• Guest please check The Index before starting a thread.

[Pub svcs] Authors Headway / AuthorsHeadway, LLC

sarahcypher

Editor, writer, moving target
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 28, 2006
Messages
65
Reaction score
3
Location
A new state every few years
Website
www.sarahcypher.com
Has anyone heard of, been approached by, or hired Authors Headway after self-publishing a book? I am searching for answers to help a client of mine.

He says he was approached regarding his book, pubbed a few years go, with an offer to exhibit it at the International Book Fair in New York, May 27-29. The contact Ariel Brown advised him that the organization discovered his novel through one of their "agents." The registration fee for the fair is $900. They also want to do a ninety-day social media program, for which they will charge $300.

Their website shows that they were at the International Book Fair in Frankfurt in 2018, which means the company is going to legit events. But do sales reps really buy self-pubbed books for their big customers this way (vs. through distributor conferences)? And $900 is a lot for just buying space on a book fair table; and $300 for social media can be a lot if it's generic.

Curious if anyone has more info or thoughts.
 

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
14,532
Reaction score
24,098
Location
Massachusetts
Website
elizabethbonesteel.com
Yog's Law, full stop. If they could sell his book, they'd be taking a percentage of sales instead of charging him up front. They have zero incentive to sell anything if he pays up front.
 

sarahcypher

Editor, writer, moving target
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 28, 2006
Messages
65
Reaction score
3
Location
A new state every few years
Website
www.sarahcypher.com
Thanks--that was my thought, too. Even in an economy where some money can buy help, I am skeptical of invitations to spend over a thousand bucks on a book that has been out for years.

But still, I am curious to hear if anyone else has had this experience firsthand. Blame my aspirational holiday spirit, but I am trying not to think the worst of everyone... Even though this one seems like a slam dunk.
 

Maggie Maxwell

Making Einstein cry since 1994
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2013
Messages
11,681
Reaction score
10,337
Location
In my head
Website
thewanderingquille.blogspot.com
I'd be surprised if anyone has firsthand experience with them around here, but someone may pop in and surprise me. From my end, I can't remember the source, but I feel like I've heard this this scam before a few years ago, where a company popped up after a book had been out a few years going "Hey, we want to show your book at [Famous book fair], just pay us an obscene amount of money."

HOOO DOGGIE I just checked out their Our Services page. Only $16,000 for their Elite publishing program, or $2000 for only the "essentials". High price vanity. Run like hell.
 

Gillhoughly

Grumpy writer and editor
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Messages
5,363
Reaction score
1,761
Location
Getting blitzed at Gillhoughly's Reef, Haleakaloha
Zip your pockets. It's a scam.

Publish America infamously offered (for less money) to "bring books to the attention of" J.K. Rowling for some Edinburgh book event.

This was news to Rowling who did not attend. The medium for this ploy, IIRC, was an email to her with a list of titles and authors who were stupid enough to fall for it.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/aug/19/j-k-rowling-author-offer-denounced

This version is less target specific. Maybe the book will be displayed at a booth, there is no way of knowing unless the writer attends and tracks it down. That book will be lost among the thousands of other books on display.

In the meantime, writers stupid enough to fall for it will be out 900 bucks they could put to better use.
 
Last edited:

-Riv-

The much appreciated
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2014
Messages
4,442
Reaction score
2,229
Location
Pacific Northwest
From the landing page: "We value honesty and credebility (sic)"
This one is also on the landing page: "Either you get pick up by a traditional publisher or getting checks from your book sales."

ETA: Annnnnd this one. "However, if you know what your doing and you are doing it right . . ."
 
Last edited:

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
13,952
Reaction score
1,746
Location
Coastal Desert
And *poof* site is 404. We'll see if it returns ....
 

C Alberts

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 21, 2016
Messages
92
Reaction score
21
And *poof* site is 404. We'll see if it returns ....

Looks like it is back up, with errors and awkward sentences intact.

There is something very... um.... special about a publishing company that misspells "credibility" on their homepage.
 

Barbara R.

Old Hand in the Biz
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
1,963
Reaction score
242
Location
New York
Website
www.barbararogan.com
Has anyone heard of, been approached by, or hired Authors Headway after self-publishing a book? I am searching for answers to help a client of mine.

He says he was approached regarding his book, pubbed a few years go, with an offer to exhibit it at the International Book Fair in New York, May 27-29. The contact Ariel Brown advised him that the organization discovered his novel through one of their "agents." The registration fee for the fair is $900. They also want to do a ninety-day social media program, for which they will charge $300.

Their website shows that they were at the International Book Fair in Frankfurt in 2018, which means the company is going to legit events. But do sales reps really buy self-pubbed books for their big customers this way (vs. through distributor conferences)? And $900 is a lot for just buying space on a book fair table; and $300 for social media can be a lot if it's generic.

Curious if anyone has more info or thoughts.


Total and complete rip-off. I've had clients solicited by a clone company. Anyone who's ever been to a trade fair like Frankfurt or the ABA knows that no one, but no one, will even glance at an old self-published book sitting on a rack rented by an obscure "publisher". That's so far from the way fairs work that I don't even know where to begin. The creators of this lovely scheme know that the only monetary value represented by their targeted books lies in the author's fervent desire to be read. $900 for nothing---Jeez.