Sigrid, I am so glad I did not pay AuthorHouse for a web site. I like to have control. It is taking me a long time to create my site, but it will be worth it to be able to edit it when and if I please. What is this about the nightly news? I'll go to your blog and see what I see. Love and Light, Lynn

Lynn, I'm reposting the information about me being on the news. I had put it on another thread. But before you read that, allow me to say that I totally agree about wanting to have control over my own web site. Also the AH "web site" is nothing more than a link to the page on their bookstore where I wrote all the material!

Blogs are really cool. I have set up My Events
blogs in such a way that it is chronological and I have allowed people to make comments, although no one has commented yet... Will be very interested to see your web site when you finish. TTYA, Sigrid

Just wanted to let everyone here know that tonight I will be on the nightly news on CJOH TV starting at 11:30 p.m. I will be interviewed
by Leigh Chapel on the Focus section and the show will air again tomorrow at 6 a.m. Unfortunately, it is just a local show but it will reach 80,000 viewers! And if anyone has satellite TV, they can catch it.

Just thought I would blow my own horn, as usual :-) Man, I am my own best promoter. LOL. :-)

I already taped the show earlier this evening. I think it went pretty well -- I didn't say anything particularly brilliant but I didn't run out of the room screaming either.

Hope that some of you can catch it. I will be talking about my book on hip replacements and the problems with our health-care system here in Canada.

Looks like what I posted under the POD question would work here. Don't want to repeat myself, so if you want info on Booklocker or PublishAmerica, check that post.

AuthorHouse is the same company that was known as 1st Books. I understand that they have pending lawsuits against them. For what, I don't know.
Kristie

quote:

---

Originally posted by chickadee:
I was researching Authorhouse.

Is Firstbooks the same only with name change?

Some important forum info there. Worth checking out.I suggest it strongly if we are talking about the same Company.

Information is Power ladies!

http://forums.writersweekly.com/viewtopic.php?t=2543

---

I'm with Author House. I questioned them about the name change and they claimed that it just reflected their growing audience because not all of their authors are first time writers anymore.

Then I talked to someone over at iUniverse and found out about the class-action lawsuit against AH. My understanding is that there are a lot of authors who were unhappy with their final manuscripts.

Personally, I am thrilled with my final product from AH BUT I had to go through five different galley proofs in order to correct Author House's spacing errors. That was totally unacceptable, especially given the fact that they charged me a royal fortune.

I have also heard bad things about Publish America, although I know one woman who went with them and had a good experience. Her only problem was that she hardly sold any books. I think anyone who goes POD needs to realize that they have to do their own marketing. Even though I paid AH a ton of money for their expanded promotion package, I still need to call 500 --600 newspapers, radio stations, TV stations to follow-up. Am not looking forward to the task :-(

Best, Sigrid

The thing I have learned as a writer is to read between the lines of the promotions and don't plug in my own expectations.

"We send out press releases" is not the same as "people will be calling you".
"We set up interviews" is not the same as "you are going to have interviews that someone might actually hear."
"We set up book signings" is not the same as "Schedule it, and they will come to buy."

As writers we are confronted with tons of people who say their job is to promote our book. They never say their job is to sell our book. The truth is that most of these "promoters" have simply found a way to make money using our desire to be successful so that they can be successful!

Well, now that I sound totally disgruntled, let me go on to say that I'm not really! But I have learned to think a little more clearly before I open my check book or hand over my credit card. Always ask yourself: is this something I need to pay someone else to do? We often assume that others have more contacts than we do, and sometimes they do. But --- I have found that the internet has allowed a lot of people who are not truly qualified to go into business and to promote themselves quite well.

There is a learning curve to being a writer beyond the written work itself just like in everything else we endeavor to do. Initially many of us [myself included] run out there thinking the world is as excited as we are. When our energy flags, we step back and begin to assess the situation. Forums like this are wonderful places to be when that happens. Actually I wish I had been here in the earlier stages. At least I wouldn't have felt alone in my anguish!

Forums like this are also about the only way to find information that you can put any stock in. At least you can question each other and share your concerns.

Feeling much better these days!
Dannye

Hi, Sigrid, sorry we couldn't see you on TV. Yeah, AH does not deliver as it appears in their ads, as Danny is pointing out. Sigried, the press releaases sent to the media do not get read because the media is flooded with them daily. Just know that when I scoured the press release info that AH had provided and followed up, I had more luck in my local than in other cities. I did get interviews, TV, newspaper spots, but none of them outside my region. I could have easily looked in the phone book myself to make inquiries for FREE! I'll never invest in AH marketing products again. But I am pleased with the final look of the book. No one has ever commented that my book looked POD. Reading galley proofs is hard work! Love and Light, Lynn

I ran across this phone number from a few years ago and I'm hoping it's the right one.

Her name is Laurel and she owns a company that for a fee, will book radio and tv appearances for you. You have to pay more for the tv and truthfully, I don't remember her getting me any but she booked me on a ton of radio shows.
1-888-346-8468

I have no idea if she's still in business or not but thought I'd pass this along to you.

Dianne, Was just looking at your "signature". Reminded me of the old saying: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Hey, I'm with you! If it didn't feel good the first time, what makes us think it would be different the next time?
Dannye

I have a friend in her fifties who has recently left a good career to write for a living. She is unmarried and on her own and I am concerned about her. She is convinced she will make more money as an author.
She has given up on a traditional publisher to go with a POD and plans to do all her own promotions. I admire her passion, but she has no real income except her savings which are dwindling and I'm not sure she is being realistic. From what I read on here and elsewhere, it sounds like promotion is pretty much a financial loss for a long time for sure and possibly forever. She says, "But it's deductible," and I think "from what?" I know you can write off those expenses for three years, but eventually you have to earn something from your writing from which to make the deductions.
And the profit to time and expense ratio seems to require a huge investment before any accruing any income.
I don't want to discourage her. I have actually made money from writing, but not from writing anything I really wanted to write. I wrote millions of dollars in government proposals to build a large military contracting firm, but creatively, I am still waiting for my first million.
I have made zilch from my poems, a couple hundred from my songs, a few hundred from magazine articles, I wrote a novel that I've never even submitted, and I make a few thousand from each of my plays (which I would do for the sheer joy of it). But the actual hourly income for my creative writing is somewhere around minimum wage and I have a graduate degree in creatie writing. Also, I don't do any promotion for my stuff except my puny little website.
I certainly see the value of affecting a taret population, but I'm afraid this woman who is depending on her writing as her only source of income is in trouble.
Am I missing something?
smile

[ February 11, 2005, 06:20 PM: Message edited by: smilinize ]