Ripoff Report  – endless amount of complaints updated regularly

This post is from a blog dated in 2010. The last comment on the thread is from 2011.

1-Name: George Pressly

2-Email: gpressly@classadvocate.com

3-Comments: Steven, I am with Class Advocate.  www.classadvocate.com.  We aggregate pending class action lawsuits and investigations.  A couple of consumers have written to us in connection with Lulu’s alleged failure to pay royalties.  I had a chance to read your comments on the topic, and if you are so inclined I would enjoy a chance to speak with you about your experience.

Thanks, George Pressly
This was sent to me (Steven Marshall) by Books Rights Registry if your material has appeared in full instead of an excerpt. You have to fill this out email and mail a physical copy after completing the information. Authors, you need to go through the motions to fight for your rights and any monies due you. Complaining alone will do no good until you take action. I encourage you all to do so together. *This needs to be submitted by December 31st or they will not register your complaint. –SNM

Lawsuit

The following are documents from a lawsuit in 2009 against iUniverse, Inc. Amazon.com, Inc. Barnes & Noble, Inc. Buynow, Inc. Lulu Holdings, LLC On-Demand Publishing LLC Tino Georgiou K. G. Glaub

The other kind of query letter is weird, quirky, but so irresistible and creative that it will capture the attention of an agent even though it’s far outside the “accepted” model. This kind of query letter springs from true talent and writing genius, and really can’t be taught. I’ve seen some of them, and they leave me in awe — and they immediately captured the interest of the agent(s) they were sent to. However, since they can’t be classified or taught, I’m going to concentrate today on the first type of query letter.

A great ”template” for a query letter runs like this:

First paragraph: Introduce your project in a one line description of the book, giving the title and genre. In this paragraph you also should specify the length of the manuscript, in number of words, not number of pages. Make it clear that this is a completed, polished book. Sometimes it can work well to quickly compare the book to another work the agent would recognize. However, instead of announcing that “My book is just like X,” use language such as, “In the tradition of X,” or, “Should appeal to readers of X.”

Your language in writing a query letter is very important. It must be smooth, flowing, and persuasive, without telling the agent what to think, or engaging in hyperbole. That one-line description of the work is often a make-or-break. In the writing business we sometimes refer to the one-line description as “the elevator pitch.” This term comes from Hollywood, and is based on the idea that writers should be able to summarize their books in one arresting, unforgettable line that will capture the attention of a producer or agent – while taking no more time than would be required for an elevator ride.

Second paragraph: Here’s where you’ll need to get very creative, and showcase your best writing skills. This is the paragraph where you provide the “verbal snapshot” of your book in the form of a “sound bite.”

The POINT of a sound bite – It sticks in your head, like a tune you can’t forget. I repeat, it is NOT a synopsis. Instead it’s a “verbal snapshot” of a book’s storyline, a few lines that are so vivid, so enticing, that the agent will immediately want to read the entire book. The language you use should be vivid, specific, and dynamic. When that agent puts down your query letter and goes off in search of more coffee, that sound bite should run through his or her mind.

Third paragraph: This paragraph should contain a summary of your credentials for writing the book. If you don’t have any, then don’t try to manufacture them — that looks really lame. Credentials fall into three categories:

Best and foremost, writing credentials. Writing credentials mean you’ve sold your writing. That means you received money for the right to publish it. Cite the venue, giving the title of the article, short story, or book. If you didn’t receive any payment for the writing, chances are you shouldn’t mention it. Things like letters to the editor published in your local paper don’t count. A recipe in a parish cookbook doesn’t count. POD books where you paid the POD publisher to make the book available for sale don’t count. Any vanity-published book definitely doesn’t count. E-books might count if you can document having sold a lot of copies. (Think thousands rather than dozens or hundreds.)

The other two categories of “credentials” you can mention would be lifetime experience, and/or academic degrees – providing they relate to the subject of your book.

There’s no point in mentioning that you have a degree in quantum physics if you’ve written a humorous fluffy unicorn story. Or a romance novel set in the Miami drug culture. If you’ve written a science fiction novel dealing with, say, the true nature of dark matter, mentioning your degree would be relevant.

The same goes for lifetime experience. If you have written a detective novel, and you can truthfully state that you’ve been a homicide detective for 10 years, that’s definitely worth a mention.

If you have no credentials to cite, simply state that (Title) is your first novel, and that you’re working on your second. And then make sure that statement is true. Agents are not enthusiastic about “one shot” writers.

Last paragraph: Is simply a polite conclusion to your business letter. Thank the agent for considering your query. Tell them you hope to hear from them at their earliest convenience.

Then you write “Sincerely,” and sign your name.

Remember the old adage: “knowledge is power.” In the publishing field, ignorance is not bliss. The more you can discover about an agent you’re targeting, the better (which means thoroughly researching the agent BEFORE you query, not after). Not only will diligent research help to keep you safe from scammers and amateurs, it’ll enable you to “tweak” your query so it will appeal to the particular agent you’re approaching. Remember also to read up on each agent’s guidelines–not every agent wants to see the same thing–and to send them exactly what they ask to see, no more, no less.

A query letter is not a synopsis. It’s not your autobiography. It’s direct, very well written, has zero fluff and no bullshit. I can’t overstress how important a good query letter is. It’s a chance to showcase your writing to the agent. A poorly written query letter will end any chance you have of the agent wanting to read your manuscript.

The most common mistakes aspiring authors make in writing query letters are as follows:

• Writers who inform the agent that the book they’re submitting is the first book in a 12 book series they’ve spent the last ten years writing. This reeks of obsession, and agents will make the sign of the cross and back away. Concentrate on the book you’re trying to sell.
• Writers who try to make their writing experiences look like credentials when they aren’t. Writing a few articles for local newspapers for free doesn’t count as a writing credential. The same goes for recipes in your parish cookbook. Or having a letter printed in the Washington Post. What counts is writing you were PAID to do.
• Writers that make a point of telling the agent or editor about all their friends and family members who loved their book. Or about the published authors who read and loved the book. You already know what is coming next. Don’t do it. Agents don’t want to be told what your friends and family thought. They also don’t want to be told what to think. “This book will be a surefire bestseller!” is not a line to include in your query.
• Writers tell too much about themselves and their lives. Agents and editors don’t give a shit if you are mentally or physically handicapped, or your mother is sick, or your kid is sick, or you just escaped an abusive marriage, etc. Harsh to say but the truth is what you need. Everything in the query letter, including in the credentials section, must relate to your book, and your ability to write it. Telling the agent about yourself in an attempt to gain the agents sympathy so they’ll read the book is the kiss of death.
• Writers make it too long. A good query letter is brief, no more than one page long. When I say “one page” I mean a few hundred words long. Not one page crammed from top to bottom with narrow margins.

Search engines are complicated, at best, so please note that this is a brief definition

Search engines have programs called spiders, or web crawlers, that scan the content of web pages to determine what the content of your site is, and to find other links to scan at a later date.

Example:

• A searcher types a query into a search engine.
• Search engine software quickly sorts through literally millions of pages in its database to find matches to this query.
• The search engine’s results are ranked in order of relevancy.

There are an endless amount of search engines to choose from. Here are the top three:

• Google – this site quickly became the most used search engine on the web due to its accurate results and a massive index (over 1 billion pages). At the end of 2009, Google had 85.35% of the search engine market.  Google is easily the most important search engine to get listed in.
• Bing
• Ask

Difference between search engines and web directories

The main difference between a search engine and a directory is the way websites get entered into their index. People will submit their sites to the directory of their choice and these are reviewed by actual live people. Directories are kind of like collections of internet sites organized by subject.

• We typically insert timestamps every 1-2 minutes, to help you easily find the spot in the digitized audio to verify what was said.

• We do not insert superfluous comments, such as um, uh, you know, uh huh, OK, etc. unless it’s essential to the meaning of what’s being said. But if you want a pure verbatim transcript, where every little word is transcribed, we can do that.

• We typically write out words like wanna, cuz, gonna, etc. as want to, because, going to, etc. – unless you want us to do otherwise.

• We typically correct obvious grammar errors, e.g. she don’t know = she doesn’t know. An exception are words like “ain’t,” which we may leave in place.

• If harsh four-letter swear words are mentioned in the recording, we typically will use asterisks or hyphens to represent what was said, unless you instruct otherwise. But we will write out mild swear words.

• When there are two speakers – an interviewer and interviewee – we label the speakers “INTERVIEWER” and “RESPONDENT”. When there are more than one interviewee, we typically label the second one as “RESPONDENT 2″, assuming the voices easily can be differentiated. For your transcript, if you prefer that we label the speakers something else, such as by their initials, their first or last names, or such as “Q” and “A,” please let us know.

• When it is not an interviewee/interviewer format, we typically label the speakers “SPEAKER 1″, SPEAKER 2″, etc., assuming the voices easily can be differentiated. If we can easily determine their names, we typically will try to label them with their actual names. Or we may write a distinguishing indicator such as “FEMALE VOICE” or “FOREIGN SPEAKER”. Of course, you or someone familiar with the voices can go through the transcript and insert the actual names.

• We will customize a format according to your preferences.

In general, PROOFREADING involves the identification and correction of typographical errors, punctuation errors, misspellings, and formatting inconsistencies. It may also mean comparing two documents for uniformity.
 
COPYEDITING covers the same areas, but may include grammar, word usage, capitalization, word breaks, tone, and format.

DEVELOPMENTAL / SUBSTANTIVE (moderate to heavy) seeks to achieve clarity of subject, logic, and consistency. Confusing and awkward writing may be reworked. Sentences are analyzed for structure/syntax. Long sentences may be enumerated or separated. Proofreading, copyediting and substantive editing often occur simultaneously.
 
FORMATTING  When required, style revisions will be suggested or implemented (e.g., page numbers, margins, headings, spacing, indentations/paragraphs, quotes, references, citations, footnotes/ endnotes).

Duke of Humphrey’s Library, Bodleian, Oxford University, England

Intelligent Verbatim – is a format that takes out all of the words we can’t help saying like; um, kind of, like, you know – unless they are related to the content and not just a nervous filler. In order to have the style of the person talking I leave the unfinished sentences, abbreviations, and even incorrect grammar.

Complete Verbatim – is usually the second type chosen and may be used for important documentation recorded for a possible interview for legal purposes. This type of transcription is necessary for capturing the conversational style of the person talking, their emotions, abbreviations, dialect patterns and those verbal annoyances such as; um, you know, gotta, wanna, etc…

Edited Transcript – this would be used when the individual needs to or provide a transcript for a lecturer or a focus group that has to capture multiple discussions and take out all the small idiosyncrasies we all love so much! 

A few Q&A

How can I get the best recording possible?
One of the best ways to guarantee the best possible audio quality is to eliminate background noise and make sure that the speakers are in close range of the recorder. Another important step is to ask the speakers not to talk over each other  – or basically waiting until the other is finished speaking; it’s tough for some people to actually do this – I know I am guilty of this sometimes – but it makes the audio difficult to transcribe for obvious reasons.

What kind of work do you transcribe?
Writers Plus handle all kinds of transcription work — interviews, dictations, business meetings, conference calls, focus groups, press briefings, lectures, legal deposition and other legal transcription needs, panel discussions, sermons, seminars, etc… Basically any audio that has living, breathing individuals who can talk! The most common clients are students, teachers, professors, doctors, market researchers, lawyers, psychiatrists, and the list goes on. 

 *Article Directories

 *Ezine Editors

*Article Announcement Lists

 We’ll be covering here how to submit to article directories.

 How Do Article Directories Work?

An article directory is a website that publishes articles that other publishers can reprint for free. Authors will submit their content to an article directory, and then a publisher who is looking for content on that topic will find and republish it on his website or ezine. Publishers love article directories because they provide free quality content.

 As an author, what do you get out of having your content appear in an article directory?

 When you submit your article, you will include a resource box. This resource box will contain a short paragraph about you and your business, an incentive to visit your website, as well as a clickable link that leads back to your website. Whenever your article is republished, the resource box will be too. So, when a reader sees your content on someone’s website, they will also see your resource box, and they will (hopefully!) click the link that leads back to your website. The resource box is also the means of ‘building links’ to your website. You gain a link to your website each time your article is republished. The more times it is republished the better, because that means you are building more links to your website.

Why Is It Important To Build Links?

 These links are one of the main indicators that Google and the other search engines use when deciding how highly to rank your website in the search engine results lists. By building links to your website, you can effectively improve your website-s search engine ranking over the long term. The higher your search engine ranking, the more traffic your website receives.

Why Should You Submit To Article Directories?

By placing your articles in article directories, you are giving your articles the greatest opportunity of being republished. You may think that publishing your article on an article directory creates just one backlink, from the directory itself. Actually, if all goes well that one backlink from the directory is only the beginning. Ideally your content will be republished repeatedly, building a link to your website each time. Also, when you submit your article to an article directory it can show up in Google’s results lists. The more ways you create for people to find your content the better. Your ultimate goal is to draw more people from your target market to your website. Article marketing helps you do this.

How Many Directories Should You Submit To?

You will greatly aid your cause if you submit to as many directories as possible. The purpose of placing your article on an article directory is to have it republished as many times as possible. That is how you build links to your website, which has an impact on your search engine ranking over the long term. When you submit your content to just one directory, then you have gained one backlink, but you need to wait for publishers to find your article on that directory to build more links. However, if you submit your articles to many article directories, you are building many links right off the bat, and any links you gain from publishers who find your articles on those directories are just icing on the cake. If you are submitting articles by hand, obviously there is a limit to how many directories you can submit to. Submit to a few of the big ones, such as Ezine Articles, Go Articles, and Idea Marketers.

Rijkmuseum Library, Amsterdam

Every article that is written is an investment in the future of your web business. Think of it as a business marketing plan that keeps on giving. There’s no telling how long an article will be out there working for you, day & night, increasing your search engine ranking & improving your bottom line. How sweet would it be to  make profitable connections with people who contact you after reading an article written years ago? You may have forgotten about the article but it’ll never stop working for you.  

Bottom line – article marketing is a win-win situation for any business owner, no matter what your niche may be. Don’t  waste another minute, contact me and start taking  full advantage of this  low-cost marketing technique. You’ll wonder how you did business without it.    

 ”Article Marketing remains one of the best ways to draw your target market to your website and convince them that you are the best answer to their needs. Yes – even now with all of the concerns about duplicate content. We continue to see great results and so can you.” - Nicole Dean & Kelly McCausey