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Writing Etc. – July 1, 2006

ISSN: 1545-5580

Tips, Techniques, and Resources to Transform You From An Average Freelancer to A Highly Paid Professional.

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Notes from Minnesota

The Bright Side of Writing Scams by Beth Ann Erickson

Paying Markets

You Speak Out: Q&A

~~~~~Highly Recommended~~~~~~~~~~

Write your book, get published and on the market in seven short days.

Ditch publishers. Forget “traditional” marketing channels.

This is all about generating immediate profits from everything you write.

Discover how to do it (it’s so easy) right here.

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Greetings from Minnesota!

I can’t believe it’s been five years since Jumpstart Your Writing Career hit bookshelves.

My, how time flies.

A lot has happened since then… this list has grown by leaps and bounds, Filbert Publishing has expanded more than I ever imagined possible, we’ve lost our dear mascot and gained a new friend.

Life continues as each day arrives ripe with new possibilities.

And it’s in that mindset that I’m thrilled to announce that we’re gearing up to release my newest book called, “101 No cost (and Low Cost) Secrets to Promote Your Writing Biz and Supercharge Your Freelance Income.”

Pretty fun, eh?

If you’re on our mailing list, you’ve probably received a snail-mail letter with an OUTSTANDING offer to get this book for basically free.

If you’re not on our snail mail list, well… I wish you were because we’ve got some awesome stuff in the works. J

As for Jumpstart Your Writing Career… as you probably already know, has been terminated. Not my choice, but oh well.

However, with each new development, I truly believe that new opportunity arises. I may have the resources to resurrect Jumpstart, I may let it remain terminated. Haven’t decided yet.

In the mean time, I’m enjoying the summer of ’06 like mad.

And thanks to very wise friends, new doors are opening daily. THANKS Mr. GC! You have no idea what you’ve unleashed upon this world….

I’ll keep you posted

To your success always,

Beth

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NOTICE: Jumpstart Your Writing Career has been terminated! Within a short time, the only copies that will be available will be the ones sitting in my office right now. Long story, but if you want your copy, I’d suggest you get your hands on it ASAP, before I run out. After they’re gone, that’s it. Here’s the inside scoop:

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• Write powerful queries that’ll open new doors of opportunity
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Absolute Write calls Jumpstart “a marvelous tool for novice writers and often published authors alike. It’s refreshing, easy to use, and applicable”.

Pick up your copy today so you can jump ahead of the pack and start snagging great paying assignments, read more here:

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~~~~~~~~~~~~ Feature Article ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Bright Side of Writing Scams

By Beth Ann Erickson

Two phone calls within a couple weeks. Two smart freelancers. Both nearly snared in the same writing scam.

It goes like this:

After months, if not years, of submitting their books to publishers and receiving scores of rejection letters, they finally received the “OK” to submit their latest work to what they thought were reputable publishers.

One small problem, though. Each had a niggling sensation in the pit of their stomach that simply wouldn’t subside.

“We love the manuscript!” the publisher proclaimed. “Brilliant. It’ll sell like gangbusters!”

Still the nagging sensation persisted.

Then they e-mailed me complex e-mails detailing their situation.

“What’s your phone number,” I asked, “this is way to complicated to try to unravel via e-mail.”

Onward they sent their phone numbers to me and I rang each of them.

As they spoke it became disappointingly clear that they were indeed caught up in a fairly common publishing situation.

I won’t bore you with the minute details. However on a broader scale I can say this:

When you are searching for a publisher of any sort, your mantra is, “Money flows towards the writer, not away from the writer.”

Both these authors had found “publishers” who offered to “publish” their books for a fee. Really BIG fees.

This got me to thinking… if you’re going to pay to publish your book, why not simply self publish? After all, publishers who claim to “publish” your book, then charge you setup fees, cover art fees, editing fees, annual hosting fees, and inflated book prices are not publishers.

Publishers are supposed to write checks, not collect fees.

If a “publisher” is “helping” you self publish your book, your best bet is to simply self publish it rather than get your name tangled with a company that may or may not have a reputable reputation.

I’ve heard of too many authors who are astounded to discover (after all the contracts were signed) that they hadn’t found a publisher, but that the company was “assisting them in self publishing their book.”

This clearly wasn’t what they had hoped to find when their book got accepted by the company.

But most authors make the best of it and struggle against the stigma that many of these “Print on Demand” (POD) “publishers” have created for themselves, rightly or wrongly deserved.

Had most of these authors known that they were about to get caught between thinking they’d found a “publisher” and realizing the publisher viewed them as “self publishing” they would have simply opted for the second option and deleted the middle man.

This is what I advised these two writers to do.

If you’re going to pay one cent to get published, hop ship and self publish. With so many options available today, why not reap all the profits if you’re going to have to work your tail off promoting your book?

You’ve got online publicity options available that are simple to use and dirt cheap to implement.

You’ve got a whole world of digital printing beckoning you to jump in and realize your dream.

Plus, you can totally eliminate the stigma of being affiliated with a POD publisher which means reviewers won’t automatically reject your book. Bookstores will take a chance on stocking it (provided you supply bookstore friendly terms). Industry people won’t wrinkle their noses at you.

You see, Print on Demand book printing is a fabulous technology. However, the Print on Demand business model that many POD publishers have developed call for them to achieve the bulk of their profits not from book sales (because many of these books are anything but readable), but from author fees.

Now, I know, writer scams exist and will continue to do so. But to wallow in the negativity of it all won’t suit either of us.

Especially when that same negative situation can shine the light on an incredible publishing opportunity open to every writer… self publishing using digital technology at its best.

The resources are available. With the maturation of the Internet, promotion is darn near effortless.

And all this new technology will allow your writing to see the light of day.

Our future is truly bright. And there’s something really special about witnessing the birth of a new dream, a new publishing company. I know these fine writers will write the words they were born to write… and those words will make it onto the printed page.

I truly love my job and am absolutely grateful every time a dream takes flight.

Want more information? Check out this book. It’s the resource I recommended to these two writers. If you’ve got a glimmer of interest in self publishing I highly recommend you purchase this now: 

~~~

Beth Ann Erickson is the “Queen Bee” of Filbert Publishing. She’s also the author of soon-defunct Jumpstart Your Writing Career (http://filbertpublishing.com/jumpstart.htm ) and the upcoming 101 No Cost and Low Cost Secrets To Promote Your Writing Biz and Supercharge Your Freelance Income. Keep your eye out for it within the next month or so. She’s also a busy copywriter, speaker, and publisher of Writing Etc., the free e-mag for writers. 

P.S. You can use this article free of charge on your own website or zine. Just don’t make any changes and be sure to include the entire byline. Enjoy!

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Paying Markets – check ‘em out!

Cemetery Dance

http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/Guidelines#MAG

Glimmer Train

http://www.glimmertrainpress.com/writer/html/index2.asp

Pif (You’ll need to log in to read this link)

http://www.pifmagazine.com/submit.php

DNA Publications

http://www.dnapublications.com/info/guide.htm#wt

Zoetrope

http://www.all-story.com/submissions.cgi

The Sun

http://www.thesunmagazine.org/writer_guidelines.html

Saint Ann’s Review

http://www.saintannsreview.com/#submissions

Thema

http://members.cox.net/thema/submissions.html

The Treepenny Review

http://www.threepennyreview.com/submissions.html

Virginia Quarterly

http://www.vqronline.org/page.php/prmID/12

ZYZZYVA

http://www.zyzzyva.org/zy-subs.htm

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You Speak Out: Q&A

Question: Who is Maury?

Answer: Maury is Beth’s dear husband. He plows through queries and takes care of many of the e-mail tasks. He’s also quite the tech support guy.

Question: What’s POD?

Answer: “POD” stands for “Print on Demand.” Print on Demand is a brilliant technology that allows publishers to print one book at a time, thereby eliminating large print runs and storage costs.

POD is a great way to print books. However the down side is that a whole new breed of “publishers” have sprouted that will “publish” authors for a fee and then consider those same authors “self publishers.”

It’s an odd situation… if you have a publisher you should expect them to act like publishers. That means they bear the cost of publishing your book and write checks with your name on them… not the other way around. Read today’s feature article for more information on this.

Hope you enjoyed our Q&A session this week! Keep an eye out for next week’s Q&A!

In the mean time, got questions? Send ‘em here:  http://www.filbertpublishing.com/tinc?key=TTjJjZfx&formname=question

We answer each and every freelance question in the order they come in. You get your answer in an upcoming issue of Writing Etc.

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We Recommend:

Writing For Dollars! The FREE ezine for writers featuring tips, tricks and ideas for selling what you write. Receive the FREE ebook, 83 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY WRITING when you subscribe. Email to subscribe@writingfordollars.com -*- http://www.WritingForDollars.com

WRITERS FIND MARKETS EASILY - Worldwide Freelance has a NEW fully-searchable Markets Database. Discover writing markets from North America, Europe, Australia and other places. It's free, so come and try it out here: http://www.worldwidefreelance.com

Are your book sales in a slump? http://BethAnnErickson.com

E-Mag And Web Site Owners! Did you know that Filbert Publishing has an entire cache of articles you can use FREE. Just click the “Freebie” link to your left.

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Writing Etc.

Box 326

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© 2006 Filbert Publishing