The Real Costs of Self-Publishing a Book

If you missed PBS Mediashift's piece on the costs of professional quality self-publishing, it's a real eye-opener. Read it here: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2013/05/the-real-costs-of-self-publishing-book. Go on. I'll wait.

So what did you think? I am sure the high end prices were a little frightening, but notice that there are lower end prices, too. If you think you can't afford an editor, don't go without. Consider paying a student a lower rate. It allows him or her to get experience, and at the same time you get affordable editing assistance. You have to understand in this case that you are not getting a highly experienced editor, though, so keep expectations appropriate for what you're paying for.

The same goes for cover art and marketing services. Don't go without these things, either, especially the cover art. A bad cover will lose sales, hands down. Pay lot of money for years of experience, or smaller amounts for those new in the field. (Or a hybrid, such as my basic versus premium services).

The main takeaway for me is that while self-publishing may be easy to do, it's not necessarily easy to do right. Tell me about your book. Did you hire an editor and an artist? Any regrets?

Schedule Fall 2013 Publicity Work Now

Just a brief note to say that I have a little room left for an August release, but not much space left until November after that. So if you have a book coming out in August, contact me right away, and don't wait long for late fall books, either. It is always best to give at least a few months' notice.

You can use my Contact page, or you can email me from here.

The Power of Default Choices: Psychology, Influence, and Bank of America

This is another originally posted on elsewords.com. This is a favourite of mine, combining some of my consumer interests and media literacy interests.

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Update: It looks like reports like the one I discuss below have led to another solution. Some cursory info here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/31/foreclosure-review_n_2389431.html.

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I was browsing my beloved Consumerist the other day when I came across this piece: Bank Of America Provided Cheat Sheet To ‘Independent’Foreclosure Reviewers. (It references the original investigative work of ProPublica into the matter, which can be read here: http://www.propublica.org/article/cheat-sheet-bofa-supplied-default-answers-for-independent-claimsreviewers) ProPublica discovered that Bank of America (BoA) was providing default, filled-in answers for the review process of the Independent Foreclosure Review agents working on behalf of the U.S. government. Bank of America and its hired, independent investigators at Promontory denied any wrongdoing and will not review prior decisions, saying that the investigators always had the power to override default answers. I believe that this decision on their part is not only incorrect, but unethical, and I also believe that BoA knew precisely what they were doing and intended to use this default choice method to influence the investigators.