The $1.99 Author is an informative and fun book for those who write books and people who think they might want to.
This book offers a pragmatic look at today’s publishing options for both budding and previously published authors. Almost every conceivable publishing path is touched upon with the pros and cons of each laid bare. This book is free of sugar-coated empty promises of success. Instead, readers will be made to understand there is a ladder awaiting them, and The 1.99 Author shows us how to climb it safely without going broke, without getting taken, and without too many heartbreaks.
Excerpt
Preface
Caveat Emptor: ‘Let the buyer beware.’
The book publishing industry is full of smart people. . . and by “smart”, I mean they know how to fleece excited unsuspecting marks who have completed a manuscript, and even authors who have been published many times.
Fortunately, I am not the trusting sort, and the few risks I have taken in my publishing journeys were not without exhaustive research ahead of time. Did I make the right call on every cheque I wrote? Most definitely not. Did I make the best decision I could with the information I had? I’d like to think so. Did I cut big cheques because I was in a hurry to see my book in print and was not interested in learning new skills? You bet. Was it worth it? Yes, for quality reasons, and no, in terms of a return on investment.
The sentence you just read is the reason I wrote this book. There must be ways to break even or make some money as an author until you write “the book” which has agents, Hollywood producers, and the Big Five publishers throwing around six or seven figure sums when talking about you.
The odds of your first book garnering this type of attention are infinitesimally small so forget about it. Instead, be proud of the fact you wrote a book. Less than 1% of all the people on Earth will. Your accomplishment has already made you special because you finished something which required tremendous persistence. Your willingness to gift it to the world, allowing total－often unqualified－strangers to judge it, shows you are far more brave than the vast majority of those who will be passing sentence on your work.
If this is your first effort, welcome to our very exclusive club. If you’ve published ten books or more, I admire your staying power. Now, let’s see which paths are best for our book(s) while examining what pieces of the puzzle we may have overlooked or become bogged down in.
The $1.99 Author is about playing in and staying in the publishing game without going broke while working our way up an old wooden ladder－ladened with greasy cracked rungs－that no one told you existed. Sounds a little scary, right? I hope you enjoy the climb, and you can do it once you are properly equipped with safety gear and some instruction.
