Tag: publishing scams

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”

Vanity Presses, Scammers, and Thieves, Part 1

scammer“I need to terminate contracts with my publisher,” an acquaintance recently said. “I never get a statement and I haven’t been paid.”

“You should check into my publisher,” another acquaintance said. “Their upfront fees are much lower than most.”

Wait…what?

In my self-publishing guide I said, “Hopefully by now it goes without saying that money should flow to the author, not from the author.” But I was wrong. Every week I read another post or article about someone either paying ridiculous amounts of money to sign on with a “publishing” company, or someone who signed with a company they’ve since discovered is a scam.

Because it bears repeating, because publishing scams still swindle naïve authors, and because I’m a graduate of the I Wuz Scammed School of Hard Knocks, a recap: Continue reading “Vanity Presses, Scammers, and Thieves, Part 1”

Indies Unlimited Resource Pages

gradutation capHere at Indies Unlimited, we are constantly trying to identify the needs of authors at all levels of the publishing spectrum. In an effort to provide useful information in a sea of internet data, we’ve recently introduced some Author Resource Pages. Some of our new resource pages include:
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I’ve Written a Book, How Do I Publish It?
This resource page includes articles on the entire process from proofreading to how to find an editor to the anatomy of a copyright page, all the way to pushing the publish button. It’s a great resource for newbies and experienced authors alike.

 

Glossary for Authors
Sometimes it’s just not obvious what abbreviations mean, and sometimes it’s just a wee little bit embarrassing to have to ask what someone’s talking about. This glossary will help.

 

How to Spot a Scam
Scammers change their company names all the time. The best way to protect yourself is to know what to look for. This resource page will teach you what you need to know, so you don’t become a victim.

 

Reviews and Review Sites
As you hopefully know by now, IU does not review books. This handy resource page will help you figure out how to find the right reviewers for your book(s).

 

KnowledgeBase
This page contains all the useful IU articles arranged by tag. Know what you need? Just click on the subject which interests you and all the articles associated with it will magically appear. Yes, we did this just for you.

 

We’re adding new resource pages all the time. Please feel free to share these pages if you know someone in need, and please use the contact form if there’s a resource page subject you’d like us to research.

How to Spot a Scam

snakeWelcome to the cyberverse. There are plenty of hucksters, scammers, con artists, and assorted seedy characters looking for every opportunity to move some money from your pockets to theirs. Some writers have spent thousands of dollars following the path of promises, misrepresentations, and “expert” recommendations made by some very bad people. They’re out there. Learning how to recognize them is your best protection.

There are a couple of very good watchdog resources every author should know: Writer Beware and Preditors & Editors. Both these sites do an outstanding job of tracking the latest scams and bad behavior in the publishing industry.

Indies Unlimited is not a watchdog site. Part of the reason is that we know these shadowy scammers can (and do) easily change their names and open up under a new banner whenever they are outed. Trying to compile a list of suspicious actors becomes a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. But a leopard cannot change its spots. If you know what to look out for, the name of the beast doesn’t matter.

Here are some guidelines which will help you identify scammers, no matter their name: Continue reading “How to Spot a Scam”