Scams to avoid

For many of you, writing a book is the dream. Figuring out what to do is usually overwhelming. How do we self-published authors do it? How do traditionally published authors do it?

Simple, we find the route that works best for US.

BUT there are some pieces of advice I feel I need to share with you. I have a friend who is looking to do what I do, and when they asked on Facebook what they should do, I spoke with them to get an idea on how to push them in the right direction. Their confusion and situation led me to write this. I forgot what the publishing world is like since I self-publish.

Some pieces of advice to follow when looking for the right path for yourself, as a writer.

1. DO NOT PAY TO BE PUBLISHED WITH A PUBLISHING HOUSE.
   Publishing houses should be paying YOU for your book and not the other way around. The ones that do this are vanity publishers who for a price will publish and advertise your book. They usually scam people when writers contact them and ask for help. They promise the world to that writer when they haven’t even written their book yet.
2. Work with people that you are comfortable with.
   So many editors and “publishing houses” will take advantage of you by pushing you to change your story in a way you absolutely don’t want. You wrote the story. YOU worked hard to write that story. You should have a say so in how that story should be published. If no one is listening to you, you have every right to say “No, thank you for your time but I am taking my story elsewhere.” Your editor should work WITH you and not against you to change the story completely.
3. Ask people who are both traditionally published and self-published to get a sense of what to expect. Do your due diligence in research. This is a hard world to break into. Not everyone is making six figures.

Traditionally published authors normally do not make big bucks either. Theoretically, you will probably not write the next big bestseller BUT that should not mean you shouldn’t try. Write for the love of words. Write to share with the world your imagination. Write to give people an escape. Don’t do it for the money. Do it for the love of reading and writing.

I can help with that. Go to my services tab and see how I can help you.

Editing is hard and very expensive for others out there. I offer an affordable option. Many publishers want polished (edited) works now. They want something they will not have to spend a lot of time on. Readers want edited works. Too many bad reviews are written by someone who saw a mistake in a book and couldn’t look past that. (There are mistakes in traditionally published books too. I don’t know how many times I have pulled out a pen and started marking grammar and punctuation errors.)

I can format your edited books for paperback and ebook if that is something you struggle with and want to avoid.

I can even just be your sounding board FOR FREE, if you have any questions about publishing. Reach out to me via email. erinelysebooks@gmail.com

Let’s bring more creative works into 2021!