Day 43: Writers, are you getting ripped off

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 43: Writers, are you getting ripped off

This might be of interest to self-published writers everywhere.

Have you noticed that your sales are down? Mine are. For a while I did fairly well, I was by no means competition for James Patterson, but there was a steady flow of sales.

Then suddenly, I noticed a decrease. At first, I thought it was because of summer. People are more likely to do some gardening, go swimming, or get together with family and friends when the sun is shining rather than curling up with a book.

As I found out a few days ago, it’s wasn’t the sun who was to blame for my lack of sales, but several pirate sites. One of these sites is Lucentfun.com https://signup.lucentfun.com

Lucentfun and other pirate sites offer free download of books. Mine are all there. Other sites have my books as well.

I wasted no time. I contacted several of these pirate sites and threatened them with legal action if my books weren't taken down immediately. How much effect this will have, I don’t know. Maybe they will take the books down, maybe they won’t. Maybe they will take them down and later put them back up again.

Lucentfun claims that all books are free, but anyone who wants the read anything has to sign up with their site and provide credit card information.

How do I know of these pirate sites ... because I’m subscribed to Google alert. Anytime any of these pirate sites offers my books for free, I get a notification.

If they were to offer only the books of well-known authors, I wouldn’t care as much. Authors such as James Patterson, Stephen King, Dan Brown or Danielle Steel sell millions of books and probably won’t care if someone offers free copies of their work. What do they care about a dollar or two? For self-published writers though, they do care.

Not only do I care about lost income, but I also care about my books’ Amazon ranking. If someone buys a book, the book goes up in ranking and make no mistake, readers do care about ranking, especially if it’s a book by an unknown writer/author.

I have a few favorite authors and when any of them releases a new book, I don’t care about the ranking. I know the story will be good. However, when none of my favorites have anything on offer, I go looking for something else. That’s when I do care about the ranking, the stars awarded and the readers’ reviews.

Not that the reviews are always to be trusted, after all, what’s good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander. Reviews are up to a certain point valuable though. If I read a review that rates the book ‘absolute rubbish’ or ‘a complete waste of time’ I’m not likely to buy it.

So, not only do these pirate sites rob self-published writers from their royalties, they also rob them from potential reviews.

Day 19: Attacking writers block

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 19: Attacking writer's block

Serious bloggers, especially those who want to crank out a post every day often find themselves short of inspiration. They want to write, they feel the need to write, but nothing comes to mind.

When that happens to me, I have a system … I go clean something. It doesn’t matter what as long as it involves soap and water, doing dishes doesn’t count.

Faced with a serious case of writer's block I cleaned the bathroom today: the storage cabinet, the toilet, the sink, mirror, and the floor. Not the bathtub though. I’ve hurt my back once too often cleaning the tub so that a job for my dear son.

While I was working, Halley kept a close eye on the proceedings. I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if at one point she would have said: “You missed a spot.”

No sooner was everything dried off or Halley jumped on the sink and turned herself into a ball.

Washing windows is also great therapy for lack of inspiration. There’s something about the water, the movements and the feeling of cleaning that allows the creative juices to flow. While washing, rinsing and drying, the writer has time to think.

In the past when I was washing windows I had Mickey by my side. We used to call him inspector Mickey. As you can see he took his job very seriously.

Back to inspiration though, or rather lack thereof. The next time you find yourself with a case of writer's block, try the following.

Take a piece of paper and a pen and draw a small circle. 

Write a letter, any letter in that circle. 

Draw four circles around that circle and write words starting with the letter you chose.

Draw more circles and write words that you associate with words in the four circles.

Before long something will come to mind. For instance ... tulip, flowers, vase, may remind you of a time you gave or received flowers.

Tea, coffee, cake, may remind you of a baking mishap.

You get the picture.

Alternatively, you can go onto social media and take a look around. There might be something to make you laugh, cry, horrified, or boiling mad. Up to you to take it from there.

Day 146: Scam Targeting Writers

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 146: Scam Targeting Writers

There’s a long list of things that tick me off and somewhere on that list, you would find … scammers, especially scammers who target writers.

One such scammer is Amy E. who one fine day decided to start flooding my inbox with messages such as: do you want to be a writer? Do you want to sell more books? Do you want to be a bestselling author?

I knew right away that I was dealing with a scammer as nobody can make you a bestselling author. To become a bestselling author, you have to write something, a literary agent has to accept it, a talented editor has to make the work better, a publisher has to publish it and a marketing team has to bring it to the attention of readers.

Now if Amy E. were a bestselling author or even an author for that matter, her offer of advice would carry some weight, but she’s a nobody.

If I were to get a chance to address Amy E. I would say … Do you know what Ernest Hemingway, James Patterson, and J.K. Rowling had in common? Each of them had an idea, sat down, opened a book, took a pen and started writing. 

At the time, Hemingway had no idea he would become one of the most respected authors of our time; Patterson didn’t have a clue that he would be listed in the Guinness World Record book with the most New York Times bestsellers; while Rowling would have been baffled if she had known that little Harry Potter would make her one of the richest people in England.

If those people were to offer advice to writers I would be the first to take a front-row seat, but Amy E. … who is Amy E. and why would I take writing advice from someone who isn’t published, who isn’t even a writer?

Her advice to writers to get their work noticed is:

·          Join local writer groups

·          Online critique groups

·          Facebook groups

·          RWA (if you’re a romance author)

·          Bloggers;

·          Websites dedicated to authors and their crafts.

Is this the best she can come up with? I typed in Google “How to get my writing noticed” and within seconds I received 209,000,000 results. My guess is that Amy did the same. She prowled Google, gathered information on how to write and get writing work noticed and then passes it off as her own advice. Shame on you Amy, while this is not exactly plagiarism, it’s highly unethical, especially if you’re charging for this advice.

For those who already have written something, Amy offers a review of their work. For a standard review, she charges $250, for a rush review $325. I have news for Amy … most writers are broke and can ill afford $25 for a review, let alone $250. Besides, have a look on Amazon, there are tons of reviews there all written by readers FOR FREE.

Some people just have no scruples. They’re looking for a way to make money and any means will do. A few might fall for her scam and end up disappointed, others – especially those who have been around the block a few times – will shake their head and think ‘Nice one Amy, but try again’, which no doubt she will. After all, if one scam doesn’t work, try another.

As for me, one good thing came out of Amy’s worthless babble … it got me out of my slump. Ever since Gabriel’s passing I hadn’t written one word. As you can see I’m out of that slump.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Day 84: Dealing with fragile egos

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 84: Dealing with fragile egos

Just about everyone knows that when asked “What do you think of my hair?” or “Am I fat?” one has to proceed with extreme caution.

Lately, I became aware of another ‘loaded gun’ … “What do you think of my book?” Invariably, the authors aren’t looking for honest feedback on the cover design or story, they’re looking for validation. They’re not looking for an honest opinion, they want their feathers stroked.

Being an honest individual who says it like it is, I’ve ruffled a few feathers this morning. A writer boasted about her sales and curious as I am, I went to Amazon to take a look. When I found the book in question I clicked on the ‘Look Inside’ feature and I was horrified by what I found.

Something that immediately put my back up was the following …

“Hi , how r u ?” Sarah assked.

While I understand that ‘how r u?’ in phone texting is acceptable, it is most certainly not appropriate for a story. The misplaced comma bothered me too, but what really irked me the most was the spelling mistake. If this had been on page 199, this might have been an oversight, but this misspelled word was on page one.

The author claimed that not only did she proofread her document, she had ‘several eyes’ go over it. This begs the question, didn’t she or any of the others notice that 'asked' is spelled with one ‘s’ not two?

When I pointed out these mistakes I was told that I was being a spiteful bitch. Well excuse me but, if someone can’t handle constructive criticism, why ask for feedback in the first place? Perhaps, when asking for feedback, certain writers should post the following warning:

Please comment on my book, but don’t criticize it. Tell me how beautiful my cover is, how interesting my story is and how well written it is. If you dare to say anything negative, I will lash out at you. I want to be told that I’m wonderful, that there’s no other book out there like mine, and that my work will no doubt reach the top. In short, I have the mentality of a 6-year-old and if you don’t stroke my fragile ego I will throw a tantrum.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Day 81: Scam targeting self-published authors

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 81: Scam targeting self-published authors

If there’s one thing I hate it is scammers, particularly those who target self-published authors as they are such easy prey. They are looking for exposure leading to sales and scammers zoom in on this.

The other day, I received an email from Aimee A. stating:

 “I hope you do not mind me emailing you; I am emailing you because I would love to review your work on my website. My site is a book reviewing website which has received a great response from readers and now that I have a loyal following who I adore, I am always on the lookout for great books I can feature for them. I discovered your work and I loved what I saw, so that is why I am emailing you today! Your work looks wonderful, and you clearly are passionate; passion is a quality I love because I am very passionate about reading so I hope we are able to work together”.

My guess is that Aimee never read or even seen my work and that a few hundred other writers have received the same message.

Having been around the block a few times, I can smell a scam a mile away and so I cut right to the chase. I asked her how much she is charging. Her response … $75 per book. Her excuse is that she charges this fee because her reviews generate sales. She added that she is a mother of four.

I don’t know what this has to do with the price of eggs. Whether she’s single, married or a mother of a dozen, that’s none of my business and it is certainly not going to influence my decision whether or not to work with her. It was her decision to have four kids and she shouldn't ask others for support to feed and clothe them.

Other self-published authors may not be so wary though and actually believe the nonsense this woman is selling. I had a look at her website and there are indeed a number of books there, mainly mainstream published and yes, they have a good deal of comments. There are also a few self-published works (obviously self-published authors have already fallen for her scam) but they have no comments at all.

Most noticeable is that the mainstream books have quite a long review, too long if you ask me. The book isn’t just reviewed it is summarized. The self-published books on the other hand only have a rather short review, like Aimee couldn’t be bothered with them.

What I do wonder about is … where does she get the time to read all these books? I know a few women with one or two children and their main complaint is that they no longer have time for themselves. They have a husband and their kid(s) to look after, a house to keep clean, laundry to do, shopping to do, meals to cook, etc.

My guess is that Aimee doesn’t actually read any of the books she features on her website, but goes on Amazon, reads the synopsis of the book and a few comments and then elaborates on what she’s read. Also known as creative thumb sucking. 

And for that, she charges $75. Not a fortune, but if ten people fall for her scam that’s a nice sum for her.

I very much suspect that she hasn’t read any of my books, so how can she review them? The email that she sent me is clearly generic and not well written. You would think that for someone who reviews books for a living, her grammar and sentence structure would be better.

Fortunately, I’m not dumb enough to fall for her scam and neither should you. Be on the lookout for someone called Aimee A. and when she contacts you via email or Facebook, and tries to sweet talk you, send her packing. She's a scammer.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Day 44: Writers Beware

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 44: Writers Beware

As a freelance writer, I am constantly on the lookout for new gigs. As such, I am a regular visitor on Craigslist. Not the best source of employment for freelance writers, but in the past, I have found some valuable information.

Unfortunately, for every legitimate job, there are a number of dubious posts. It is impossible to recognize these scams as the individuals use a generic Craigslist i.d.

Not only is this a deceitful practice but every ad raises hope in freelance writers to be considered for a job, only to have that hope smashed.

One individual who likes playing tricks on freelance writers is Eric Scott, also known as Scott Eric, Magnus Aanya, John Klevs, Shawn, and probably a few others. 

His ads read as follows:

Creative talented writers $1000 weekly

Hello, my name is Shawn and I am looking for 2 talented writers to help me with my publishing company. I am looking for those who can write short stories, blogs, and articles. Pay will be up to $30 per HR. Please Reply to email as it goes directly to my cell. I cannot have my text going off a million times.

Or

Working from home 

Hi there! We are working on a project and we need additional VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS or CONTENT WRITERS to help us to get the tasks done.

Qualifications: good writing skills

** Option to make up to 200$ a month with only 10 minutes of work every day

When a writer responds to these ads the following message is received:

Goodday,

I am very sorry for replying you late i have been busy for the past three days now that is why i am unable to get back to you fast. My name is SCOTT ERIC, I am 60 Year old,  I write in response to your message concerning the job posted on Craigslist which you're interested in, although the position has been filled but after going through your response, i'm quite impressed, but i have another position available if you will be interested, I am looking for someone who can handle my personal Assistance (PA) and business errands at his/her spare time.

I am in United State Of America ( U.S.A) presently so there will be no interview. I will prepay you in advance to do some business errands for me  and have my mails/packages forwarded to your address. If you will be unable to stay at home to get the mails, I can have them shipped to a post office near you and then you can pick them up at your convenience. All errands will be in your city/town so It is not a must that you have a car for the job, you can go places by bus or taxi. When you get my mails/packages; you are required to mail them to where I want them mailed to. You won't have to put money out of your pocket, all you have to do is have packages shipped to your house. You ARE NOT ALLOWED TO OPEN THE PACKAGES TO REVEAL THE CONTENT. I will pay you $500 per week.

(email unedited)

Not only does this reek of a scam, it would appear that Eric Scott (or whatever his name is) is dabbling in something illegal. Packages that are not to be opened … hm, suspicious to say the least. 

Needless to say, I did not follow up on this job, but the question remains ... when will Eric Scott, Scott Eric, Magnus Aanya, John Klevs, Shawn, or whatever his name is strike again and will he eventually find someone naive enough to fall for his scam? 

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Contena - scamming freelance writers

As a professional freelancer, I constantly keep an eye out for new opportunities. So when I noticed a website called Contena, I was quick to apply.

I received the response that the website currently didn’t take on any new writers, but that I would be notified when there were vacancies. True to their word, a short time later I received a notification that Contena would be “opening its doors” to 50 new writers on February 28^th at 12:00.

I had high hopes, kept myself available on February 28 and visited the site for registration as soon as I got the green light.

My hopes were smashed within seconds. To become a member of Contena, writers were required to make six payments of $97. I’m not in the habit of swearing, but on this occasion I thought … WTF!

I’m a member of two other freelance sites and they never asked me for a penny. On the contrary, they pay me.

No sooner had I said no to Contena’s offer, or I received an email …

“Earn $1,000 a month. You complete our course and use Contena to land one client. This client is willing to pay $100 per article and wants 3 articles week. Each article takes you about an hour to write.”

The next day another email …

·  You are making $100 / hour.

·  You are making an additional $1,200 / month.

·  You are working 12 hours a month.

As an experienced freelance writer, I didn’t believe a word of it and neither should you. If this were true, just about everyone who can string two sentences together would quit their job and become a freelance writer. No more getting out of bed at the crack of dawn, no more commuting, no more braving the elements, no more working for peanuts.

Cortena promises people who work only 12 hours a month to make $1,200. Can you image how much one would make if you were to apply yourself from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.!

This is all bogus of course. Clients don’t pay writers $100 for an article. Most clients offer 3 to 5 cents per word or $20 to $25 for a 500-word article.

Established writers might get as much as $50 for an article, but that is still a far cry from the $100 Cortena promises.

Cortena itself is doing very well though. Imagine if 50 writers fell for their scam, that is $97 x 6 x 50. That is $29,100 and all they had to do was set up a website, make some promises and then wait for unsuspecting, naive writers to fall for their scam.

Whoever visits the Contena website will see that they have plenty of jobs available, but all of them are bogus. Click on a link, any link, and you are forced to register and pay. After you've paid, the jobs disappear, supposedly taken by other writers. When I asked some to the point questions, I never heard from Kevin (the founder of the scam site) again.

If you’re a writer, far better to become a member of Constant Content or Crowd Content. You don’t have to pay a penny and you’ll have plenty work to keep you busy.

Writers, beware of typos

Bloggers are advised to post a few times a week, or even one post every day. As such some bloggers wonder ... where do I find inspiration? My advice ... spend some time on Facebook, within no time you’ll have inspiration coming out of your ears.

For instance, yesterday I noticed a post “How much should an online article cost”. The writer, let’s call her Ann, gave as an example that a 600 word article should fetch $150. I nearly burst out laughing.

While I fully agree that writers should be paid a decent fee, Ann needs a dose of reality.

I have been a freelance writer for close to ten years and never in all this time have I been able to negotiate a fee. A client will post an assignment, mention a fee, and a writer can take it or leave it.

I’ve also been part of several writing groups and the conditions were the same. The project manager stated the remuneration and I could accept and be part of the project, or refuse.

What bothers me the most about Ann’s post is that she’s like so many other bloggers. She wants attention for her blog, so she directs herself to writers and picks a title that is guaranteed to get their attention ... How much should an online article cost? What writer can resist having a quick peek?

Unfortunately, Ann should read her posts before hitting the publish button. We had a conversation on Facebook about this and some of the things she writes are:

“I average go between $35-75 for 500 words.”
I average go between ... what kind of English is that? I take it she means ... I average between $35-75 for 500 words.

“I have hooked up a couple of people here with descent paying gigs.” Descent? She must mean decent.

“I only submitted 4 names so not to overwhelm the client - your's was, of course, one of them.” Your’s? It’s ‘yours’ Ann, not “your’s”.

That’s three mistakes in one short conversation. And this from a writer who claims to make $35 to $75 per article. If I was a client I wouldn’t pay her $5, more so, I wouldn’t hire her to begin with.

Ann also recommends that writers find their niche. Hm, another one of those overused pieces of advice. If you don’t know what to say to fellow writers, say that they have to find their niche. Personally, I know my niche, but if I had to limit myself to that particular subject, not only would I have very little to write or blog about, my readers might get bored.

For my blog, I write about things I like, funny things, scary things, things that happen in Toronto, or things that annoy me. As a freelance writer on the other hand, I write about all kinds of things. Over the past ten years I have written a variety of articles, guides and product descriptions about:

• The fall of the Berlin wall
• How the Eifel Tower was build
• The best gloves for winter
• A variety of makeup articles
• Gardening tips
• Household appliances
• Furniture (and most recently)
• Men’s and women’s sexy lingerie.

While it’s fine to have a niche, a freelance writer should be able to write about anything and everything.

Finally, Vicky (not her real name) put her two cents into the conversation and stated “I have posted plenty of opportunities for this group. I have also reached out to several of you via PM when I have located something that meets your genre or voice.”

Which is true, but then Vicky isn’t just any writer. She has years of experience, is highly skilled, and to tell you the truth ... the things she writes about I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole because I feel I’m not qualified to write to some suggested titles.

My advice to Ann ... if she wants to be considered a serious writer, she should hire an editor. I did. My blog posts I write, proofread and publish myself, but when I write for a client I send my work to Alex.

As my editor, Alex reads my articles with eagle eyes that pick up on even the tiniest of mistakes. Not only does she spot typos, she also improves on my grammar. In short, when I get my work back, I’m confident that it’s the best it can be.

As a final word to Ann ... nothing kills the reputation of a writer faster than typos.

Why do so many writers give up

I recently found out that writers who want to be published need more than a finished manuscript. They need a cover letter, a pitch and a synopsis of their story.

When I approached a group of writers to evaluate my pitch for a manuscript, it turned out that what I had compiled was too long to be a pitch, too short to be a synopsis and not informative enough to be a query letter.

Of these three, a query letter is perhaps the most important. After all, most literary agents ask for a query letter, or a query letter and part of the manuscript. Very seldom do they ask for a pitch or a synopsis.

I do wonder though how important a well written query letter is. I mean, what did the query letter to “Fifty Shades of Grey” looked like …

Dear agent,

I’ve written a book about sex, sex and more sex. No ordinary sex, but kinky sex. Interested to see the manuscript?

The query letter might have had bad grammar and a few typos, but which agent would turn down a manuscript like that?

Was the book any good? The general consensus is that it’s a bad, and not just bad, laughable. One reader was convinced a 16-year-old had written this. Yet this manuscript was picked up by a publisher, sold a few million copies and was turned into a movie.

Let’s look at the most accurate review …

Thanks to my ever-useful Kindle search function, I have discovered that Ana says "Jeez" 81 times and "oh my" 72 times. She "blushes" or "flushes" 125 times, including 13 that are "scarlet," 6 that are "crimson," and one that is "stars and stripes red." (I can't even imagine.) Ana "peeks up" at Christian 13 times, and there are 9 references to Christian's "hooded eyes," 7 to his "long index finger," and 25 to how "hot" he is (including four recurrences of the epic declarative sentence "He's so freaking hot."). Christian's "mouth presses into a hard line" 10 times. Characters "murmur" 199 times, "mutter" 49 times, and "whisper" 195 times (doesn't anyone just talk?), "clamber" on/in/out of things 21 times, and "smirk" 34 times. Christian and Ana also "gasp" 46 times and experience 18 "breath hitches," suggesting a need for prompt intervention by paramedics. Finally, in a remarkable bit of symmetry, our hero and heroine exchange 124 "grins" and 124 "frowns"... which, by the way, seems an awful lot of frowning for a woman who experiences "intense," "body-shattering," "delicious," "violent," "all-consuming," "turbulent," "agonizing" and "exhausting" orgasms on just about every page.
One reviewer wondered how many talented authors’ work was turned down in favor of this trash. Is it any wonder that so many writers give up?

www.connymanero.weebly.com