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Buying the Rights To Fiction and then selling it on Kindle

by BackLinkiT
5 replies
I have seen at least 3 Kindle WSO's all saying the same thing. Spam authors on a certain website with offers to buy the rights to their works and then put them on the Kindle.

Has anyone had any success doing this...at all?
#buying #fiction #kindle #rights #selling
  • Profile picture of the author lotsofsnow
    I sincerely doubt that spamming authors is successful.

    Publishing books on Kindle can be very lucrative though.

    Buying the rights to a book is usually not cheap. So
    it would not make sense. Spamming is usually done by
    people that think they have no other means to communicate.

    I suggest that you either write your own book or alternatively do some
    research and then outsource the writing. Meaning hire a ghost writer.
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    • Profile picture of the author Superior Content Creation
      Most of us authors are quite narcissistic, and part of the allure is being recognized for our work. While largely introverted, writers are entertainers. So like actors and comedians, we're kind of messed up in the head (LOL) and in a large way driven by our egos. We get a real boost to our self-esteem when people appreciate our work.

      A writer without this trait won't likely ever be very good because they won't have that obsessive nature that keeps bringing them back to read the same manuscript over and over, polishing and reworking it to make it something worth reading.

      A writer friend mentioned the other day that he just bought the Kindle Paperwhite and sheepishly admitted he was absorbed by one of his own novels. "So what," I said. "That's what we do. If we didn't get cheap thrills out of our own potential, we wouldn't be writers in the first place."

      So my two cents is that if someone contacted me to buy the rights to my work - and wasn't planning on giving me credit - it would be a pretty quick no if I answered the message at all. Either that or you better bring some real cash to the table.

      Then again, if you're thinking like a publisher and willing to publish and promote an author's work and keep their name in the picture, then you might have a pitch worth considering. Based, of course, on how well you can sell yourself as the qualified party for the job...
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  • Profile picture of the author Greg guitar
    Originally Posted by BackLinkiT View Post

    I have seen at least 3 Kindle WSO's all saying the same thing. Spam authors on a certain website with offers to buy the rights to their works and then put them on the Kindle.

    Has anyone had any success doing this...at all?
    Are you sure it's spamming? It's been a while since I read the law, but isn't spamming mass emailing people with unsolicited sales emails?

    I doubt individually contacting people who have something to sell, offering to buy the rights is really a violation. On the other hand it does sound like a dubious strategy, particularly if you don't have a very large bankroll to back you up.

    Maybe the idea is to contact authors who are okay writers but can't sell to save their lives, and who might well be in dire need of a cash infusion; that just might be effective. A writer facing eviction who sells 10 books a month, might jump at the chance to sell out for a grand to pay the rent.

    I like what Superior had to say about the ego and thinking like a publisher. Perhaps you can structure an offer so that they stay in the picture, but you control the marketing for some kind of split; whatever you negotiate. You wouldn't necessarily have to publish; maybe they simply need help promoting.

    As long as you give some thought to giving them a deal that benefits each individual author, and actually read, or at least skim their work, approaching only those authors you like and respect, I don't imagine you'd have a problem with spam complaints.
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    I have seen at least 3 Kindle WSO's all saying the same thing. Spam authors on a certain website with offers to buy the rights to their works and then put them on the Kindle.

    Has anyone had any success doing this...at all?
    I believe that writing ebooks with lessons is something that must be done by experts, and not by writers who ignore the essential and simply relate information, without really knowing the topic.

    Literary ebooks must be written by real writers, and not by amateurs. Interesting fiction is an art.

    However, what happens into practice is quite different from the ideal situation.

    You should be careful with ideas that could be dangerous for you. If you are not a good writer and if you don't know what to teach the world, or how to entertain the world, why should you care about writing/publishing ebooks?

    It’s a better idea to promote the work of experts, or the work of talented literature writers.




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    • Profile picture of the author BackLinkiT
      I agree with all the comments above. I write my own stuff. NB I used the word 'spamming' in its general rather than literal sense!

      I just wondered whether anyone had actually been able to do it?

      Authors on the website suggested by these WSO's must be inundated with emails these days...
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