True Value of Products and Services
By Jerry D. Simmons | June 18th, 2010 | 1 Comment » (Click to add yours!)
My goal with every newsletter, article and blog is to inform my audience. Certainly I hope to educate writers about the business of publishing but invariably the wave of “scams, charlatans, snake oil salespeople and thieves” have become a tsunami and can sometimes drown out the honest voices simply because we refuse to take advantage or rip off our clients.
Having served my entire adult life in publishing it still amazes me to this day how many companies operate under such outright deception and distortion of facts. The sad fact in the “independent or self-publishing” business is that too many people make a living off promoting, marketing and selling products and services that simply do not work or have value in the real world of book publishing, marketing, distributing and selling of books. Writers MUST protect themselves and their writing.
Here are some key points to keep in mind when trying to determine whether a product or service has real value: (1) Never commit to a long term agreement with anyone! (2) Never pay for a product or service without knowing who is behind the product and service, what their background in publishing is and knowing whether they offer testimonials from satisfied customers that you can contact and objectively verify. (3) Web sites or email blasts that sell and promote without offering a legitimate telephone number that someone can call and ask questions should be avoided. (4) Companies that take days to respond to emails sent through their web sites are also to be avoided. (5) If it sounds too good to be true or offers promises and guarantees, consider them companies to be avoided.
There are never any guarantees in publishing, even for the biggest of the bestselling New York Times authors, there are no guarantees. Anyone making claims that sound too good, too easy, or too quick to possibly be true, run the other way, save your money and send me an email. I’ll be happy to offer you honest advice and feedback on whether or not the offer is legitimate.
Tags: Book Distribution, Book Marketing, Book Publishing, Book Sales, Booksellers, eBook, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing
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