Where to start. Say what you want about BoD systems. Yes, authors should not have to pay for their hard work to be published. On the other hand, if they want it so bad, they should pay. So I guess that debate is endless. But not the debate about the rights and wrongs among writers. Here's a story that will probably end in all critics, including myself, getting sued - oh well, go ahead Now BoD, without buying a proof reader, can work when you're a good writer. There probably isn't a book on earth without at least a typo. But then there are those writers who give BoD a bad name. So bad that the general reaction to BoD is: -You publish with BoD cause you're not good enough for real publishers -BoD only publishes junk as there is no quality control of the contents -BoD books don't get to participate in certain literature awards -BoD authors are regarded as egomaniacs who pay big money for seeing their name "out there" out of sheer vanity -BoD community is basically anarchy -BoD books are rarely seen in offline bookstores. Can be ordered, but of course, the book being physically there, works in its favor. These are (based on) prejudices, however in many cases they come true. I myself am confident in my German writing skills. I'm no Goethe, but I'm decent. Many other BoD authors are decent, too. And sometimes we don't publish with BoD because other publishers have turned us down but because, in my case for example, we don't feel like waiting for a response from the big shots. Or our books are too specific to fit anywhere. My short story book has a story about kittens, the next about suicide. Very rando, too random for most publishers. But then there was a BoD writer named Claudia P. She lives off social welfare while treating herself to thoroughbred horses and wrote a book complaining about the welfare system. She aggressively promoted the incredibly overpriced item (something like $35 for about 300 pages) which has never been proof-read and that is obvious. Very obvious. Too obvious. Her arrogant and pompous, not to meantion offensive way of responding to constructive criticism, has earnt her alot of scorn from the BoD community. She then proceeded to reviewing her own books on Amazon. She reviews AND publishes under a dozen pen names, hence reviewing her own books (5 stars, no exceptions). I caught her in the act when she inadvertently signed a review via her fake pen name with her real name and she even slipped up about being the author of that book. Yes, I publically rubbed it in her face. Of course, more scorn ensued. Picture this: -She blames "the system" for her unemployment but can't spell for the life of her. I don't wanna know what her application letters look like. -She explodes at the smallest amounf of criticism. Way to keep a job... -She complains about a system she feeds off without needing to. I mean, horses! -She can't find a job, but has time and brains to write books and promote them? -Her 2-bucks-per-page books don't get positive reviews if she doesn't write them herself and she does. -All negative comments about her behavior are reduced to "petty jealousy", "pathetic hatred" and I was even accused of being the author of a book she slammed. Or she just threatens to sue. Because hey, how dare you say this book is overpriced and full of spelling errors? Because, get this: At the same time as Mrs P. promoted (demoted..) her book about social welfare, another BoD author came forward with hers about the same topic. It is only about 60 pages thick and costs a mere $5 (or less, I think in Euros). So Mrs. P. Probably felt threatened by competition and proceeded to slamming that book on Amazon under one of her fake profiles. We know it's her because first she said it was a friend of hers, then she signed a comment as P., forgetting she was logged in as that "friend". More scorn and mockery ensued and one BoD community member suggested to write a book about this incident which has reached ridiculous proportions by then. What did Mrs. P. do? Threaten to sue us all if we dare write about this, because she had already decided to do so herself, meaning nobody else gets to. Head-desk anyone? She also intends to sue anyone who writes "improper or illegal reviews" about her books. Amazingly though, nobody has slammed her book without having read it first, and that was ONE person who, in their review, mentioned that other author's similar book. Mrs. P. thought this wasn't legit, but Amazon's review guidelines disagree. I pointed this out to Mrs. P., plus the fact that the only one writing illegal and improper reviews is her, by using all those fake accounts to review her own junk. Now I'm getting my ass sued, too I suppose The whole incident has amused us all, especially how this lady got more and more angry about how we disapprove of her illegit, illegal and downright mentally ill behavior. She thought she was above etiquette and rules, above proper spelling and grammar, above the law and above God himself because the topic of her book is important I think even Obama would not have gotten away with that. So why am I writing this? Should this case really get any attention? Is spreading the word good for BoD? Well, I can't help but think that as a fellow BoD-published author (a collection of short stories and poems, plus a novel are in the making) I should stand up to this and spread the word that BoD authors are not all the same and the majority of us do not approve of this kind of behavior. Yes, there is little to no quality control in BoD by the publishers themselves, but let's face it - even books published with "real" publishers can be junk. I recently read a book from rororo, a very popular and famous German publisher, and I tore out page by page to make little paper planes in my Turkish prison cell. Yes, BoD expects its writers to be responsible for all content published, but hey - why not? Responsibility is what being a grown-up is all about. Mrs. P. has to learn this yet. Up to you to decide whether to laugh or cry about this.
This actually made me almost laugh, which is saying something, because I don't really laugh. I hate and love people like her at the same time; I hate them for being idots who ruin whatever they touch, and I love to make fun of them.
Heheh she desperately tried to change some of her aliases to something less suspicious. Too bad I'm the proud owner of screenshots of the original posts. If she were to sue me, she's in for a surprise.
Woww... 0_o There are sadly people like this in every community though, victimisation addicts, who just want to make a name for themselves and don't care how. Just as long as someone's talking about them. Which is not berating you for posting what you did, of course, I love hearing about these people and laughing my behind off at 'em! Which, in a way, I suppose, is giving them the attention they want, but hey - that way, everybody wins! You're right though, some 'real' published books are complete tripe. I found a book that not only was published by a very well-known house, in several different countries, paperback and hardback, but still is a series ongoing for about twenty years now, in audiobook format it's read out by one of our most treasured actresses, and cited by nearly everyone as being the bees' knees... it is the worst example of writing I have ever read. It might just have put a foot wrong somehow; people have wildly different tastes. Doesn't stop me having a copy on my own bookshelf, to read in my stuck, blocked times and realise how good a writer I am in comparison!! Ah, I hope Mrs P gets her just desserts. But when these people latch onto the 'newest thing', unfortunately it creates a bad smell that lingers much longer than they do.
