ripoffs

What's The Big Idea?

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This post by Nick Green originally appeared on Do Authors Dream of Electric Books? on 10/3/14.

I shelved the blog post I was going to write, because something caught my eye and made it pop out in anger. You may or may not have noticed that last month was the deadline for The Big Idea Competition, an apparent bid to find the ‘next big thing’ (you’re not yawning already?).

This is the brainchild of Barry Cunningham, well-known as the editor who discovered Harry Potter, which was the biggest Big Thing in publishing history, and also Tunnels, which… wasn’t. The premise is simple. As in, simply infuriating.

‘Have you got an idea for a story that children will love?’ the website asked. ‘Then tell us in 500 words! Win the chance of seeing your idea transformed into a book, movie, TV or theatre production!’

There is so much wrong with this premise – in fact the whole concept is so breathtakingly cynical and disingenuous – that I hardly know where to begin. The supposed rationale, as explained in its publicity materials, sounds reasonable enough: there are lots of people out there who might have a great idea for a story, but who lack the skill / patience / masochism to actually sit down and write it. But don’t worry! the organisers assure us. We’ve got stacks of authors and playwrights and impresarios right here! You come up with a good idea, and we’ll do the rest. Simples.

 

Click here to read the full post on Do Authors Dream of Electric Books?

 

A Victory Against Author Solutions

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This post by David Gaughran originally appeared on his Let’s Get Visible site on 2/14/14.

It should be clear to everyone now that Penguin Random House has no intention of cleaning up Author Solutions.

The only development since Penguin purchased the company for $116m back in July 2012 is that Author Solutions has aggressively expanded operations (see here, here, here, here and here).

I’ve been covering the Author Solutions story for a while now – particularly since the Penguin purchase, which was met with disbelief in the author community. It’s a frustrating beat, especially when faced with a wall of silence from the many companies and organizations in traditional publishing who have links to Author Solutions and its subsidiaries.

Documenting the links between Author Solutions and the rest of the publishing world is depressing work. The list reads like a Who’s Who of traditional publishing. Getting them to discuss their links to Author Solutions has been near-impossible, let alone taking any action with regard to those links.

One exception has been The Bookseller.

Click here to read the full post on Let’s Get Visible.

 

How To Sell Your Integrity, $470 At A Time

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This post, by Publetariat founder and Editor in Chief April L. Hamilton, originally appeared on her Indie Author Blog on 1/9/14.

Here are two new questions authors need to add to their vetting process when considering hiring out for author courses, services and how-to books:

Do you have an affiliate program for this product or service I’m considering, and if so, how much of the sales price will be paid to the affiliate advertiser?

Imagine that the answers to those questions are, “Yes, I do have an affiliate program, and half of the price you pay is sent back to the affiliate whose link you followed.”

So far, so bad. Now imagine the price you’re being asked to pay is $940, and $470 of that fee will be paid to the affiliate.

Pick your jaw up off the ground because I’m sorry to tell you, this is not some far-fetched scenario. Today I received this exact offer to become an affiliate advertiser for someone offering author and book marketing/publicity products and services.

I get affiliate requests pretty frequently but anyone who reads this blog or visits the Publetariat site regularly knows I don’t say “yes” to many of them. Today’s request is just about the best example I’ve seen to date for explaining why.

Here are the pertinent excerpts from the email invitation, with my comments below each. Note that any boldface emphasis in the quoted passages has been added by me.

 

Click here to read the full post on the Indie Author Blog.