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ParaDon Books Publishing / Amazon Book Clubs

MacAllister

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The pros, semi-pros, and others here are a constant source of amazement, inspiration, excitement, and amusement for this jaded old sob.

Even when I manage to piss Mac off (by being a bigger sob than I usually am).

:)
Heh. No worries, Greg. Since I've got distinct SOB tendencies my own self, I rather strongly suspect I've pissed you off a time or two, as well -- so it all works out, right?
 
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Gillhoughly

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Yeah, I reported it, too. I'm surprised he's still got an active account, since he's left troll droppings elsewhere on AW

I remembered the "Nick Caruso" ID from some other place.

And that's another thread. I'm out of this one unless it's to do with ParaDon. Feeding trolls is boring.
 

MacAllister

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No worries, Gil -- I'm right there with you. The troll is already bounced, I just forgot to change the user-group title.

Interacting with it's just not worth the energy.
 
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Richard White

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I think it says something important about the room culture that you guys would rather whack the piñata, so no one reports the post.

Hee!

(Just for the record? I have one of Richard's self-pupped comics, and a couple of his tie-in books. He's a quite good writer. And self-pubbing indie comics was sort of the state-of-the-art, for a long, long time.)

Wow, where's a blushing smiley when you need one. *blush*

O.K., boss, I'll behave better and report the trolls when they show up instead of antagonizing them. That'll teach me to listen to that little billy goat. I blame him for telling me to follow him out onto that bridge.
 

MacAllister

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;=; I missed the fun, AGAIN! Thanks SO MUCH, Batman.

Oh, and I confess: My brain thinks Ann C. Crispin and Victoria Strauss are the same person. D: I don't know why. I try to correct my brain, but it doesn't believe me half the time.

Although I've never been in the same room with either of 'em, let alone both of 'em at the same time, I reckon that would come as a startling development to their respective families.
 

cryaegm

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Although I've never been in the same room with either of 'em, let alone both of 'em at the same time, I reckon that would come as a startling development to their respective families.
*Sigh.* Yeah, and that's why I feel bad when my brain goes back to thinking they're just one person.
 

aliceshortcake

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Bloody hell! When I went to bed last night this thread was two pages long. I was rather disappointed that neither newspaper mogul Richard Egland nor Stanford graduate Celina Marka had bothered to turn up and defend themselves. To think that I slept through all this drama!

Richard and/or Celina, it isn't too late for you to come back and name those professional editors, cover artists etc working for ParaDon. We'd also like to know why a publisher with a world-wide distribution network is advertising for independent sales reps to sell your books at parties and out of the trunks of their cars.

By the way, I e-mailed Stanford University last night to ask if a Celina Marka graduated with an MFA degree in 2008.
 
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Friendly Frog

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Well, this thread has been an eduction, to say the least.

Oh, and many thanks to those who took the time to answer my question about 5 pages back. :Hail:
 

CobraMisfit

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Recalculating....
Still makes me snicker that the dude could miss a name as euphonious as mine, and one that's on Every Single Post I've Ever Made.

Woah, woah, woah....


Med's Real World Name isn't Medievalist?


*stunned silence*


BTW, did anyone else see that NYC's subject line read "Richard White's books are the s***!"? Kinda' decreases the impact of the bashing comment, unless he/she was being *gasp* clever!


(Which I doubt was the case)
 

TheOneTrueBen

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Frak, I missed ALL the fun, too. And here I've been hoping to torque of Nick Caruso badly enough he bans my books and ups my sales!

Then again, my only claim to knowledge of the English language (aside from being a native speaker and all but eliminating a Texas accent as a survival tactic) is a high school education with a few English classes in college, so I'm probably not qualified to even READ this thread, much less post on it.

Thank you for such an entertaining read. I'm off to read the one thread someone posted a link to from another press. I'll check back in a few hours to see what else I've missed.

Parentetically,
The One, True Ben
 

areteus

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I love car crash threads. They are so entertaining, though I warn you all that some of you are edging very close to violating the International Conventions of Internet Rights by entering into mental combat with an unarmed opponent (it's section 3, paragraph 4b if you want to look that one up, just after the inderdiction on comparing anyone you don't like the opinion of to Hitler).

I only have GCSE English but I am arrogant and self assured enough to know when I am right about any grammar usage because I got a Mother F'ing A on that exam. Plus, I have other degrees in other subjects, including one that qualifies me to teach literacy to 10 year olds. And if 1 undergrad degree, 2 post grad degrees and a post grad teaching degree aren't enough I'll go and get my wife and our mates and we'll wade in with a handful of doctorates and a whole bushel of bachelor's degrees (some of them Oxbridge) :).

Oh, and those are real degrees. From real universities. That, you know, actually did some teaching and expected an effort from students rather than just a 'tuition payment' and P&P for the certificate...

Self publishing and POD... I think there needs to be another thread on this somewhere to properly debate this issue (can't remember if there is one out there or not...). I know I am too late to answer our Trolls' points but a couple of things anyone who thinks that either self publishing or POD are universally 'bad things' should consider:

1) Many self published books are actually books which have already been published and have had their rights released by the publisher back to the author so they can release it again.

2) I know of several small press publishers who use POD to release their books. For small press it is actually more economically viable to do it this way rather than risk a lot of cash on a print run which, while cheaper per unit in the long term, puts you at risk of greater loss if the book does not sell.

3) As I stated recently in my blog post on this issue (http://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/reflections-on-self-publication/) there are actually quite a few self published works out there which are not at all bad. Some are even of a quality which could be published but probably missed out because publishers did not see marketable value (due to being niche interest, for example).

Looking forward to the next troll attack (I have the flask of oil and the flaming torch for when you lot stab all its hit points out and we need to burn it to stop it regenerating...) as they are so much fun to watch...
 

Gillhoughly

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I went through a few other threads and it's a predictable pattern.

Dear Celina Marka,

You need to read this, since we've dealt with similar situations before. You followed the pattern set by others before you as though you had an instruction sheet:

Someone busts a possible scam operation or at least a new publisher with serious problems who charges fees.

The website's flaws are dissected in detail. Some mockage takes place at the publisher's expense.

Shortly after, probably drawn by a Google search of the operation's name, someone turns up claiming to be associated with the operation.

They heap praise on it, accuse AW members of being unpublished failures, and so on and so on.

Soon the "writer" -- due to those pesky ISP addies -- is busted as being the publisher.

In some cases the publisher himself responds, says nice things about his/her business, and wholly ignores the issues that make it a bad choice for writers.

Nasty exchange of fire follows -- none of which addresses the publisher's problems -- then a flouncing exit.

This week's variation had a party crasher providing limited amusement.

Bouncing Bobby Fletcher was probably drawn in when someone mentioned Write Agenda. I'm sure he's wasted no time in contacting Ms. Marka to urge her to jump in bed with him.

Ms. Marka--for your own sake do a Google search of The Write Agenda before you reply to its anonymous overtures. You do NOT need to deal with that kind of grief or have their slime on your name.
 
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TheOneTrueBen

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Have to agree with you on the POD issue, aretus. My small press publisher uses print on demand. And there are quite a few good authors who turned self-publishing into multi-book contracts, H.P. Mallory being my personal self-pub-to-trad-pub hero.

Just to move things back on track a little:
But paying someone like Paradon to read my manuscript? How does that make their service any better than uploading my manuscript to Amazon for FREE and making up to 70% on the sales without paying them a single dime? If their website is any indication to the quality of their editing, I'm overpaying them just to read my manuscript! I'd be afraid that upon submitting it to them that my book would spontaneously develop grammar and spelling errors, not to mention punctuation and capitalization issues just from letting them have it!

The logic does not work for me.
 

Anninyn

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Oh dear. Self awareness is needed, as no legitimate publisher would need to do this to prove themselves falsely accused.

They'd just need to answer our questions honestly.
I am finding this very entertaining, and will never submit to this publisher. Ever.
 

Kateness

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I've been reading this thread but not joined in. Not only am I an unpublished loser, who is thus totally unqualified to join the discussion, but I don't even have an English degree. I do have an Ivy League education, though, so does that make up for it, or no?