Writology – The Silent Religion

And How Corporate America Makes It A Billion Dollar Business

Introduction

This document contains a series of entries from my blog at FrogenYozurt.com plus a few new ones. Please excuse that my comments sound a bit sarcastic at times, but I have been through the tiresome and frustrating process of writing, publishing, and promoting my first novel. I have learned the hard way that promoting a novel is one of the most difficult tasks in the business world. Add to this a great number of dubious businesses preying on the unsuspecting, aspiring writer.

Let me quote author TK Kenyon: “Writing, especially fiction writing, is a tough business to get into and a tougher one to stay in. Generally, neither authors nor publishers make a significant profit until an author’s fifth novel is published. Over 195,000 novels are published by traditional publishers in the U.S. every year. Of those, 70% sell fewer than 500 copies.”

Today’s writing and publishing world is shrugging off the old “exclusive-club” mentality, but it is, by any means, not a friendly place for an aspiring writer. As a matter of fact, the industry has turned into a shark tank. When I refer to “the industry” I mean, among other businesses, the traditional publishers, most of who are struggling these days, but they are not the actual problem. The “shark tank” is dominated by new startups in the industry, mostly vanity publishers, who produce significant profit without delivering the results they promise. It seems that scammers possess a much keener business sense than the traditional publishing businesses, and they are taking the better part of a multi-million Dollar business.

Unfortunately, too many writing sites and especially writers’ magazines (I exclude Poets & Writers specifically from this statement) are too busy spouting wonderful stories about the industry. They live from advertisement and a readership that is represented mostly by unsuccessful writers, the number one target for scammers. These days the best paying advertisers are primarily the previously mentioned vanity publishers, because – Duh! – they do have the means to purchase full page ad space.

In turn – to keep their advertisers happy – the magazines’ task is in motivating their readers to “hang on, because we are confident you will find success eventually.” They continue presenting the good in everything and everybody, and they give you the inspirational tour on a regular basis. My advice to everybody who believes in this motivational nonsense would be to start your own religious sect and call it… Writology. Go and worship yourselves. You’re good at that!

Yes, it is true; perseverance is imperative for the aspiring writer, but I question the reason to provide motivation. Their mission is not about helping writers, otherwise they would post warnings, which they – believe me – do not. It’s all about making profit. There is nothing wrong about making profit as long as you do it with professionalism and dignity, but today’s management is only about profit, profit, and profit without an iota of passion for their readership.

Everything you find in this document is based on my own experience with the writing and publishing world, and any statements made are based on my very personal opinion. I would like to emphasize that my writing is not based on anger, but keen observation of the industry. My narrow view is without a doubt not representative for the entire world of writing and publishing, but I am sure that many new writers had similar experiences.

Seizure #367 – Another Inspirational Offering

Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
- Thomas A. Edison

Yes, I do number my seizures. When, according to established industry standards, you are diagnosed as an aspiring, but most likely untalented writer, you either have seizures, or, due to absence of effective medication, you fall back into religion. I, personally, chose seizures, because my God told me not to have other gods besides him. The other god would have been myself, but we’ll get to that later (see Seizure #366)

I had Seizure #367 after receiving a flyer in today’s mail, offering yet another writers’ magazine. Now, why should I subscribe to this one? Because it delivers advice and inspiration without risk or obligation. You get your hands on techniques and encouragement. Inspiring details inside.

Here we go again. Hallelujah! More inspiration and encouragement for the aspiring writer. And Hallelujah again. Here’s yet another shark in the writing and publishing business preying on unsuspecting victims.

The current situation is: There are hundreds of thousands aspiring writers in the United States alone, all armed with a word-processor and a high-speed Internet connection, and they all believe they have a talent for writing. The harsh truth is that only a discouraging low percentage of them will ever reach their goal of signing a contract with one of the traditional publishing businesses in the United States. There is a vast discrepancy between the number of aspiring writers and the unwillingness of the publishing industry to take chances in combination with a surprising impotence of discovering new, good writers.

The other option for all these wannabe-writers is self-publishing, a choice that is becoming increasingly popular. All you need is the before-mentioned word-processor and a high-speed Internet connection. Yet another harsh truth is, that the vast majority of self-publishers will not sell more than 500 copies of their work, most of them to friends and family. The problem may not necessarily be the lack of talent; the main problem is effective marketing.

And this is where Corporate America comes into action. Imagine hundreds of thousands of wannabe-writers, all of them willing to spend some major money – up to several thousand Dollars per head – trying to reach their ultimate goal of having their book published one way or the other. If you do the simple math, you will find this is a multi-million Dollar business, and the variation of services offered boggles the mind. The majority of these services – in the following called “sharks” – base their business on deceit on the lowest level up to outright fraud, and I will attempt to prove my not-so-bold statement in the following.

Read about my other seizures…

• Peace Comes Over Me
  When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld Finally, I am done with my rant! So, now what…? While it seemed like I was complaining quite a bit about the current writing and publishing industry, I have also learned my lessons, and I have adjusted my business plan accordingly. I have learned early that the best marketing tool for your first novel is the release of your second. Honestly, I [More...]

• Seizure #88 – Buy My Book On Writing A Novel
  As long as people will accept crap, it will be financially profitable to dispense it. - Dick Cavett Following the above quote, I should actually charge for this document and have those people who don’t agree with my views steaming about the fact that they spend their valuable Dollars on a crap like this. Been there, done that, didn’t like it. And by the way, so far I had too much fun writing this, and I consider that a sufficient payment. One of [More...]

• Seizure 231 – Copyright Infringement As A Business Model
  Obviously crime pays; otherwise there’d be no crime. - G. Gordon Liddy The following is an excerpt of an article I wrote for WritersWeekly.com: There has been a great deal of commotion about Google's controversial and potentially anti-competitive plans to digitalize millions of books, or the pricing war going on between Walmart, Target, and Amazon. It is surprising that only little attention has been paid to an even greater threat to authors and publishers by Scribd.com, a web site allowing the distribution of [More...]

• Seizure #232 – Copyright Infringement? That’s Wonderful!
  Sometimes what’s right isn’t as important than what’s profitable. - Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Prehistoric Ice Man, 1999 Back in November of 2009 I became aware that two of the books I publish (both in print and as eBook) were freely available as a download through scribd.com (see also next chapter - Seizure #231). Add to the situation another victim like some English author named J.K. Rowling – and many more – and you get a picture of the [More...]

• Seizure #188 – It’s A Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy World!
  To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost. - Gustave Flaubert Let’s celebrate Writology! The writer’s world according to Writer’s Digest is a happy, happy, happy, happy world! Whatever is considered “evil” in the outside world, we’ll turn it into a positive experience. Someone gave you a bloody nose? Oh, isn’t Red a lovely color? Now you may think I am getting a little overboard, but hold your thought for [More...]

• Seizure #311 – The Impotence Of Discovering Good Writers
  All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. - Galileo Galilei I’ll make this one short. Have you ever wondered what happened to literary agents or acquisition editors who rejected the manuscript of, let’s say, Stephenie Meyer? Stephenie Meyer’s manuscript was initially rejected fourteen times. Since then, her novel Twilight has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide. It spent more than 90 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and it has been [More...]

• Seizure #94 – Literary Agents – The Way It Should Be
  All you need in life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure. - Mark Twain As a businessman and weekend writer I am continually puzzled by the ineffectiveness of the traditional book publishing industry, and there is not enough time to list their shortcomings. I have done quite some research on the topic of writing and publishing, and, consequently, I have made the decision to self-publish through my own business. Nevertheless, hope is not lost. There are some agents and publishers that [More...]

• Seizure #95 – Literary Agents Are Snobby Bastards
  The best defense against misguided arrogance is a keen sense of humor. - Kathryn L. Nelson, Pemberley Manor, 2006 You think the title is a little strong? Well, maybe, but there is a truth behind it. I am sure there are some good agents out there, but I stay with my statement when it comes to the majority of literary agents. As a business man I am appalled by the lack of business sense these people display to the public, especially when [More...]

• Seizure #48 – We Only Want Your Best… Your Money!
  Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. - Stephen Leacock Whenever you log on to one of those web sites dedicated to writing and publishing you will most certainly see numerous Google ads related to the site’s topic. Sure enough, these ads are placed by vanity publishers looking for more victims. Traditional publishers don’t advertise for writers. The wording is in the nature of “Have you written a book?”, “Find [More...]

• Seizure #42 – The Pain With Outskirts Press
  Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity. - Frank Leahy If you are in the business of self-publishing your book and you have done some research, you most certainly have found Outskirts Press one way or the other. I was curious enough to sign up for their newsletter and to receive their publishing guide, but I should have known better. Just a fair warning: Getting in touch with Outskirts Press is the equivalent of inviting a leech, "Please come, suck [More...]

• Seizure #43 – Vanity Publishers
  Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it. - Senator Dianne Feinstein It is time to take a swing at the sharks in the publishing business, in this case so-called vanity publishers. To put it in a nutshell, vanity publishers create income by charging authors for printing and publishing their works. As part of some research for a new novel I had decided to work through a number of older issues of my favorite, most useless magazine, Writer's Digest. In [More...]

• Seizure #211 – The Dream World Of Writers’ Forums
  To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep. - Joan Klempner Most of us aspiring writers sign up for online forums, either to pitch new ideas and wait for feedback, or to ask for advice, but foremost to "build a platform." "Building a platform" is based on a very basic principle: If nobody knows you, nobody will buy your books. I always put the term "building a platform" in quotation marks, because, in my very personal opinion, there is a lot of [More...]

• Seizure #366 – Discovering Writology
  The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself. - Sir Francis Burton I just received the latest issue of my favorite most useless magazine, Writer's Digest. Why I still receive it, I don't know; I don't keep track when my subscription ends, and it will hopefully end some time soon. It took me an annoying five minutes to page through the magazine to find there was nothing in there that would even remotely [More...]

• Seizure #1 – Here It Comes. My First Novel.
  I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paper work. - Peter De Vries As you may notice, I don’t record my seizures in the order of their appearance, and I don’t record all of them. Nevertheless, it all started with seizure #1. A few years ago I finally followed my dream of writing a novel. I had written and self-published three technical books before, and they still sell decently well. Let me add that I run my own [More...]