Pay for stories.

[laffalot]

Has any other author gotten a PM from a person asking permission to publish a story or stories for compensation? Today I received a message from someone who claims they would like to publish and sell one of my stories from Lit. The offer was to pay me 80% of any sales. Should I dismiss the email as a scam, or has anyone else done this with any success?

 

[sr71plt]

It's worked for me three times--all leading to publisher deals, so I wouldn't say that they all were illegitimate--but far more offers than that have looked shady to me and I didn't bite.

 

[TxRad]

Has any other author gotten a PM from a person asking permission to publish a story or stories for compensation? Today I received a message from someone who claims they would like to publish and sell one of my stories from Lit. The offer was to pay me 80% of any sales. Should I dismiss the email as a scam, or has anyone else done this with any success?

Like SR said, it can work but to be honest, you need to do your homework on who and what. A gmail or some other personal e-mail account is not a good sign. A company e-mail without a company website is another bad sign. Ask questions and get everything in writing from the start.

 

[laffalot]

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'll be keeping my work free on Lit.

 

[i_would]

... and most importantly: no advance fees. If they ask for any advance fee for whatever purpose, it's almost certainly a scam.

 

[FknNemesis]

First inquire who what where and what do they mean with 80%? In this era of online publishing and advertising shares usually revenue share deals are crap deals.

Whether the publisher is confident they can generate revenue and they will offer at the very least a base fee, or they just need it to populate their catalogue and the many drips in the ocean generate considerable revenue for them but jack all for the actual publishers.
Plus they often also love to slip in terms about distribution, which most often see no revenue share.

As others already said... do your homework first. And remember... if it sounds too good to be true, often it is.

 

[laffalot]

I appreciate the feedback. I've never written with the thought of making money, and the story that this person wants to use has been free online for years. I seriously doubt that the few copies it might sell would be worth my time.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Has any other author gotten a PM from a person asking permission to publish a story or stories for compensation? Today I received a message from someone who claims they would like to publish and sell one of my stories from Lit. The offer was to pay me 80% of any sales. Should I dismiss the email as a scam, or has anyone else done this with any success?

What are they offering for that 20% cut?

If it's just "put your story online where people can buy it", forget it. You'd be better off self-publishing somewhere like Smashwords, which only takes 15% for direct sales through their site, and has a track record.

If they're offering to promote your story for you, that's another matter. In that case you'd want to ask what sort of promotion, how much, and check how they've promoted other people's work. Then if you like the answers they give you, decide whether you trust them to pay you.

To be fair, if they intended to steal outright, they'd probably just do it and not bother asking. But even if they do have good intentions, that doesn't necessarily mean they know how to run a business.