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Scams, nearly scams, and not quite scams but still cheesy:
1. Publishing services: There are legit publishing services.
-they call themselves services, not publishers
-give you an upfront price list
-don't make you go through a fake "vetting" process
- provide a service you /
1. Publishing services: There are legit publishing services.
-they call themselves services, not publishers
-give you an upfront price list
-don't make you go through a fake "vetting" process
- provide a service you /
Don't want to to or can't do yourself (maybe you don't know how to do book interiors)
- they charge you for those services, and they don't pretend to be publishers.
MANY publishing services pretend to be publishers. The tell - if the money flows FROM the author, it's a service/2
- they charge you for those services, and they don't pretend to be publishers.
MANY publishing services pretend to be publishers. The tell - if the money flows FROM the author, it's a service/2
It doesnt matter if they told you they picked yours from thousands of MS, if you pay them, they are a service not a publisher. They should be upfront about it.
- You should consider, if you are self publishing, what you are able to pay for those services or dig in & learn 3/
- You should consider, if you are self publishing, what you are able to pay for those services or dig in & learn 3/
Either is fine, but do consider, as with any business, how many books do you have to sell to make up the cost of those services? I know, it's art, but once you publish it's also a product, and you are running a small business. When will you be in the black? You decide what the 4/
Right answer is. Just remember, a publishing service should be up front about what they are, what they provide, and what it costs. A publisher tells you what they are paying you.
2. REVIEWERS There are review services, and they are up front about it. My concern is the trend 5/
2. REVIEWERS There are review services, and they are up front about it. My concern is the trend 5/
In my inbox of people asking to review my book for a fee. I know, there are publishers paying book bloggers for honest reviews (and that's great) and there are people who host book blog tours and authors pay them (and that's great). Anyone who asks 6/
You to pay for those promotional services should be both up front and able to tell you what the expected result is for authors. At least you should know what you expect to get from it- sales, reviews, building platform? 7/
Back to my inbox. The person says, Hi, I love your book, I want to review it. We spend 3 exchanges working out that they don't know what I write. Meanwhile, I look at they're reviews, which feel vaguely fill in the blank. I play along, they look at my profile 8/
online somewhere and say, Oh I want to review X. I say great, what format? They say whatever version and please send my fee. I say Oh, you're a review service? I need a price list & typical results, a range is fine and I get there are no guarantees.
And we never speak again. OR
And we never speak again. OR
They send a price list that rivals the industry review service giants. If it's a sales pitch disguising itself as a request to review, I say save your pennies and use a service that's up front about who they are. Hope this has been useful. Hate to see authors getting scammed.
