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.
Many writers assume that a literary agent’s inclusion in a market guide or listing–whether it’s a print book, such as Jeff Herman’s Guide, or a website, such as QueryTracker–is an imprimatur of reputability. Surely the agent wouldn’t be listed if there were any questions about his/her honesty or competence. But the worst market listings–which mayRead More
The issue of orphan works–out of print, still-in-copyright books, films, photographs, etc. whose rightsholders can’t be found–is one that has been much in the news lately. Concern over a potential monopoly on orphan works was a major component of the criticism of the now-defunct Google Book Settlement, which sought to resolve authors’ and publishers’ objectionsRead More
Just introduced from self-publishing conglomerate Author Solutions (owner of the iUniverse, Xlibris, AuthorHouse, and Trafford brands, and the power behind the outsourced self-publishing divisions of Harlequin and Thomas Nelson, among others): BookTango, an ebook aggregator for self-published authors. BookTango, which is still in beta, offers DIY ebook conversion via its online ebook editor (your fileRead More
Over the past few months, I’ve gotten a number of questions from writers who’ve received spam–excuse me, invitations from a website called Publishers’ Desk. Its motto is “Bringing Authors and Publishers Together,” and it describes itself thus (I’m reproducing this at length because the style and syntax should tell you something): PUBLISHERS’ DESK IS ARead More
This article from the Authors Guild was posted Tuesday on the Authors Guild blog. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the ways in which the book business is changing, and how we reached the point where a single retailer has the power to dictate terms to publishers, and thus, indirectly, to authors and readers.Read More
Last December, I blogged about Amazon’s KDP Select program, which allows KDP authors to participate in Amazon’s Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and be paid per borrow from a fund established by Amazon. Two weeks ago, Amazon issued a press release charting KDP Select’s performance during its first month. KDP Select books were borrowed 295,000 timesRead More
