Struggling Authors

I think it's an insult to authors that some unscrupulous sellers on Amazon sell their books for a penny just so they can make money on the postage!

All that hard work to become 'bargain bucket' fiction to facilitate somebodys greed!

Hurumph

There, got that off my chest...



www.slrbooks.co.uk
2nd hand books, 1st class service

Totally agree - it's wrong to do it and I kind of blame Amazon for letting it happen.

Amazon charge the punter £2.75 P&P for a book irrespective of size, weight etc. So, if you send a pamphlet out and it costs you 50p you make over £2 on the postage!! However, if you sell a huge hardback then it's still only £2.75 (less amazon's commission) but the seller should then price the book to take this into account- which they do.

RG

_________________________________________
Currently reading:

Behind Enemy Lines (SAS, marines etc - non-fiction)
And... (cos I like to have balance)
On Green Dolphin Street by Seb Faulkes

Please note - neither of these books cost me a penny - more like a couple of quid

A good example - large paperback book I sold today for 8.99 is going to cost somewhere in the region of a fiver to post assuming, of course, that the postal workers see fit to go back to work at some point (but that's a rant for another day). Matters aren't helped by the fact that the cheapest method of posting (standard parcels) costs a whopping 5p less than first class.

Amazon's postage credit system is utterly farcical for books, and works only marginally better for DVDs although all bets are off if you're flogging boxed sets.

As for the 1p sellers, I'll admit that I've shifted stuff in that manner before if only to get shot of it quickly for one reason or another. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but it's a lot less hit-and-miss than trying to flog a job lot on eBay.

Simon

Amazon in Germany doesn't charge any postage on books. It's a bit unfair on you lot really because they sell English books, the same as Amazon UK, and yet take nothing for the postage.
Why don't you write, 'a strongly worded' email to ask what the form is?

Hi,

Can I just clarify - I think that we are talking about Amazon Marketplace sellers (i.e. used/second hand books) here. I think Amazon as a company do free delivery over a certain amount but don't for Marketplace transactions (as the seller has to pay for it themselves).

It's annoying though when you pay a large P&P fee and they don't send it for a week and then only pay for 2nd class - but that's a whole other story...

DS

Look at a picture of the beach and forget about it

Oh.
I see, well that's another thing entirely, lol.
I thought you meant... oh, well whatever; I was wrong anyway.
Thanks for pointing it out to me before I went deeper into the topic and made a COMPLETE ass out of myself.

Hi Colwyn,

No problem - don't think it was explicit at the start.

So, what do you do? (If that's not too bold) Always interested in hearing what people do when they're abroad - do you write full time or for 'pleasure'.

I work in computers for my sins but write shorts and longs at the moment. Nothing published but am putting myself about a bit more now.

Cheers

DS

Dan,
I write for pleasure, unfortunately.
I have written a book but I've yet to get it printed, in fact I've yet to send it off !
After I'd finished it I started visiting writer's forums and after reading A LOT of critiques, (about mine and other people's work). I decided/realised that it was far too amateurish to get anywhere. So now I'm re-writing/correcting it.
It sounds daft going to forums to learn the 'craft', AFTER I'd finished it, I know. However, when I started writing it was a need that somehow crystalised into the book; as wacky as that sounds.
My real job is in a steelworks in Salzgitter, about an hour east of Hannover. The job's crap but the pay's good so... I lie back, think of England and work shifts for a living.

Hi Colwyn,

I don't think that's daft at all - I got 90,000 words into my novel before I realised that it was too amateurish and started to look around for books and courses that would help.

I started by buying books on grammar, punctuation and creative writing. This was okay and helped with 1st redrafts but I still didn't have any critiques from people who knew what they were talking about. So, I decided to take the plunge and start an Open University course - it was brilliant! It pushed my imagination, forced me to write every day, introduced me to keeping a journal and proved to me that there was a spark of something there. The notion of feedback from my peers was scary at first but I met some really great people and we all helped each other. The tutor was fantastic as well and really brought the best out of us. If I had the time I would be doing the next course NOW - it was that good. Unfortunately, I've really got to get on and get this book finished! (I know, doesn't make sense)

If you are interested in the course then the Struggling Authors site has a link to it on their LINKS page (strangely enough). I thoroughly recommend it - and no, I don't get a commission

(I've worked in a factory before and just faded out during the boring bits - I even used to listen to 'learn a language' tapes on a Walkman whilst working with spot welding machines)

Cheers

At the moment I'm on the verge of printing it all out, writnig a covering leter and finding a reliable, honest agent... optimism always was my forte.

I never thought of an Open University course and I'm kicking myself now.
Whatever, if I get it together sometime and send it off I'll let you know; even if it's only to gloat at my downfall.

It's because Richard and I did the course earlier this year (along with a couple of other people who are around on the board)

Hi Colwyn,

It's very interesting that you are at this stage because this is exactly where I feel the Struggling Authors site comes in. Our plan is to find a debut author a month and run a competition to win a copy of their book (Like Coronach this month), an interview and to make their novel the book of the month. With the publicity that the site gets this should help boost sales and create a buzz. (We plan to mirror most of this on the SLR Books site so that the ratings are higher on search engines). So, whenever it happens, we could offer you the 'Book of the month' slot. (Future planning and all that - might be good to tell the agent this though

However, a lot of the 'buzz' has to be created by the author themself. Do you have a blog? I think that you would make a perfect 'blogger' as you are at the stage that most of our 'viewers' haven't yet reached - the 'send full copy of novel off to agent/publisher' stage. It would be great to hear how you go about it, your highs and lows etc and you would get contact and support from your/our readers. If you combined this with a simple website about the book and used its address at the bottom of every blog entry then you would start to create your own buzz. (We can help with the blog and the website - I was thinking of doing a tutorial on this anyway so it will just push me!)

Please consider setting up a blog at http://www.blogger.com/home (If you haven't already) It's easy and you can alter the look to suit yourself. We'll do a link and maybe a feature on it/you. All you have to do is update it fairly regularly and tell us about how you are going about getting your book shown to the masses.

(We do know of a publishing company in Germany but they are more involved with Non-Fiction but would be ideal if you chose the self-publishing route)

Let us know what you get up to and we'll see where we can help.

RG

www.strugglingauthors.co.uk

Hi Colwyn,

So, have had a play with the site and have a added a 'how to' page for setting up an author's blog. If you follow this link - http://strugglingauthors.co.uk/computerliterate.aspx it will take you to the Computer Literate section - blogging is under 'How to'.

MORE importantly, I spotted an article in this months Writer's Forum that dealt with 'Query letters' (ie covering letters to agents/publishers.) They provided a link to a site that has produced a free book (in PDF format) which you can download and read at your leisure. I downloaded it myself and found it to be over 100 pages of very interesting ideas. The author is a respected writer and, whilst I haven't read it all, it looks like it may help you with the your next stage.

The link to download the book (as I can not send you the PDF by law) is http://www.lukeman.com/greatquery/download.htm

Good luck and let us know what you think

RG

Open University courses, Blogs, Websites...
You guys have given me more ideas in the last week than I've had in the last two years !

I like all the ideas, by the way, and I'm up for 'em. The only downfall is finding the time. In between shiftwork, building a house and beating my two kids...
Whatever, never say die, heads down and forward etc. etc.

Watch this space.

Seriously, never let anything get in the way of beating the kids!

At the moment, I have two 'little darlins' - one is 6 weeks old and the other is 3 in December. In between running two websites, a full time job, house redecoration/renovation and family time - there really is not enough time in the day.

I just have my 'me' time at about 6AM and write/work until they get up - then go to the dayjob for a rest.

Hope our posts have helped - there's a few people at the moment who we seemed to have accidentally whipped into a frenzy of activity. Hopefully, you'll all be successful and we can have a warm glow inside us and feel justified in bugging you for a signed copy of your first book(s)

Here are some examples of blogs - to get the grey matter churning:

http://lovetoread-write.blogspot.com Helen's blog
http://pavellas.blogspot.com/ Ron's blog
http://strugglingauthors.blogspot.com/ Our blog
http://roadtojournalism.blogspot.com/ Our very own Sammi!

Crack on Mein Herr!