Donald Maass Preys on Writers

For those of you who have been reading this blog, you must know by now that I think Writers' Digest is the authors' equivalent of an antichrist. From its vanity press to continuous offers for overpriced webinars, this company has made preying on writers an even more lucrative industry than writing itself, and those who promote it are just as bad. That's why I'm singling out Donald Maass as the epitome of scum because of his strong affiliation with such a despicable organization.
       Having worked as an agent for years as well as owning his own literary agency, Maass is all too aware of how difficult it is to find one's way in the publishing business, yet he holds that dream in front of people like a worm on a hook with his poor-quality guides and columns. Why does he do this? Could it be because he wants to help writers achieve their dreams? No, it's because of how many zeros are on that check.
      For most serious writers, guides to "writing the breakout novel" are irrelevant. We already know what's necessary in order to write a book that people will want to read (btw, my sales are doing quite well at the moment). The only "guides" we rely on are dictionaries, thesauri, and Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style." We don't waste our time with inflated trash written by Maass for WD. People who are most likely to buy such guides probably don't have enough talent to write a decent novel. After all, it's a difficult thing to do, and I've downloaded lots of amateur efforts on Amazon to prove that they're exactly that, amateur.
      As far as my opinion goes, Maass is just another guy who is tapping into the market of would-be authors by selling his advice and offering zero promises. The publishing world is changing and people like Maass are rapidly becoming dinosaurs. So, go ahead and buy Maass's "writing" guides. Attend WD conferences where he is giving a "seminar," and see what all of that gets you other than a lot of money wasted and little results. For anyone who makes money through WD couldn't care less about the integrity of the writing or publishing industry.

More on the Evils of Writers' Digest

Yes, I'm back with another diatribe against Writers' Digest, that servile corporation that preys on authors like a shark does on mackarel. For some crazy reason, I've decided to remain on their e-mail list and am constantly receiving "offers" for their services and crappy vanity press. What gets me the most is the price tag for their damned webinars. Seriously, what poor sap will pay $90 to learn how to "hook an agent." Besides, I've seen their advice, and I've even followed their advice. Am I on the NY Times Bestseller List? Nope, and I certainly haven't hooked an agent either despite following their bullshit formulas for writing the "perfect query letter." I should add that I have published the traditional way in the past. I just can't find someone to take on my novel.

What concerns me the most about what WD does is that there are many unsuspecting writers out there that truly lack the talent to write a grocery list, far less a novel. And they're too naiive to realie that WD is only out to take their money. Do they ever offer any guarantees for refunds if after having bought all of their garbage manuals and paid for several useless webinars you're still not published? Of course not, they don't believe in their products and feel no guilt about taking your money.

Fight the power! Fight that scum Writers' Digest!

Kindle Boards Suck!

Okay, here I go again with another rant, and actually it's been a while since I've been pissed enough to write something on this blog. Nevertheless, I am pissed and must vent about something, and that's the Kindle Boards (the Writers' Cafe in particular).

For those of you who have visited the site, you've got to notice how it's little more than a "look at me" and "look at what a great writer I am" circle jerk sound off. Like those people are writers anyway. Just check out how much some of them post. For the love of God, how can you write novels when you've made over 10,000 posts in the past year? You can't unless you're receiving carpal tunnel treatments on a daily basis.

Oh, and then there are the thread topics. These are a real hit. I particularly liked "I got my first positive review on Amazon!" (Seriously, no one gives a shit). Another one is "I'm in the top sixty!" (Did you hear that? Yeah, that's the sound of no one caring). Periodically, I feel sorry for some of the people that try to navigate this morass of crap in the hopes of joining a true online writers' community. Yeah, that's like trying to swim with starving sharks.

Most frequent KB posters are nasty, insecure individuals that try to promote their writing prowess by denigrating others or by letting you know how many free books they've given away. Here's an example of a typical KB response to a question someone was asking about online promotions:

Q: "I'm having some trouble getting sales. Does anyone know of some good sites to promote ebooks?"

A: "I went to Goodreads! Just a few days of promoting and I got into the top 100!"

A: "If you're work is any good, you won't need to do much. If you gotta do a lot then you might as well give up."

Yeah, this is pretty typical on that pissing contest of a message board. The Angry Writer was pretty disgusted with the conduct of some the KB regulars (Note: the moderators are also slime). My opinion of writing groups aren't much better either. Most of those are dick-hanging contests too where each member tries to offer the most critical feedback to impress everyone else. Finding someone who will give you meaningful feedback is like striking gold. It rarely happens and is quite valuable when it does.

Meanwhile, the moral of the story is stay away from Kindle Boards, unless you want to see a bunch of insecure wannabes (Trust me, they are. Just try a sample or two of their books. Badly written crap is all I have to say).