Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,
I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet nearly five hundred of you via email, telephone, mail, and in-person visits. I feel as if you are my extended family because we've shared so much together. Some of us will remain lifetime friends long after Airleaf is behind us.
It has been nearly a year since I started my campaign to stop the fraudulence at Airleaf. In this past year, together we have done what people said was impossible—namely put Airleaf out of business and have charges brought by the Indiana Attorney General's office all within this relatively short time period. I have no doubt that other charges will be brought on the criminal end even though things are not moving as quickly.
For the past 10 months, I have sent out my updates on a weekly basis to expose the fraudulence that went on at Airleaf as well as to give important information about republishing your work. Recently, I exposed similar Airleaf-type fraudulence going on at Jones Harvest Publishing. Brien Jones has sent out notes asking people why I am doing this to him. All I am doing is alerting people to the marketing fraud that Brien is repeating at his own company in the same contemptuous way he did at Airleaf.
I would like to tell you something of my past relationship with Brien. When I started my group of Airleaf Victims, a number of people believed and accused me of working with Brien Jones to start the group. They thought he was using me to get back at Airleaf and Carl Lau. Although Brien was very helpful in giving me information about Airleaf, as were other former employees, he was certainly not responsible for my actions. In fact, he was not in favor of them and discouraged me from starting the Airleaf Victims campaign. He still felt some sense of loyalty to Lau or perhaps it was fear of repercussions to him if Lau suspected Jones of working with me.
Many of you wrote to me in the early days when I started my campaign that Brien was the person you held responsible for the loss of your money. I tried to "redirect" your anger against Carl Lau because he was ultimately the person responsible for not providing the services and taking the money into the Airleaf bank account.
From our first conversation, Brien swore to me that he was going to be different than Airleaf. He only wanted to sell books. He said his goal was to travel from bookstore to bookstore asking them to take books because authors want their books in bookstores. In the beginning of his business, he told me that the Hollywood pitches were a waste of time and knocked Airleaf for doing that. He promised me that every promise he made to authors would be kept. HE WAS DIFFERENT THAN CARL LAU AND AIRLEAF. And guess what? I believed him. Because I believed him, I allowed him to use me to gather other authors for his business. That would have been fine if he was doing an honest job. But he wasn't—and he isn't. So many of our authors told me horror stories about Brien, and in time, it became impossible to overlook them. He had an excellent explanation for every accusation, but could so many people be wrong? Now I realize I was naïve and trusting even after being stung. So if it happened to you TWICE, know that you're not alone. But guess what? It won't happen to me ever again. I've learned to be smarter.
Since exposing the fraudulence of Jones Harvest three weeks ago, two people have written to me to tell me that they are happy with Brien Jones and Jones Harvest Publishing. I'm glad to hear that. But I've explained to these authors that there were people who were very happy with Airleaf as well; however, that didn't mean the majority of us weren't victims of predatory publishing. Brien makes promises in writing that he is not keeping nor does he have any intention of keeping. Even stamping that a book is has a copyright when there is no copyright is a blatant slap in the face of every author when that happens. Promising people fame when there is no fame to be had is repeating the same scam as Airleaf did. As so many of you have written to me over the past six months, you can no longer tell the difference between the Jones Harvest ads and the Airleaf ads. This is sickening for sure.
The lesson to be learned from our tragedy with Airleaf is not to make the same mistake twice—or in some of our cases, three times. And, if you made the mistake a second time, you can fix it. Make sure that you have a signed contract in hand from whomever your new publisher is. Make sure you get statements and payments as you were promised. Write down on your calendar the quarterly dates they are do. When you go to a publisher, have him put INTO writing what you can expect to make with the sale of your book. Seeing the profit margin may drive you to keep checking out other possible solutions. Do research on Google. Put in the name of the company and put Complaints about…. And see what comes up. You learn a whole lot that way. And then check with others who have used the company. Check with me! I'll research it for you and let you know what I find out. I have friends now in the predatory publishing world—thank you Victoria, Anne, and Dave! You are all guardian angels of our vulnerable and believing authors. Check out their Preditors and Editors and Writers Beware columns. Learn how to be a good detective before falling for promises that will be broken.
At this point, you will stop receiving the Airleaf Victims update on a weekly basis. I will send you all a blitz whenever there is news on the case. If I need help in getting results, I will write to all of you for your help. I am trying to refocus myself into positive action such as our Books of Excellence Author Co-op and exposing other predatory publishing to make sure victims have a platform.
If you need help in anything and want my help, don't hesitate to write to me. Otherwise, you'll hear from me on an informational basis only. I will let all of you know once our site for the authors' co-op is up and functioning. We will be very proud to accomplish this to show the world that our books will continue to be seen and read.
Incidentally, if you have the WE Entertainment channel on your cable (Women's Entertainment), you can see me in an episode of Secret Lives of Women being rebroadcast on July 1st at 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. You can also catch it on July 4th at 8 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. The episode is "Dirty Little Secrets of Suburban Housewives." It is certainly quite a shocking hour not for the faint of heart—or those under aged! I'm in the segment with the woman who has a gay husband. They interviewed me doing a counseling session with the woman. It's on the second part of the show.
Love to all of my victim fighters who helped make history happen. Better days are ahead.
With love and hope,
Bonnie
Showing posts with label Writer Beware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writer Beware. Show all posts
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE JUNE 21, 2008
Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,
There is no new news for this week concerning Airleaf. I should hopefully have some new news by next week, so please hang in.
Our book co-op is moving along nicely. I'll be meeting with the web designer on Monday. I have changed the name of the group at the suggestion of one of our members, Jim Akenhead. Instead of Authors New Start, I have taken out the new domain name of www.BooksOfExcellence.com, and we will be known as the Books of Excellence Author's Co-op. I think the name says it all! It will also be savvier for advertising purposes of the group. If you want to join the co-op, there are still a few spots left. Email me at Bonkaye@aol.com and I'll send you information. For those members who are enrolled in the group, I will send you an email by Tuesday after I meet with the web designer on Monday.
In moving ahead, I would like to reiterate about some of the lessons learned from the Airleaf experience. There's a saying, "Those who do not learn from the past are bound to repeat the same mistakes in the future." I see that happening to many of our victims who are re-victimized again.
If you have re-published since Airleaf, make sure you receive quarterly notifications about your sales and royalties. A publishing company should make sure you get a statement and/or check on a quarterly basis. I have had a number of people who engaged in book deals nearly a year ago who have received one or no statements. This is a red flag of a problem.
Also, before you re-print or publish again, talk to the company so you will fully understand what your profit will be for every book sold. There is so much confusion surrounding this issue which inevitably leads to author disappointment. For instance, some publishers tell authors they will earn a 50% split on profits, but the key word here is "profit." First ask what the printing cost will be because that's the first number deducted from your "profit." Then take into account that if your book is sold on outlets such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble, there is a 55% discount. This is why authors can end up with a dollar or less per sale after splitting the "profits." If you are paying $1,250.00 or more to get your book in print, that means you have to sell over 1000 copies just to break even on your outlay of money. This is why so many authors are so disappointed when they realize the reality of POD publishing.
Even if you sell a book and receive an advance, it could be a long time before you see any additional money. My first book was sold traditionally, and I received an advance of $2,000.00. I had a literary agent for the book who receives 25% as a commission from every sale I made, including the upfront money. That meant my advance was $1,500.00. It took me three years to start earning new money because of how little I made on the sale of each book.
Please keep in mind that the price of promotions should be weighed against the sales of your book. In other words, if you pay $750.00 to have your books displayed in book festivals, and even 20 of them sell (which is highly unlikely), you are looking at a possible profit of $80.00 against your investment of $750.00. You would definitely do better investing your money with a legitimate publicist who can spend 20 hours just working on your book setting up book signings, newspaper interviews, radio shows in your city, or even taking out ads in local papers to promote your book.
When you are negotiating with a new publisher, DO YOUR HOMEWORK THOROUGHLY! Do comparative shopping. There are so many inconsistencies from publisher to publisher of what you are getting for your money. Check and see what the cost of printing will be before you set your price for the book. If your printing cost is too high and your sale price is too low, you could be losing money on your sales.
Make sure before you go with a company you have a SIGNED CONTRACT. How many of us never had a signed contract with Airleaf? How many of you have gone with companies and still don't have a signed contract? If you don't get a signed contract, it will be harder to get what's due to you if you have to go to court. If you have republished and have not received a signed contract, call your publisher on Monday and ask to receive one.
In your contract, make sure you see it clearly stated how often you can expect royalties and statements. If you don't, it's left to the publisher to decide. Some people are told they will only receive payment once a year. Make sure you clearly understand what to expect time wise and money wise.
I have seen some publishers say that they will never keep your money for books sold when they charge you a very large fee upfront. They say you can keep all of the profits after the printing costs. But they will charge you 20% - 25% more for printing charges which is where they also make their money. Check with at least 3 companies to see what the printing charge would be for your book.
Check your credit card bills. A number of our victims have written to me about monies that were taken from their credit cards without authorization. One slimy publisher told his customer that he would make it up to her in printed books. There is never an excuse for anyone to use your credit card UNLESS YOU APPROVE IT FIRST!
If a publisher uses your credit card without your permission, this is grounds for criminal charges.
Research the company you want to use on the Internet. Go to websites like Writers Beware! or Preditors & Editors to see if the company you want to use is listed. Also when you type in the name of a company into a search engine, type in, "Critics of Airleaf Publishing" or whatever the name of the company is. You will surely find some revealing information before you walk into a trap again in almost all cases. If there is any doubt or concern, CHECK WITH ME FIRST. I don't have all of the answers for sure, but I am happy to research it for you and call on my predatory publishing experts.
Learn how to do inexpensive marketing yourself. No one can sell your book as well as you can sell it! Get an inexpensive webpage, have cards made up, pass them out to everyone, everywhere. I have a place on line that makes up 250 beautiful cards for $10.00. If you want to use this service, let me know and I'll forward you the information. Call your local newspapers. Tell them that you are a local author and you have a book that has recently been released.
For those of you who have been successful doing your own marketing, please send me some ideas to share with everyone else. Also, if you feel that something didn't work for you, share that as well.
Also, until a book promoted by publishers taking books to Hollywood is actually being turned into a movie, stop throwing your money away for a company to take your book there. Let's learn from the Airleaf tragedy—Hollywood is NOT waiting for our books. Don't be sucked in by the glitz and glamour of fame by predators that want to take and use your money for themselves.
Have a good week!
With love and hope,
Bonnie
There is no new news for this week concerning Airleaf. I should hopefully have some new news by next week, so please hang in.
Our book co-op is moving along nicely. I'll be meeting with the web designer on Monday. I have changed the name of the group at the suggestion of one of our members, Jim Akenhead. Instead of Authors New Start, I have taken out the new domain name of www.BooksOfExcellence.com, and we will be known as the Books of Excellence Author's Co-op. I think the name says it all! It will also be savvier for advertising purposes of the group. If you want to join the co-op, there are still a few spots left. Email me at Bonkaye@aol.com and I'll send you information. For those members who are enrolled in the group, I will send you an email by Tuesday after I meet with the web designer on Monday.
In moving ahead, I would like to reiterate about some of the lessons learned from the Airleaf experience. There's a saying, "Those who do not learn from the past are bound to repeat the same mistakes in the future." I see that happening to many of our victims who are re-victimized again.
If you have re-published since Airleaf, make sure you receive quarterly notifications about your sales and royalties. A publishing company should make sure you get a statement and/or check on a quarterly basis. I have had a number of people who engaged in book deals nearly a year ago who have received one or no statements. This is a red flag of a problem.
Also, before you re-print or publish again, talk to the company so you will fully understand what your profit will be for every book sold. There is so much confusion surrounding this issue which inevitably leads to author disappointment. For instance, some publishers tell authors they will earn a 50% split on profits, but the key word here is "profit." First ask what the printing cost will be because that's the first number deducted from your "profit." Then take into account that if your book is sold on outlets such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble, there is a 55% discount. This is why authors can end up with a dollar or less per sale after splitting the "profits." If you are paying $1,250.00 or more to get your book in print, that means you have to sell over 1000 copies just to break even on your outlay of money. This is why so many authors are so disappointed when they realize the reality of POD publishing.
Even if you sell a book and receive an advance, it could be a long time before you see any additional money. My first book was sold traditionally, and I received an advance of $2,000.00. I had a literary agent for the book who receives 25% as a commission from every sale I made, including the upfront money. That meant my advance was $1,500.00. It took me three years to start earning new money because of how little I made on the sale of each book.
Please keep in mind that the price of promotions should be weighed against the sales of your book. In other words, if you pay $750.00 to have your books displayed in book festivals, and even 20 of them sell (which is highly unlikely), you are looking at a possible profit of $80.00 against your investment of $750.00. You would definitely do better investing your money with a legitimate publicist who can spend 20 hours just working on your book setting up book signings, newspaper interviews, radio shows in your city, or even taking out ads in local papers to promote your book.
When you are negotiating with a new publisher, DO YOUR HOMEWORK THOROUGHLY! Do comparative shopping. There are so many inconsistencies from publisher to publisher of what you are getting for your money. Check and see what the cost of printing will be before you set your price for the book. If your printing cost is too high and your sale price is too low, you could be losing money on your sales.
Make sure before you go with a company you have a SIGNED CONTRACT. How many of us never had a signed contract with Airleaf? How many of you have gone with companies and still don't have a signed contract? If you don't get a signed contract, it will be harder to get what's due to you if you have to go to court. If you have republished and have not received a signed contract, call your publisher on Monday and ask to receive one.
In your contract, make sure you see it clearly stated how often you can expect royalties and statements. If you don't, it's left to the publisher to decide. Some people are told they will only receive payment once a year. Make sure you clearly understand what to expect time wise and money wise.
I have seen some publishers say that they will never keep your money for books sold when they charge you a very large fee upfront. They say you can keep all of the profits after the printing costs. But they will charge you 20% - 25% more for printing charges which is where they also make their money. Check with at least 3 companies to see what the printing charge would be for your book.
Check your credit card bills. A number of our victims have written to me about monies that were taken from their credit cards without authorization. One slimy publisher told his customer that he would make it up to her in printed books. There is never an excuse for anyone to use your credit card UNLESS YOU APPROVE IT FIRST!
If a publisher uses your credit card without your permission, this is grounds for criminal charges.
Research the company you want to use on the Internet. Go to websites like Writers Beware! or Preditors & Editors to see if the company you want to use is listed. Also when you type in the name of a company into a search engine, type in, "Critics of Airleaf Publishing" or whatever the name of the company is. You will surely find some revealing information before you walk into a trap again in almost all cases. If there is any doubt or concern, CHECK WITH ME FIRST. I don't have all of the answers for sure, but I am happy to research it for you and call on my predatory publishing experts.
Learn how to do inexpensive marketing yourself. No one can sell your book as well as you can sell it! Get an inexpensive webpage, have cards made up, pass them out to everyone, everywhere. I have a place on line that makes up 250 beautiful cards for $10.00. If you want to use this service, let me know and I'll forward you the information. Call your local newspapers. Tell them that you are a local author and you have a book that has recently been released.
For those of you who have been successful doing your own marketing, please send me some ideas to share with everyone else. Also, if you feel that something didn't work for you, share that as well.
Also, until a book promoted by publishers taking books to Hollywood is actually being turned into a movie, stop throwing your money away for a company to take your book there. Let's learn from the Airleaf tragedy—Hollywood is NOT waiting for our books. Don't be sucked in by the glitz and glamour of fame by predators that want to take and use your money for themselves.
Have a good week!
With love and hope,
Bonnie
Saturday, February 9, 2008
AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE FEBRUARY 9, 2008
Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,
First, welcome to our new members. We have passed the 400-member mark this week with 401 members in our group.
This week, I have no new news to report concerning our case. I anticipate that some action will be taken by later this month. I have calls in to the US Attorney in Indiana, and I hope to hear from him by next week for an update.
This week, I am asking you to help me get our case organized because I believe that we will see some results in the near future from all of our efforts. I have attached a profile sheet for each of you to fill out so I can compile the data for all of us, the government agencies who will be bringing charges against Carl Lau, and the media. All information will be kept confidential from the public unless I personally ask you individually to allow me to share it with an agency or news source. I would never compromise anyone's integrity by giving out information without your permission.
I am trying to pinpoint when the fraudulence started to escalate at Airleaf and who the employees were who knowingly participated in it. I am also trying to differentiate between the publishing services versus the promotional services. Some of you paid for books to be published by Airleaf, some of you paid for your own books to be promoted by Airleaf, and some people paid for publishing and promotion by Airleaf. From our 400 members, I want to get a significant sampling to make comparisons.
For example, I went to Airleaf to publish my book Straight Wives: Shattered Lives. I paid $1,895.00 for publishing, 50 copies, and placement in 15 book stores. That price also included a return policy so I could have books signings. My book was published quickly, and I did receive the 50 copies. However, my book copies did not show up to my first book signing (problems with the printer was the excuse), it never appeared in 15 bookstores (I checked), and when I requested a book signing to be set up in Southern California last summer, I was told that there were no bookstores interested in this in Southern California. Since my book was publicized on national news stories, I found this amazing. I also was promised quarterly royalties, but we all are familiar with that story.
In my early days with Airleaf while I was still in the "honeymoon phase," I bought a promotional package for a book I published through iUniverse called ManReaders: A Woman's Guide to Dysfunctional Men. I paid $350.00 to have the press release for the book sent to "important decision makers" in the television market. Of course, there were no responses, but as my Airleaf consultant told me, "Lots of interest." So in my case, I paid for publishing and promotion of an Airleaf book, and promotion of my own book published elsewhere. On the survey form, please check all of the services that you paid for.
Some of you may need reminders to jog your memories, so I have gone back to some of my old emails and looked at some of the promotions that were sent to me. These include:
You have until November 30, 2006 to save on selected bookselling
services!
Reach 2000 bookstore owners for just $239.40! You save $160!
Reach 1000 Filmmakers for just 210! You save $140!
Reach 400 Traditional Publishers for just $270! You save $180!
Sell your book on 10 websites for $299.40! You save $200!
Reach 10,000 bookstore owners with our Maximum Impact Service which
includes direct telephone calls to bookstores for just $990. You save
$660!
SAVE $900 ON DIRECT CALLING TO BOOKSTORES!
While our email, fax and direct mail campaigns have all been successful,
nothing sells books better than a telephone call to the owner of the
bookstore. We want all of our authors' books to sell, so we are making
our Direct Telephone Calling Service affordable for everyone.
Usually, Direct Telephone Calling is only available as part of our
Maximum Impact Bookselling Package which sells for $1650. However, for
the month of June, we are offering our Direct Telephone Calling as a
stand-alone service for just $750! This is our most effective service
at our lowest price ever.
NEW BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB
While we have sold thousands of books to hundreds of book stores, we have
never focused on selling books directly to individual readers--Until now!
With Airleaf's new Book of the Month Club we will be tapping into this
multi-billion dollar consumer market for the first time.
Book clubs like Oprah Winfrey's and The Today Show's generate millions of
dollars in book sales every month. We hope our book club will do the same.
We have selected a few of our best titles for club members, but we believe
the Book of the Month Club will benefit ALL Airleaf authors.
Please take a look!
SAVE $900 ON DIRECT CALLING TO BOOKSTORES!
While our email, fax and direct mail campaigns have all been successful,
nothing sells books better than a telephone call to the owner of the
bookstore. We want all of our authors' books to sell, so we are making
our Direct Telephone Calling Service affordable for everyone.
Usually, Direct Telephone Calling is only available as part of our
Maximum Impact Bookselling Package which sells for $1650. However, for
the month of June, we are offering our Direct Telephone Calling as a
stand-alone service for just $750! This is our most effective service
at our lowest price ever.
And my personal favorite lure to author fame from 3/28/07
Is your book the next to appear on the big screen?
Check out www.airleaf.com to see the trailer for our first film, Jessie’s Girl.
We are making another trip to Hollywood in April to present all new books to all new Producers and Directors! We will present your book in face to face meetings for just $650.
So, hopefully some of these campaigns will help you remember which ones you bought. And for sure—they all sounded so, so good—and legitimate!
I would like to share two links with you today. One is from our friend Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware, a website that gives excellent advice to writers and warms them about possible scams. I told Victoria that I am working on some helpful links to help our writers with their book promotions in a meaningful way. I believe that most POD companies that offer package deals are misleading and/or ineffective. All of us want our books to sell, but there are many things that we can do on our own for little or no money rather than pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to promoters.
Victoria welcomed me to share her link about services for writers, and I know you'll find some excellent ideas there.
Link to Writer Beware: Writers' Services
The second link I would like to share with you is the link to help find a literary agent. I have found this link to be extremely helpful when trying to find an agent. It was sent to me by an agent friend, and I have been using it to test it out. There is no cost for using this link, Agent Query. Some of you have written to me that you would like to go through a "traditional" publishing route, so here is the way to start.
Link to Agent Query:
AgentQuery :: Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher
Some words of advice when seeking a literary agent: Expect rejection and don't personalize it. I have gone through the traditional route twice. I have found two excellent agents, one who was able to sell my first book, and a second one who believed in my book but was unable to sell it. I sent out 60 targeted inquiry letters both times and only received three people who were interested the first time and two people interested the second time. And although I was able to sell my first book, there was a long turn-around time between throughout this journey. So if you are expecting a quick fix—forget it. Make sure that if you choose this route that you have a strong query letter done in the proper format. There are lots of websites that give great advice in how to prepare one, and I am always happy to look it over for you and give suggestions. Also keep in mind if you are lucky enough to find an agent, there is usually a back up time in publishing once they find a publisher of between 12 and 18 months.
Last week, I sent you to our Airleaf Victims blog site. If you looked there, you saw my books were listed on the right hand side and available on Amazon. If you are selling your books on Amazon, my blog-keeper will be glad to have your book or books listed on our Airleaf Victims site. Just drop me a note, and I'll tell you what I need.
Here is a link to the Airleaf Victims blog site so you can see my books listed:
Airleaf Victims
In the upcoming weeks, I will share some excellent ideas and links with you to help you with your book promotion. These links and ideas are mostly free ideas that you can do yourself.
Please remember to fill out your survey and get it back to me with any documentation you have. If you want to send it to me by mail, my home address is listed on the bottom of the form. In three weeks, I will take a few days off from my job so I can compile all of the information that you are sending in and give you the results. If you do not have a printer and you would like me to send you the form as an email, just let me know.
With love and hope,
Bonnie Kaye :)
Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,
First, welcome to our new members. We have passed the 400-member mark this week with 401 members in our group.
This week, I have no new news to report concerning our case. I anticipate that some action will be taken by later this month. I have calls in to the US Attorney in Indiana, and I hope to hear from him by next week for an update.
This week, I am asking you to help me get our case organized because I believe that we will see some results in the near future from all of our efforts. I have attached a profile sheet for each of you to fill out so I can compile the data for all of us, the government agencies who will be bringing charges against Carl Lau, and the media. All information will be kept confidential from the public unless I personally ask you individually to allow me to share it with an agency or news source. I would never compromise anyone's integrity by giving out information without your permission.
I am trying to pinpoint when the fraudulence started to escalate at Airleaf and who the employees were who knowingly participated in it. I am also trying to differentiate between the publishing services versus the promotional services. Some of you paid for books to be published by Airleaf, some of you paid for your own books to be promoted by Airleaf, and some people paid for publishing and promotion by Airleaf. From our 400 members, I want to get a significant sampling to make comparisons.
For example, I went to Airleaf to publish my book Straight Wives: Shattered Lives. I paid $1,895.00 for publishing, 50 copies, and placement in 15 book stores. That price also included a return policy so I could have books signings. My book was published quickly, and I did receive the 50 copies. However, my book copies did not show up to my first book signing (problems with the printer was the excuse), it never appeared in 15 bookstores (I checked), and when I requested a book signing to be set up in Southern California last summer, I was told that there were no bookstores interested in this in Southern California. Since my book was publicized on national news stories, I found this amazing. I also was promised quarterly royalties, but we all are familiar with that story.
In my early days with Airleaf while I was still in the "honeymoon phase," I bought a promotional package for a book I published through iUniverse called ManReaders: A Woman's Guide to Dysfunctional Men. I paid $350.00 to have the press release for the book sent to "important decision makers" in the television market. Of course, there were no responses, but as my Airleaf consultant told me, "Lots of interest." So in my case, I paid for publishing and promotion of an Airleaf book, and promotion of my own book published elsewhere. On the survey form, please check all of the services that you paid for.
Some of you may need reminders to jog your memories, so I have gone back to some of my old emails and looked at some of the promotions that were sent to me. These include:
You have until November 30, 2006 to save on selected bookselling
services!
Reach 2000 bookstore owners for just $239.40! You save $160!
Reach 1000 Filmmakers for just 210! You save $140!
Reach 400 Traditional Publishers for just $270! You save $180!
Sell your book on 10 websites for $299.40! You save $200!
Reach 10,000 bookstore owners with our Maximum Impact Service which
includes direct telephone calls to bookstores for just $990. You save
$660!
SAVE $900 ON DIRECT CALLING TO BOOKSTORES!
While our email, fax and direct mail campaigns have all been successful,
nothing sells books better than a telephone call to the owner of the
bookstore. We want all of our authors' books to sell, so we are making
our Direct Telephone Calling Service affordable for everyone.
Usually, Direct Telephone Calling is only available as part of our
Maximum Impact Bookselling Package which sells for $1650. However, for
the month of June, we are offering our Direct Telephone Calling as a
stand-alone service for just $750! This is our most effective service
at our lowest price ever.
NEW BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB
While we have sold thousands of books to hundreds of book stores, we have
never focused on selling books directly to individual readers--Until now!
With Airleaf's new Book of the Month Club we will be tapping into this
multi-billion dollar consumer market for the first time.
Book clubs like Oprah Winfrey's and The Today Show's generate millions of
dollars in book sales every month. We hope our book club will do the same.
We have selected a few of our best titles for club members, but we believe
the Book of the Month Club will benefit ALL Airleaf authors.
Please take a look!
SAVE $900 ON DIRECT CALLING TO BOOKSTORES!
While our email, fax and direct mail campaigns have all been successful,
nothing sells books better than a telephone call to the owner of the
bookstore. We want all of our authors' books to sell, so we are making
our Direct Telephone Calling Service affordable for everyone.
Usually, Direct Telephone Calling is only available as part of our
Maximum Impact Bookselling Package which sells for $1650. However, for
the month of June, we are offering our Direct Telephone Calling as a
stand-alone service for just $750! This is our most effective service
at our lowest price ever.
And my personal favorite lure to author fame from 3/28/07
Is your book the next to appear on the big screen?
Check out www.airleaf.com to see the trailer for our first film, Jessie’s Girl.
We are making another trip to Hollywood in April to present all new books to all new Producers and Directors! We will present your book in face to face meetings for just $650.
So, hopefully some of these campaigns will help you remember which ones you bought. And for sure—they all sounded so, so good—and legitimate!
I would like to share two links with you today. One is from our friend Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware, a website that gives excellent advice to writers and warms them about possible scams. I told Victoria that I am working on some helpful links to help our writers with their book promotions in a meaningful way. I believe that most POD companies that offer package deals are misleading and/or ineffective. All of us want our books to sell, but there are many things that we can do on our own for little or no money rather than pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to promoters.
Victoria welcomed me to share her link about services for writers, and I know you'll find some excellent ideas there.
Link to Writer Beware: Writers' Services
The second link I would like to share with you is the link to help find a literary agent. I have found this link to be extremely helpful when trying to find an agent. It was sent to me by an agent friend, and I have been using it to test it out. There is no cost for using this link, Agent Query. Some of you have written to me that you would like to go through a "traditional" publishing route, so here is the way to start.
Link to Agent Query:
AgentQuery :: Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher
Some words of advice when seeking a literary agent: Expect rejection and don't personalize it. I have gone through the traditional route twice. I have found two excellent agents, one who was able to sell my first book, and a second one who believed in my book but was unable to sell it. I sent out 60 targeted inquiry letters both times and only received three people who were interested the first time and two people interested the second time. And although I was able to sell my first book, there was a long turn-around time between throughout this journey. So if you are expecting a quick fix—forget it. Make sure that if you choose this route that you have a strong query letter done in the proper format. There are lots of websites that give great advice in how to prepare one, and I am always happy to look it over for you and give suggestions. Also keep in mind if you are lucky enough to find an agent, there is usually a back up time in publishing once they find a publisher of between 12 and 18 months.
Last week, I sent you to our Airleaf Victims blog site. If you looked there, you saw my books were listed on the right hand side and available on Amazon. If you are selling your books on Amazon, my blog-keeper will be glad to have your book or books listed on our Airleaf Victims site. Just drop me a note, and I'll tell you what I need.
Here is a link to the Airleaf Victims blog site so you can see my books listed:
Airleaf Victims
In the upcoming weeks, I will share some excellent ideas and links with you to help you with your book promotion. These links and ideas are mostly free ideas that you can do yourself.
Please remember to fill out your survey and get it back to me with any documentation you have. If you want to send it to me by mail, my home address is listed on the bottom of the form. In three weeks, I will take a few days off from my job so I can compile all of the information that you are sending in and give you the results. If you do not have a printer and you would like me to send you the form as an email, just let me know.
With love and hope,
Bonnie Kaye :)
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