Luisa Raegan – Joe Powers, Author

Today I wanted to refresh a message I share with you from time to time. It never gets old, because it never goes away. And each time I put it out there, my hope is that one more person sees and absorbs the message. Today, I want to talk about vanity publishers.

Let me put this as plainly as possible: vanity publishing is a scam. Anyone who asks you for money to publish your work is not a legit publisher. Money flows from the publisher to the author, not the other way around. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it very likely is. Legitimate publishers rarely contact writers unprompted with contract offers. Before you sign any kind of contract, make absolutely sure you know what you’re getting into.

Last night my friend @luisaraegan posted a wonderful breakdown of some of the pitfalls of vanity publishing. You can read her article here, and I definitely recommend it – and not just because she quoted me throughout! I love that she’s helping to spread the word about this scam, and when she asked for my input I was happy to oblige.

In my writing class, Crafting the Short Story, I spend some time discussing the things to watch for when choosing a publisher. I put a lot of emphasis on avoiding these types of publishers because many of the participants are relatively new to the publishing world and have no idea this sort of thing even exists.

Again, if we can reach even one person and save them a lot of headache and heartache, mission accomplished. I’m always happy to do my part to put a dent in the potential pool of scam victims.

Thanks as always for reading. If you’d like to receive updates delivered right to your inbox, you can pop over to my contact page and sign up to be among the first to see all new posts. Until next time, stay safe, talk soon!

-JP

“Where the hell have you been, Joe? We haven’t heard from you in months!”

Oh, how the time does fly by. It’s been a long and harsh winter here on the east coast, and it’s really only getting started. To pass the time until spring arrives I’ve been holed up here, doing my level best to stay warm as well as clear of the Omicron-riddled masses. Imagine my surprise, then, when I noticed just how long it had been since I last posted anything here! Far too long, my friends. So today, we take the first step toward righting the ship and getting back out there.

First things first: it’s that time of year again, we’re back in the classroom! Well, not really. I’m in the office down the hall and you’re in your homes, but we’ll be together again nonetheless. Crafting the Short Story and Writing Horror: The Dark Side both kick off the 2022 winter sessions next week, and as luck would have it there’s still room in both classes for a few more last-minute additions to the roster.

Speaking of writing tips and advice, I received a nice shout out from my friend (and Crafting the Short Story alumnus) on her blog. She’s just finished her first novel, in fact – I’m so proud! – and has a lot of fun and cool stuff on her author page. You can check out her entry which features some of our conversation here, but feel free to browse around the rest of the site, too!

On the book front, I’m happy to report that quite a lot of people picked up copies of Seventeen Skulls and, to a lesser extent, Terror in High Water over the holidays. I’m grateful for that, and would like to take a moment to remind those of you who have read either or both that leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads (or both) only takes a few minutes and really helps a lot. So if you can, please take the time to leave a review – not just for me, but for any other authors whose books you’ve read and enjoyed. It means the world to them, I promise.

As always, feel free to pop over to my contact page and sign up to have updates sent directly to your inbox, hot off the presses, the moment they’re published here. Until next time,

Stay safe, talk soon!

-JP

Tag: Luisa Raegan

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