Just want to say thank you.

In the last month, some very strange and wonderful things have been happening.

I had my third request from a mainstream publisher who are interested in my writing a book for them on Dream Therapy. I've been quite scared of this because it's mainstream and I'm not really a mainstream kind of person. In any event, I have been totally put off because they've requested a proposal from me. Eventually, I decided to be truthful and say that while I could write books, screenplays, articles, or anything on earth, I found proposals difficult because I'm dreadful at writing anything that promotes. Um. Yes. I got back an email saying that when the book was finished, could I please submit it.

Talk about awestruck! A publisher actually so badly wants to see my book that they will give up their normal way of doing things?

Then I responded to an ad for a journalist to interview someone. They wrote back and asked my rate. I'm so tired of having to compete against other writers. I think it's really bad because one keeps lowering one's prices to get the work. So I wrote back and explained that I was withdrawing as I though the process should be the other way round. They immediately wrote back with an offer and I accepted it. Good pay.

Then, this morning, I found an email from someone who has opened up another content site saying that they ere impressed with my writing and could I please write for them and they offered me 75% of Adsense. I declined saying that I earn about $100 a year from Adsense from all my sites (about 8) combined and after a decade of earning nothing on the web, I was thinking of going back to print. However, it felt really good having someone approach me.

And, lastly, I'm gobsmacked at having 3 Editor Choice Awards on 17 articles and being selected as an Excellent Author at Wizzley.

Thank YOU, Wizzley. You're Wizards of Magic in my book!

Congratulations Tess! You deserve all your good fortune. You've earned it.

I don't know how we here at Wizzley contributed to your success (except, maybe, Anne's expert advice and my 'tough-love' response to your emails), but you sure are welcome!   Told you you're good.

First of all congratulations Tess, you are a terrific writer and deserve all of these and more. But one caveat, before signing up with a publisher make sure you understand exactly what the contract means. You might also want to contact Jo Harrington here on Wizzley and listen to her experience being taken for a ride by a publisher.

Last but not least, have you ever considered publishing your books yourself on Amazon? Advantages:

• You keep full control over content, cover and presentation.
• 35%-70% royalty.
• You set the price fro your book.

If you are interested in this, this is a great Facebook group to get started / ask questions http://www.facebook.com/groups/357112331027292/ and fellow Wizzley author Lis also writes about it on her blog, see http://lissowerbutts.com/category/self-publishing/ or have a look at Tracey's blog http://traceywritesbooks.com/

Congrats Tess, Happy for you 

Hi Brenda, thank you. It's a bit scary, but it does feel rather nice. :) 

Chefkeem, I've been told I'm a good writer since I was nine. That's not really the issue. The issue that is that I'm abysmal at making money out of it! And I don't quite see how tough love fixes that up... :)

Sam, thank you, but I'm already on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

http://bestebookstories.blogspot.com/

I don't earn out of it because I don't promote very well. I suck at self promotion.

With regard to mainstream publishers, it's highly unlikely that I would sign up with any of them because it's too much stress and I don't do stress. 

I also think it's unlikely that a mainstream publisher will screw one. However vanity publishers do. It's the norm for a mainstream publisher to pay one 10% of royalties. How much money they are willing to spend on promotion is the luck of the draw. Publishing, these days, has a lot to do with what the author brings to the table. If they are already famous, that suits the publisher very well as it means that they don't have to invest a lot of money on promotion. If the writer is unknown, despite an extraordinary gift, the cost of promotion is so heavy, that they might decline the risk. No publisher has a formula for what books will work and what will not. 

Wow!  Congrats Tess!  That's brilliant! I'm happy dancing for you.

And yes, if it does get to contracts, come and chat with me first. <3

Congratulations Tess. That is fantastic.

Yes, well-known publishers give you very low percentage on sales of the book, but they also don't ask for anything upfront either.

Tess: 09/23/2012 - 02:06 PM

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Sam, thank you, but I'm already on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

http://bestebookstories.blogspot.com/

I don't earn out of it because I don't promote very well. I suck at self promotion.

 

I also think it's unlikely that a mainstream publisher will screw one. However vanity publishers do. It's the norm for a mainstream publisher to pay one 10% of royalties. How much money they are willing to spend on promotion is the luck of the draw.

Hi Tess, I had a quick look at your Amazon books, one thing that springs immediately to my mind is that your covers have the wrong ration (Too high / too narrow) that way you give up way too much space that normally would be taken up by the thumbnail. Also at Amazon thumbnail size potential buyers can't read the title, hence they are less interested in clicking through. I would re-work the covers on that lines, I am sure that will help with sales! I also noted that at least on one book you haven't aded any tags, so how will people find you?

10% royalty is already screwing authors up, in my opinion, be also careful that one book is not covering automatically for the other, see Tracey's experience: http://traceywritesbooks.com/sad-reality-traditional-authors/

Tess,Well lets just say congrats for you on three occasions!!!!

May I suggest that you look into teaming up as a project with someone who is excellent at promoting work (probably both online and offline).

As you say, promotion is not your strong suit, so with doing a deal with someone else to help promote your work, you still get to do what you enjoy and do best.

Promotions gets you more eyeballs on products and you get to have more items sold with your great writing.