First Word

As you know from last week I began to debunk some of the erroneous information some inexperienced writers spread around. Last week I discussed log-lines and why they’re necessary. This week I want to get into publishing industry costs. The woman who told everyone log-lines weren’t necessary is the same woman who is telling people they can get their books converted to eBooks for a mere $37 and that 3L Publishing book publishing packages were on the “high side”. Let’s grab the $37 eBook conversion cost by the “3” and the “7” and call it insane. No, you cannot get your book (if it’s book size anyway) converted even in India for $37. Suggesting our conversion fees are expensive begs for a professional comparison. Please visit the Bowker website ( https://www.myidentifiers.com/self_publisher ). Here you’re going to see a number of costs for services including eBook conversion TOOLS. Well, actually all of the package prices are for TOOLS NOT services. At roughly half...

It's not easy at a table full of authors to have to state the most unpleasant reality of self-publishing tools like Lulu or Lightspeed or even Smashwords or Createspace. No one wants to hear it. They especially don't want to hear it with their self-published, print-on-demand book in their hands. Now you might construe my points as self-promoting, but I'm being honest and blunt, it is what is ... First and foremost, those "tools" ARE NOT publishers. They do not provide professional editing, proofing (yes, proofing is a whole other process), graphic design, or even truly "publish" your book. Second (and people especially don't want to hear this one), I can tell a self-published book just at a glance. I don't have to scrutinize or even analyze. Lulu looks a certain way as do all of the others. Third, unpleasant truth: if I can tell it's a self-published, print-on-demand book within seconds, the critics (who have equally critical and experi...