The Write Agenda

priceless1 said:

I'm dismayed that a group of people can expend that much energy on sustaining that much anger. How woefully pathetic.

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I think that what we're seeing is the scammers reacting to the electronic self-publishing success stories. E-publishing isn't going to affect the legitimate publishers (electronic publishing is just one more area they can move into), but it has to be devastating to the vanity presses.

I can see the folks who would otherwise be their victims say, "Pay you $4,000? Amanda Hocking! Joe Konrath!" and march on over to Kindle and Smashwords.

The scammers are lashing out in every direction in their death throes.

It won't do them any good.

Richard White said:

And another list I fail to make.

And I'm actually a member of Writer Beware.

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Richard, I didn't know you were still Bewaring because you're not on the "Contributors" sidebar at the blog (though I see you're in the "About Us" page). Perhaps the Write Agenda folks are as easily misled as I am on this topic!

*le sigh*

Back to being the invisible member.

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I CAN SEE YOU NOW

IceCreamEmpress said:

I CAN SEE YOU NOW

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EEEEKKK!

Well, I haven't been as active as I could (should) be. Hope to get that back on track along with my writing/blogging, etc.

Course, I'll work that in amongst my copious amount of time (Grad School, Kendo, Work, Being the father of a college freshman, husband, cat scratch toy . . . ).

Polenth said:

Based on the Writer Beware comments, there's at least one person on the list who isn't a published author.

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Alrighty then, like Stacia, I must work harder.

James D. Macdonald said:

I think that what we're seeing is the scammers reacting to the electronic self-publishing success stories. E-publishing isn't going to affect the legitimate publishers (electronic publishing is just one more area they can move into), but it has to be devastating to the vanity presses.

I can see the folks who would otherwise be their victims say, "Pay you $4,000? Amanda Hocking! Joe Konrath!" and march on over to Kindle and Smashwords.

The scammers are lashing out in every direction in their death throes.

It won't do them any good.

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I think this is exactly what's happening, both with the Write Agenda blog and elsewhere in the more exploitative end of literary land, where I've noticed several "publishers" getting more and more desperate.

Electronic publishing has opened up so many new avenues for writers and publishing: this is a very nice side effect. It's win-win as far as I'm concerned.

bettielee said:

My response to this was, aren't wanna-be writers supposed to be, you know, writing? Rather than boycotting people?

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Nonsense. It is quite possible to do both, simultaneously: work on your novel in progress while at the same time actively not buying a certain description of product. It's easier than rubbing your head and patting your belly. Hell, when I feel the cause is right, I can spend a weeks at a time boycotting a product while faithfully making my daily meetings with the blank page.

The problem with The Write Agenda isn't inherent in the concept of a boycott. It's in their particular cause, which would appear to be "get back at those damn watchdog agencies that are cutting into our scammy profit margins."

I scanned their boycott list and was distressed not to find myself there. Yes, well, maybe I only have a small handful of short stories out there, but -- heck! -- I hear there are people on that list who aren't published authors at all! In an attempt to rectify this oversight, I've begun needling them on Twitter.

Meanwhile, I know where to look for my next reading list.

Thanks, Nicole! We figure the more people "call" them on their ridiculous smear campaign, the better.

I started a thread about them over on the Strategic board before I realized there was one here, so I deleted my post, as it was duplication.

-Ann C. Crispin
Chair, Writer Beware
www.writerbeware.com

I'd suggest that anyone who wants to blog or tweet about The Write Agenda links to Writer Beware's blog post about it rather than to The Write Agenda's website. I see no reason for The Write Agenda* to soak up any useful Google-juice from this; and I've been told that there are malware warnings coming up for The Write Agenda's site.


* You've got to love the way Google counts mentions when it decides which pages to link to. I hope The Write Agenda appreciates that the next time it posts about Writer Beware, Victoria Strauss, Ann Crispin, MacAllister Stone or James Macdonald, or anyone else for that matter.

I saw this posted on John Scalzi's blog... never realised that some of the people he mentioned were on this forum! To those who are involved in Writer Beware - congratulations, I think you are doing a great job.

I am not even going to bother looking at that list cos I know for a fact I am not on it. Still, it is something to aim for

Heard about this through Wil Wheaton's Google+ feed.
Had a bit of a scan through their pages and, guess what? Mac is rolling in it, pumping AW for cash through the nefarious evil that is Google ads!
[from their 23/9 post "Anonymous sources have raised accusations that Macallister Stone and Absolute Write may be wading in substantial Google Ad Revenue"]

I particularly like this part:
"[Note: The Write Agenda does not rely on any advertising revenue, does not post advertisements, does not request donations, does not engage in self-promotion, does not post links to our books/services or encourage visitors to purchase books/services and is staffed by a group of volunteers.]"
Directly beneath which is what looks like an embedded video, but is actually a link to a url that begins with 'ad.adperium.com...' Hmmm....

I think the only reason they included me on that list is because Victoria posted links to my blog when the David Boyer and earlier the Blu Phier stuff was going on. They probably think that I'll be scared off and stop supporting Writer Beware.

And it ain't happenin'.

Janrae Frank

Cory Doctorow's take on it ...

http://boingboing.net/2011/10/04/sh...st-of-writers-who-track-down-con-artists.html

I love blatant hypocrisy. It is so delicious.

Old Hack said:

I'd suggest that anyone who wants to blog or tweet about The Write Agenda links to Writer Beware's blog post about it rather than to The Write Agenda's website. I see no reason for The Write Agenda* to soak up any useful Google-juice from this; and I've been told that there are malware warnings coming up for The Write Agenda's site.

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Exactly. No Google juice for them. I didn't get malware warnings, but I did get warnings of non-secure content. Was I wrong to initially read that as insecure content?

JimmyB27 said:

Anonymous sources have raised accusations that Macallister Stone and Absolute Write may be wading in substantial Google Ad Revenue

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If you look at their propaganda watch list, you'll see a reference to anonymous posters. So let's see...a web site run by apparently anonymous people posting warnings that anonymous people may be spreading propaganda. Kinda makes me go "hmmm...."

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Gee! More street creds for me!

James D. Macdonald said:

I think that what we're seeing is the scammers reacting to the electronic self-publishing success stories. E-publishing isn't going to affect the legitimate publishers (electronic publishing is just one more area they can move into), but it has to be devastating to the vanity presses.

I can see the folks who would otherwise be their victims say, "Pay you $4,000? Amanda Hocking! Joe Konrath!" and march on over to Kindle and Smashwords.

The scammers are lashing out in every direction in their death throes.

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Jim, you bring up a very interesting point that I hadn't considered. While I hope this will, indeed, impact the scams, I fear the plethora of victims will never go away. That's why I'm grateful to AW and Writer Beware to highlight these ploys. The more who know, the fewer will be burned.

So many of us would have fallen prey to either this, or some other scam, if it were not for this site. I personally can't thank James MacDonald, Victoria Strauss and Ann Crispin (and the rest of the crew) for saving our collective asses.

What would we do without you? I don't ever want to find out. Thank you again for your dedication to helping us.

EgyptianGoddess said:

So many of us would have fallen prey to either this, or some other scam, if it were not for this site. I personally can't thank James MacDonald, Victoria Strauss and Ann Crispin (and the rest of the crew) for saving our collective asses.

What would we do without you? I don't ever want to find out. Thank you again for your dedication to helping us.

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Ya know, I was looking at the list of books to Boycott, and it occurs to me there's some mighty fine gift giving there.

Now, personally, my favorite book by Macdonald is the Doyle and Macdonald Mists and Snow; it's a super book, and available in print and ebook.

But I'm also very excited about the forthcoming teen novel from Victoria Strauss, set in Renaissance Italy, and called Passion Blue; it looks super. I just finished reading her The Arm of the Stone and The Garden of the Stone fantasy novels, also available in print and ebook.

And while I've read Scalzi's books, including his re-boot of Little Fuzzy, there are some authors on that list that are new to me, and I have the perfect excuse to buy their books!

Heh. I made a witty regarding their book burning book drive on their FB wall. Snerk. Heil hiTWA*...(see what I did there? eh? eh? sound it out...). Maybe I need more coffee, but it made me chuckle.
Official disclaimer :
***not that hitler was funny in any way, shape, or form, nor am I alluding that TWA are nazis, or are hitler, or kick puppies, or steal ice cream, or pull wings off of butterflies (that I know of per se), but that book burning is tantamount to fascist extremism. Whew. ***

I will state that in my opinion those folks are pure bred, grade-A, ass ponies. Nut balls. Wackadoodles. Writer Beware is awesome. So there.

No, but your comment does rhyme with 'fatwa', which is essentially what they're trying to do.

I love that Ann Crispin 'giving away' excerpts of a novel is considered a sign that this cirius' boycott is working.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't excerpts meant to be free? I don't know too many people who'd buy part of a novel.

Rubbish. Utter rubbish. Found the site in a roundabout way through LJ.

What an ass-hat. And he can quote me on that. Obviously a person with no sense of publishing, copyright, or of the common variety.

Who's behind this? Those rascally, "we give authors the chance they deserve"?