Writer Services, LLC / writerservices.net

"Rippoff"?

"...these aspiring authors got wither poorly written books..."

Lowercase i in a testimonial in the section on editing services.

And six of their books for sale are by the founder of the company. Much of it is advice on the publishing business you can get for free.

Hey, I clicked on the link for their "gift packages", listing the prices for their various levels of services. Starting at a mere $20,000!

I'm smelling a vanity operation.

Wow. Just wow.

Back away slowly. Then, when you get to the door, turn and run.

Wow...

This is just a slice of one of their "books to buy" blurbs. Notice the blurb calls it a "booklet", while the option to buy says it's a $37.90 e-book.

(red writing is mine)

In this booklet, you will be shown:
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR MANUSCRIPT BEFORE IT'S OFFICIALLY REGISTERED WITH THE US COPYRIGHT OFFICE! Put it in a fixed form - i.e., actually write it. BAM! You own the copyright.

* How can you protect your work when you send it to editors, proofreaders, printers and others so that no one steals your material? Send it to a legitmate agent rather than a fishy "printer". Legit agent gets legit publisher. No worries.

* Do you know when is the right time to copyright your book? The time the copyright automatically protects your work -- as in once you write it down. As far as registering goes, get a real publisher and let them handle it.

* What happens if you register with the US Copyright Office too early in your project? You spent money you didn't need to. Let a real publisher handle registering copyright.

* What if you make a change in your book after it's copyrighted?Get a real publisher and them handle registering copyright.

These are VERY important issues that every author MUST know about, and more importantly, KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO to protect their book dreams from being stolen or plagiarized. Yes, so do a Google search, or read some threads here. Don't waste money on free information.

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God help me, did I read that right? The Platinum Package is $100,000?!?!?! My brain hurts.

These people don't know a thing about publishing. The advice they give show that. They tout themselves as having a dedicated team of professional experts, which I highly doubt. Working for them is only going to be a waste of your time, and if it's professional credits or experience or whathaveyou that you're looking for, you're not going to get it from a group of scammers. There are better (and cheaper) places to get a book printed if all you want to do is give it to family. Personally, I think it's pathetic they're encouraging people to be so lazy but that's just me If you can't even rewrite your own story, there's something wrong. But yeah, I wouldn't bother with these guys in any aspect.

Before You Form An Opinion of Writer Services...

I beg to differ with all of the vicious comments hurled the way of Writer Services. Their president, Robert S. Nahas, is a stand-up individual who will go to bat for his writers if a client of theirs does not pay, no matter how much time and effort it takes. He is loyal to the people who work for him.

I have worked with Mr. Nahas, and have found him to be upright and honest. In this business, that's refreshing and rare. Indeed, I have been freelancing for over 25 years, and count Mr. Nahas as one of a rare group of people who can be counted on. I can cite many other freelancing services that are merely in it for the money. This is not the case here.

This is no bullshit cover job - simply the truth.

Those who are trashing Mr. Nahas and his company would do well to try contacting him first, or finding evidence that he is the devil you say he is, before throwing ignorant opinions around. In the old days, that would be called verification. No story would ever be allowed to run until the accuracy of that information was proven. How sad that this standard doesn't exist today, and that people's ignorant opinions are allowed to be passed off as truth.

Vicious? You clearly don't know the backgrounds of the people expressing their opinions or you'd realize some of them are industry professionals--publishing industry professionals.

Your friend might be upright and honest, but that doesn't exclude him from being clueless.

No one's questioning whether they pay - I only brought it up because I've seen similar companies who so obviously didn't know what they were doing screwing over people they hire. The question really is the validity of what they're offering. Mr. Nahas may or may not be a good writer, but that doesn't lead to experience in publishing. Not in the slightest. And there's no indication of who these 'professionals' are that he's hired. The site makes one good point: There are a lot of sharks out there, and you have to be thorough in your search. Nothing on his website says to me he's better than a commercial house, and instead displays a gross lack of knowledge.

Lack of knowledge or inexperience can be just as lethal to your book as a scammer or a vanity press.

From the Referral Program page of Writer Services' website:

[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]Writer Services.net[/FONT] has developed one of the most generous referral programs ever offered in any industry! And it is as simple as this:

IF YOU TELL SOMEONE ABOUT OUR GREAT BOOK WRITING SERVICES, AND THEY RETAIN US TO WRITE THEIR BOOK, YOU WILL RECEIVE A CHECK (in U.S. Currency) AS A "THANK YOU!" FROM US!

How much you get depends on the size of the project. But to get an idea, unless it's a very small project (like a 100 page book), we pay as much as $1000 as a finder's commission!!!...That's it! Realize that just 10 people who are referred and become clients could give you an extra $10,000 in your pocket. We actually have people who do this for a living, others do it to subsidize their existing incomes

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On his About Us page, Mr. Nahus offers many claims about his education, business, and writing experience--but provides no specifics. There is no (legitimate) reason to be vague about these things. Claims you can't verify are meaningless.


- Victoria

Mr. Kelly said:

I have worked with Mr. Nahas, and have found him to be upright and honest.

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But Mr Nahas is the guy who claims that:

What I know how to precisely do is unlock the ultimate power of books. And this makes it possible for ANYONE to be FAMOUS OR RICH BEYOND THEIR WILDEST DREAMS, OR REALIZE ANY NUMBER OF POSSIBLE ASPIRATIONS THAT ONE MIGHT HAVE.

WHAT I DO TURNS...
* A BUSINESSPERSON INTO A BUSINESS MOGUL,
* AN ENTREPRENEUR INTO AN ENTREPRENEURIAL TRIUMPH,
* A SPEAKER INTO THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER SENSATION,
* AN AVERAGE JOE INTO A CELEBRITY
* AN AVERAGE-PAID PERSON INTO A MILLIONAIRE!

With a book that contains my precise formula, you can actually tell people what to do, and they'll do it! This is one reason why I have a screening process in selecting my clients.

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Can anyone over the age of ten seriously believe that this rubbish is true? That he has seriously made hundreds of average-paid people into millionaires?

Has he made you rich beyond your wildest dreams?

He must be a pretty lousy friend if he hasn't used his magic formula on you.

Are you willing to admit that he can't do the bizarre claims that he promises? That the promises are dishonest?

Mac
(Ref: http://www.writerservices.net/affluence_salesletter.php )

Mr. Kelly, I'm sorry if I sound suspicious, but what's the nature of your relationship with Mr. Nahas?


==========

Let me go see what Mr. Nahas has written under his own name. At Amazon I find five books:

Healing The Hero's Heart by Sue E. Okenyi (Author), Robert S. Nahas - Writer Services (Editor), Robert S. Nahas - Writer Ser (Illustrator)

Publisher: Prominent Books; 1st edition (September 1, 2007)

A LEADER PROVIDES by Ernest R. Twigg (Author), Robert S. Nahas (Author)

Publisher: Prominent Books, LLC; 1st edition (February 11, 2009)

The Prescription Medication Savings Guide (Paperback)
by Aron Schlau (Author), Robert S. Nahas (Author)

Publisher: Self (December 2003)

Understanding Autism: Useful Information for Dealing with Autism from Parents Who Have Lived with It 24/7 by Lori Rakieski (Author), Robert S. Nahas (Author)

Publisher: Writer Services.net (March 20, 2006)

TRAPPED by Lori L. Stephens (Author), Robert S. Nahas (Author), WriterServices.net (Editor)

Publisher: Prominent Books, LLC; 1st edition (February 18, 2009)

Okay, what do we have?

One is labeled "Self," and I presume that means it's self published.
Two are from Writer Services.net, that is, Mr. Nahas himself.
The other three are from Prominent Books. These seem to be the only books that Prominent Books has ever published. I do not find a website for Prominent Books.
May I be so bold as to ask whether the authors (the ones who weren't Mr. Nahas) paid for the publication out of their own pockets?

Now I'm told that Mr. Nahas employs others as ghostwriters, so looking for books with his name on them may not be fair. And it's the nature of ghostwriting that the true author may be contractually prohibited from mentioning his or her work on the project. That does make checking ... difficult. And I do want to think the best of everyone. But garish and overblown pages like this fill me with dismay.

I would not trust my fortune to someone who wants me to pay him to tell me "What if I were to say that you have a 100% chance of getting your book published - once you learn what to do? "

There's a 100% chance of getting your book published one, and only one, way: Pay for it yourself.

"Wouldn't it be incredible if you had YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON.COM?"

No, not incredible in the least. All you need is an ISBN.

"How about knowing exactly how to protect your material from being stolen before you register with the U.S. Copyright Office?"

The ordinary records you make in the course of your day-to-day writing are sufficient.

"How do you protect your manuscript during the period where it's being worked on and is not ready to be registered with the US Copyright Office? There's a very simple way to do this for about $5 and just a few minutes of your time! "

The real answer is "Make multiple backups so a hard-drive failure won't lose your manuscript." I have a sinking feeling, though, that he's going to recommend the so-called "Poor Man's Copyright."

BTW, could you tell Mr. Nahas that proof-reading his web page isn't an optional step?

I wanna believe!

What Mr. Kelly needs to understand is that this is a writers' board. We'd be as interested in hiring someone to write our books as we'd be in hiring someone to make love to our spouses.

my take

Mr. Kelly said:

Those who are trashing Mr. Nahas and his company would do well to try contacting him first, or finding evidence that he is the devil you say he is, before throwing ignorant opinions around. In the old days, that would be called verification. No story would ever be allowed to run until the accuracy of that information was proven. How sad that this standard doesn't exist today, and that people's ignorant opinions are allowed to be passed off as truth.

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I would think a person who is an expert in writing would know how to communicate in writing. That person would build a website that would show he knew what he was talking about. The written word on his website is the evidence we use to say he is not offering commercial publishing.

The website is clearly nothing more than a way of gleaning 20,000 to 100,000 dollars out of the writer's pockets. The twist in this scam is that they are looking past the authors to their friends and family for the money. The gift program, to me, is more of a problem than than targeting authors.


The standard for any verification is the written word first. What is said or heard comes second.

The opinions given here are from industry insiders familiar with how publishing works as well as how scammers work.

Perhaps before you start accusing people of being ignorant, you might spend some time here learning about the people who you consider to be giving ignorant opinions.

Often, when such attacks are offered on the people who graciously offer their expertise freely, we find there is a ulterior motive to the attacker's action. Would you care to offer to us your motive for attacking the people here?

Wow!

The questions that started this string was for working for this company as an editor, and all of a sudden this company is against writers and the bad guy?
What's going on here, people? Are you really that firghtened of a little competition? I too have worked for Writer Services, LLC, and they are the good guys. So please stop it already.

From what I've seen, the glaring errors on a site that's offering editing services make me seriously question their abilities.

Clipper said:

The questions that started this string was for working for this company as an editor, and all of a sudden this company is against writers and the bad guy?
What's going on here, people? Are you really that firghtened of a little competition? I too have worked for Writer Services, LLC, and they are the good guys. So please stop it already.

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No one's against writers. What they're against is what is being offered and are questioning the legitimacy of it.

As stated earlier Mr. Nahas may be a nice guy. But that doesn't mean he knows what he's doing either.

You don't even know what you're talking about. They offer services for people who are NOT writers, but want to have a professional book written FOR THEM. They aren't publishers or a vanity press. They deliver great services to people who need them, and they've helped a lot of people. They don't seek to write books for writers.

And if a lower case "i" is a typo within a quoted statement, then I'd better go back to school, because I missed something...it's a quote!!!

I have this sick feeling in my stomach over the way you're so eager to treat a fellow writer this way. You have absolutely NOTHING valid to justify your destructive statements.

Popcorn, anyone?

*sigh*

From their site (bolding is mine):

Writer Services offers an unprecedented all-in-one book writing and publishing service for writers and authors. We can complete any aspect required in producing a book, including writing, rewriting, editing, mentoring, proofreading, formatting, creating book proposals for agents and publishers, cover design and even printing finished books for self-publishing ventures.

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So yes, they do have publishing services. And further proof of that is here, in the earlier post James made. They also claim to have professionals on staff, but refuse to name any of them on their site. It's not my job to try and make the effort to find out who these professionals are, when there are many legit agents and publishers who have no problem listing who works for them AND their experience in the field. All we know about Mr. Nahas is that he writes books - that's it. But writing books does NOT qualifiy you to be an editor or agent or publisher. Unless and until he is willing to identify just who works for him and as to whether they have credentials there's no reason to believe any of these services will benefit writers.

*steps on soapbox*
As for people who want to write a book but aren't writers, well I have a hard time buying that. If someone really wants to write, they should go and do it. If they want to write a book that badly they will sit down and write it. If they can't be bothered to do it themselves oh well, and I'd question just how serious the person was in the first place. People these days are becoming far too lazy. And writerservices in particular seems to be playing the 'write a book, make lots of money' angle which is not only foolish, but a one in a million shot. It screams of banking on peoples' naivity and desperation, and quite frankly it's disgusting.

*steps off soapbox*