Beware! Agents Aren't All Ethical

I don't double up on articles from my #SharingwithWriters newsletter news and blog very often, but sometimes it seems essential.  So, I'm repeating this from the February  SWW issue. There is another scam alert in it (seems the spring of 2017 is scam season for writers!), so if you are interested you can pick up the February issue  or subscribe on my Web site at http://bit.ly/SWWNewsletter. So here it is with thanks to a special author/reporter who doesn't want to be mentioned. 

There is a new kink in the old agent-for-upfront-fee scam. One of my longtime writing friends told me that just as she had been waiting for the “right time to terminate” her relationship with her agent, she received a mass e-mail informing her of the agent’s new fee-for-service plan. My friend then terminated her contract (the terms of the contract had already expired) and asked that the mention of her books be removed from this former agent’s Web site. The agent refused her request (and other authors' requests) citing that she was the “agent of record” for those books.

My friend says, “I feel bad for new writers who fall for this trap of paying her upfront fees.” This agent also added another wrinkle to her fee collecting program—a cancellation-of-contract fee. Learn more at  (http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2017/02/red-flag-alert-loiacono-literary-agency.html?m+1 ) 

I have no idea whether keeping a book that is no longer represented by an agent on an agent’s site is legal, but it certainly is misleading if not downright unethical. One of the tools that authors use to judge the effectiveness of an agent is their catalogue of book sales. It is important that you are all aware of this practice and double check with some of the authors who have been (or are) represented by any agent you are considering. 

You should also be aware that some agents “sell books” to presses that would take any book presented to them, often called (rather erroneously) self-publishing presses and that were once called “vanity publishing or presses” and still are by anyone who cares to flaunt their #bookbigotry. Of course these agents usually still take their 15% for “handling” and “representing” or “selling” the book to that press. There is more on that in the blog link above.

You will also find more on finding reputable agents and editors in both The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor including things to look for and questions to ask both the professional you are considering as a hire and those clients they provide as references. There are all kinds of ways you can be mislead—both intentionally and unintentionally. 

MORE ABOUT TODAY’S GUEST BLOGGER

Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many classes she taught for nearly a decade as instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program. The books in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers have won multiple awards. That series includes both the first and second editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor won awards from USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, the marketing award from Next Generation Indie Books and others including the coveted Irwin award. How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically is the newest book in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers.

Howard-Johnson is the recipient of the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award, and her community’s Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance with her writing. She was also named to Pasadena Weekly’s list of “Fourteen San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen” and was given her community’s Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts. 

                 

Feel free to message her on Facebook with your own scam news at http://Facebook.com/carolynhowardjohnson. 

Building a Writing Career Takes Practice and Focus

By Karen Cioffi

My 10 year old grandson is trying out for the All County Band in his area. He was telling me the piece he has to play is difficult. I told him that practice is a powerful tool. Just 10-15 minutes a day will help tremendously.

Obviously the more practice the better, but my grandson has ADHD. Reducing the amount of time on practicing doesn’t make it seem overwhelming – it’s doable.

This philosophy will work for anything, including writing.

What does it take to have a flourishing writing career?
1. Learn the craft and practice it.

To be a ‘good’ writer, an effective writer, a working writer, you need to know your craft. The only way to do this is to study it.

If you’re starting out, take a few courses online or offline or both. Get a strong grasp of the basics.

We’re all familiar with “practice makes perfect.”

There’s a reason that saying has lasted. It’s true.

Writing coach Suzanne Lieurance says, “Writing is a lot like gardening because it takes constant pruning and weeding.”

You need to keep up with your craft. Even as your get better at it, keep honing your craft. Keep learning more and more and practice, practice, practice

So, what does it mean to practice?

Simple. Write. Write. Write.

Again, even if it's for short periods of time throughout the week, you're practicing. 

An excellent way to improve your writing skills is to copy (type and/or handwrite) content of a master in the niche you want to specialize in.

This is a copywriting trick. You actually write the master’s words and how to write professionally mentally sinks in.

Now, we all know that this is just a practice tool. We should never ever use someone else’s content as our own.

2. Focus in on a niche.

Have you heard the adage: A jack of all trades and master of none?

This is the reason you need to specialize.

You don’t want to be known as simply okay or good in a number of different niches. You want to be known as an expert in one or two niches.

This way, when someone is looking for a writer who specializes in, say, memoirs and autobiographies, you’re at the top of the list

I would recommend that your niches are related, like memoirs and autobiographies or being an author and book marketing.

Along with this, focus produces results.

According to an article in Psychology Today on focus and results, Dan Goleman Ph.D. says, “The more focused we are, the more successful we can be at whatever we do. And, conversely, the more distracted, the less well we do. This applies across the board: sports, school, career.

So, practice and focus your way to a successful writing career.

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author and children’s ghostwriter. She is also an online marketing instructor with WOW! Women on Writing.
Follow Karen at: http://facebook.com/writingforchildrenwithkarecioffi



MORE ON WRITING AND MARKETING

Even Tiny Action Steps can Produce Huge Results
Unravel the Mystery of Suspense Part 1
Writing - How Much Emphasis Should We Use?

Writers: Fine Tune your Characters' Friendships



Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small.
We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time.
Georgia O'Keeffe

Friendship, I think it's safe to say, is an issue in most if not all children's books. Now that my MG mystery is finished and in the hands of editors, I realize a subconscious exploration of friendship had been going on during the writing, some good, some bad.

Friendships are important - if not crucial - for our well-being.

An Aha Moment

The book was done. Fini. Caput. Honest. Time away, in its wisdom, has continued to fine-tune unexpected areas that felt complete only days ago. The questions began to rise like the broth in vegetable soup: Did I cover enough ground in my portrayals of my characters' interactions? Can I make their growing friendships more meaningful?

There are four major friendships-in-the-making:

mc + sidekick

mc + grandpa

mc + dog

mc + cat and her kittens

The antagonist isn't having it:

antag - bullies mc

antag - is jealous of mc

antag - is mean and cruel - a bully

antag - her egotism blocks any hope of friendship unless she changes

The antagonist's problem? The eleven-year-old mc and her sidekick compliment each other. Friendship blooms. She doesn't know how to be friends.

Nothing can replace the value of a close friendship.

Example of a friendship-in-the-making:

Sidekick:                                                                     mc:

not in tune with subtleties of others                           empathetic to the extreme

athletic                                                                        not athletic at first

cautious, not wanting to get in trouble                       is willing to take chances, curious,                                                                                         adventuresome

entrenched in her immediate surroundings                 thinks outside of the box

outdoors type                                                              artistic, prone to indoor activities

By the end of the book, the characters learn from each other and share their qualities. The master plan is to expand this book into a series. The characters will grow. Their friendships will deepen. That's the goal.

Develop Positive Traits of Friendship

As I wade through this partial list of how my characters can become better at being friends, think of the portrayal of your characters' friendships. Do they need fine tuning?

Making and retaining friendships isn't easy.

Choose your friends wisely.

Believe in yourself.

Be introduced.

Be loyal.

Be positive.

Be reliable.

Be respectful.

Be trustworthy.

Be careful not to be hurtful.

Be a good listener.

Be truthful.

Be confident but not egotistical.

Have fun.

Have the shoulder a friend can cry on.

Keep in touch.

Make eye contact and smile.

Remember birthdays and special occasions.

Show interest.

For more information, check out the entire articles that contributed to this article:

How to Make and Keep Friends

How to Make Friends

Be a Fun Person to Hang out With

Georgia O'Keeffe quote

Photo: By Linda Wilson

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has published over 100 articles for adults and children, and six short stories for children. Recently, she completed Joyce Sweeney's online fiction courses, picture book course and mystery and suspense course. She has currently finished her first book, a mystery/ghost story for 7-11 year-olds, and is in the process of publishing it and moving on to new writing projects. Follow Linda on Facebook.

The Internet and Your Privacy

Congress is taking the first steps to overturn the internet privacy rules that were

Negotiations begin in the House tomorrow. Comcast and other broadband providers are trying to have the internet privacy rules blocked.

These rules were only passed in October 2016 and haven't even been put into effect yet.

If the privacy block is passed, it means every bit of your information (business and personal) is up for grabs to the highest bidder.

This information includes your browsing history, your geolocation data, app usage, and even your health data.

Not sure how true it is, but I also read that this information will include the text in your emails.

An article at The New York Times stated, "The Federal Trade Commission, the consumer protection agency, is barred from overseeing broadband providers, so without the F.C.C. privacy rules, the federal government will be a weaker watchdog over internet privacy.

I don't understand what's happening to commonsense. If everything about money? What happened to integrity, ethics, honesty, and our rights?

Pretty scary stuff.

If you want to read more about this, visit:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/24/517050966/fcc-chairman-goes-after-his-predecessors-internet-privacy-rules

What do you think about this?

Writing Tips on How to Spell a Word You Don't Know

It's probably happened to everyone at one time or another. You're writing and decide to use a word you're not familiar with - you don't know how to spell it. Well, the folks at Hubspot came up with some useful tips on how to figure out the spelling and they put those tips in an infograph.

Since this site is for writers and authors, I thought it'd be helpful.




Was this helpful? We'd sure appreciate knowing.

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Two Ways to Format Your Manuscript
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Use this Simple Promotion Idea with Your Reviews

By W. Terry Whalin

Several times a week, someone will email and ask me to read their book and write a review. It is a good strategy to approach well-known reviewers. Normally their request mentions a book that I have read and reviewed, then pitches their book. 

Because I've written almost 700 book reviews on Amazon, I get these requests. To be honest, I look at their books and in most cases I politely decline the offer—for several reasons. Most of them are ebook only books on Kindle and I do not have an Ebook reader. Also when I look at the books, I'm not interested in reading their book so again I decline. Because I've been reading and writing book reviews for many years, I have publicists and publishers often pitching for me to read their books and write about them. I am committed to continuing to read new books and write book reviews about those books. 

I review the book on Amazon but also on Goodreads, where I have 5,000 friends (the limit). Repeatedly I see authors launch their book with no book reviews on Amazon--zero. In fact, during the last week, I've seen two long-time publishing professionals (literary agents) launch new books with no Amazon book reviews. If Amazon is selling 70% of the books (a number that I've seen recently in the publishing press--unsure if true or not), then it is critical for every author to get book reviews. 

One of the best resources for getting reviews for your book is from Tim Grahl but get it and use it: https://booklaunch.com/amazon-reviews/ Scroll down and on the bottom get the free download from him because it has templates for emails and spread sheets and all sorts of valuable tools. It doesn't matter if your book came out last month or last year, you need to be working on these reviews. If someone goes to the page on Amazon and there are no reviews or only one or two reviews, this information affects whether others will buy your book.

Recently I was traveling and met with Charles Billingsley, a well-known Christian recording artist. Charles released a new book from Worthy Publishing on March 7th. Charles he gave me a copy of Words on Worship. The book is a well-designed, attractive hardcover. Inside Charles had gathered four pages of great and well-known endorsements. I know that effort took work and is something every author should do for their new book. For my own curiosity, I looked on Amazon on his launch day and he had no book reviews on Amazon. 

To help Charles, I quickly looked at the book, wrote a review and posted it on Amazon--and also Goodreads. I also tweeted about the book a couple of times to my 200,000+ twitter followers. Writing book reviews is a simple way you can support other authors. Also notice my reviews are substantial and at least 120 words often including a quotation from the book to prove that I've read the book cover to cover. I don't believe the review is as effective if only a sentence or two since those reviews don't contain much information.

Here's my simple yet important idea for you when you write book reviews: include a live link to your own book at the end of the review. Within their customer reviews, Amazon allows you to include a link to another product. Why not use this tool to tell readers about your latest book? Now take a closer look at my review for Words on Worship. Now notice at the end of the review, I write: “W. Terry Whalin is an editor and the author of more than 60 books including his latest Billy Graham, A Biography of America's Greatest Evangelist.”  Because this link is live to my book page on Amazon, a reader interested could go over to the page and purchase my book. To be honest, adding this link does not always work because sometimes (rarely) Amazon doesn't like it and will not post my review. When this happens, I delete my personal line and resubmit it and then my review appears on the site.

As long as I'm writing about book reviews, I have a free teleseminar on this topic. Just follow the link and get the full replay and download the gifts associated with it. Your work to tell people about your book is on-going after it is published. The key from my perspective is to always be looking for new ways and on-going ways to promote your own book--even when helping others with a book review. 

W. Terry Whalin is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing and the author of more than 60 books including Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success (available exclusively through this website with bonuses even though this book has over 130 Five Star Amazon reviews). He blogs about The Writing Life and lives in Colorado and has over 200,000 twitter followers.

Tweetable:
Use this simple promotion idea when you write a book review. (ClickToTweet) 

10 Reasons to Start Writing Right Now

As a writing coach and a writer, I think I’ve heard every reason in the world for not writing right now.

Each person who wants to be a writer but isn’t writing yet has his own unique rationale for not getting any work done.

But, the thing is, if a person wants to be a writer he must write.

It’s just that simple and there’s no way around it.

Do You Want to Be a Writer?

If you say you want to be a writer, yet you aren’t writing yet, here are 10 reasons to get started right now rather than wait for later (when you have more time, when your kids are grown, when you’re ready to retire, or whatever it is you’re waiting for).

Reasons to Start Writing Right Now

1. It will probably take twice as long as you think it will to reach your writing goals.

Most people think they’re going to sit down one day and write a novel in a few weeks.

The story will simply “come to them” and all they’ll need to do is write it all down.

That may happen, but what simply “comes to you” probably won’t be marketable.

It will require a lot of rewriting, then editing, then proofing, then marketing.

In fact, anyone who is thought of as an “overnight success” usually spent years working to become successful.

If they had sat around and waited for a story to “come to them” they’d probably still be waiting.

Start writing right now and your story will begin to take shape.

2. You never know what the future will bring – all you really have is now.

If you wait to start writing, you may never get the chance.

You don’t know what the future will hold, including how much of a future you have or how long you will be healthy and able to write.

If you wait, it could be too late when you do decide to get started, so start writing right now.

3. You will probably need to write a LOT more before you get very good at it.

Even if you manage to write a novel fairly quickly, you’ll probably need to write at least a few novels (in the same genre) before you reach any significant level of monetary success.

Start now and you could have several novels completed within the next few years.

Do you really want to wait until you're much older to become a successful writer?

I doubt it.

So start writing right now.

4. Fear will ALWAYS be part of your life as a writer.

If you try to wait until you overcome all fear, you’ll never start writing.

The good news is, fear will affect you less and less the more you write.

Don’t let fear stop you dead in your tracks.

Start writing now.

5. You don’t have to be the most talented writer on the planet to be successful.

In fact, there are many people with great writing talent who are not successful.

They don’t write enough.

They aren’t consistent or persistent.

They never, or hardly ever, submit their work for possible publication.

If you write on a consistent basis, you submit your work regularly, and you keep at it, you can be very successful even if you don’t have gobs of talent.

Just start writing.

6. Opportunities will come to you, but you have to be in the game first.

When you start out as a writer, you need to look for opportunities everywhere.

But when you’ve been writing for a while and you’ve become published, opportunities will start coming to you.

Nothing will come to you if you do nothing.

Get in the game now, so opportunities will start coming your way.

7. Your muse will start to show up more regularly once you do the same.

Most people don’t write because they can't decide what to write or they don't know what to write.

They may have an idea for a novel or short story, for example, but the chapters and scenes don’t instantly spring to mind.

They don't know that usually sitting down and getting started is what brings these chapters and scenes to mind.

Writing itself opens the floodgates to creativity.

So just start writing.

8. You can call the shots.

You can become whatever kind of writer you want to be.

You can decide what you will write and who you will write it for.

You can decide what you will charge for your work or which projects you will accept.

But again, you can’t do any of this if you don’t start writing.

9. You can set your own schedule.

If you work at a regular J-O-B, someone will tell you the days and hours you must work.

You will probably also have to do your work from a specific location.

But you can set your own schedule as a writer.

You can write when and where you like!

So why wait?

Start writing.

10. You already have everything you need to get started right now.

You have enough time, enough talent, and enough skill to start writing right now.

Even if you must continue to work another full time job for income, you can still start your writing career.

Write before work.

Write after work.

Write on your lunch hour.

Write on your days off.

Many best-selling authors started their writing careers this way.

Your Future Depends on What You Do Today

So stop putting off your writing career for sometime in the future.

Start writing right now.

Try it!

Suzanne Lieurance is the author of more than 30 published books, a freelance writer, writing coach, speaker and workshop presenter. She is a former classroom teacher and was an instructor for the Institute of Children's Literature for over 8 years.

Ready to start your writing career right now, but you know you need help?

Get the one-on-one coaching you need: www.quickstartfreelancewriting.com