My guest today is Lauren Erickson. She’s an author who’s written a memoir, her (as the subtitle has it) “Summertime Chronicles of a Yellowstone Housekeeping Employee,” and now she works to help other authors launch and promote their books. We talk about launching virtually and in real life, and of course the role of social media.
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Lauren’s Website
https://www.laurenericksonwrites.com/
Lauren’s Book
https://laurenericksonofficial.com/the-finer-things-club/
Lauren’s Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/laurenericks0n/
188. Caveat Scriptor: Watch Out for Scam Self-Publishers
My guest today is Amy Bernstein. She’s a writer and book coach, but also has an excellent knowledge of the current publishing landscape. I invited her on specifically to talk about those publishers and services that some writers pay to help self-publish your book—and especially the dubious services and the outright scams to watch our for. This is “Caveat Scriptor: Watch Out for Scam Self-Publishers,” episode 188 of the podcast.
Amy’s Website
https://amywrites.live/
Writer Beware Blog
https://writerbeware.blog/
180. A New Author Talks about His Disappointment with Hybrid Publisher Friesen Press
My guest today is Furkhan Dandia . He’s a first-time author of Pursuit of Self-Love: 30 Uplifting Messages and Reflections, which he paid to have published by the hybrid publisher Friesen Press, in Manitoba, Canada, just this past March.
A bit more background here before I get to my conversation with Furkhan. If you’re a regular listener to the podcast, you may remember episode 152 in March, when I told the general story of my efforts to get Friesen to answer two simple questions for me: why are there books priced anywhere from 30 to 100 percent more on Amazon than they are on the Friesen site, and do they inform authors of this before contracts are signed? I ended up talking directly to the president, who hinted she might sue me, but refused to answer the questions.
Furkhan is one of two Friesen authors who told me that in fact they were never informed of the Amazon pricing issue, and he agreed to come on the podcast to talk about his experiences regarding the editing of his book as well.
This is “A New Author Talks about His Disappointment with Hybrid Publisher Friesen Press,” episode 180 of the podcast.
Furkhan’s Website
https://www.eunoiazen.com/
Furkhan’s Book on Friesen’s Site: $21.99
https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000249077816/Furkhan-Dandia-Pursuit-of-Self-Love
Furkhan’s Book on Amazon.ca: $48.13
https://www.amazon.ca/Pursuit-Self-Love-Uplifting-Messages-Reflections/dp/1039156177/
143. Publishing and All the Self-Publishings
My guest is Jane Friedman, who is an internationally known publishing expert based in New York. Jane has over 25 years experience in the publishing business, having worked as President and CEO of HarperCollins as well as holding senior executive positions at other major publishers. She’s the author of the book The Business of Being a Writer, produces the biweekly email newsletter called The Hot Sheet, which covers the publishing industry for authors, and offers classes online.
106. Self-Love, Indie Publishing, and Building a Community
My guest is Diane Hatz, who indie-published her book Rock Gods & Messy Monsters in September 2022. She also has a substack called Next Draft. In the 1990s, Diane worked at major and indie record companies. She is the co-founder of The Relay, a fanzine on The Who.