Hey again everyone,It’s your girl QP here to talk to you about Secret #4: Bootleg Publishers exist, how to tell the difference!As a member of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists, Writers Network) my boss gets monthly alerts on publishing companies going out of business, or just doing unethical things and are being sued. Every month there seems to be at least 6 publishers going out of business because of complaints from writers who have sent their manuscripts, sent money to be published, that sort of crazy thing.So, that has lead me to disclose this secret which sadly but not surprisingly, most writers don’t know: everything with publisher at the end of it does not make it a publisher. Here’s how you tell:Clue #1: If they ask for money when sending your manuscript they are bootleg. A legitimate publisher won’t and doesn’t need to be paid just to read your story.Clue #2: If they advertise in the back of a magazine, they are bootleg.Clue #3: If they request $3.00 for postage, shipping and handling for a response to your manuscript, they are bootleg.Clue #4: If they aren’t a member of any professional publishing organizations such as SPAWN, SPANNET, or PMA to name a few, they are bootleg.Clue #5: If they don’t have a website, they are bootleg.Clue #6: If they have email that looks like this: publisher@yahoo.com, publisher@gmail.com, publisher@aol.com, they are bootleg. Legitimate publishing compannies have company branded email:contact@zlspublishing.com.Clue #7: If you are presented with a 5 page publishing contract, they are bootlegged. The average publishing contract is at a minimum 10 pages long.Clue #8: If your book cover looks like the outside of a cereal box, they are bootleg.Clue #9: If you have to pay for all your books, including the “free ones”, they are bootleg.Clue #10: If you are paid in royalties of IOU’s, they are bootleg.Clue #11: If anytime you call the phone number for them and all you ever get is an answering machine or service, they are bootleg.Clue #12: If the only software they have to develop your manuscript into a book is MS word, they are bootleg. Legitimate publishers have top of the line publishing software. My boss has ADOBE CS3, which is the latest in publishing software.Clue #13: If you can’t find them on myspace, facebook, or gather, they are bootleg. Legitimate publishers understand the need and use for consumers to find them on all outlets. My boss in on all three and even SImon and Schuster is on Gather.When deciding to send out your manuscript to a publishing company, make sure you contact them first, talk to someone, ask if they have a website, a myspace page, a gather page, a facebook page, ask for their mailing address, office address, company email address, verify no money needs to be sent in order to hear a response or when you are sending your manuscript.Clue #14: If when you call them up, asking for these things and they are reluctant to give it to you, they are bootleg.Writer BEWARE!Until Publishing Secret #5QP Signing Out!
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Welcome back,This week’s secret is a continuation from last week’s silly conversation with the caller. (If you need a recap, go to Secret #1)Writers have this crazy idea that they’ve written a book that deserves to be published. No! You’ve written a manuscript, a manuscript of a book hopefully to be published! In the publishing industry, contrary to popular belief they do not consider your book, a book until it is published! That thing you call a book is called a manuscript! At weekly meetings it’s Manuscript #205 or Manuscript BOW or whatever!In the publishing industry, a book is considered final. What you have written is not! It has yet to go through the final editing phase, if any editing at all! It has yet to have a cover designed for it; the book size decided; how it will be marketed, or who will print it. And we are missing the all important task of deciding who will publish it.My boss hates when people tell her they’ve written a book and when she asks who wrote it or where can she get it because it sounds good, they reply by telling her they wrote it, it’s not yet in stores, and that they are looking for a publisher. She always responds, “So, you’ve written a manuscript?” Not knowing what she’s talking about, they look at her funny eyed.So what do you do?Change your language, but more importantly, change your way of thinking!Remember, you have 7 seconds to make an impression. When you approach a publisher either in person or via writing, approach as follows:“I’ve written a potential book”“I’ve got a book idea, I’d love to pitch to you”“I’ve written a manuscript about xyz”Let’s repeat this again: You have 7 seconds to make a good impression. Approaching your potential boss correctly determines your next step career wise. it is the same for approaching a publisher. Remember, they get approached 500 times a day, mainly by clueless writers. Approaching them correctly is the difference between them actually taking your manuscript to read it or politely (and even in some cases) unpolitely, saying ”Thank you, but no thank you!”Let’s recap: Your book is not a book until it is published! We all know that’s your baby, but just like welfare doesn’t consider your baby a baby until it is born, the publishing industry doesn’t consider your book a book until it is published!Sounds harsh! I know, but I told you that the truth was going to hurt!Until Secret #3QP Signing Out!
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