondly, Melissa recommended I sign up at their VIP program for roughly $50 per year, but, really, it’s a $198.80 value. Reminds me of those commercials where you wait for the “But wait! If you call within the next ten minutes you’ll get another super-duper wonder cleaner for free!”

All this is yet another indication that Writer’s Digest is not about helping writers, but all about making profit. There is nothing wrong about making profit as long as you do it with professionalism and dignity. Writer’s Digest started off some ninety years ago, I believe, and I am convinced the publisher’s intention was honest at the time. Today’s management is only about profit, profit, and profit without an iota of passion for their paying customers.

Seizure 231 – Copyright Infringement As A Business Model

Obviously crime pays; otherwise there’d be no crime.

- G. Gordon Liddy

The following is an excerpt of an article I wrote for WritersWeekly.com:

There has been a great deal of commotion about Google’s controversial and potentially anti-competitive plans to digitalize millions of books, or the pricing war going on between Walmart, Target, and Amazon. It is surprising that only little attention has been paid to an even greater threat to authors and publishers by Scribd.com, a web site allowing the distribution of copyrighted documents, including digitalized versions of popular works such as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

J.K. Rowling used the power of her legal team to have her works removed, but her focus was the protection of her intellectual property, not the financial damage. While big publishing houses or successful authors like J.K. Rowling can easily dismiss the financial loss, the situation becomes quickly explosive for small publishing businesses. For instance, BookLocker.com noticed more than 13,000 scribd.com users had “read” their best selling book, Cancer-Free, before the author was able to have his copyrighted material removed. Two of my books were listed for roughly six months – without my knowledge – and the loss of sales is roughly $20,000, with no chance to tackle a heavyweight like Scribd.

Scribd.com is not the only document-sharing web site, but with more than 50 million users and more than 50,000 document uploads per day, it appears they aim to be the YouTube for print. Scribd.com can most certainly be helpful for authors, publishers, and bookstores. They can upload their documents in their entirety and sell them for a good profit, or they can upload only an excerpt to wet the appetite of potential readers. The content on Scribd.com ranges from a majority of dull documents to a number of copyrighted books, fiction and non-fiction alike.

There are two sides to the problem: First, Scribd.com provides the means to upload copyrighted material without “editorial interference or approval”, thus creating financial damage to the publishing industry. Add to this that the majority of authors and publishers are still unaware of the issue.

Secondly, there are a number of publishing businesses – sleeping with the enemy – who believe in a strange marketing policy of allowing the free-of-charge viewing, reading, printing, and downloading of their published books for “a limited time.”

The absence of “editorial intervention and approval” in combination with a highly flawed sign-up process, however, encourages the crime. Scribd.com makes it very easy to sign up with a fake e-mail address. For instance, a user can sign up as johnmccain@thewhitehouse.com and then upload the latest Dan Brown, provided it exists in an electronic format. Scribd.com does not actively verify the users’ authority, and, in case of an illegal upload, they are usually unable to identify the perpetrator. Of course, they pop up a dialog window asking to confirm the rights to the document in question. But, seriously, criminal minds don’t care, and there is a great number of users who may be unaware of the consequence of their actions.

Removing copyrighted documents from the Scribd.com web site is easy, though – they promote this heavily as one of their “helpful features”. Scribd.com provides an e-mail template and the author or publisher fills in the appropriate information. It usually takes only a few days to process the request, but it also means that the document is still available for view, print, or download until the verification process is completed.

And even then, Scridb is still holding on to the document, meaning it is still stored in their database, which posts yet another legal problem because they store copyrighted documents without explicit authorization by the document’s owner. Officially, they use the existing copy to verify it against new uploads and thus prevent further copyright infringement.

I strongly suggest that each author and publisher check out the Scribd.com web site and search for names and titles. If your work is listed on Scribd.com, send an e-mail to copyright-at-scribd.com using the legal form they recommend. You will receive an automated response stating that your request has been received. They also encourage you to leave comments, and I dared doing just that, without being insulting. As a matter of fact, the person in charge at Scribd.com, their Customer Care Director, did not appreciate my feedback and closed the request immediately. I had to re-apply, and my book was finally removed from their web site.

The law firm of Camara & Sibley has decided to take on Scribd, seeking class action status against the site in a lawsuit filed in a Texas federal court. The charge: “Like YouTube, Veoh, and other user-generated content sites, Scribd makes it just too easy to upload copyrighted content without permission.”

Ironically, a copy of the lawsuit is available through the Scribd.com web site (Search for Scott v. Scribd Complaint).

Seizure #88 – Buy My Book On Writing A Novel

As long as people will accept crap, it will be financially profitable to dispense it.

- Dick Cavett

Following the above quote, I should actually charge for this document and have those people who don’t agree with my views steaming about the fact that they spend their valuable Dollars on a crap like this. Been there, done that, didn’t like it. And by the way, so far I had too much fun writing this, and I consider that a sufficient payment.

One of my earliest, negative experiences I made in the novel writing world was with buying and reading literature on writing a novel. The problem with this approach is the vast amount of available literature, and the vast number of titles that contain only motivational bla-bla without any substance. I am very certain there are good books on writing a novel, but the problem is finding them. How many books should you read and/or buy before you’re sure you have the right one?

And no, you can’t necessarily trust the Amazon sales rank, not even the reviews.

Another early lesson I learned is the importance of a catchy book title. I chose books according to their title and sales rank, but found that too many people fell for the same scam (i.e. the title). And, as I found out, a great number of the positive review writers may be at least acquainted with the author.

The problem I have is: How come that most of these authors who write about writing a novel are not successful when it comes to writing a novel? How can you write about writing a novel when the only book you wrote is about writing a novel? Now, that is getting confusing…

When it comes to the basics of novel writing I suggest to go to http://www.dailywritingtips.com/. I found a lot of valuable information there. Another valuable resource for my writing is http://thesaurus.reference.com/.

The most effective help, however, I found was at http://www.essayrater.com, but their service costs a mere $20 per month. There are also software packages that will help improve your writing beyond your word processor’s grammar and spell checker, but so far I haven’t found any that were on the same level as the essay rating web site.

Be aware that these are only tools to support your writing. In all consequence it may not be a bad idea to join a writing class at your local college or even online. This would be money well spent.

Peace Comes Over Me

When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.

- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Finally, I am done with my rant! So, now what…?

While it seemed like I was complaining quite a bit about the current writing and publishing industry, I have also learned my lessons, and I have adjusted my business plan accordingly.

I have learned early that the best marketing tool for your first novel is the release of your second. Honestly, I wrote my first novel, The Bleeding Hills, because I wanted to get a look and feel of the industry. Nevertheless, my writing is always based on extensive research, and then I refer to Mark Twain who once said, “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.” Writing The Bleeding Hills was nothing short of exciting, and I am looking forward to more of the same adventure.

And writing this document represents the research for my next novel, American Male Prostitute, sub-titled How I shamelessly promoted my novel with sex, lies, and deceit – You get the picture. The question is, how far would you go to get your book published?

I started my business back in 1993, originally as Copperhill Technologies Corporation. At the time I provided software programming services for the motion control industry, and over many years I developed a servo motor sizing program called “VisualSizer.”

The transition into a publishing company started back in 2005 when I self-published my book on Controller Area Network. I never considered contacting a traditional publishing company, because, honestly, I didn’t like their slow processing and the low author royalties.

After all, I operated my own business and could do things way faster than any large publishing company and create better profit. I did some initial research on the book publishing process and found that nothing really goes without an ISBN for my book. Again, I had my own business, and it was easy to get a set of ISBNs through the Bowker service.

I had the first 250 copies printed through a local print shop and sold it through my website. After a while I learned of the Amazon Seller program, and from that time on my book was listed on Amazon.com. After all those years, it still sells very well.

Another transition came with the increasingly popular print-on-demand (POD) technology, and I had my books printed through Lulu.com. This allowed me to maintain a small inventory without going through larger investments.

I wrote three further technical books and even published a book for some friends. In 2007 I decided to make the official transition from software programming services into a publishing company (officially Copperhill Media is considered a micro-publisher). However, the intention then was to merely maintain my books and that of the before-mentioned friends.

Another important step for Copperhill Media was the release of my first novel The Bleeding Hills in September of 2009. Honestly, my intention was not to be the next Hemingway (wouldn’t have minded to make some millions through sales, though), but to get a look & feel of fiction publishing. Well, I was in for a big surprise! Publishing a novel is easy, but marketing it is most probably the toughest task in the entire business world. Consider, the author is unknown, the product (=book) is nothing new, competition is vast, and the price is higher than those of traditional publishers.

Simultaneously, while writing my novel, I engaged into some more intense and serious research of the publishing industry. I found that there is a vast number of aspiring authors out there, all looking for a publisher. The problem is that only a devastatingly small number of them will be accepted for publication, because the vast majority of those writers don’t meet the requirements set by traditional publishers. Talent is only one major requirement; the potential to sell more than 10,000 copies of your book is the main aspect. It all comes down to profitability for an oversized, excruciatingly slow, and ineffective business.

The rejected authors have only few options: 1. Hanging in until they will be accepted (that may take a lifetime, or will not happen at all), 2. Simply give up writing, or 3. Self-Publishing. All these options, with very few exceptions, will come to the same result: Giving up a writing career.

The most dangerous option is self-publishing. I have done it, but, still, I don’t sit at my swimming pool, sipping my Vodka Martini (shaken, but not stirred), and work only Wednesday’s from 10 to 12. The self-publishing industry is a shark tank. The rule of thumb is, you spend several thousand Dollars with one of the sharks in the business and you will still not see any success. Don’t even think about ROI (return of investment).

With the knowledge I gained through my research I have developed a fairly unique business model for Copperhill Media. First, as of April 2010 the business will accept new authors, and it will concentrate on a book sales potential of 500+, not the previously mentioned 10,000+. For quite a long time I had contemplated being a vanity publisher and charge for publication without consideration of author talent and salability. Believe me, that business model still has a great potential, but by the end of the day I wanted to be able to look into the mirror.

That being said, Copperhill Media will look for style, readability, and salability of the submitted work. We do not expect a new Hemingway, but at the same time we need to assure sufficient quality. We are a small print-on-demand (POD) publishing house, and we provide printing, distribution, and marketing services for our authors. Our books are listed in online stores such as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, AbeBooks.com, and more. In addition we maintain our own online bookstore.

That’s the business model in a nut-shell.

In addition, I will accept submissions by young authors up to 25 years of age, regardless whether their work is complete or not or whether it has been edited or not. We will accept only two new authors per year for our “Young Author Project,” and I will personally mentor them during the writing process. In the end, i.e. when the work is finished, we will publish their book.

For further information check out our website at http://www.copperhillmedia.com.

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The Bleeding Hills

A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.

Let me quote from an article by Paula Span in the Washington Post: “Like mainstream book publishers, self-publishing companies are in the business of selling dreams. But what if the dream becomes a nightmare?”

If you are interested in the bizarre world of writing and self-publishing, I strongly recommend reading this article (even though it was published already in 2005). It confirms what I have learned through several years of being in the business: The self-publishing world is a shark tank!

Just recently I looked into the practices of another vanity publisher, namely PublishAmerica, a company Paula Span mentions in her article. In fact, I found the article during my research on PublishAmerica. As a business man in the publishing industry I was puzzled by PublishAmerica’s business model. On the surface they act like a vanity publisher providing services for aspiring writers, but like traditional publishers they don’t charge for their services. They pride themselves with offering literally tens of thousands of works of literature including distribution through Amazon.Com, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and more. According to their website they sell a book about every sixteen seconds.

The paradox starts with the fact that they freely accept anything written without applying an editing process to the manuscript itself or even the synopsis. The experienced writer, literary agent, or publisher will recognize a badly written work immediately by reading a badly written synopsis, and PublishAmerica publishes a great number of low-quality literature. Add to this the amazingly high list price per book. For instance, a 202 pages adventure book in 5.5″ x 8.8″ size is offered for $19.95 for the paperback version (Printing costs are less than $4). This kind of pricing model immediately kills any chances of success for the author. This, and looking at some of their awful cover designs, made me wonder how PublishAmerica can possibly create any profit, let alone selling a book every sixteen seconds.

The answer to that question is easy: PublishAmerica’s income is not created through sales with regular readers, but mainly through the thousands of authors they published. These are mainly authors who try to take destiny in their own hands by selling the books directly (to friends and family). Applying simple math and assuming that their claim of one sold book every sixteen seconds is correct, PublishAmerica sells roughly 160,000 books a month! Take this with a $10 average profit per book, and they make $1.6M a month, or almost $20M a year. And that’s gross profit, not sales volume.

Whether or not their claim of sales success is true, the business model now makes sense. PublishAmerica freely accepts anybody who submits a manuscript. I know out of experience that processing a manuscript (without editing), creating a pre-fabricated cover, and submitting the book to Ingram (that’s where every self-publishing company goes) is a matter of maybe an hour or two for somebody who does this kind of work on a daily basis and who doesn’t take any pride in his work. The sales volume is created through the vast number of publications they offer in combination with an outrageous profit margin.

Unfortunately, the great success of PublishAmerica is a lose-lose-situation for the authors. They have no chance of being recognized for the hard work it took to write the book, and, after all, they are tagged with a red flag by traditional publishers, meaning authors who use a publication with PublishAmerica as a reference will be rejected in a New York second. That’s just how the industry works.

For the past several years I have researched the bizarre world of writing and publishing, which has led me to some pleasant and some not-so-pleasant experiences. One of the truly pleasant experiences was meeting Joy J. Kaimaparamban through the AuthorNation.com online forum. The forum is designed as a social network for authors seeking or giving advice on writing and publishing.

Joy was one of those looking for advice to promote his first novel, The Azure of Solicitude. At the same time he was looking to find a publisher for his next novels.

Joy’s real name is John Joseph, and he assumed ‘Joy J. Kaimaparamban’ as his pen name. He was born on October 1939 in a middle class family of Kerala, the south most state of India. After finishing his education he became a schoolmaster and worked in several Kerala government schools, teaching English in middle school classes. He  retired in 1995 and resides now at Vayalar, a beautiful lakeside village in Alappuzha (Alleppey) district with his wife and two children.

I noticed his entries on the AuthorNation forum and shared some of my experience with writing and publishing plus the inevitable promotion of your book and website. One of my advises, though, was unfortunately a bad one. In order to find a publisher it makes sense to contact a literary agent, and I had recommended an agency that turned out to be a scam. Scammers in the writing & publishing industry do have a keen business sense, and everything they offer makes sense. In that respect they reflect a higher level of professionalism than regular literary agents and traditional publishers (See also my article: Literary Agents Are Snobby Bastards).

Nevertheless, I felt bad about giving such ill advice, and I offered to publish and promote his next novel. Within a few days we had an agreement, and we are now in the process of proof-reading his new novel, The Ayurvedic Healer. At the same time we created the cover as shown here on this blog post.

In Joy’s own words, “The novel is the story of an Ayurvedic Physician.  Hope you have heard of Ayurveda, an ancient medical science generated in India. When I thought of writing about an Ayurvedic Physician, I remembered my ancestor, who had converted into Christianity from Brahminhood (An upper division in Hindu religion).  Except this fact, remaining narrations are fictitious. I have created a mythological atmosphere throughout the novel. Freedom struggle of India, Communist revolt in Kerala, a Southern State in India, social developments, emergence of new societies etc., are dominating in this novel.  The novel reveals the developments of incident that happening from 1920 to 1960. Although this is not a historical novel, nevertheless I am trying to unveil the personal life of an Ayurvedic Physician who had lived for the downtrodden people.”

See also his website at http://www.kaimaparamban.com.

While it is always a very exciting process working on a new novel and publishing it, I received my greatest gift through one of Joy’s e-mails in which he addressed me as ‘Wilfriedji.’ His explanation was: “I address you ‘Wilfredji’.  According to Indian custom, we use ‘ji’ as most honourable suffix.  We are giving it to most revered persons like our father of nation Gandhiji.”

For more information on Ayurveda see also my entry, Ayurveda – Science of Life.

I have just finished a document that describes my view on the current writing and publishing industry (see bottom of this page for the download button). This document contains a series of entries from my blog at FrogenYozurt.com plus a few new ones. Please excuse that my comments sound a bit sarcastic at times, but I have been through the tiresome and frustrating process of writing, publishing, and promoting my first novel. I have learned the hard way that promoting a novel is one of the most difficult tasks in the business world. Add to this a great number of dubious businesses preying on the unsuspecting, aspiring writer.

Let me quote author TK Kenyon: “Writing, especially fiction writing, is a tough business to get into and a tougher one to stay in. Generally, neither authors nor publishers make a significant profit until an author’s fifth novel is published. Over 195,000 novels are published by traditional publishers in the U.S. every year. Of those, 70% sell fewer than 500 copies.”

Today’s writing and publishing world is shrugging off the old “exclusive-club” mentality, but it is, by any means, not a friendly place for an aspiring writer. As a matter of fact, the industry has turned into a shark tank. When I refer to “the industry” I mean, among other businesses, the traditional publishers, most of who are struggling these days, but they are not the actual problem. The “shark tank” is dominated by new startups in the industry, mostly vanity publishers, who produce significant profit without delivering the results they promise. It seems that scammers possess a much keener business sense than the traditional publishing businesses, and they are taking the better part of a multi-million Dollar business.

Unfortunately, too many writing sites and especially writers’ magazines (I exclude Poets & Writers specifically from this statement) are too busy spouting wonderful stories about the industry. They live from advertisement and a readership that is represented mostly by unsuccessful writers, the number one target for scammers. These days the best paying advertisers are primarily the previously mentioned vanity publishers, because – Duh! – they do have the means to purchase full page ad space.

In turn – to keep their advertisers happy – the magazines’ task is in motivating their readers to “hang on, because we are confident you will find success eventually.” They continue presenting the good in everything and everybody, and they give you the inspirational tour on a regular basis. My advice to everybody who believes in this motivational nonsense would be to start your own religious sect and call it… Writology. Go and worship yourselves. You’re good at that!

Yes, it is true; perseverance is imperative for the aspiring writer, but I question the reason to provide motivation. Their mission is not about helping writers, otherwise they would post warnings, which they – believe me – do not. It’s all about making profit. There is nothing wrong about making profit as long as you do it with professionalism and dignity, but today’s management is only about profit, profit, and profit without an iota of passion for their readership.

Everything you find in this document is based on my own experience with the writing and publishing world, and any statements made are based on my very personal opinion. I would like to emphasize that my writing is not based on anger, but keen observation of the industry. My narrow view is without a doubt not representative for the entire world of writing and publishing, but I am sure that many new writers had similar experiences.

Click the button to download the PDF file (Will open a new window).

Most of us aspiring writers sign up for Online forums, either to pitch new ideas and wait for feedback, or to ask for advice, but foremost to “build a platform.” “Building a platform” is based on a very basic principle: If nobody knows you, nobody will buy your books.

I always put the term “building a platform” in quotation marks, because, in my very personal opinion, there is a lot of nonsense connected with the idea, especially when it comes to forums. Yes, it is imperative for each new – and even the established – author to maintain a web site and create some attention for his/her work. But forums, with very few exceptions, have close to Absolute Null impact on a writer’s career. Nobody else but other aspiring writers will read your entries. After months of playing with various forums I have decided to cancel all but one of my accounts – I’ll keep the one at AuthorNation.com, because it’s actually fun being there (unless their server breaks down, which it does frequently).

But even on AuthorNation.com you will be pestered by what I call the “forum sharks.” Forum sharks “attack” each single new member and ask to be their Online friend, forcing them to read their – usually useless – blabbering about their books and other writings, may it be about infertility treatment, attracting money with your mind, new paths to riches, or even poems that don’t rhyme (Sorry, maybe I am just plain old-fashioned, but, in my world, good poetry rhymes).

You recognize the sharks by the vast number of “friends” they have, a number close to the total number of members on the forum. Their initial message is usually like “Welcome to the forum, and, by the way, please buy my newest novel…” They literally spend several hours a day to send their “friend requests” (without results that would justify the efforts, I may add – I checked them out).

Forum sharks usually do not participate in member communications, meaning they don’t read other members’ inquiries or offer advice, unless the forum is based solely on member communication. In the latter case, each newcomer will be greeted by a great number of members wishing you well in your efforts to become the next Hemingway, and while some of these greetings may be from the heart, most are designed not only to create readership, but foremost to place yet another hyperlink to their web site.

Again, we’re “building our platform,” and search engines love hyperlinks, and an increased number of hyperlinks will help increase awareness of your web site in the Internet community. Well…wrong! Any SEO (search engine optimization) expert will tell you that the mere number of hyperlinks doesn’t count when it comes from the same source, the same web site. Secondly, depending on how the forum is set up, search engines might not even be able to access member communications and thus not see the hyperlinks.

In another forum, that I signed up for and abandoned after a while, you could only insert hyperlinks into your posts after writing at least twenty-five entries. Ergo, some users invented the “word game.” I write an entry containing a single word, you respond with another, related word, I response with yet another, related word, and so on, and so on. Needless to say, but games like this one do not help to increase the quality of the Online forum, but the original purpose of the forum is not important to forum sharks.

Another forum categorizes you by the number of entries, starting at “New Member” (less than fifty entries) up to “Premium Member” (more than 500 entries). So, let’s get our hands at that computer keyboard and write something to improve our rank.

Then there are the semi-gods, members who either have participated for several years (and at the same time wasted their time writing literally thousands of entries), or they are real, accomplished authors. Some forums are sponsored by one of the sharks in the publishing industry, and some of them hire accomplished authors to “mentor” the newcomers. The advice they offer is, naturally, in line with their sponsor.

In my very personal opinion, the worst writers’ forum in the business is the one sponsored by Writer’s Digest, my favorite, most useless magazine. Writer’s Digest is specifically in the business of maintaining a dream world for aspiring, yet (hopefully) unsuccessful writers. Their Online forum, at the time when I signed up, was dominated by two elderly semi-gods, both with a reputation of a long writing career. At the same time, both were incredibly Internet-illiterate and, consequently, were opposed to radical ideas such as self-publishing. They wouldn’t offer any advice in that direction other than not to self-publish. I once dared to challenge their views, and their tone became increasingly aggressive, even insulting. In one post, one of these semi-gods stated that 99.9% of all aspiring writers – including myself – have no talent at all, which I thought was the wrong message to be sent to the forum’s members.

At another occasion (at another forum) I inquired regarding the effectiveness of paid review services for an author’s career, and one of the semi-gods blasted me for even posting such a ridiculous question. The last line in his entry was “Cut the crap!” His claim to fame was the publication of a Karate-Kid-replica novel that sold decently well on Amazon.com.

On a personal note, I was shocked by the lack of writing skills that far too many forum members, even the published authors among them, demonstrate in public, not necessarily in regards to style, but especially when it comes to the basics such as proper grammar and spelling. I don’t consider my own writing as perfect, but my excuse is that English is my second language.

My advice to the novice writer: First, browse the Internet for information, but avoid forums. Secondly, don’t buy books on writing; they’re just plain useless. Most importantly, read, read, read, and… read. Read Online newspapers, read Hemingway, or even Sarah Palin (Yikes!), everything works. This will be time well spent, and, if managed properly, will cost very little money.

Then, after all, write, write, write, and… write. Write about everything that comes to mind, especially topics you are passionate about. Put these writings on a blog. Continuous reading and writing will improve your writing style.

If you are talented and persevere, you will find success eventually. As a logical consequence, if you are not talented (nothing wrong with that), you will not find success. Online forums play no part in either scenario.

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AMERICAN MALE PROSTITUTE
A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss 

How I (Almost) Got A Book Deal Through Sex, Lies, And Deceit

Today’s publishing world is divided into two principle sections. First, there is the exclusive pool of traditional publishers, and, second, the help-yourself shark tank represented by the so-called vanity publishers.

Vanity publishers have a significant edge over traditional publishers in regards to brutality, business sense, and profitability. They ruthlessly pursue the infinite supply of aspiring writers who, in turn, are rejected by traditional publishers or literary agents. Ironically, in the world of traditional publishing, authors are rejected not necessarily due to lack of talent. Vanity publishers accept everybody and everything. No questions asked. Just pay your bill, but don’t come crying to them when you can’t sell a copy of your book.

The question remains, what does it take these days to get a book deal with a traditional publisher? What do you do when, hypothetically, you are running out of time and mere talent is not the be-all and end-all?

Stuart Martin Berry has found the answer: If you can’t impress them with your talent, baffle them with your bull-shit. [Read more, including an excerpt]

American Male Prostitute - A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

It is safe to assume you came to read this entry due to its title, Chocolate Jesus. Some of you may find it intriguing, or provocative, or challenging, or bizarre, or… Whatever you call it, it got your attention, and that is my point.

Just today I found an entry in the Online forum at AuthorNation.com (in my personal opinion the most civilized forum for writers). A fellow author complained about a book that apparently sells very well in the United States, but whose title he found somewhat annoying.

The book in question is I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max. Let me quote from the product description section at Amazon.com: “My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way: I share my adventures with the world.”

First, as we all have noticed, the title is catchy, and, in my very personal opinion, there is nothing wrong with that. I am reminded of Al Franken’s “Rush Limbaugh is a big fat liar.” I have to admit I haven’t read it, but the title sticks, and what I heard about the book, it is not about Rush Limbaugh.

Secondly, the author is very provocative and, as it appears, very successful. Whether we agree with his style or not is of no consequence. Tucker Max is not only a writer, good or not doesn’t matter, but he is definitely an outstanding marketer for his book.

I, for my part, have learned a good lesson on the importance of title design and how to get the attention of potential readers. That lesson, however, came after I started writing my newest novel American Male Prostitute. My intention was to be provocative but, unlike Tucker Max, my book has a real storyline.

And, by the way, Chocolate Jesus is a song by Tom Waits on his CD Mule Variations. I remember the day when I checked his large collection of CDs in a local music store. Just reading the titles of his songs was pure fun. The actual performances, however, did not appeal to me. There are some good ones, but mostly it is not my (very personal) taste. Nevertheless, since that time I can always point to Tom Waits’s music when it comes to recommend potential book titles.

Here are just a few more examples (Haven’t checked if they already exist as a book title, though):

• Cemetery Polka
• Tango Till They’re Sore
• Lie To Me
• Little Drop Of Poison
• Fish In The Jailhouse
• What Keeps Mankind Alive
• The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)
• Pasties And A G-String (At The Two O’Clock Club)
• Bad Liver And A Broken Heart
• Better Off Without A Wife
• Warm Beer And Cold Women
• Drunk On The Moon
• Just Another Sucker On The Vine
• Is There Any Way Out Of This Dream?
• You Can’t Unring A Bell
• I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You
• Grapefruit Moon
• Little Trip To Heaven

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The Bleeding Hills

A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.

American Male Prostitute - A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

Okay, things are getting a little weird. I am putting in a lot of work to promote my novels and, consequently, my web site, but I did not expect the e-mail inquiry I received today from Bruce in New York in regards to my new novel American Male Prostitute.

It reads: “I am very big in this business… shall we say. And I’m very curious about the research you’ve done on your novel. (AMP). We should talk. Bruce”.

Okay, here I think this Bruce guy may be in the publishing business, and maybe he was provoked by my not-so-nice comments about the industry. I was nevertheless cautious and I wrote back:

“Hi Bruce, I am always open for discussion about my work, but before we do that you should identify yourself. Apparently, you know who I am…;-)”

The answer came quickly: “I have BEEN an “American Male Prostitute”… off and on…mostly on… my entire adult life… I have loads of experiences… and am still in “the business”, as we call it. I’d love to hear more about your novel… etc. Feel free to call me, if you’d like to.” He added his phone number (Note: The little “…”s were his, not mine).

Well… Okay… Dear Bruce, if you want to learn about my novel, please feel free to actually read this blog. The title of my novel is meant in an ironic way; it has nothing to do with prostitution in the common sense. The main character in American Male Prostitute uses, among other things, sex to promote his first novel. That’s all, and I’ll leave it at that.

American Male Prostitute - A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

You think the title is a little strong? Well, maybe, but there is a truth behind it.

I am sure there are some good ones out there, but I stay with my statement when it comes to the majority of literary agents. As a business man I am appalled by the lack of business sense these people display to the public, especially when it comes to rejecting writers not because they’re not talented but due to primitive reason such as violation of the submission guidelines.

As a background information, I started writing technical literature in 2005 and I never even considered going through an application process; I jumped immediately into self-publishing and my business, Copperhill Media, is now officially a micro-publisher with distribution through Ingram. I have just published my first novel, The Bleeding Hills. I self-publish simply because I just don’t have the patience to look for the right agent and find the right publisher, a process that usually takes years before your work is published. The whole process is extremely ineffective and it does not fit with my sense for business.

I developed my case against literary agents after reading my most-favorite useless magazine, Writer’s Digest. Well, maybe not so useless, since the content convinced me that their preference for established publishing did not agree with me.

Okay, back to the agents… The September 2009 issue of Writer’s Digest includes an article Real Queries That Worked, sub-titled Agents share queries that hooked them – and insights on what made them effective. A remark for the novice: In order to find an agent - Writer’s Digest will gladly sell you a list – you need to submit not only your manuscript – or an excerpt thereof – but also a synopsis, which all makes sense. Through the query – in layman’s terms a cover letter – you need to convince the agent that your novel is the best thing since, let’s say, The Da Vinci Code. There are services - Writer’s Digest will gladly sell you a list – that will write you such a letter, and, naturally, they would like to be paid for it.

Wait a minute, you might say. Isn’t that like writing a cover letter that you include with your resume? The answer is, yes, the process is very similar. I know out of experience that many HR professionals, sitting in front of a pile of resumes submitted by hundreds of people applying for the same job, start their selection process by merely scanning over the cover letter. If they don’t like it, it’s out. After that they look at the remaining resumes and actually check for job qualification. Apparently, literary agents work very similar.

In all consequence, writing a professional looking author query is important, and it makes sense to hire a professional service to help increase your chances.

So, what’s wrong about this process? Okay, first of all, submitting a cover letter with your resume or submitting an author’s query with a manuscript are two very different things. An HR professional looks for one – the best – person to fill a particular job, and, naturally, competition is tough.

A literary agent may end up with the same number of queries on his/her desk, but in the end each of these applications could bring them the next John Grisham, Stephen King, or Dan Brown. Add to this that each query is submitted by a potential customer who, with the sale of the first book, shares his/her income with the agent. This being said, wouldn’t it make sense to read the query regardless of appearance or if it complies with submission guidelines?

As a business man I would concentrate on the synopsis and make the educated decision whether or not the submission has enough potential for another bestseller. I believe in looking at the actual result of the artist’s work.

The Writer’s Digest article mentions the example of an actual query praised by a real agent, saying “…I was hooked and knew I wanted to read…” the author’s work.

Let me quote from the letter: “I believe this book to be of broad public appeal in that it combines the scintillating fervor of scandal with the true-to-life detachment of history.” It goes on like this – in best lawyer’s English – and, honestly, if his work is written in the same style I personally wouldn’t want to read it – it doesn’t read like, let’s say, Dan Brown. It did, however, convince the agent, and, apparently it doesn’t matter if the letter reflects the writer’s style or not.

Well, maybe I still got it wrong and agents just prefer to receive a clear and precise synopsis, but will nevertheless have a look at the manuscript.

It also seems that agents are increasingly using “modern” technologies such as … e-mail! Some of them ask only for information without the actual manuscript. Many agents need to be convinced first that the writer can prove a writing experience, can provide a marketing plan, has won several prizes in writing contest, etc.

Personally, I have not won any prizes – didn’t even attend any contest – but, yes, I do have a precise marketing plan. With a good marketing plan in place, why go through an agent and publisher? If you need to provide the expertise, why not publish yourself? And, by the way, does my novel have anything to do with this process?

Let me add to my case by quoting some agents’ comments as listed in the September 2009 issue of Writer’s Digest:

- We prefer a (e-mail) query before you send us your ms (Manuscript)…Queries sent with attachments will be deleted unread.

- Only (written) queries with SASEs will receive responses. I generally respond to all queries within four weeks. I now accept e-mail submissions, please include my name in the subject line. (Meaning that person is new to Internet technologies and receives e-mail through another source.)

- Allow 60 days for a reply.

-  All submissions should be free of spelling and grammatical errors. (Duh!)

- Due to overwhelming number of submissions we cannot respond to all submissions, we cannot respond to all queries, but we do read them and will contact you if interested. (If not, they don’t bother to respond.)

-  If she’s interested in your work, she will respond within four weeks. Snail mail submissions will not be reviewed.

- If you haven’t heard from her within eight weeks, please assume she is passing on your project. (Now, that reflects an attitude I wouldn’t want to deal with as a writer.)

- I always welcome submissions from new authors. Follow the submission guidelines on the agency website. (Oops! That’s a good one! This is how it should be!)

- Agent responds in six to eight weeks.

It goes on like this.

Anyways, here are some tips on selecting an agent:

- Check out the agent’s web site. Doesn’t have one? Don’t even bother dealing with him/her.

- Check the web site for submission guidelines and see if you like it.

- Is there a procedure in place? You would not only like to know what is important to them, but also what they will do for you. After all, you are the customer.

As usual, if you feel the urge leave a comment, whether you agree with me or not. I’d like to hear from you.

Case #1 – Embedded Networking with CAN and CANopen
Authors: Olaf Pfeiffer, Andrew Ayre, and Christoph Keydel
ISBN 978-0976511625

Embedded Networking with CAN and CANopen on Scribd.com

The image to the left (see also the screen shots in higher resolution) shows a screen shot made on November 6, 2009. The PDF file was uploaded by a user “gustafhaarhoff” on June 9, 2009. The screen shot clearly shows the copyright message.  The PDF file of the book is available as a download for everybody.

Underneath the book information is a link “MORE INFO” leading to a section where other users can copy code to embedd the “document” into their web site.

Needless to say that the user name is a fake. Nobody with that name ever purchased the PDF file through the publisher’s web site. The user cannot be contacted through the Scribd.com web site, unless you, as the victim of the crime, sign up as a user and wait for the perpetrator to “subscribe” to you, i.e. there is no way to contact a user who infringed the copyright, knowingly or not.

Case #2 – A Comprehensible Guide to J1939
Author: Wilfried Voss
ISBN 978-0976511632

A Comprehensible Guide to J1939 on Scribd.com

The image to the left (see also the screen shots in higher resolution) shows a screen shot made on November 6, 2009. The PDF file was uploaded by a user “gustafhaarhoff” on June 9, 2009. The screen shot clearly shows the copyright message.  The PDF file of the book is available as a download for everybody.

Underneath the book information is a link “MORE INFO” leading to a section where other users can copy code to embedd the “document” into their web site.

I contacted the scribd.com legal department, namely some Jason Bentley – Director of Customer Care. Originally I received an automated response with the invitation to add comments and adding comments I did, without being insulting.

Mr. Bentley’s response was: “Thank you for your feedback. Your interpretation of our automated response is bizarre and simply wrong. I am closing this case pending receipt of a legally valid takedown request.”

So, he did close my current request, and I have to apply for a removal yet again, because he didn’t care for my comments.

• Springer-Verlag, New York
• Booklocker.com, Inc.

The following is a random list of marketing activities I started since the release of my novel The Bleeding Hills. First, it serves as a written record for myself, but I also wanted to share some marketing ideas with every author or self-publisher. I will update the list as soon as I initiate further actions. The size of the – still growing – list also proves the case that the real work begins after you have finished your novel.

Most of my activities are targeted toward increasing traffic to my blog and the Copperhill Media web site. Nevertheless, the difference between try and triumph is the “umph” in form of a larger investment. I have a list of options to provide the umph, but a decision will take some time.

• Most importantly, I updated my blog web site with all vital sales information.
• Added a “media kit” on my web site containing downloadable versions of the book’s synopsis plus a cover image.
• Updated my Amazon AuthorCentral blog. If you are an author/self-publisher you can start a blog and “claim” your books. See the Amazon web site for more information.
• Registered my book for sale through the Amazon Kindle store.
• Updated book information on Amazon.co.uk. They had only the title plus cover listed without any description.
• Connected my blog on FrogenYozurt.com to my blog on Amazon AuthorCentral per RSS feed, meaning I write my entries on FrogenYozurt and they are automatically shown on Amazon.
• Did the same with my blog on WordPress.com.
• Opened a “celebrity” account on Facebook. I am still having trouble seeing myself as a celebrity, but you need to expose yourself.
• Advertisement on Facebook. Costs per click were $0.59 in average, which is high, but the advantage of Facebook is that you can select very specific target groups. The downside is that you can spend easily several thousands of Dollars. I opted to spend $10/day for a limited time and I may restart the ad campaign at some time again.
• Paid ad ($19.95) on bookhitch.com. They are no stats to determine the worthiness of the investment, but, apparently, they do have a large readership (more than 2 million web site hits in 2008).
• Updated my record on AuthorsDen.com. No costs involved.
• Web site & Blog promotion through digg.com. No costs.
• Web site & Blog promotion through reddit.com. No costs.
• Signed up for paid services ($9.95/month) at ineedhits.com. They promise 1,000 hits on your web site per month. It could be more if you pay more. I have installed a hit counter on my web site to measure the success, and it turns out they do provide the monthly hits.
• Signed up at AuthorNation.com. Seems to be a more civilized authors’ forum than others I tried.
• Got a free book listing on coalition-independent-authors.com.
• Registered at IrishPenpals.org and made some entries in their Online forum (This is a marketing measure very specific to the topic of my novel, The Bleeding Hills).
• Got  a free listing for my web site at Browse Ireland. Also bought a one year ad for 29 Euros, roughly $45.
• Posted a paid listing for $150 at ShelfAwareness.com – Listing will also appear on Unshelved. Apparently the listing will reach 16,000 people in the book trade who subscribe to Shelf Awareness and 45,000 librarians and others who read Unshelved.
• Listed my book on eBay (Nov 16, 2009) – Updates on success or lack thereof will follow.

Just a word on Online press releases: Regardless of whether you pay for a press release or not, you will get a great number of readers during the first week or two, provided the press release web site provides statistics for you – most of them do. After the initial week or two the number of “views” will slow down significantly. Be aware that “views” means that somebody read your press release, but does not necessarily end up at your web site. When you pay for press releases take the time to calculate the costs per click. Let’s say you pay $30 for a press release and you get 278 views. In this case you paid roughly 11 cent per view – See also my remarks below. You can find some tips on writing a press release at Send2Press.Com.

• Posted a free press release on prlog.com.
• Posted a free press release on openPR.com.
• Posted a paid ($30) press release on free-press-release.com. As the web site name indicates, they also do it for free, but paying “improves” your chances of being read. My experience is that there is no difference in exposure. In all consequence, the $30 I paid were not worth the result.
• Posted a paid ($80) press release on PRWeb.com. The web site promises you heaven, but the number of “views” is not higher than other, free services. Also, the costs per click are relatively high. Nevertheless, I use prweb.com on a regular basis in addition to the free services. Their ranking is usually higher than other services.
• Posted a paid ($49) press release on 24-7Press-Release.com. Costs per click (currently $0.17) are relatively low; they provide a good number of views.
• Posted a free press release on i-newswire.com. No stats unless you pay. Costs are reasonable.

What’s on the To-Do List?

• Getting in touch with local bookstores. Even though I wouldn’t want the limelight, I would be willing to do some readings and to sell my books locally.
• I checked out another web site, AuthorBuzz.com. They promise to get in touch with several hundred of thousands of readers, including book clubs. For me that seems to be a very effective way to get my book directly to the reader, but it is also pricy. Fees are between $850 and $1,650.
• I have been “scraping” addresses of bookstores all over New England from a web site. My intention is to send all of them a special offer to buy at least 5 copies each.
• Constantly adding to my blog and my AuthorNation account.
• I am thinking about submitting short stories to EveryDayFiction.com. The pay $3.00(!) per short story, but I believe the most important consideration is the added exposure. If people like your writing they are more likely to check out your web site or blog and may even buy your book.

What didn’t work?

• I started yet another blog on today.com. They promise to share profits with you. Profits are created through Google ads. The reality is, your blog needs to be huge before you make your first dime per month. Today.com does not have a high ranking and the web site loads very slow. Links I created to point to my web sites probably won’t have any effect.

What I didn’t even try…

• Google Ads. Don’t waste your money on Google ads. You can spend easily thousands of Dollars without measurable success. The costs per click can be extremely high ($5+) when competition in form of the big guys (Amazon, Google, etc.) is involved.
• It is widely recommended to get in touch with local newspapers and radio or TV stations and get an interview. While many authors might try this lane, it doesn’t work for me. That is a very personal choice. I like writing books and I’d love for people to buy my book, but I wouldn’t enjoy the limelight.

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The Bleeding Hills

A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.

1. You need a Blog!

Don’t even bother designing your own web site (you should be spending time writing your next novel) or even paying to have it designed. What you need is a blog! A blog allows you write whatever you want and add pages to your web site without major hassles. And, after all, a blog is free!

There are a number of services proving free blogs, including Google. All you need is an internet connection and a browser. My personal recommendation is WordPress.com. Their web site templates are nothing short of amazing and you can select the one that fits your purposes best. You receive a lot more attention through their blog service than through your own web site, just due to the mere size of their web site.

Use the blog to shamelessly promote yourself and your work. Make sure you add pages on a regular basis to increase the size of your site. I cannot stress enough the importance of a web site with good content and a good (meaning: large) size. If you keep up extending your web site, the search engines will find you for sure.

2. Create an “Awareness Platform”

I put the term into quotation marks, because this is the term used in magazines and web sites that support the current antiquated publishing process. Their recommendations include, for instance, signing up at writers’ forums. Don’t be fooled! Forums do NOT help in any shape or form to increase your chance for a book deal. Don’t waste your time there! Forum entries do NOT create more traffic to your web site or blog.

The first step towards promoting your awareness platform is to create your own blog (as explained above). The blog will not increase your chances to get your book published, but it will help to promote your book.

If you are looking for credits, sign up for blogs that pay for content (e.g. today.com) or services looking for writers. There are more, similar service available on the Internet, and I personally haven’t made a lot of experiences with them, but I believe they help building your reputation as a writer.

3. Send press releases

There is a great number of press release services available through the Internet, some of them free-of-charge, some of them not. Here is a short list of services. Feel free to check them out, and search for more on the Internet.

http://www.prlog.com
http://www.openpr.com
http://www.free-press-release.com
http://www.prweb.com

4. Use Social Networks

Personally, I am not into the friend creating frenzy, but I did open a so-called “celebrity” account on facebook.com. This account also allows you to place advertisement on facebook.com. It works very similar to Google, meaning you pay per click, and you can determine your own budget. In addition, you can add facebook features to your web site/blog by adding a “fan box”, i.e. people can sign up as a fan. The vast advantage of facebook ads over Google ads is that you can select specific facebook user profiles, e.g. all users interested in historical fiction.

If you are using WordPress as you blog service, you can also add facebook features such as a “Share on Facebook” link.

In case you already have a facebook (or similar) account, use it shamelessly to promote your work.

5. Promote your blog/web site

There are other web sites where you can enter the web address and nature of your web site/blog. It does help to create more hyperlinks to your web site. Here is a short list, but feel free to search for more on the Internet.

http://www.contentpromote.com
http://www.digg.com
http://www.reddit.com

6. Do NOT use Google AdSense

It may sound strange, especially when you read what Google has to say about its advertisement offers, but you can spend a great amount of money on something that doesn’t pay off. I have been using AdSense for years, and it did increase the awareness of my web sites and products, but in the end I spent more money than I made through Google AdSense. There are several problems for the self-publisher. First, be aware that your ads may appear on thousands of web sites, but that some corrupt web site owners hire people from all over the world to click on the ads just to create revenue for the web site owner. Google has been increasing their activities to prevent this kind of scam, but I seriously doubt they got a good grip on it. I know of a business owner who spent roughly $1,500 per month on Google, but after two years decided to cancel them. There was no noticeable impact on his business, also due the fact that he used the money he saved to spruce up the web site. A good and extensive web site will always post you on the first page of Google search pages. The other problem is that you have to compete against the big names in the business. Always ask yourself the question how you can compete against Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. The strength of the big guys is their extensive offer on almost every topic you can think of, but your strength is that you can elaborate on the same topic over pages and pages, meaning you provide more informational value.

7. The BIGGEST item of all: An Amazon.com listing

Maybe I should have placed this item on top, but I am continuously adding thoughts and ideas as they come to mind. I will not get into the topic of how to get your book listed on Amazon.com; I will address this in another article. For now let’s just say that you should check out the Amazon web site; look for setting up a seller account.

The importance of of an Amazon listing can not be emphasized enough! A listing on Amazon makes it impossible NOT to sell a book. There is a good reason why I personally promote Amazon over others like, for instance, Barnes & Noble. Amazon makes it very easy for the self-publisher to create a listing. You set up a seller account and as long as your book has an ISBN you can list it immediately. Barnes & Noble, for instance, just doesn’t get it. You can set up an account with them as well, but their application process is very cumbersome (e.g. you need to send them a hardcopy of the book so that they can approve it). Amazon also provides you a writer’s account that allows you to run a blog on the Amazon web site. The blog is directly attached to your book, meaning it will be attached to the listing.

More tips to follow…

The Bleeding Hills - A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I am very close to publishing my first novel, The Bleeding Hills. The actual writing is done, and we are currently going through the consistency test, before we pass the novel to a professional editor. In the meantime I feel compelled to share some experiences I made during the writing process.

I found the above quote in the last issue of “Poets & Writers”; it was part of the first article in this magazine that I actually read in full. It is an unfortunate fact that most writers’ magazines, and especially web sites, are filled with a mind-boggling large amount of superficial information and self-indulgence. The persona of Jonathan Galassi, however, made reading this particular article a joyful experience.

Mr. Galassi possesses a passion for writers and their works that should be an example for every agent, editor, and publisher, especially those who, as part of their business policy, strictly reject author submissions that don’t follow their submission guidelines (i.e. applying the proper font, etc.). I am thinking of those impassive people who turned down first-time authors like – just to name one extraordinary example – Stephenie Meyer and her “Twilight” novel.

In addition, Mr. Galassi, while melancholically favoring the traditional publishing system, realizes the potential of modern-day publishing technologies. All those writers’ magazines, web sites, blogs, and forums I read merely concentrate on the traditional process (Looking for an agent, finding a publisher), that will take a promising author years before his/her work reaches the potential reader. Well, this last statement is not quite correct; most writers’ magazines and web sites do promote self-publishing, but they also shamelessly provide a ton of ad space for all those sharks who will gladly take your money (Several thousands of Dollars is not an unusual amount) for a very remote chance for sales success.

Another misconception, promoted by the traditional system and their disciples, is that, once you are published, you are a member of a very exclusive club. Accomplished authors obtain the right to look down on all wannabes, and if they feel the urge for charity, they offer their advice on writers’ Online forums. One of the experiences I made during writing my first novel was to stay away from Online forums. I did my share by posting comments that – quite coincidently – included references to my blog, but I quickly learned they have no impact on “building a platform”. “Building a platform”, i.e. increasing the awareness of your persona, is widely recommended to increase your chances for publication and increase your sales numbers once you are published. The harsh reality is, considering the vast amount of forums and blogs these days, blog/forum entries have a tremendously small impact on your success as a writer.

Actually, the process is reversed. I deem the existence of an author’s blog as mandatory, but the only way to drive traffic to your blog is to write and publish a good book. I see my blog frogenyozurt.com as a supplement to my writings, right now for my first novel The Bleeding Hills, and later, of course, for everything that follows. The intention is to add value by describing the writing process, and sharing all discoveries.

When I started posting entries on a particular writers’ forum I even received a bashing from accomplished authors regarding my approach. First, there is my cocky attitude, that I refuse to waste years of waiting for approval of my novel, and thus decided to self-publish (Actually, I am a business man and I run my own micro-publishing business). This probably felt like a slap in the face of everybody who went through the process the traditional way. Secondly, and this is another lesson I learned, I should not bother publishing my novel unless I am sure it sells at least 10,000 copies. This has to do with yet another aspect of writing a novel, and it really does not apply to me: You write to become famous… well, rich and famous, but famous also means you become a member of this exclusive club…

I rather refer to Groucho Marx who once said, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.” Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to become rich just like the other guy, and I will be grateful for every copy of my novel I can sell, but my motivation is not fame or  a vast sales success. On the other hand I do not write for not being published, and I do have the means to publish, so why not use them.

My main motivation is the actual writing, and the new discoveries that come with the research of the topic. The Bleeding Hills was created, because I was curious about the events of Bloody Sunday, and, while I do not consider myself an expert on the Irish Troubles, I have learned a great deal about them. It is also fascinating to watch the development of a story. As a writer you start with a scaffold before building the walls, followed by careful, time-consuming interior design. It is fascinating to watch all the unexpected little twists and turns that your mind creates while you work on the details. Basically, writing a novel is the kind of experience I thoroughly enjoy.

In the same sense, considerations like sales success or fame do not play any role when I select the topics of my writings. My first novel, The Bleeding Hills, gained relevance due to recent terrorist attacks in Northern Ireland, but that was pure coincidence – a strike of luck if you want. My next novel – which is actually the first, since I started writing it before The Bleeding Hills – will refer to US immigration, a topic with which I have some personal experiences, but it also comes up as a political topic every so many years.

In the before-mentioned Online forums I read the entries of a vast number of primarily very young writers who try to follow the mainstream by writing vampire novels a la “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer. A similar development could be seen after the publication of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” when a great number of authors discovered the opportunity to squeeze more money out of a popular theme. I try to be a bit more original, but I am still tempted to write “The Monty Python Code”.