As yet another story involving unscrupulous folks taking advantage of naive writers comes to light, I am again amazed how many such folks exist out there. Since the average writer doesn’t make enough from their writing to support themselves without a trust fund or a spouse to pick up the slack, you’d think there would be easier targets for scams–for instance little old ladies and their mattress money. What these people specialize in is conning a lot of writers out of a little bit of money at a time. What they count on is writers being too mortified at being duped to report it.
As a published author, I’m often asked what advice I have for aspiring authors. It used to be to persevere, that the traditional publishing process was a big waiting game. Since the advent of self-publishing, I’d added that new writers who went that route should make sure the product they put out was “ready for the marketplace”–that publishing well was better than “getting something out there” that they might not live down. Maybe I’d be wise to add another caveat akin to “never let them see you sweat”–never let them see you’re desperate.
As writers, we know that it’s a buyers marketplace. There are far more books being written than there are slots on the publishers’ lists. This can make anyone eager to get their work out into the marketplace feel a little anxious. Even turning to self-publishing is no guarantee that your work will be seen anywhere aside from the boxes in your own garage.
Even though writing is a solitary profession, I urge aspiring authors to get out into the writing world, even if it is only online. There are a plethora of writer’s groups where you can discuss the writing life, like my own fictionfolks group at Yahoo. Research any company you think of doing business with. Visit sites that report scams such as Preditors and Editors, Writer’s Beware and other websites. And remember, like with anything else, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Writers do need to be wary. It pains me when people who don’t know the industry counsel writers to take the self publishing route no matter what.
I understand the urgent need to tell the story. But the biggest complaint that comes back is the quality isn’t what the writers expected. In one case, the first book was great. Then after the writer wrote the second book, the quality got shoddier. By the third book, it was on very thin paper.
Writers can go to all the workshops on the craft of writing. If you don’t balance that with business sense, then you will have a short lived career with a lot of bitter feelings.