Book Fairs and Author Scams

I can't tell you the number of scams involved that prey on a self-published author's dreams of seeing their work on display at the prestigious trade shows. There are too many to count.

Writer Beware® Logo

And the fact is they have been in operation in plain sight of the publishing industry, for the longest time.

The people running the major book fairs obviously have no problem taking money from companies whose business practice involves deceiving authors with false or overtly grandiose promises that, for just this price tag, their work will be on display for agents, movie producers, etc, in a respected way.

Vanity Publishing, indeed.


David Gaughran, an author and long-time advocate for other authors, and always on the lookout for shading practices, recently shared researched details about these practices and these companies in a post entitled: The Combined Book Exhibit and Author Scams.

"This is a considerable fee when you consider what the author gets in return, especially if you have seen these tired, unloved bookcases at industry events. The idea that an agent or editor or movie producer would peruse these shelves, let alone actually acquire something from them, is risible......Needless to say, this is quite a lot of money for some rather questionable return"

An image from David's original post - read the full post

"There are all sorts of scammers and weasels in publishing. And partnering with known and trusted entities is how they dupe authors in such huge numbers, particularly inexperienced authors, very young authors, or those of more advanced years – who make up the overwhelming majority of victims."

 

Header image from David's original post - read the full post

  

"Keep in mind that the Combined Book Exhibit isn’t an unknown entity operating at the margins of the publishing industry, it is right at the heart of the traditional end of the business, with long-standing partnerships with the most prestigious industry events and deep links with the likes of Publishers Weekly and some writing organizations too (who should know better)"

Again, I commend David for advocating for authors, and remind those who are considering forking over their hard-earned money to self-publishing services to please do some research, check sites such as Writer Beware®, do some simple Google searches on the company name to see what authors are saying about their experiences being duped, misled, and gouged.

I am posting about this, and re-sharing his detailed blog post, in order to help ensure that writers are made aware.
 

Hanging Out With KJA

One of the perks of the long and exhausting week at BEA last week was getting to spend time with Kevin J. Anderson.

I met Kevin and Rebecca Moesta at EerieCon a few years ago. They are both great writers and wonderful folks.  I was immediately impressed with just how down-to-earth and approachable this author of well over 100 novels with 20 million books in print was. I'd been a fan of his since first reading a novel he co-wrote with Doug Beason called Ill Wind and there we were sitting on panels together with Kevin treating this particular "unknown" writer with the same amount of respect he would treat a fellow NYT bestselling author.

I had been in contact with Kevin within the past 6 months for a couple of reasons. 

First, I'm re-printing a story (Drumbeats) which he co-write with Neil Peart (yes, the lyricist and drummer from Rush) in Tesseracts 16.  (Link to the book on Amazon -- Link to the book on IndieBound).

Second, Kevin has been one of the beta authors involved in helping provide feedback and insights that helped in the development of Kobo Writing Life, the new DIY portal for self-published authors (which we announced in NY at BEA last week)

During a busy week, Kevin and I had a chance to get together at The Pony Bar - a wonderful little spot that specialized in craft brew.  We sampled some great beer while chatting about writing, science fiction, publishing, digital publishing, self-publishing, hiking, and of course, Kevin's work on Clockwork Angels, a project he wrote in conjunction with Neil Peart as a tie-in to the Rush album of the same name.

Kevin was an author guest at the open discussion media breakfast we held on Tuesday June 5th to announce Kobo Writing Life -- and he was also one of the featured writers in residence at the Kobo booth.

Right now I'm reading Kevin's first novel, Resurrection, Inc. -- this is the novel that he wrote while listening to the Rush album Grace Under Pressure (the album my buddy Pete forced me to listen to and which turned me into a Rush fan - THANKS, Pete!) and it's really fun to read through and pick up elements that were inspired from Peart's lyrics.

It's funny -- here I thought, that with 3 books coming out from three different publishers in the next 6 months, that I was a hard-working and busy writer. But after spending so much time last week with Kevin and realizing he has something like 8 books coming out this year, it would appear that I'm slacking big time. One must admire his non-stop energetic charge towards efficiency (I quite admire the multi-tasking manner by which Kevin writes while hiking -- he brings an audio recorder along on hikes and writes while enjoying the scenery and fresh air.

In comparison, I'm simply not working hard enough!  Time to look at any of those wasted moments where I could be more productive.

The truth is that, hanging out with Kevin, I can't stop thinking big!

Week It Was, What A Week It Was, It Was

Wow.  Between last Sunday and today I have certainly packed a heck of a lot of special moments in.

The challenge, in all honesty, would be ensuring I capture each highlight, from beginning to end.

Here goes.

On Saturday June 2nd I flew out to New York to prepare for UPublishU, a pre-BEA event focused on self-publishing authors.

Sunday June 2nd, I sat on a panel with Hamilton's Bob Young (Hamilton TiCat owner and CEO of Lulu.com) and got to share some tips for authors looking at self-publishing.  Immediately after our panel, I caught a taxi back to LGA to fly back to Toronto to introduce the brilliant and talented Terry Fallis as MC of the CBA Libris Awards dinner and reception.  Because of a delay coming through customs, I was just arriving as Terry was onstage pretending to be me and kicking off the evening.  I commented, after dinner, when I officially "introduced" Terry as the evening's host, that I'd never looked so handsome)

On that same evening, I not only got to present Michael Ondaatje with his Author of the Year CBA Libris Award (quite the honour, since I've long been a fan of his writing), but I also got to present that evening's special honoured guest, Margaret Atwood with the CBA Libris Lifetime Achievement Award.

Twitter pic from @RandomhouseCA of me presenting award to @MargaretAtwood

It was a special honour to get to share the stage with Terry Fallis and present awards to literary icons such as Ondaatje and Atwood (And what a fantastic way to end off my term as CBA President!)

I was back in New York the following day to meet with Kevin J. Anderson, explore some fantastic craft brews at The Pony Cafe and discuss self-publishing, writing, the thrill of being a writer during this time of dramatic digital change, and, of course, the new Clockwork Angels novel that he wrote with Neil Peart of Rush and will be released as the band begins touring for the new album.

On the morning of Tuesday June 5th, Kevin J. Anderson and Bella Andre joined Michael Tamblyn (EVP of Content, Sales & Merchandising at Kobo) and I with media representatives that included folks from Time, Oprah Magazine and Publishers Weekly to announce Kobo Writing Life, the new self-publishing portal for authors at a breakfast and open discussion about eBooks and self-publishing.

It was fantastic to finally share something that I have been working on since I joined Kobo back in the fall of 2011 as Director of Self-Publishing & Author Relations.  KWL is the result of 6 months of really fun and exhausting requirements gathering by listening to the self-pub and author communities on all the elements needed for successful indie author publishing of eBooks.

There is a video of me talking to Mercy Pilkington of Good eReader that took place immediately after the media breakfast . . .



Of course, there's an even better and longer video of Michael Tamblyn sharing the KWL and general Kobo love . . .



I spent the next several days talking to hundreds of small publishers and authors about Kobo Writing Life; do back to back media interviews with a variety of wonderful folks, and got to meet some fantastic authors and bookish folks who I had only previously known through social media.  (And despite not pausing to do more than gobble down a quick cereal bar for lunch each day, I still didn't get a chance to meet with everyone I had been hoping to touch base with . . . I DID manage to get about 3 to 4 hours of sleep each night, though, so one might think that perhaps if I had skipped that "lost time" I might have gotten more productivity in to each day -- that, or drop dead of exhaustion at the end of the week)

On Wednesday June 6th I had an opportunity to sit down in the Kobo booth with Michael Connelly and talk with him about writing, what it's like having published his first novel (the one that introduced Harry Bosch to the world) 20 years ago with the publication of The Black Echo and various aspects of the universe he has created featuring Bosch, Mickey Haller (portrayed by Matthew McConaughey in The Lincoln Lawyer) and other wonderful characters.  Part of our discussion was captured on video and will likely be shared with aspiring thriller/mystery writers via the Kobo Writing Life portal Learning Centre.

Because so much was packed in to the past week, I'll likely be putting up separate blog posts regarding some of the specific details mentioned above in the next few days.