Beware of scams, pirates and people who abuse authors.
When An Academic Book is Trolled – and a Star is not born!
We all want to be born a star in anything we do. Unfortunately, there are people out there who will steal from us.
For many years, I have listened to people say they want to tell their story or that they have a good story to write. Suppose one can pass the stage of committing words to paper, then well done. The next stage is publishing the manuscript. This is where matters become more complicated, although many sites offer help and advice on achieving this aim.
I wrote about the Unsecure World of Books under my academic author name, David R. Tollafield, and decided this fit with my articles on Writing Angles. E-books can be protected using digital rights management (DRM). In this second look at what is happening to the author’s world, we must be cautious about Vanity publishing.
Vanity publishing is not illegal, but the author is persuaded to pay for publishing and generally loses out. I first encountered a publisher called Xlibris (Author House), and they relentlessly pushed me to spend more, with no profits ever emerging—lesson learned. The product looks good, but forget anything else. The internet is now full of warnings about Vanity Publishers.
Derek Haines, Just publishing advice, is an English teacher —he says ‘If your goal is to become a published author, beware of publishers trying to sell you dreams. They can so quickly turn into nightmares.’
Silent movies depicted by the actor Charlie Chaplin
Silent Comedy is Never Far Away
I receive two to three invitations monthly to publish in journals and speak on shows, most based in the USA. I could reply but would not dream of wasting my time—neither should you!
The other red herring is entering your book into book fairs. This is a sure way to drain your bank account. There are only two sound routes to publishing – publish yourself through Amazon KDP, Digital2digital, and Ingramsparks, for example. The other method is to use a publishing house. In the case of top publishers, most, if not all, require you to go through an agent, and that is where the journey might begin. Anyway, this moves away from the main story.
My first book was a children's creation
Children’s Book (2014) Vanity Press Publication (Blyth is a pseudonym for the author)
The World of Self (Indie) Publishing
Having moved toward self-publishing, one learns that people clone books. Put bluntly —steal from others for financial benefit —hence, I wrote about the Unsecure World of Books and how to protect your e-book. In much the same way, we find film agents contacting us.
My first book, a children’s book about a coloured pen (see image), was highlighted by Stephen Speilberg for consideration. I had pulled the book from Xlibris (authorhouse) and removed it from Amazon books, but they had left a trail behind, so requests to bid for book fairs and the film industry continued over the next eight years. Finally, I had to be rude down the telephone, and the nuisance ended. And then, this month — the following letter arrived by email—
Copy cat example
'I hope this message finds you well. My name is Martin, and I am the executive assistant for Justin Baldoni at Open Road Films. We recently released It Ends With Us, a successful book-to-film adaptation based on Colleen Hoover’s novel. We are currently conducting an evaluation for potential book-to-film adaptations, and I am pleased to inform you that your title, Morton’s Neuroma: Podiatrist Turned Patient: My Own Journey (Foot Pain Book 1), has successfully passed the first phase of this process.My team and I would like to invite you to a conference meeting with two of our producers. The meeting agenda will include a discussion about your book and the steps involved in the film adaptation process. Please let us know if you’re ready to move forward, and we will arrange the meeting at a time that works best for you. Looking forward to your response.
Best regards, MartinExecutive Assistant Los Angeles, California.'
My first self-published academic book was published in 2017
As I read the email, rather than feeling annoyed, I was impressed at the sheer incompetence of the system and yet the positive—I could write a newsy blog. It is difficult to imagine how a nerve problem could become a star in a film, let alone a coloured pen.
In the latter case, I might have bought into the promise of placing my children’s book on the screen, but Stephen Speilberg—I mean, who has even heard of this director?
Oh dear, it looks as though Mr Morton will not be going to Hollywood anytime soon.
Lists of vanity publishers
According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), AuthorHouse is just one of the alternative names for Author Solutions, LLC. Other alternative names include:
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