this is a spot on narative, when I wrote my first book I was apprached by some publishers about publishing my book but they wanted money upfront and I was like no that is a red flag
This is spot on, Charlie. I have experienced some of what you describe here too, and I totally agree that putting my work on Substack has earned more readers for my work than everything else I've tried in the past 20 years combined. This is solid advice. P.S. That photo you used is creeping me the F out!🤣🤣🤣
I was approached by a company that charged me $800 to publish my novelette. I won’t mention their name, but the first part of the name is a synonym for writer and the last part rhymes with mouse. I asked them unequivocally if this was the only fee they were going to charge. No other fees they promised. I decided to take a flyer. Soon as they were done, they came back to me asking for money to market the book. As soon as I told them, I was not giving them any more money they stopped all communication. I know the book is out there. I have never seen a dime from it. Like everyone else I get calls constantly from “publishers”. Usually, before they can even get the first sentence out of their mouth, I ask them how much? They usually say something like, we can do this for a special rate, a low low fee. That’s when I hang up.
this is a spot on narative, when I wrote my first book I was apprached by some publishers about publishing my book but they wanted money upfront and I was like no that is a red flag
Exactly
Thank you for this info 👾
Thank you for warning people! Too many people get scammed by this crap! Great essay!
Thank you! Hopefully it helps someone.
Unfortunately there are a lot of scams out there that authors can fall prey to
I refuse to work with people who approach me first. I always automatically assume it's a scam🫡
This is spot on, Charlie. I have experienced some of what you describe here too, and I totally agree that putting my work on Substack has earned more readers for my work than everything else I've tried in the past 20 years combined. This is solid advice. P.S. That photo you used is creeping me the F out!🤣🤣🤣
Lmao I worked hard on my costume for this!
Well, it sure is effective! 😂
I was approached by a company that charged me $800 to publish my novelette. I won’t mention their name, but the first part of the name is a synonym for writer and the last part rhymes with mouse. I asked them unequivocally if this was the only fee they were going to charge. No other fees they promised. I decided to take a flyer. Soon as they were done, they came back to me asking for money to market the book. As soon as I told them, I was not giving them any more money they stopped all communication. I know the book is out there. I have never seen a dime from it. Like everyone else I get calls constantly from “publishers”. Usually, before they can even get the first sentence out of their mouth, I ask them how much? They usually say something like, we can do this for a special rate, a low low fee. That’s when I hang up.
I know the exact one. They just want to keep selling you stuff instead of selling your book. I know someone that paid them $2000 ten years ago
Contests are very iffy to me. Some may be worth it to enter but I feel like I'd get more readers in a magazine or an anthology
That's a good response. I'll have to use it