When an author, especially a first-time author, finishes a book, they are excited to get it out into the world and on the bookshelves of Barnes & Noble and the Amazon website. In their excitement, many authors fall prey to predatory publishers and unethical self-publishers.

There are two ways to avoid being a victim of these scams.

1. Knowing if you want to have your book submitted to a traditional publisher or a self-publisher. Having a clear understanding of the pros and cons of each method of publication is essential when making this decision.
2. Doing careful research on the publishing business you work with. It doesn’t matter if it is a self-publishing company or a traditional publisher, read contracts carefully, research what others have said about the business. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Reading Fees

Predatory publishing and self-publishing companies try to collect fees for unnecessary services upfront.

For example, a reputable traditional publisher or self-publishing company would never charge an author a mandatory reading fee. This is not the business model that a traditional self-publisher follows. Reading author manuscripts is just a cost of doing business for these companies.

Self-publishers leave it up to you to submit high-quality work. They will not reject a book based on the quality of its content.

Contest Fees

Some publishers inform you that you are a finalist in a writing contest and ask you to submit a fee (usually a large one) to submit your book to the finals or purchase a minimum number of copies of this book compilation to be considered for the prize.

Contests for book-length works are rare, and even when they are legitimate, the entry fee is modest. Entry fees of more than $50 should be scrutinized very carefully. You should research any contest you enter thoroughly. Is it a reputable contest? What do the online reviews say about it?

Required Purchases of Your Own Book

A traditional publisher would never demand that you purchase a minimum number of copies of your book before publishing it. These publishers pay for their printing costs and other overhead by buying good book manuscripts and selling them to satisfied readers.

A self-publishing company doesn’t demand that you purchase a minimum number of book copies before publishing your book, but they may offer you reduced pricing based on the number of books you buy at one time.

Other Services and Fees

Neither traditional publishers nor self-publishing companies will require you to get editing services or to get a paid consult from a “book doctor” before publishing your book. A traditional publisher might recommend that you work with an editor or book doctor, but that is never a condition for publication.

Self-publishing companies occasionally will offer editing or proofreading services as an extra, but the prices should be reasonable and comparable to those you can get from an independent editor.

Also, beware of companies that nickel and dime you to death with charges for every little thing. Charging you a low rate for publishing the book, but then adding on fees for things such as

• Typesetting and layout
• Filing for ISBNs
• Copyright registration
• Marketing and promotion costs

Of these services and fees, probably the most insidious are the marketing and promotion fees. These fees overcharge the author for simple tasks such as listing your book on Amazon (which is easy to do, even if you are not that computer savvy). With marketing and promotion, it is difficult to calculate your ROI. And any company that makes vague promises about marketing should be avoided.

Again the keyword here is “required.” Traditional publishers never charge the author for any of these services. Reputable self-publishing book companies either work these into the cost of printing the book or provide these as optional, reasonably priced add-ons if you’d like them to do it for you.

Unrealistic Promises

These fall under the category if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Reputable book publishers, whether they are traditional or self-publishers, cannot make any of the following guarantees:

• Your book will be a bestseller or sell a specific number of copies.
• Your book will be on the shelves of your local bookstores and national chains such as Barnes & Noble.
• Excessive flattery or unrealistic promises surrounding the success of your book
• Guarantee a book contract if you work with their book doctors, agents, or editors at your cost.

Minimum Sales Guarantees

Always read publisher contracts, terms, and agreements carefully to avoid getting trapped by unfavorable terms and conditions.

Disreputable publishers might require the author to sell a specific number of books within a particular time. These sales totals are unrealistic and not achievable. When you fail to deliver the number of sales described in the contract, they bill you the difference to pay for “production costs.”

Poor Royalty Rates

Royalty rates for traditional publishers vary somewhat depending on the format of the book sold. Publishers provide royalty rates anywhere between 10 and 25% depending on if the book is a hardback, trade paperback, or mass market paperback. The rates usually increase if the book sells well. Ebooks tend to get higher royalties, typically between 25 and 50%.

Self-publishers set a flat printing charge per book based on the number of books printed. The more copies you print, the lower the price per book gets. You set the book’s price and collect the difference between your cost for the book and the price the customer pays. It is not unusual for a self-published book to pay out “royalties” of 50% to 75% and maybe even as high as 90% in rare instances. But keep in mind that these rates do not consider distribution or marketing costs subtracted from your cut of the royalties.

Restrictive Copyrights

Some publishers provide contracts to authors that have them sign away the rights to their books and limit the options for the author to get out of the relationship with the publisher. You should never hand over all of your publishing rights to the publisher. If you land a traditional publishing deal, it is a good idea to hire an agent (if you don’t already have one) and let them negotiate the publishing rights for the book on your behalf.

For self-publishing companies, they should not have any publishing rights to your work at all. Once they deliver a printed book to you, they cannot earn additional income from book sales or anything else (unless they sell the book on their website). You can also break off the publishing arrangement with them at any time for any reason.

Final Advice About Avoiding Publishing Scams

If you work with a traditional publisher, you will probably need representation by a literary agent from a reputable agency. The process will take a long time, and you will encounter many hurdles along the way. The benefit of this is that you do not pay anything to get your book published. They pay you. And any publisher that claims to be a traditional publisher that makes the author pay for any services should be considered suspicious.

For self-publishing companies, you need to evaluate what you get for the money you spend. You need to self-publish with the mindset that you will have to do everything to make the book sell. You will handle all costs for producing the book, editing and typesetting services, book cover design, arranging sales terms with bookstores, and more.

Please note that it is challenging to get your books placed in a national book store chain without the following:

• Networking and marketing with corporate book buyers
• A consistent track record of excellent sales
• Significant discounts on your sales price for the store
• An agreement that you will “take back” unsold books

Self-publishing a book can be expensive. So shop around, compare prices, read reviews, ask other writers what self-publishing company they used and if they were happy with the work. Reputable self-publishing companies don’t hide the prices of their goods and services; they provide the self-publishing costs upfront with all fees listed.

InstantPublisher Provides High-Quality Self-Publishing Services at a Reasonable Price

InstantPublisher provides a full array of book printing options and publishing support services such as book cover designs, illustration services, and much more. We are a full-service book printing and binding company that has served self-published authors since 2004. We are an affordable option for self-published authors everywhere. To learn more, contact us at 1-800-259-2592, fill out our online contact form, or send an email to questions@instantpublisher.com to get more information about our book publishing services.

Writers’ block challenges even the most prolific writers at times, and a lot of times, the only way to overcome it is to trick your brain into moving the project forward. Last month, we presented nine ways to defeat writers’ block, but these were just a few simple ideas on how to do it. This month we here at InstantPublisher will present eleven more in-depth ways to defeat writers’ block.

1 – Beat It Out

No, this does not mean punch yourself in the face or beat someone else up. This technique called “story beating” helps you break down your story into small chunks. Divide these chunks into essential scenes in your novel or story.

A good story beat should include the following information:

• The character(s) who are involved in this scene.
• The location where the action takes place
• The problem or conflict the character(s) encounter within the scene
• Specific detail or language to include within the scene as a line of dialog, descriptive detail, or feeling or tone to present (not essential, but nice to have)

All of this information can fit on an index card. You can then arrange and re-arrange the index cards to organize your story as you write. The great thing about story beats is that you can write up the significant scenes that you know you want to include within the book and add more of them as you learn and understand the flow of your story.

2 – Outline It

Outlining is equivalent to story beats for non-fiction projects (although many writers use outlines for fiction projects). Many writers resist outlining because they feel it stifles their creativity. This is simply not true. Your outline does not have to be a formally organized (1,2,3; a,b,c; i,ii,iii) indented approach. It can be a series of notes on a single sheet of paper listing all of the important information you want to cover in your project. You can also create the outline of notes on index cards to provide flexibility in organizing your project. An outline can be as simple as a list of topics you want to write about in your project, or full-blown sentences and notes to include within the book’s final draft.

3 – Design Your Book Cover

Sometimes the best approach to beating writers’ block is a misdirection. In this case, you are working on something completely different to spark the imagination. Taking time to design the book cover for your book is a great way to distract your blocked mind while still moving forward with the project. Even if you don’t use your book cover design, it will give you, or the custom book cover artist you hire, some ideas for the final book cover art. Here are some tasks you can do to help with your book cover design:

• Select stock images or photos you’d like to use for your cover
• Find a good model for your lead character for the book cover
• Review cover designs for books similar to yours already for sale. Do you see any patterns or obvious “dos and don’ts?” What cover designs do you like?
• Select font types and sizes for your cover
• Look at various color schemes for the cover

4 – Storyboard It

This technique is favored by writers who are more skilled at drawing, but you don’t have to be a skilled visual artist to use it. Storyboards have been used for decades in the movie industry to help writers and directors visualize the scene. Comic book writers and artists also use this technique to map out a story’s look and feel. So sketch out a pivotal scene or a scene that gives you trouble in a series of comic panels. Again no fancy artistry is needed; stick figures and rough shapes are good enough.

5 – Eliminate Distractions

What is distracting you from your writing project? Is it your messy, disorganized desk? Spend an hour cleaning it up. Losing focus by looking out of the window and daydreaming? Close your blinds. Getting distracted by social media or news on the internet? Shut it down (at least temporarily) during your writing time. There are applications such as Freedom and RescueTime can help if you have trouble doing it on your own.

Bottom line: Figure out what is pulling you away from your writing and try to mitigate these challenges to get back to your writing.

6 – Write a Synopsis

Agents use synopses to get a summary of the story. It is essentially a high-level overview of the characters, plot, and unique features of the story. The synopsis should not be longer than one single-spaced typewritten page (or around 500 words). Do not leave any significant story twist out of the story to preserve the surprise.

7 – Step Away from the Project for a Day or Two

Sometimes the best way to work through writers’ block is to let it sort itself out on its own. Allow your subconscious mind to continue working on the problem while you focus on other things. Work on other projects, write in your journal, read a book, whatever it takes to distract your mind from the problem at hand.

8 – Write a Letter

Write a letter to a close friend, loved one, or ideal reader that describes the problem from your perspective. Tell them about the story, the challenges you are encountering, and what you think might be causing the block. Explain the story in detail and what you hope to get from writing the story in the first place.

9 – Create an Elevator Pitch

Elevator pitches work for fiction or non-fiction projects. The technique helps you quickly boil down to the essence of your project so that you can clearly communicate it to that famous agent you happen to run into on an elevator. You have exactly 30 seconds to impress the agent, so tell him/her what your project is about, who would want to read it, and what other projects your project is similar to.

For example, a elevator pitch comparison for Susanne Collins book, The Hunger Games might be presented as a combination of the reality TV show Survivor, and Richard Connell’s famous short story, “The Most Dangerous Game.” This story where a big game hunter decides to hunt humans for sport is not a far leap from the savage games presented in the world of Panem.

10– Make a List of Questions About Your Project

Take 15 to 30 minutes and generate a list of questions that you think you need to answer before continuing your formal writing on the project. Write them down as fast as you can. They don’t need to perfect, and you won’t necessarily need to answer all of them to move forward with your writing. Sometimes just asking the question is good enough to spark your creativity and push you forward.

11 – Just Start Writing

If you just can’t seem to get anything going, simply set an easy “low-hanging fruit” writing goal today for you to achieve. The goal should be ridiculously easy to achieve, so you won’t resist doing it, and once you reach that goal, you can consider your writing work for the day done and go on with the rest of your day guilt-free. Here are some examples of “low-hanging fruit” writing goals.

• Sit at your desk for 15 minutes and try to work on your writing project. Don not get up, look away, or do any online research for the story. Just sit at your computer and try to move forward with your writing.
• Re-read the work you did in your last writing session and write one paragraph.
• Write one sentence.
• Research critical information for your writing project for 10 minutes.

Sometimes just sitting down to write with low-expectations, you’ll discover that your brain will want to continue working on the project once you get started.

What technique do you use to break through writers’ block? Let us know by leaving a reply below.

Let InstantPublisher Bring Your Creative Ideas to Life

Once you have broken through your writer’s block and have finished your book, send it to InstantPublisher. InstantPublisher is a full-service book printing and binding company that has served self-published authors since 2004. We are an affordable option for self-published authors everywhere. To learn more, contact us at 1-800-259-2592, fill out our online contact form, or send an email to questions@instantpublisher.com to get more information about our book publishing services.