It’s no good, I’ve had a little read through, only a little ‘un mind, and feel I have to clarify my position on this.
Firstly, I don’t think Ted or YWO are scammers, neither do I think they reflect the ideology of PA, not unless they start charging $4,000 anyway.
I think, as I’ve said from the start, that this was a business plan poorly thought out and executed. Trouble is, industry and commerce in general seem packed full of plans such as this and, I believe, it is absolutely essential to the UK economy they smarten up and get good.
I will also say that YWO is completely different to AW, in that it is essentially a review site – the forum is only a small part of it and I think most members, under normal circumstances, only venture in there occasionally.
The review system is good; well structured, gives guidance on how to review, and from what I’ve seen, gives good results in improving writing.
From my own perspective, I’d started a children’s novel, which is something I’d never done before, decided it was rubbish and was going to bin it (even though my own AW beta thought it was good) Then I found YWO, read through other stuff on the site and decided to put it up, take the stick, and then bin it. But it didn’t take the stick – not to the extent I expected anyway. I got some criticisms of areas I thought needed improvement, some I hadn’t realised needed improvement and the whole thing spurred me on again – hey, I can do this!
I don’t know how many people commenting on here have either posted stories or reviewed, but a few weeks back I do know they were commenting on the system and recommending Ask the Agent/Editor on AW as an alternative.
It is helpful for some, but it isn’t an alternative.
With regard to Ted removing threads: Hmm, I did mention to Old Hack (on YWO) that I was surprised she hadn’t had some removed before, I think this was a couple of days previous to her saying some had gone (and according to the threads posting here, Ted confirmed this) I mentioned it because I honestly don’t think other sites would have tolerated such statements as, “I don’t like to see writers getting ripped off…” Ouch!
I also saw on this board (I’m talking a couple of weeks ago now) Victoria saying the book covers were ‘ugly,’ and a couple of folk trawling the books that were already published for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors – my impression at the time was that the AW folk weren’t actually being very supportive of fellow writers … ie; it read as if commentators were being critical of the quality of the work submitted – now, it seems, that YWO are at fault.
I also hit the board at the time when there were suggestions being made that the 10% of profits going to charity weren’t known to be coming out of author’s profits or that of YWO – point is, we didn’t know, and until we did, should really have steered clear of making comments.
Overall, I felt that a little humility and restraint wouldn’t have gone amiss. I would also have liked to see more AW posters over there giving advice, rather than directing people to different sites. If you are that concerned people are being led astray then the mountain should go to Mohammed.
I’m actually gutted that this didn’t come off and has turned into a pig’s ear – not because I haven’t got a copy of MY book to hand to people, but because I firmly believe the only way out of the economic hole the UK has got itself into is to ‘get good.’ Obviously I’m not just talking about YWO, but for me it would have been an indication that lessons had been learned, and we were starting to develop a sense of pride in our work and achievements and not go running off somewhere else to ‘see how it’s done.’
Also I was a bit sick to see writers on the site who had got their books published … ‘gloating,’ … yes, that is the word, over others that hadn’t. The whole thing just turned horrible.
So yes, I will support YWO, in respect of its review system, because it is good and I won’t abandon it simply because of this mess. It’s a UK site, the reviews are supported by the Arts Council and it’s UK publishers that give their time in reviewing winning stories – thanks to them all – and, although I find AW extremely helpful and supportive in many aspects, for me, the YWO review system is one I would prefer to stick with.
Things aren’t always black or white, sometimes a nice shade of grey is a happy medium.
… and Old Hack, where on earth do you live in Sheffeld (not a spelling mistake) that you can put up a wind turbine and it get windy enough to get your windows blown in? I used to live there up on a hill and all we got was snow …