Month: March 2015

The Top 10 Ways to Prevent Being Scammed by a Publisher (by someone who did the opposite!)

Predatory Publisher Month at Indies UnlimitedGuest Post
by Sophie Jonas-Hill

Suddenly, after months, or years, of feeling like you were getting nowhere, a publisher wanted me. I jumped right in when I should have asked myself – do I want them? I should have looked that gift horse in the mouth, because it turned out to be a donkey. Yes, I made the mistake of publishing with an indie publisher without doing my research first, and boy, did that go wrong for me. Here’s some simple advice I’d urge you to consider before signing up. Continue reading “The Top 10 Ways to Prevent Being Scammed by a Publisher (by someone who did the opposite!)”

First Friday Pre-Orders – March Edition

amazon preorder tag cloudThat’s right, indie author books are now available through Amazon.com’s Pre-Order (or Pre-Release) program. If you want more information on that program, you can read Laurie Boris’s follow-up article here. This means, you can check books out before they’re even available, just like titles by Stephen King, Clive Cussler, and other famous names.

Readers: look in the comment section below. If you see a book that interests you, click over and reserve your copy. How easy is that? (If you don’t see the book covers, adjust your browser’s adblock settings.)

Authors: if you have a book available through the Amazon.com Pre-Order Program, post it FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW. Authors who do not follow instructions will have their comments deleted.

We will convert your link to a clickable book cover. Do not attempt to insert an image in comments on your own. Just put the following information in the comment section:

1. Book title
2. Author name
3. A one sentence blurb (tweetable in length.)
4. The Amazon link to download the book
5. The date the book will be released

Then let your friends and fans know your book is being featured here today. Use the share buttons below, or copy the link in the address bar above and share the news on your favorite social media platforms. The more, the merrier, right?

So let’s give it a try, shall we? Please make sure to follow the RULES above. Now, go ahead and tell the world about your cheap read. IU is a safe-for-work site. PLEASE do not post links to erotica, religious, or political titles.

[Note: if the book cover images below do not display properly, please check your AdBlock settings.]

How To Avoid Publishing Predators

Predatory Publisher Month at Indies UnlimitedGuest Post
by David Gaughran

I have been campaigning against exploitative services like Author Solutions for a few years now, and it’s clear that the business model of such predators is to target the inexperienced and uninformed.

Some blame the victims, suggesting they didn’t do enough research, but this is more than a little unfair. These companies are extremely skilled at targeting writers before they discover the self-publishing community, and use a variety of deceptive means both to ensnare writers and to ensure that they don’t discover genuine reviews.

Also, the lines between traditional publishing, self-publishing, and vanity publishing are more difficult to define every year. Part of the reason is that vanity presses have now rebranded themselves as “self-publishing service providers” and they are often owned by traditional publishers.

Confusing already, isn’t it? Here are five ways you can cut through the crap and avoid predators: Continue reading “How To Avoid Publishing Predators”

FOULED! Part 1: Taking on Scammy Publishers

Predatory Publisher Month at Indies UnlimitedAs Kat announced Monday, IU is devoting the month of March to authors who have been scammed by scummy publishers, and what to do if you’ve been caught by one.

This whole thing started with an email to the IU admins from an author who was just beginning to realize that she’d been had. While the minions sat around the gruel cauldron and kicked around her options, we realized that we had a hole in our coverage. So many of us had horror stories of our own – and we were sure that we were only the tip of the iceberg. Continue reading “FOULED! Part 1: Taking on Scammy Publishers”