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A review by kamrynkoble
Published.: The Proven Path From Blank Page to Published Author by Chandler Bolt
informative
1.0
I . . . did not like this. I have read many, many nonfiction books about writing, and none of them have been even similar to this. It's focused on nonfiction (he'll occasionally throw in nuggets about fiction, but barely), and only on selling lots and lots of books. His main recommendation are to harass your friends and family for reviews, and send lots of emails. I always naturally dislike any books that encourage you to pull a book out of "nothing" just for the sake of making money. I get it, you're trying to tell copies of this book. But it feels slimy and disingenuous.
This book reads as an advertisement for the author's self-publishing company. I looked up said self-publishing company, and it is criminally expensive. For how much he craps on the trad pub industry, and says that self-publishing is a way to make more money in the long run, I'm a mildly horrified. This is one example quote:
"The only time it makes sense to traditionally publish is if you're a big name and can get a sizable advance. If you don't have an email list of 50k+ people or a large social media platform/audience, you won't get signed by a publisher. If you do, you won't get much of an advance."
In another section, he claims that even if you do get a trad pub advance, you'll be paying it back if you don't sell enough books. This is NOT true at any legitimate place. Sure, they have to earn your advance back before you get ADDITIONAL royalties, but no respectable publishing company is coming back for your advance. This is wrong, and I don't like the way Bolt presents this information. Again, it feels slimy.
First of all, the information he includes about trad pubbing is simply wrong. This is coming from someone who works for a publishing company. Of course Bolt wants you to self-publish, because he wants you to spend gobs of money on his self-publishing school.
It could've been a series of three blog posts for the same amount of content. I don't think I'm the target audience, because I simply know too much about book publishing and most of this was so rudimentary. I won't look at my notes for this book ever again, and I wish I would've skipped it. It seems like a blatant KU money grab in the hopes you'll buy his other products. When he's giving you all of his tricks, it just makes his own business all the more transparent. I was hoping to learn more about self-publishing, but this was just not the right resource. Onto the next one.
This book reads as an advertisement for the author's self-publishing company. I looked up said self-publishing company, and it is criminally expensive. For how much he craps on the trad pub industry, and says that self-publishing is a way to make more money in the long run, I'm a mildly horrified. This is one example quote:
"The only time it makes sense to traditionally publish is if you're a big name and can get a sizable advance. If you don't have an email list of 50k+ people or a large social media platform/audience, you won't get signed by a publisher. If you do, you won't get much of an advance."
In another section, he claims that even if you do get a trad pub advance, you'll be paying it back if you don't sell enough books. This is NOT true at any legitimate place. Sure, they have to earn your advance back before you get ADDITIONAL royalties, but no respectable publishing company is coming back for your advance. This is wrong, and I don't like the way Bolt presents this information. Again, it feels slimy.
First of all, the information he includes about trad pubbing is simply wrong. This is coming from someone who works for a publishing company. Of course Bolt wants you to self-publish, because he wants you to spend gobs of money on his self-publishing school.
It could've been a series of three blog posts for the same amount of content. I don't think I'm the target audience, because I simply know too much about book publishing and most of this was so rudimentary. I won't look at my notes for this book ever again, and I wish I would've skipped it. It seems like a blatant KU money grab in the hopes you'll buy his other products. When he's giving you all of his tricks, it just makes his own business all the more transparent. I was hoping to learn more about self-publishing, but this was just not the right resource. Onto the next one.