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Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware An article from Courthouse News Service (a nationwide newsletter for lawyers focusing on civil litigation) caught my eye this morning: A retired lawyer claims he wrote a book investigating the death of Princess Diana, and his agent extorted thousands of dollars from him to market the book. Paul Anthony Spletzer...sued BK Nelson and her eponymous firm, whom he says he hired to represent him for 20 percent commission. "In negotiating her fee, defendant Nelson, when questioned by Spletzer as to why she charged 20 percent commission, which is believed to be twice as much as other agencies, replied that she, she personally, was worth it," the complaint states. Spletzer says Nelson told him that he "would receive not less than $250,000 and probably $450,000 plus royalties for the rights" to his book by selling it as a film. He claims she asked him to pay $4,000 so she could create a DVD trailer of "Her Necessary Death...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware A while back, I wrote a couple of posts about an ill-advised POD publishing venture launched by peer critique website and writers' community YouWriteOn . YWO promised to publish a maximum of 5,000 writers for free (or, if they wanted an ISBN number, for £39.99) by Christmas 2008 if they could get their manuscripts in by the end of October of that year. Not surprisingly, YWO wasn't able to deliver on that ambitious promise; ultimately, only a few hundred books were released , and some writers experienced significant problems . YWO has since parted ways with its original partner in the venture, Legend Press (which now runs its own POD publishing service, New Generation Publishing ). However, it continues to publish books . Interestingly, although the details of the publishing packages it offered with Legend Press can still be found in a Google search, they are no longer accessible from the YWO website, which now merely advertises ...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. This old saw applies to writers as much as to musicians. In today's guest blog post, author and writing teacher Barbara Baig explores the importance of "deliberate practice"--a technique that involves not just identifying and challenging your writing strengths and weaknesses, but active, critical reflection on the writing process itself--and suggests ways in which writers can use deliberate practice as a tool for honing their craft. For the record, I don't agree with Barbara about the irrelevance of talent. I believe that some people start out with more innate verbal, visual, and imaginational ability than others, and can benefit more from practice--just as some people start out with more athletic or mathematical or musical ability, and benefit more from training. However, even the greatest genius risks failure if he or she doesn't do the work. Just about a...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware It's all very well to declare that getting published isn't a crap shoot--that smart and persistent writers with marketable manuscripts have a very reasonable chance of landing a publishing contract. But what if you've been submitting a manuscript you're convinced is marketable--a manuscript that has gotten compliments and encouragement not just from your friends and beta readers, but from agents and/or editors--and you still can't find representation or publication? One of the ways writers can sabotage themselves is to pin all their hopes on a single work. I hear surprisingly often from writers who are in this position--who've been doggedly submitting the same novel for years, and simply cannot abandon it, despite being unable to attract interest from a reputable agent or publisher. They continually research new agents and publishers; they regularly rework their query letters; they even rework the manuscript itself....

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware   My last post, Getting Published is Not a Crap Shoot , provoked a number of interesting comments, including this one: I think the reason people continue to believe that the road to publication is paved with luck and favoritism -- despite constant assertions to the contrary by publishers, agents, and published writers -- is that assertions are all they get... One thing I find incredibly frustrating reading industry blogs is how few hard numbers are presented. For example, I would love to know the average number of times debut best-sellers were rejected by agents and publishers, compared to debuts that flop. We need more stats, more facts, more objective proof of the efficacy of standard processes, not only to convince disgruntled Writer Beware readers that they should regruntle themselves, but also to confirm that what are subjectively assumed to be best practices based on experience and professional culture really hold up to objective s...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Many of the writers who contact me with Writer Beware-type questions seem to be convinced that the process of getting published is equivalent to a crap shoot. There are enormous numbers of people trying to sell a book, and very few publishing slots to go around. What slots there are go mostly to insiders and celebrities, rather than new writers. Agents and editors are so [pick one] busy/arrogant/sadistic that they're as likely to toss your query as to read it. All in all, you’ve got a better chance of getting struck by lightning than you do of getting published. This kind of thinking makes me crazy. I'm not saying there isn't some truth in it--there are thousands of manuscripts in circulation at any given time. The number that find publication is very small. Agents and editors are overworked. But the assumptions that accompany these nuggets of truth are incorrect--and so are the conclusions drawn from them. The first assumptio...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Dear Author has a post detailing internal problems at Red Rose Publishing : Authors are reportedly not getting their work published within a specified time. If rights are requested to be reverted because of this breach, the publisher is reportedly sending the authors bills for cover art and editing for those books. Notices of editors and cover artists that they are quitting are reportedly being ignored...Statements were not being sent out and emails to the publisher went unanswered. Other complaints reportedly include publishing books without contracts. When a few Red Rose authors posted about non-payment in the Red Rose author loop, Red Rose's owner went ballistic, accusing the authors of whining and being unprofessional, and trotting out the kinds of excuses you so often see when small presses have difficulties: family problems, an audit. This is such a sadly familiar story.