Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware assesses a start-up, “De Montfort Literature,” that promises to hire writers for $24,000 a year plus royalties just to write novels. Strauss and John Doppler from the Alliance of Independent Authors find that there’s a lot less to DML than meets the eye. If you’ve encountered this kind of proposition and it intrigues you, READ THIS CAREFULLY.

For my own part, I take exception to De Montfort’s claim in an interview with The Guardian that in contrast to his arrangement, “self-publishing is costly and time-consuming.” Not so. Anybody with the time and self-discipline to write a novel will find plenty of excellent how-tos that make it possible to publish online in a matter of an hour or so. My book, You CAN Format Your Print-on-Demand Book! is just one of many that make publishing your own paperback the work of just a few days.

Authors have never had so many options and so much freedom. Don’t sell yourself short!