Writer Beware, Beware and Beware Even More!

This morning I received an email from Attorney and Writer Mark Levine who created an outstanding book, every author should read:  “Book Publishers Compared”.   He sent me
“The Author’s Bill of Rights”.  

It starts with: “ All author’s have the right to expect certain things from a self-publishing company.  Only choose a publisher that …”

I am totally disagreeing with him in calling publishing services  “Publishers” (which are in fact printers or agents for printers or e-book formatters or agents for formatters). They are absolutely NOT!  The term “publisher” is unfortunately not regulated by law and it takes a long time to get this oxymoron out of people’s mind and writing.

Anyway, he wrote a very fine book (and e-book) that involved a lot of research and will help to save hopefully many writers in the future from signing unfavorable, unethical or right-out criminal contracts.  Please read also these articles I wrote in the past about POD or Vanity publishers:

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/victims-of-vanity-publishers/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/easy-to-lose-money-a-lot/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/author-beware-its-a-long-post/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/how-to-choose-an-ebook-publisher-or-diy/

and this one about a description of Dan Poynters book,  how you can publish completely independent  – he does it since the 70s:
https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/dozens-of-helpful-self-publishing-tips/

As Victoria Strauss wrote: “There are sharks out there in the literary waters. Literary deceptions abound, from fee-charging agents to dishonest editors to …”  

Hopefully you check out these advises and get a lawyers’ opinion before you sign your rights away – not like a friend of mine years ago when she signed a contract for all of her books, not even worldwide but through the whole universe – and for a term 70, in words: seventy years!!! after her dead.  She had to pay more than CAN $5,000 to get her book “published”, by a Renfrew, Ontario, Canada, print shop who keeps his machines busy by unaware writers, who want their manuscripts seen on book store shelves.
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Hyper Smash

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