Writer Beware

If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you may have guessed that I’m not a big fan of writing contests.

Many writers assume that a literary agent’s inclusion in a market guide or listing–whether it’s a print book, such as Jeff Herman’s Guide, or a website, such as QueryTracker–is an imprimatur of reputability. Surely the agent wouldn’t be listed if there were any questions about his/her honesty or competence.

The issue of orphan works–out of print, still-in-copyright books, films, photographs, etc. whose rightsholders can’t be found–is one that has been much in the news lately.

Writer Beware hears from a fair number poets. Much of the time, they’re contacting us to ask about self-publishing, or to check the reputation of a journal or a contest. Sometimes, unfortunately, they’ve gotten mixed up with one of the vanity anthology companies, such as Eber and Wein.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Just introduced from self-publishing conglomerate Author Solutions (owner of the iUniverse, Xlibris, AuthorHouse, and Trafford brands, and the power behind the outsourced self-publishing divisions of Harl…

If a display site is free, you lose nothing by signing up (as long as you’re careful about any contacts you receive). But if you have to pay a fee, you might want to think twice before pulling out your wallet.

On Tuesday, the Authors Guild posted the following article on its blog. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the ways in which the book business is changing, and how we reached the point where a single retailer has the power to dictate terms to publishers, and thus, indirectly, to authors and readers.

Last December, I blogged about Amazon’s KDP Select program, which allows KDP authors to participate in Amazon’s Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and be paid per borrow from a fund established by Amazon.

Two weeks ago, Amazon issued a press release chart…

A little while back, I stumbled on a news story about Mitchell Gross, a Georgia man who was recently indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly luring a woman into investing millions of dollars in a phony company.