Dr. Craig Koniver Adds His Voice To Freelance MD

Craig Koniver MD has joined Freelance MD as a contributing physician author.

Dr. Koniver been practicing medicine since 2000 when he graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

In 2006, Dr. Koniver opened Primary Plus Organic Medicine where he practices Organic Medicine. He started a supplement line formulating different types of nutritional supplements.

Dr. Koniver also created an iPhone App called 42 Healthy Solutions to help patients keep track of their supplement intake as well as provide supplement programs for them to try.

Dr. Koniver also wrote the book, Connect(ed): The New Rules of Medicine, my manifesto for how we can change medicine for the future, for the better.

Freelance MD is excited to have Dr. Konivers cotributions.

Upcoming Product Launches On Freelance MD

We're working hard on the number product launches for physicians to help you increase your income and have more control over your lifestyle.

The first three or four of these will be launched over the next two weeks or so and include a webinar on how to protect and control your online reputation, a membership site that teaches physicians how to add new cosmetic Botox and fillers to their existing clinical practice (Botox Training MD), some videos on social marketing and building relationships and quite a few others. These are being launched in conjunction with other physicians and businessesto have information and expertise that are of value to the Freelance M.D. community.

We are also working on integrating a number of new technologies into our systems and providing greater conductivity for our membersand will be rolling out some new systems in the (hopefully) near future.

One of the principles that we founded freelance and beyond is the idea that there are many physicians who have information that is of value but that is siloed and unavailable outside of the confines of a medical conference or seminar.

One of our goals is to take that information and to make it much more widely available to physicians who want it by building information products and membership sites that allow very specialized information a broad reach and benefit both the author and the consumer.

We will be announcing a number of these products in the next few weeks... and besides just building in announcing these new products, I'll be diving into great deal of detail about how we produce this content and how physicians can benefit from it. My hope is that you'll take a look and give this new system a chance.

PS: As a side note, if you're a physicianor medical provider that has some specialized knowledge that you think would benefit from a wider physician audience please contact us and let's discuss if there is a way that we get that online.

Publishing Contracts & What To Expect From Your Publisher

Answers to physician publishing questions.

In a previous blog post, 5 Reasons Your Book Isn't Published Yet (And The Cure For Each), Arlen had asked about negotiating points in a publishing contract, as well as what publishers are responsible for and what they expect their authors to do. It seemed a big enough group of questions (he had 10) to warrant a separate post. I'll get us started with Arlen's questions and feel free to add your own as a comment. 

I will say, as a book coach, I almost always recommend authors sign with a reputable literary agent rather than negotiate their contracts themselves. Even when you're signing with a small publisher, the advantages of having a qualified agent far outweigh the cost (typically 15% of your royalties, but can often be negotiated to 10% if you already have a publisher and they are just negotiating the contract).

Here are answers to the questions about some of the main negotiating points:

Royalties: While a typical royalty percentage is 10%, I have recently seen several authors earning and even 20% in unusual cases.

Royalties are typically paid quarterly and authors should receive quarterly reports. If you have an agent, your royalty is actually paid to the agent, who then pays you.

Copies of the book: Publishers tend to provide from 20-100 free copies of the book to the author. This is often an item that can be negotiated, especially if you have a solid marketing/pr plan for additional copies. Authors can usually buy additional copies at a discounted price.

Due dates and turnaround times: I've also seen agents negotiate dates that chapters are due or turnaround time for revisions.

And here are my answers to questions about what a publisher will do and what they expect from the author:

What tasks are the author's responsibility and what will the publisher do in terms of rights and permissions? In my experiences, the author would be responsible to get permissions, waivers and copyright releases. One of my clients had to pay to use the lyrics to a song. He hired an attorney to find out who owned the rights and make arrangements (he did not have a literary agent).

Design and art: Generally, the publisher provides graphics, art and layout. However, there are times that an author may provide a cover design--one of my recent clients liked an image and suggested it to his publisher who accepted it. The publisher often shows from 1-3 different cover designs and gets the author's (and agent's) input. However, the publisher almost always has the right to final decisions on cover and title.

Marketing and promotion: Generally, as an author, you are expected to market and promote your book. The publisher may pitch your book to the media along with other books, during meetings with national producers, but the lion's share of publicity is yours to develop and implement. This is a really critical point. If you are writing a book proposal for a trade book, be sure to include a robust promotion plan (that includes online promotion) and demonstrate that you have a following and/or reach a good-sized segment of your audience (we call this author platform in the industry).

Pricing: This is determined by the publisher.

And, to answer Arlen's last question, if only a few books sell, your publisher may sell the books at a discount to resellers. Sometimes you can negotiate to buy back the rights to your book.

Arlen, thanks for these great questions. Let's hear from other authors about your experiences with publishing contracts and responsibilities. And do post additional questions here, too.

How To Become An Author On Freelance MD

Freelance MD’s primary goal is to deliver quality information to physicians who want to gain freedom and control of their careers and lifestyle.

Of course, this information comes form our contributing authors who are willing to share their time and effort to provide access to the best information and experitise around lifestye, income and career for physicians.

Writing takes time. Closely examining the latest developments takes its time as well. If you're a thought leader with information to share and want to make it available to our readers as one of our writers, we welcome your participation and help!

Of course, you don't need to become a "Contributing Writer" for Freelance MD. You can interact with the community—Including our writers—by leaving comments or using our community forums. You can also write and submit a guest post and have it appear in the main blog and all of our RSS feeds.

But this post is for those who may consider becoming part of the team. Here's a pretty simple FAQ that walks throught some of the common questions about our contributing team. Let's get on with it.

Click to read more ...

Getting Great Publishing Advice

As the Chief Editor of Books at Harvard Health Publications (the consumer health branch of Harvard Medical School), I am constantly seeking out great publishing advice. 

Daily I am talking to literary agents, editors, publicists and authors.  And, while the publishing industry changes almost as fast as my conversations with these folks occur, the good news is that despite the many changes, there are lots of fantastic opportunities for doctors who like to write.

In this blog, I'll share many publishing tips--some new and some tried and true. I'll answer your questions (if I can!) and help guide you with your publishing endeavors.  I will also invite some guest bloggers who are physician authors to share their stories.  Finally, I invite you to share yours. 

The physician-author community is one that I'm proud to support and to be a part of. Helping patients to heal can be done in many ways and writing/publishing is an important part of medicine. 

If you'd like to see more about my work in both publishing and healing, check out my website at www.JulieSilverMD.com.  I'm looking forward to hearing from you, so tell me about what you are doing!