Comments on: Things Newbies Say

By: iBookstore

iBookstore — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 11:43:30 +0000

Your site has been mentioned in an article before to visit. Very good information you have here. I will pass by again.

By: Wes Kortz

Wes Kortz — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 23:13:13 +0000

That makes sense to me but does this?
To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

By: Marion Gropen

Marion Gropen — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:09:57 +0000

Links to my posts are always nice. Unfortunately, link requests are another frequent technique that spam bots use to get their first comment approved. Since some bloggers let comments go through after the first comment is approved, this gives them one or two clear shots at posting comment spam.

This blog doesn’t work that way. I look at every comment. But if your blog does, be forewarned.

By: Forrest Whitinger

Forrest Whitinger — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:28:27 +0000

Excellent.. is it alright if I link to this post from my site?

By: BuffySquirrel

BuffySquirrel — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:24:45 +0000

My favourite is: “This story was previously published in x but I hold all rights.”

No.You.Don’t!

By: Bill Giovannetti

Bill Giovannetti — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:19:47 +0000

Hey, if all you guys keep quoting me, I’m gonna sue you for plagiarism!

By: Tom Nixon

Tom Nixon — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:31:37 +0000

Coming in late, but:

I don’t want to sell my book on Amazon. They want to much money. I’ll just sell it on my website.

By: PublishingGuide

PublishingGuide — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:04:26 +0000

I’m sorry that you found this, and many of the things the publishing community has said to you elsewhere, offensive. All humor aside, the reason I finally posted this, is that I thought some of the more naive newbies might take warning from it, and re-evaluate their hopes before their dreams and bank account were damaged beyond repair.

It’s very rare for any experienced publishing pro to encourage newbies to expect any of the things above. And there are many ethical professionals in the publishing community who routinely turn down would-be clients when the project is just not going to go where the client wants it to go.

And yes, most of the manuscripts in the world shouldn’t be read by anyone unrelated to the author. I choose to speak and write for the authors of the ones that are ready for primetime, and for the publishers who choose to work outside the boundaries of one of the tiny handful of large publishers. I happen to think that this is where the intersection of individual taste, energy and professionalism can change the world.

By: bowerbird

bowerbird — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:06:06 +0000

you people are funny.

you sit here and laugh at newbie authors
because of their unrealistic expectations,
and then you egg them on elsewhere by
telling them to start their own company,
so you can sell them your services…

-bowerbird

By: Marny Parkin

Marny Parkin — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:20:35 +0000

One I’ve been dealing with recently:

Why are there more/fewer pages in the book than in my original MS Word file? I even changed the margins to make it the right size! — I use a different font and a different type size and a different leading (line spacing) than what you used. I don’t just take what you’ve done and put it into book form, I choose fonts and sizes and leadings that work better for books than for manuscripts to make the book more readable for your audience.