Hi Folks, As I write this (back in early February), a young writer got in touch with me earlier today to ask my recommendation on publishing. She mentioned that she was “talking to a publishing company that is a subsidiary of Hay House.” I didn’t look up the company, but a little bell went off in my mind. I believe Hay House is one of the companies that charges writers an up-front fee to publish their … Read more
Note: This post was originally scheduled for early 2015. It didn’t post to MailChimp, so I’m posting it again now. I’ve revised the original post so it’s up to date. This post first appeared in slightly different form as an article in the November 2014 issue of the Society of Southwestern Authors (SSA) newsletter, The Write Word. Hey Folks, I recently received an email from a place called Publish Wholesale. They were interested in “publishing my … Read more
Hey Folks, Well, something’s ‘off’ in my world today. Not sure what, and therefore not sure how to fix it. I’m annoyed. I’ll leave it at that. I’m also not sure what will happen around here today. So I’m calling this a nonwriting day. (Turned out to be a writing day after all.) I won’t write, at least not fiction, unless a lot of stuff in my mind settles out. Maybe I’ll start a new website … Read more
Hi Folks, A little rant this time, but a well-reasoned rant. It really is attrocious what Amazon does to authors regarding royalties. This problem came fully home to me awhile back when I uploaded the new version of The Wes Crowley Saga (10 full novels in one book) to Amazon and Smashwords. At Amazon, to get a 70% royalty, a book must be priced between $2.99 and $9.99. All other prices glean the author a 35% … Read more
Note: This post was originally scheduled for October 2014. It didn’t post to MailChimp, so I’m posting it again now. I’ve revised the original post so it’s up to date. Hey Folks, Received yet another note today from a friend about the “stigma” of self-publishing. What a bunch of crap. There, I said it. Not only is it a bunch of crap that there’s a “stigma” in the first place, but it’s an even bigger, smellier … Read more
Hi Folks, Note: This post was originally scheduled for 8/30/2013. It didn’t post to MailChimp, so I’m posting it again now. I have NOT revised the original post other than reparagraphing some of it. This post goes hand in hand with my previous post on Busting the Myths of Digital Publishing. I often hear from folks who say they want to “publish like you, on Amazon” but they don’t mention any other venues. If you self-publish, … Read more
Hi Folks, Note: This post was originally scheduled for 8/20/2013. It didn’t post to MailChimp, so I’m posting it again now. I’ve revised the original post so it’s up to date. First, a brief announcement. I’ve reopened my copyediting and eformatting service. I’ve kept my prices LOW. Former editing clients are preferred, but new clients are welcome too. For details, please click http://harveystanbrough.com/copyediting/. Okay, back in August, 2012 I updated and republished a post titled “Busting … Read more
Hi Folks, This morning as I emailed a friend, I had occasion to revisit an old blog post, one I wrote here back in October, 2015. The information in it bears repeating, especially in light of recent posts over at Dean Wesley Smith’s website. I recommend you read my older blog post before continuing with this one, even if you think you remember everything about it. To do so, click Brave New World of Publishing. After … Read more
Hi Folks, First a couple of announcements— 1. On September 23, Author Earnings released a new report that ALL writers should see. Especially if you’re locked into traditional publishing or if you’re on the fence. The previous report I mentioned talks about market share in ebooks from traditional publishing vs. indie publishing. So it was kind of abstract. But this report shows the actual distribution of income to individual authors who choose to publish traditionally vs. independently. This probably … Read more
Hi Folks, Well, this is yet one more updated version of a post I’ve published before. Busting the Myths of Digital Publishing doesn’t really become dated because the myths persist. There seem always to be new writers who have the wrong information about digital (ebook) publishing. And frankly, unfortunately, a lot of writers who’ve been at it awhile also have wrong information about digital publishing. As I write this, I just met with a bunch of … Read more