How to Avoid Book Publishing Blunders

Author Beware … Scams, Cons and Predators Are in Your Midst

Authors and self-publishers are routinely contacted by organizations offering “self-publishing services.” What they are: “boiler rooms” of sales people making relentless calls—usually half way around the world. Persistence is their motto; their goal is your book-to-be and your credit card. And, they are experts at wearing you down and are hard to resist.

Be on alert. Be very careful. Don’t get sucked in to the “special” of publishing your book for only $397, $497, $597 or whatever the “$97” number is. This is used as a lure to bring you in, then the “up sales” start. They are frequent advertisers in popular writing magazines (What better market to troll?) and it’s not uncommon to create contests offering the grand prize of publishing the book of the winner or to offer free informational/how-to publish seminars or webinars—with the real objective of getting “new names” and contact info for the relentless callers to feast upon.

Some of these companies have tarnished records with a lot of unhappy customers. Several authors have complained to the Better Business Bureau and some have been sued. When people are victims of scams, they may report the incidents on the Internet. Before doing business with POD publishers or any other person or company that wants your money, make a Google search for:

(person and/or company name) + Scam

(person and/or company name) + Fraud

(person and/or company name) + Rip-off

(person and/or company name) + “Better Business Bureau”

(person and/or company name) + con

(person and/or company name) + complaints

(person and/or company name) + lawsuits

TIP: Some 90 percent of all Google searches stop at the first page—even though there are many items available to a searcher. DON’T STOP. Predators and cons know this and can “pepper” social media with faux reports, items, even posts about how great they are. The purpose is to drive any negative items deep from the first page of a Google search. Read everything. Read deep. Websites, such as Predators & Editors, Absolute Write and RipOff Report are excellent resources.

http://Pred-Ed.com/peba.htm

http://AbsoluteWrite.com/forums

http://RipoffReport.com