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Since I am having so much fun and success with maintaining my blog, why not post the progress on my newest novel on the world wide web? The best promotion for your first novel is the release of your second, and I didn’t have the patience to wait that long.
I note that you are putting together another masterwork, entitled American Male Prostitute. Might I suggest that you direct a little of that “research” towards yourself, and your own fantasy life?
- From a reader in Great Britain
For a short time after the release of my first novel The Bleeding Hills I felt like living in a mental vacuum. The work on the novel and researching the background information was intense, and that intensity vanished the day we submitted the finished work for distribution. It is said that the actual work comes when promoting your novel, and I engaged into a number of marketing activities, some of them not as effective as others. Nevertheless, I learned a lot about the market, for instance, by reading printed as well as online publications.
The idea for American Male Prostitute came after reading my favorite, most useless magazine, Writer’s Digest. Well, it is not totally useless, since it provided me with enough information to learn about the bizarre world of book publishing. Just the other day, I found yet another advertisement that made my blood broil, and I was ready to get my hands on that computer keyboard and add a flaming entry to my blog. Maybe, I thought, I’ll make this a series and share my experiences with every new, aspiring author.
To put it in a nut-shell, today’s publishing world is a shark tank. There is a great number of sharks out there, circling the waters, prying on the vast number of wannabe-authors who will never have a chance to sell their work, but are nevertheless naive enough to spend their money with useless services. It is a shame that a magazine such as Writer’s Digest is in the business to support these dubious businesses.
Through my research I found that the market for nonfiction on writing and publishing is cluttered ad nauseam. The majority of these works are – excuse my French – full of crap. Then I remembered the saying “Don’t anger me or I will write a novel about you”, and that is what I am currently doing. There is no better weapon than writing a novel about the industry. They deserve it.
Originally, I had in mind to publish American Male Prostitute as a regular paperback version, but during time I found that I was quite successful with promoting my personal website, FrogenYozurt.Com. I created FrogenYozurt initially to promote my first novel, The Bleeding Hills, but as it turned out, I had way too much fun writing about pretty much everything that interested me. According to my web statistics FrogenYozurt experiences continuously increasing web traffic, and that little fact encouraged me to go with a not-entirely-new idea of book promotion.
Since I am having so much fun and success with maintaining my blog, why not post the progress on my newest novel on the world wide web? The best promotion for your first novel is the release of your second, and I didn’t have the patience to wait that long. Promoting and selling your first novel is by far the toughest task in the business world, and the profit per sold book is ridiculous, not mentioning the virtually non-existing return of investment. Promoting my writing using an aggressive, yet very inexpensive method, and on top having so much fun doing it, seemed to be the logical consequence.
You can see the result at http://www.AmericanMaleProstitute.com, meaning you can read the novel free of charge. Please be aware that this is a work in progress. Instead of adding to and modifying my novel in Microsoft Word I will continue writing through WordPress – the technology behind the website. In addition I hope to receive feedback from other writers, wannabe-writers, or just regular readers. I am looking forward to a lively discussion with my readers.
These days, more than ever, many people are looking into alternative ways to make money, and they are all lured into believing that a computer with a high-speed Internet connection plus a website can do just that. And YES, you can! Start a business a la Demand Studios, and you can make millions!
These days, more than ever, many people are looking into alternative ways to make money, and they are all lured into believing that a computer with a high-speed Internet connection plus a website can do just that. And YES, you can make BIG MONEY through the Internet! Start a business a la Demand Studios, and you can make millions!
There is a multitude of websites available that offer opportunities for making money from home by writing articles, and Demand Studios is one of the businesses offering such a service (Sorry, I refuse to offer a hyperlink to any of the websites I mention in this post). The question is, is the Demand Studios service a scam?
My take is, no, it is not a scam, but what they promise through their advertisement is misleading to say it in the least. The truth is, the majority of their writers don’t even make enough money to pay the monthly grocery bill (I got this piece of information through my favorite most useless magazine Writer’s Digest.)
The way it works with Demand Studios is that you first need to pass their approval process. In my very personal opinion, I don’t believe they put great efforts into the process, meaning they will accept pretty much everybody who is skilled enough to apply a spell-checker to their writings. In other words, the approval process is more or less a formality. Once approved, a writer can pick up to ten articles per day, which are required to be a few hundred words long, and Demand Studios pays between $5 and $20 for each article.
Doesn’t sound bad, doesn’t it? You’ll pick ten articles per day, you make at least $50 per day, and your monthly income could exceed $1,500 easily. Well… Wrong!
Reality Check:
Demand Studios claims they have sufficient articles for your special niche, may it be politics, environmental topics, history, and all the wonderful stories that will help improve a writer’s reputation. In reality the majority of articles are in the nature of “How to…”, meaning you can write about repairing dish-washers, changing the spark-plugs on a John Deere lawnmower, and more of the same nature.
Okay, let’s assume you are willing and have the talent to write about pretty much everything. The next reality check is about time. How long will it take you to write an article? The way it works is that you receive the topic and some references (usually hyperlinks). You familiarize yourself with the subject, and then write something intelligent about it. If you are skilled (after all, if you do this for a while, you get better at it), you can write an article in less than an hour. Be aware, copying and pasting is not necessarily an accepted method. So, forget about a part-time job!
Next reality check: Consider the competition! If, after all, you are willing and able to put in the time it takes, there is no guarantee that Demand Studios can provide you ten articles per day. I don’t have an exact number of how many “authors” work for Demand Studios, but it is safe to assume there are many of them, probably thousands. I seriously doubt that Demand Studios is able to assign as much as ten articles per day to each of its authors.
I will not advice against Demand Studios when it come to creating income through writing, but I strongly recommend checking out further similar services to produce additional opportunities for income. As a fair warning, it is mandatory to apply some intense research before signing up with another service. There are too many sharks out there, who will charge you for signing up, and in the end they don’t have any work for you.
Demand Studios’ Semi-Scam Status:
It is an established fact that Demand Studios is “hiring” writers to produce articles for its clients. In the same sense, Demand Studios is hiring writers to write wonderful stories about… Demand Studios! Through my research I found numerous websites – mostly blogs – that had only wonderful things to say about Demand Studios. And they all assure the reader, “No, Demand Studios’ service is not a scam!” All this comes in a tone, like “You work only part-time while sipping drinks at your swimming pool, and your money just flows into your checking account.” It boggles the mind that people still fall for obvious crap like this.
Let me just point to a few, very obvious examples.
This screen shot was made from the LootSwoop website. They display a vast list of “legitimate stay-at-home online jobs.” My advice is to stay away from that website, unless you are in the business of giving away your money. Their website if full of links to scammers of the worst kind. I found LoopSwoop through my research regarding Demand Studios, i.e. I found an article on their web site praising the Demand Studios services. The same article also included hyperlinks to yet another dubious business, FreelanceHomeWriters. Demand Studios may not be responsible for content on the LootSwoops website, although I cannot say that with all certainty. I believe, that Demand Studios, in the least, paid for the article. Whatever the connection is, the fact remains that Demand Studios is not shy to use any questionable resource to promote their business.
As I mentioned previously, one of the links on LootSwoop pointed to FreelanceHomeWriters. I was not afraid signing up on their single-page website. After all, you can pretty much enter any e-mail address you like. A single home page with absolutely no links to other pages and no more detailed information about their services was the first red flag. It turns out, in order to finish the sign-up process they ask you for your credit card information. The charge is supposed to be only $2.95. Fool, if you think that may be the only charge. This scheme looks like the one used by the so-called Google Profit Library. Initially, they charge a small amount, but at the same time you sign up for an additional $140 service. You can cancel the service per phone within three days, but what good is it when nobody answers the phone?
This last example is a good one! They also promote the Demand Studios business, and they call themselves DemandStudioSecret. They will sell you a “121 page book that encompasses every aspect of Demand Studios from applying to writing to consistently making big money. It costs just $19.99, which is what you could make in less than an hour with Demand Studios.”
And yes, this is yet another great example on how make money through the Internet. You familiarize yourself with a very popular topic and sell your findings as a PDF file.
As always, I do invite comments, may they be in favor of my writing or not. However, with a tricky subject like Demand Studios at hand I do reserve the right to monitor responses and delete them if I suspect foul play.
Supplement – March 18, 2010
Recent Comments:
There was a comment by a writer who makes some good income through Demand Studios. Apparently I was wrong about the number of available articles – I just posted my own experience with Demand Studios. The commenter had a few things more to say that I still do not agree with. Please read the comments following this entry to get the whole picture.
Another View On Content Mills:
Content Mills is the term used for businesses such as Demand Studios. Let me quote Angela Hoy of WritersWeekly who responded to a writer complaining about the content mill he worked for: “You are working for a content mill, also known as a writer’s sweatshop. You are likely earning far less than minimum wage. You’d probably make more money working at a fast food joint. Also, working for a firm like this enables them to stay in business, and to victimize other writers as well. You, my friend, are part of the problem.”
She also points out: “At WritersWeekly.com, we post real jobs and paying markets for free every Wednesday. Remember, nobody is forcing you to work for less than minimum wage. You put yourself in that position.”
See the full article at http://www.writersweekly.com/ask_the_expert/005939_03172010.html.
Supplement – March 21, 2010
Just in case I am yet again being abused of superficial research:
“We have been profiling content mills and companies that have revenue sharing / pay-per-click programs. You know the type. They either offer insultingly low rates for articles (and often take all rights)…or you work your butt off to fill their site with content, and promote their site to get lots of clicks and/or ad revenue. They then earn money on ads placed on your content pages and you usually end up earning less than minimum wage, if anything at all.”
Reference: WritersWeekly.com
“Content aggregators like Demand Studios represent the lowest rung of freelance opportunity. It doesn’t take a lot of journalism training, writing experience or time to put together the kind of evergreen how-to articles these types of sites thrive on, which is one reason why the pay’s so low. Another has to do with supply and demand. When there’s a large supply of writers, professional or otherwise, willing and able to do the work, sites like Demand Studios don’t have to offer higher rates to attract the labor they need.”
Reference: WordCount
“Thousands of other filmmakers and writers around the country are operating with the same loose standards, racing to produce the 4,000 videos and articles that Demand Media publishes every day. The company’s ambitions are so enormous as to be almost surreal: to predict any question anyone might ask and generate an answer that will show up at the top of Google’s search results. To get there, Demand is using an army of Muñoz- Donosos to feverishly crank out articles and videos. They shoot slapdash instructional videos with titles like “How To Draw a Greek Helmet” and “Dog Whistle Training Techniques.” They write guides about lunch meat safety and nonprofit administration. They pump out an endless stream of bulleted lists and tutorials about the most esoteric of subjects.”
Reference: Wired
Supplement – April 13, 2010
Today I received the following message through my contact form (contact’s name removed) :
“I’m wondering if there is some bias in your writing about online writing sites such as Demand Studios. I noticed that you are a businessman in the industry and I understand how a new paradigm of a business model is sometimes rejected outright by the traditional industry. I am a new online writer and have been writing for a few sites and I’m not making much now but I have emailed many other authors on some of these sites and they seem to be honest about how much they make doing this. They all say that it is hard work until you’re established but over time they seem to be making a decent living. I am researching both sides and I am interested how much research you have done in the online market.”
My answer:
“I have been going back and forth about whether or not I should answer you, but, after all, I deem it polite to answer everybody who contacts me. In your message you accuse me of being biased, outright rejecting new business models, and lack of research. I don’t expect anybody to agree with me, but I do expect a certain level of professionalism. I wish you good luck with your research.”
Yet again, please feel free to contact me or leaving a response to this entry (see entry form below), whether you agree with me or not. A polite and professional tone is appreciated.
Supplement – May 5, 2010
As always, it is recommended reading Angela Hoy’s newsletter – See WritersWeekly.com – Content Mill Complaints.
Just a brief excerpt: “I just signed up to write for (a content mill). I increased my writing skills over the past year and felt confident about working for them. I wrote one article. It was accepted the same day. Then I wrote another and was asked to rewrite. The whole article took me about three hours with research the first time. I rewrote it and sent it back. It was rejected, saying that my writing was not clear. I then wrote another one about the same time and it was also sent back for a rewrite and rejected after that.”
The same scenario, i.e. multiple rejection due to overzealous editors, applies to Demand Studios (We don’t know if the above comment refers to Demand Studios or another content mill). See the description at http://www.makemoneywithdemandstudios.com/forum. This seems to be a good resource to check out the Demand Studios’ reality.
Today’s writing and publishing world is shrugging off the old “exclusive-club” mentality, but it is, by any means, not a friendly place for an aspiring writer. As a matter of fact, the industry has turned into a shark tank. When I refer to “the industry” I mean, among other businesses, the traditional publishers, most of who are struggling these days, but they are not the actual problem. The “shark tank” is dominated by new startups in the industry, mostly vanity publishers, who produce significant profit without delivering the results they promise. It seems that scammers possess a much keener business sense than the traditional publishing businesses, and they are taking the better part of a multi-million Dollar business.
And How Corporate America Makes It A Billion Dollar Business
I have just finished a document that describes my view on the current writing and publishing industry (see bottom of this page for the download button). This document contains a series of entries from my blog at FrogenYozurt.com plus a few new ones. Please excuse that my comments sound a bit sarcastic at times, but I have been through the tiresome and frustrating process of writing, publishing, and promoting my first novel. I have learned the hard way that promoting a novel is one of the most difficult tasks in the business world. Add to this a great number of dubious businesses preying on the unsuspecting, aspiring writer.
Let me quote author TK Kenyon: “Writing, especially fiction writing, is a tough business to get into and a tougher one to stay in. Generally, neither authors nor publishers make a significant profit until an author’s fifth novel is published. Over 195,000 novels are published by traditional publishers in the U.S. every year. Of those, 70% sell fewer than 500 copies.”
Today’s writing and publishing world is shrugging off the old “exclusive-club” mentality, but it is, by any means, not a friendly place for an aspiring writer. As a matter of fact, the industry has turned into a shark tank. When I refer to “the industry” I mean, among other businesses, the traditional publishers, most of who are struggling these days, but they are not the actual problem. The “shark tank” is dominated by new startups in the industry, mostly vanity publishers, who produce significant profit without delivering the results they promise. It seems that scammers possess a much keener business sense than the traditional publishing businesses, and they are taking the better part of a multi-million Dollar business.
Unfortunately, too many writing sites and especially writers’ magazines (I exclude Poets & Writers specifically from this statement) are too busy spouting wonderful stories about the industry. They live from advertisement and a readership that is represented mostly by unsuccessful writers, the number one target for scammers. These days the best paying advertisers are primarily the previously mentioned vanity publishers, because – Duh! – they do have the means to purchase full page ad space.
In turn – to keep their advertisers happy – the magazines’ task is in motivating their readers to “hang on, because we are confident you will find success eventually.” They continue presenting the good in everything and everybody, and they give you the inspirational tour on a regular basis. My advice to everybody who believes in this motivational nonsense would be to start your own religious sect and call it… Writology. Go and worship yourselves. You’re good at that!
Yes, it is true; perseverance is imperative for the aspiring writer, but I question the reason to provide motivation. Their mission is not about helping writers, otherwise they would post warnings, which they – believe me – do not. It’s all about making profit. There is nothing wrong about making profit as long as you do it with professionalism and dignity, but today’s management is only about profit, profit, and profit without an iota of passion for their readership.
Everything you find in this document is based on my own experience with the writing and publishing world, and any statements made are based on my very personal opinion. I would like to emphasize that my writing is not based on anger, but keen observation of the industry. My narrow view is without a doubt not representative for the entire world of writing and publishing, but I am sure that many new writers had similar experiences.
Click the button to download the PDF file (Will open a new window).
Most of us aspiring writers sign up for Online forums, either to pitch new ideas and wait for feedback, or to ask for advice, but foremost to “build a platform.” “Building a platform” is based on a very basic principle: If nobody knows you, nobody will buy your books.
To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep.
- Joan Klempner
Most of us aspiring writers sign up for Online forums, either to pitch new ideas and wait for feedback, or to ask for advice, but foremost to “build a platform.” “Building a platform” is based on a very basic principle: If nobody knows you, nobody will buy your books.
I always put the term “building a platform” in quotation marks, because, in my very personal opinion, there is a lot of nonsense connected with the idea, especially when it comes to forums. Yes, it is imperative for each new – and even the established – author to maintain a web site and create some attention for his/her work. But forums, with very few exceptions, have close to Absolute Null impact on a writer’s career. Nobody else but other aspiring writers will read your entries. After months of playing with various forums I have decided to cancel all but one of my accounts – I’ll keep the one at AuthorNation.com, because it’s actually fun being there (unless their server breaks down, which it does frequently).
But even on AuthorNation.com you will be pestered by what I call the “forum sharks.” Forum sharks “attack” each single new member and ask to be their Online friend, forcing them to read their – usually useless – blabbering about their books and other writings, may it be about infertility treatment, attracting money with your mind, new paths to riches, or even poems that don’t rhyme (Sorry, maybe I am just plain old-fashioned, but, in my world, good poetry rhymes).
You recognize the sharks by the vast number of “friends” they have, a number close to the total number of members on the forum. Their initial message is usually like “Welcome to the forum, and, by the way, please buy my newest novel…” They literally spend several hours a day to send their “friend requests” (without results that would justify the efforts, I may add – I checked them out).
Forum sharks usually do not participate in member communications, meaning they don’t read other members’ inquiries or offer advice, unless the forum is based solely on member communication. In the latter case, each newcomer will be greeted by a great number of members wishing you well in your efforts to become the next Hemingway, and while some of these greetings may be from the heart, most are designed not only to create readership, but foremost to place yet another hyperlink to their web site.
Again, we’re “building our platform,” and search engines love hyperlinks, and an increased number of hyperlinks will help increase awareness of your web site in the Internet community. Well…wrong! Any SEO (search engine optimization) expert will tell you that the mere number of hyperlinks doesn’t count when it comes from the same source, the same web site. Secondly, depending on how the forum is set up, search engines might not even be able to access member communications and thus not see the hyperlinks.
In another forum, that I signed up for and abandoned after a while, you could only insert hyperlinks into your posts after writing at least twenty-five entries. Ergo, some users invented the “word game.” I write an entry containing a single word, you respond with another, related word, I response with yet another, related word, and so on, and so on. Needless to say, but games like this one do not help to increase the quality of the Online forum, but the original purpose of the forum is not important to forum sharks.
Another forum categorizes you by the number of entries, starting at “New Member” (less than fifty entries) up to “Premium Member” (more than 500 entries). So, let’s get our hands at that computer keyboard and write something to improve our rank.
Then there are the semi-gods, members who either have participated for several years (and at the same time wasted their time writing literally thousands of entries), or they are real, accomplished authors. Some forums are sponsored by one of the sharks in the publishing industry, and some of them hire accomplished authors to “mentor” the newcomers. The advice they offer is, naturally, in line with their sponsor.
In my very personal opinion, the worst writers’ forum in the business is the one sponsored by Writer’s Digest, my favorite, most useless magazine. Writer’s Digest is specifically in the business of maintaining a dream world for aspiring, yet (hopefully) unsuccessful writers. Their Online forum, at the time when I signed up, was dominated by two elderly semi-gods, both with a reputation of a long writing career. At the same time, both were incredibly Internet-illiterate and, consequently, were opposed to radical ideas such as self-publishing. They wouldn’t offer any advice in that direction other than not to self-publish. I once dared to challenge their views, and their tone became increasingly aggressive, even insulting. In one post, one of these semi-gods stated that 99.9% of all aspiring writers – including myself – have no talent at all, which I thought was the wrong message to be sent to the forum’s members.
At another occasion (at another forum) I inquired regarding the effectiveness of paid review services for an author’s career, and one of the semi-gods blasted me for even posting such a ridiculous question. The last line in his entry was “Cut the crap!” His claim to fame was the publication of a Karate-Kid-replica novel that sold decently well on Amazon.com.
On a personal note, I was shocked by the lack of writing skills that far too many forum members, even the published authors among them, demonstrate in public, not necessarily in regards to style, but especially when it comes to the basics such as proper grammar and spelling. I don’t consider my own writing as perfect, but my excuse is that English is my second language.
My advice to the novice writer: First, browse the Internet for information, but avoid forums. Secondly, don’t buy books on writing; they’re just plain useless. Most importantly, read, read, read, and… read. Read Online newspapers, read Hemingway, or even Sarah Palin (Yikes!), everything works. This will be time well spent, and, if managed properly, will cost very little money.
Then, after all, write, write, write, and… write. Write about everything that comes to mind, especially topics you are passionate about. Put these writings on a blog. Continuous reading and writing will improve your writing style.
If you are talented and persevere, you will find success eventually. As a logical consequence, if you are not talented (nothing wrong with that), you will not find success. Online forums play no part in either scenario.
I just received the latest issue of my favorite most useless magazine, Writer’s Digest. Why I still receive it, I don’t know; I don’t keep track when my subscription ends, and it will hopefully end some time soon. It took me an annoying five minutes to page through the magazine to find there was nothing in there that would even remotely interest me.
The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.
- Sir Francis Burton
I just received the latest issue of my favorite most useless magazine, Writer’s Digest. Why I still receive it, I don’t know; I don’t keep track when my subscription ends, and it will hopefully end some time soon. It took me an annoying five minutes to page through the magazine to find there was nothing in there that would even remotely interest me. The only purpose I found in this publication was to investigate the fascinating, yet odd world of writing and publishing.
This last issue of Writer’s Digest, however, made me smile. It is a new year, and, accordingly, Writer’s Digest is taking the opportunity to initiate yet another motivational campaign for all those who are trying – unsuccessfully, I may add – to have their book published. Writer’s Digest’s motivational effort, however, is not a samaritan approach to help aspiring authors getting a book deal. Their business model is based on the assumption that there is a mind-staggering number of untalented writers out there – these times, more than ever – who are buying their magazine.
The equation is easy: No talent, no book deal. Ergo: If you give up, you won’t buy our magazine anymore. So, let’s step up the motivational efforts.
Accordingly, the articles in the February 2010 issue are titled Why Inspiration Matters, Essential of the Writing Life, Wake Up That Subconscious, and more of the same utter nonsense. Let me just add that I get inspiration and motivation every time I go to church, and I’d rather listen to our priest.
One article in particular, Why Inspiration Matters by Fred White, caught my attention, yet I have to admit I didn’t read it. However, the article’s seven reasons why inspiration matters caught my attention. They are:
1. Inspiration transforms us from creative readers to creative writers.
2. Inspiration heightens our senses.
3. Inspiration develops our understanding of human nature.
4. Inspiration improves our capacity for appreciating nature.
5. Inspiration helps us achieve mental discipline.
6. Inspiration intensifies our spiritual connection to our craft.
7. Inspiration reinforces our commitment to writing.
Wow! While I do not challenge Fred White’s conclusions, I am flabbergasted by the author’s intensity used to describe a simple matter like writing. In my child-like thinking, if you don’t feel inspired, if you are lacking mental discipline, or if you lack the commitment to writing, maybe writing isn’t your forte.
Maybe it’s just that I am the simple-minded guy. I go with James M. Berrie, who once said, “Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” If writing is work, and you need to read this inspirational nonsense to write your next novel or poem, maybe you shouldn’t be writing.
My advice to Writer’s Digest, and everybody who believes in this motivational nonsense, would be to start your own religious sect and call it… Writology. Go and worship yourselves. You’re good at that!
Please excuse my sarcasm, but I don’t believe in the nonsense that this magazine publishes on a regular basis. As I said, I am simple-minded. I just sit and write.
Publishing with Outskirts Press, in my very personal opinion, is a loose-loose situation. Initially, you, the author, pay substantial fees to Outskirts Press to have your book published. Then you have no choice but to set a high sales price per book, which limits your chances for success substantially. In order to make any profit you need to set the sales price above printing costs plus the Outskirts Press sales fee. Let’s assume you spent about $1,000 with Outskirts Press (You can easily end up much higher than that). Let’s further assume your sales price includes a mere $2.00 profit for you, the author. In order to reach a return of investment you need to sell 500 copies. This may sound easy, but, yet again, it is impossible with a price tag of $19.95 for a children’s book.
Publishing through Outskirts Press is a lose-lose situation!
American Male Prostitute - A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss
It is time to take another swing at the sharks in the publishing business. As part of some research for a new novel, American Male Prostitute, I had decided to work through a number of older issues of my favorite most useless magazine, Writer’s Digest.
In the following I am referring to the March/April 2009 issue, page 11, which contains a full-page advertisement by Outskirts Press. In the ad, Joseph De Sena, author of four children’s books, is quoted as follows: “I have published three children’s books with Outskirts Press and I can say without reservation that each experience has been a pleasure. The quality of each book was spectacular. I am writing my fourth children’s book and Outskirts Press will be handling all the publishing details. I couldn’t be happier.”
Good for him! However, let’s do a reality check. As of today I found four of his books on Amazon.com. Three of them come with a price tag of $19.95. His latest publication is priced at $27.95. Needless to say, but this kind of price range, in view of the competitive market, makes it almost impossible to sell the books, and it shows in the sales ranks.
Publishing with Outskirts Press, in my very personal opinion, is a lose-lose situation. Initially, you, the author, pay substantial fees to Outskirts Press to have your book published. Then you have no choice but to set a high sales price per book, which limits your chances for success substantially. In order to make any profit you need to set the sales price above printing costs plus the Outskirts Press sales fee. Let’s assume you spent about $1,000 with Outskirts Press (You can easily end up much higher than that). Let’s further assume your sales price includes a mere $2.00 profit for you, the author. In order to reach a return of investment you need to sell 500 copies. This may sound easy, but, yet again, it is impossible with a price tag of $19.95 for a children’s book.
Let’s have a detailed look at Mr. De Sena’s “The Love Bug And The Light Of Love”:
Pages: 64
Price: $19.95
Sales Rank: #3,127,942 in Books (as of October 19, 2009)
The sales rank indicates that Mr. De Sena sells in the neighborhood between 1 to 2 books per month – if that much – through Amazon.
64 pages in full color translates into printing of a little over $8.00. Again, let’s do some math: Let’s assume the printing costs are exactly $8.00. Also, let’s assume Outskirts Press grants a 55% resale discount to Amazon (A 55% discount is standard in the industry). This makes for a minimum sales price of $17.78 with no profit added. Going with Mr. De Sena’s $19.95 price tag, he makes a profit of $2.17 per book. In reality, the profit is closer to $2.00, since the print costs will be higher than $8.00.
It also struck me as strange that two of Mr. De Sena’s books come with a single customer 5-star-rating written by either Mr. De Sena himself, or his illustrator, Mr. Dennis Anfuso. (A word for Mr. De Sena: First, ask friends to write a review. Secondly, Amazon provides a blog service enabling authors writing about their books.)
All books, but one, show rankings above 2,000,000. His book “Little Sammy Sunshine And The Frightful Forest”, published in October 2008, has not sold a single copy through Amazon as of the writing of this article.
Let me say that I am well aware how difficult it is to market and sell a book, especially fiction and children’s literature. I also believe, judging by the books’ titles and the nice illustrations, that Mr. De Sena is a talented writer. Unfortunately, Mr. De Sena trusted Outskirts Press, and he has spent a substantial amount of money (I assume a minimum of $4,000, probably more). The way it looks at this moment, he will never make any profit, and to emphasize it again, his only mistake was to trust Outskirts Press. For his sake I hope they gave him a break by appearing in their ad.
Shame on Outskirts Press to come up with a misleading advertisement like this, and shame on Writer’s Digest to cooperate with the sharks in the publishing business.
A tip for children’s literature authors: Do not self-publish!
Self-publishing involves Print-On-Demand (POD), which allows the print of small volumes. However, compared to the traditional offset-printing process, POD printing costs are higher. This is especially true for books with colored interior, and children’s literature is usually colored. The POD printing costs for children’s literature will automatically push you outside a competitive range in a market where children’s books are priced significantly lower. The traditional offset-printing process, however, demands a print-run of several thousands of books before it becomes profitable, and this can only be accomplished by going through an established publisher.
Outskirts Press is a Vanity Publisher!
Per definition, a Vanity Publisher is a publishing house that publishes books at the author’s expense. A Vanity Publisher does not have any interest in the success of the authors they represent. Their main income comes from the multitude of aspiring authors who choose to publish through Outskirts Press.
Be aware, there are a ton of sharks out there, Outskirts Press being one of the worst, prying on the vast number of wannabe-authors who will never have a chance to sell their work, but are nevertheless naive enough to spend their money with useless services. It is a shame that a magazine such as Writer’s Digest is in business to support these dubious businesses.
There are other, more trustful sources for self-publishing. Just to name one: Check out CreateSpace.com, a service provided by Amazon.com. Also, look at Booklocker.com, a small publishing business out of Maine.
