The official blog of Writer Beware® shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls. Also providing advice for writers, industry news, and commentary. Writer Beware® is sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.
Introducing Writer Beware’s brand-new logo! It was designed by awesome artist James F. Beveridge, and hopefully will help us to build more of a brand identity. After sixteen years, it’s about time, right? Over the next few weeks, I’ll be updating Writer Beware’s various online presences to include it. I’ve already re-designed this blog, withinRead More
Recently I've gotten a number of questions about the American Writing Association (note the .org suffix, implying altruism and good will), a group that describes itself thus:
We are a group of professional writers and editors that are committed to helping people become published writers. We work with a wide range of people - from the every day writer with a story to tell, to the experienced writer looking for the big publishing contract. Whatever your goal is, we are dedicated to helping you achieve fulfillment from the time and effort you have put into your writing.
What exactly does that mean? Well, if you ignore the abundant red flags and submit your writing, you receive an offer like this:
Shortly after I posted my article about Whiskey Creek Press's purchase by Start Media, and the new contract terms being offered by Start, I received a response from Jarred Weisfeld, President of Start Publishing.
I think it clarifies some of the concerns expressed by WCP authors--including what, for me, was a major question: what will happen to writers with current WCP contracts who don't choose to sign Start's letter of agreement. That, by the way, is information that should have been provided by Whiskey Creek Press in its letter announcing the sale. In my opinion, WCP was seriously remiss in not addressing that issue.
The cut in royalty rates is still going to be hard for authors to swallow (it was a major sticking point when Start took over Night Shade Books). While 25% of net is--regrettably--"standard" for larger houses, it's not typical for small presses.
Edited to add: Jarred Weisfeld of Start Media has responded to this post, clarifying some of the issues raised below.
In early June, Debra Womack, owner of Whiskey Creek Press, announced in a letter to authors that the publisher was in the process of being acquired by Start Media (a company that has recently acquired two other small presses, Night Shade Books and Salvo Press).
As part of the acquisition process, Start is asking all current WCP authors to agree to and sign an offer of new terms as follows on page two below. We are offering you the non-refundable sum of $1 and other good and valuable consideration, payable to you if and when the sale of the company to Start is completed (expected to be by the end of June 2014). Upon closing you will also receive a payment from WCP of current royalties and/or advances or any other sums owing to you by WCP for sales up through and including April 30, 2014.
While attending something like this is not something I’d ordinarily be interested in, scammers of various stripes have used BEA to add a veneer of legitimacy to their services, and this program appeared ripe for this sort of thing. So Victoria and I decided that I would sign up and attend as many of the programs as possible. The cost ($115 before a certain date, $215 after) seemed a little high, but it was all in the interest of Writer Beware.
I also figured if uPublishU turned out to be everything it promised, I might pick up a few interesting tips and tidbits. I am the de facto publisher of A.C. Crispin’s StarBridge books, and recently went through the process of publishing her last book, Time Horse, so I think I probably am in the demographic they are trying to reach.
I got there a little late, and the location and lack of signage concerning UpublishU made me even later. It was tucked into a far corner of the cavernous Javits Center, and I swear that it was almost as if the Powers That Be at BEA were trying to hide it. I finally found it after following directions to “go through the Food Court.”
FauxReader said she loved Author's book, but was distressed by the large number of errors in it--wrong tenses, mis-spelled words, and grammatical mistakes on nearly every page. Not only did this make reading less pleasurable, FauxReader was worried that it might result in bad reviews.
Author was shocked. She works with an editor, and carefully prepares her manuscripts. She didn't think it could be formatting glitches, because those wouldn't insert mis-spellings and grammar snafus. All she could guess was that she'd uploaded the wrong file.
When Author asked FauxReader where she'd purchased the book, and to provide a few examples of the mistakes, FauxReader became cagy. She did eventually offer a retailer's name, and also identified a few typos--but nothing like the major errors with which, she'd claimed, Author's book was riddled.
