The primary owner of What Authors Need to Know is author Elizabeth Ann West. A member of many author organizations and forums including NINC, Kboards.com (since 2011), and DirtyDiscourse. I have sold my writing profitably since 2007 in both non-fiction and fiction. I am a working author, not a get-rich-quick-guru.
From SEO articles to contemporary romance to book marketing and deal site running to now niche fiction writing, I love to try and test new things and share the experiences with others. My forum posts on things like dictation and membership sites for readers have been quoted in “how-to” books for authors for years.
I am the author’s author. 🙂 I write my books part-time, putting in 20 hours or less a week, because I also have priorities that have to come first. In the past, I fit my writing in around homeschooling my special needs daughter, my family moving every few years for my husband’s military career, and standing up to play single-parent when his work causes him to travel or work ungodly hours. Now I am a single-parent full time, homeschooling, and still writing as my main income.
No, I am NOT making 6 figures a year or a month, but for the last 3 years my gross revenue has been over that of the median income of the average family in the US with my writing alone (over $50,000+), and after expenses, my take home income means I make roughly $24 an hour working from home with a generous vacation of 7 months between releases more than once! 🙂 I am just like you in trying to make this work in a non-ideal situation.
I can be reached for ANY issues about this site or the programs sold on it at elizabeth@whatauthorsneedtoknow.com or by text message or phone call at area code 860 634-2850. I already screen my calls for spam and live Eastern US time, so if you call or text at 2 AM, don’t expect an answer right away. All emails and calls are answered within 24 hours during the workweek of M-F. Unless it is an emergency, I will wait until Monday for issues arising over the weekend.
You can always get a refund. I don’t care if you took the class, got the workbook, missed the class whatever… I ALWAYS PLAN for there to be refunds. When I ran author advertising on TheCheapEbook.com from 2012-2014, no author was ever denied a refund for any reason.
Why can I do this? Because this is not my main income and never will be. My main income is writing fiction books. And even with the programs and classes sold here, I always keep back a percentage in case people need a refund.
I do ask that all requests be made within 90 days of purchase or the class, but even outside that, email me at elizabeth@whatauthorsneedtoknow.com and I will make sure we can work something out.
Now, if you are routinely taking coursework and then requesting a refund, I will eventually cut you off and prevent you from registering for future programs. Abuse of this refund policy will result in personal consequences of no longer taking your money. This is on a case by case basis, and again, back when I ran the author side of TheCheapEbook.com, the “blacklist” of authors was very short.
My reputation in our author community is more valuable to me than the cost of a class or program.
I am an author FIRST. In creating this school for authors, I had a very specific vision in mind. I wanted to first offer something that wasn’t typically offered in the author education space and that is live teaching and small group workshops. I wanted to create a school that aligned with work I am already doing for my own publishing company in marketing and planning to keep my skills sharp with routine teaching. I did not want to become indebted to constantly updating and maintaining “evergreen” content when our industry changes so often.
Classes are recorded to make those recordings available to students who paid to attend. During class, when recording starts and stops will be announced, any student can turn OFF their video and not be seen, and the recording icon will always be visible in the top left of the Zoom space for all students to see when it’s actively recording. There is NO WAY to record without everyone present knowing that a recording is taking place.
There are times I make videos available for purchase as bundles etc. but it’s rare.
You can address all issues to Elizabeth West at elizabeth@whatauthorsneedtoknow.com or mail at 5705 Fort Belvoir Ct. Virginia Beach, VA 23464 or telephone or text at area code 860 634-2850. She lives in the Eastern US time zone. Messages are responded to within 24 hours M-F. Weekend communication only if it’s an emergency, otherwise answered on Monday
All content on this site is for educational purposes only and do NOT promise or guarantee any result, monetary or otherwise. Participants in classes and programs are responsible for evaluating all materials provided and deciding if the materials provided are right for their publishing business. Elizabeth Ann West will not teach any methods or practices she has not herself used or seen used by others and will do her best to explain risks and challenges as they are known. The digital publishing industry, however, changes and many strategies become outdated when distribution channels change terms and conditions and/or program policies. She also cannot tell you how effective any changes you make to your publishing strategies will be. All programs and classes are offered at-will.
This website is not owned, operated, or sponsored in anyway with Amazon.com, Facebook, or Google. Ads and analytics and pixels from these sites may be used.
Google Analytics, Adsense, and Cookies
My site uses many Google products to give me data about the visitors here. This includes cookies, demographic data, and behavior on the site. It will tell me, for example, how many people came to my site from Facebook or visited on a mobile device. I never get individual information, like Suzy Q. visited on her Apple iPhone. I get numbers, just so I can see how I am drawing traffic to my site. I use this data to make my site better for its frequent users (making sure it’s mobile friendly, rendering correctly, etc).
I also use Google Adsense as a way to help defray hosting costs. These ads are tailored to your personal tastes and browsing behavior. If you were just on, say a site for Walt Disney World, you might then see a Walt Disney World ad in the sidebar here or in a chapter post. I don’t know you saw a Walt Disney World ad, only Google handles all of that information. It uses cookies to give you ads that are relevant to you.
If you are at all concerned about your browsing behavior being used by Google, please consider their opt-out options here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/
Facebook Ads
My site includes use of the Facebook pixel which can be used to serve you ads on your social media based on your browsing behavior. Facebook’s pixel also helps me be better about any advertising I send out to make sure it only goes to people who are interested in what I have to offer. 
Neither Facebook, nor I, want to spam anyone, of course. Again, like other tracking software, I never get individual information or data, just group data to see trends.
Also, though I use Facebook’s ad services, I am not an employee of Facebook nor do I have any affiliation with their company. They also have no affiliation with the content on this site.
If you want to opt out of Facebook ads, visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ and manage the companies you receive advertising from. You will need to do this, though, for each browser.
Amazon Affiliates
When you click a link on this site and it takes you to Amazon, I am using an affiliate link. This is a link that allows Amazon to pay me a small commission (about 4-8%) on the items you purchased on Amazon. I do not work for Amazon, nor do they approve or have any affiliation with the content here. They are merely rewarding me for driving traffic to their site. Again, I am not given any individual information, I don’t get names or emails, nothing like that. My reports show me what items were purchased from referrals on my site and what I’m getting paid. Again, these monies are used to help defray the cost of hosting, and when enough is earned, I often turn it into a giveaway prize for readers. Affiliate monies earned do not affect your price or cost on Amazon, it’s paid entirely by Amazon from what’s already purchased.
Gumroad and your Credit Card Information
I use Gumroad for my direct sales platform for readers. I do this because they have the infrastructure to build apps and other delivery networks and to keep all of your personal data safe. At no time am I given credit card information for any purchase made. In fact, all I get is an email address.
Your Email Address and Other Information Collected Here
At times, my site uses Google Forms and other applications to collect information from visitors, such as email addresses, mailing addresses, and names for giveaways or mailing lists. I take every precaution I can to protect this information and I do not share it with other authors or services. Please know you can trust your information that you give to me, and if you are ever concerned about how your email is used by me, you can email me at elizabeth@whatauthorsneedtoknow.com or text me at 860 six three four 2850.
Your contact information will not be sold or shared with other author education organizations or companies. I use Gumroad for all purchases and at NO TIME am I given payment information. No card info, no addresses, nothing. In fact, ALL I get is a name and an email address when you make a purchase, and the name is optional!
This is very important to me because I know not everyone is open about their real life name etc.Â
Attending class, you can make your Zoom name anything you want, and you can turn off video. We do not ever have to see who is there other than an email address for registration.Â
Certainly, things are easier if I have a name to say than amazingauthor at gmail.com’s question is… but your name could be your author name. That’s no issue. Or a made up name. Maybe for my school, you’re Dixie Queen (that’s the name me and my sister give any restaurant we have to give a name they yell out for your order…). The point is I BUILT What Authors Need to Know for authors, and I am sensitive to what we need as authors in a space to talk about business.
Oh, I am also NOT GOING TO START EMAILING YOU tips and tricks and more programs you can join. I’ll let you know when there’s new classes, but that’s about it. And if you unsubscribe, you only have to do that ONCE, not six times like I’ve experienced with some other companies that shall not be named.