Check received with contract?

Mommy, that lady with the laptop and fake lunch date scares me!

Nothing about this makes sense--that a publisher would send a check without a signed contract (what happened to negotiations? what if the author has signed with another publisher?). She also says in the beginning of her blog she got the news "this morning" she was to be published, but then claims she got the mail after 9:30 the previous evening (no phone call?). If she is published, well, good for her, but I don't believe it happened the way she claims.

"If you want to be a writer, I rescind the invitation. If you want to be a potential author, I’d be delighted to have you."

What is that even supposed to mean? I don't like it.

Soooo tempted to post comment on the blog...must resist...must resist.....


I don't know how long I can hold out.

caromora said:

I just worry that the whole thing is a big con. She's having all these other people write a novel...what's to stop her from stealing their work? After all, she's already admitted to conning editors; conning writers isn't so huge a stretch.

I hate to see anyone get ripped off, and I fear that's what is happening. I'd love to be proved wrong about this.

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She's already declared that no one will be paid for their efforts. All advance money and royalties earned (if the supposed publisher even accepts this group effort as the second book in the supposed contract) are earmarked for charity.

I find it strange that she hasn't mentioned who the publisher is. Here on AW, it's usually in the subject line of the "woo hoo" thread!

ChaosTitan said:

She's already declared that no one will be paid for their efforts. All advance money and royalties earned (if the supposed publisher even accepts this group effort as the second book in the supposed contract) are earmarked for charity.

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It was also my impression that she's using this story of her as a "published" author to ask for help from others. Then, she'll get the big payoff once after it gets published.

willietheshakes said:

I call bullshit.

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Yes. This. And, seriously, that bit about tricking editors into lunches--even if untrue--is super creepy.

I also call bullshit.

There are so many absurdities in her "announcement" it's pathetic.

Beginning with the ridiculous "check with contract" and continuing on through her explanation of the scam she claims to have used to have lunch with editors.

I don't think so.

What's really sad, though, is how many people seem prepared to swallow her fish story hook, line, and sinker.

Following this with interest and agreeing that it's complete bullshit...

I don't think anyone should hold back from commenting if they want to. In her Sept. 9th post, our friend Rita says: "Please, folks, if you don’t care for my methods, tell me. I have always believed that the “comments” section was a great place for dialogue that agrees OR disagrees with what a blogger has said. I have never strayed from controversy at Rita’s Digest, and I will not stray now."

The only book title I could find in any of her posts was for her planned experiment for the second. Something like this, I'd post in the largest font point possible in every available forum I'm on so everybody would know my name and my book's title. It's too broadly vague and vaguely broad for me to believe it.

MeowGirl said:

I find it strange that she hasn't mentioned who the publisher is.

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Just one signal among many that her story is pure bullshit.

Two things are fascinating to me: (1) why would someone spin such a tall tale and (2) why would so many people believe it? Wishful thinking? I see a character taking shape.

MeowGirl said:

Two things are fascinating to me: (1) why would someone spin such a tall tale and (2) why would so many people believe it? Wishful thinking? I see a character taking shape.

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I'm guessing for the same reason people fake their own deaths on the internet: attention. Whoever said that she'll probably post in a few weeks/months that something went wrong with the deal is spot on, in my opinion. If she posts some big story about how the publisher wronged her, she gets even more sympathy and attention.

As to why people believe it...possibly the same reason they try publishing through places like PA. Publishing is a hard, slow business with no guarantees. A LOT of people want to believe there's a way to get around the "rules," so when someone does it, they latch on to the story of how.

Oh, those people are out there, all right. My writers group had a lovely member who had so many highs and lows - husband died in car wreck, close friend who happened to be a celebrity and they wrote a screenplay together, etc.

We wept and cheered with her. She totally sucked us in.

That is, until one of us called her out on it. You shoulda seen the train wreck. She called us every name in the book and spat us out, then disappeared into the netherworld. We still see evidence of her deception here and there, but don't bother with her any more. We did warn one author whose work was stolen by her in order to get into our writers' group.

Pathological liars are out there, and they are very skilled at their craft.

I don't know why but the blog reminds me of the Nigerian e-mail scam. If people can fall for that, no wonder so many aspiring authors are going for this.

Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe all this really happened.

Jersey Chick said:

If this is true, then I'll eat my laptop.

No real publisher is going to mail out a check for an advance along with a contract to be signed. Could you imagine the mess if an author cashed said check and just never bothered with the contract? That alone makes it totally unbelievable.

Either this woman's delusional, or toying with people. Either way, I don't believe her story for a second. She's full of something, but I don't think it's success...

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I really want to see you eat your laptop.

Umm.......what am I supposed to say?

The whole thing is so fake, but I don't care about such delusional people. Even if it were true (*gasp*) I can't applaud someone for deceiving other people.

I am more worried about the comments. I see only two possibilities:

1) She is posting the comments herself under different names and then responding to them (It makes no sense at all, but neither does her original post). And she must be deleting opposing posts. I refuse to believe that NOBODY posted that her blog post is insane.

2) We have some very weird people with a severe lack of morals alive today.

QUOTE
I really want to see you eat your laptop.
UNQUOTE

Hmmm. Can I write a SF story on that? Consuming the lappy and becoming the first Intel Sapien. I claim copyright!

MeowGirl said:

Two things are fascinating to me: (1) why would someone spin such a tall tale

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Deepspirit said:

I don't know why but the blog reminds me of the Nigerian e-mail scam. If people can fall for that, no wonder so many aspiring authors are going for this.

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My answer: her collaborative writing project.

Now I'm no expert in publishing contracts, but the part about the editor getting first dibs on her second book "if it sold a certain number of copies" seemed strange to me. Maybe from a micro-pub, but from one of the supposed "big three?" That smells.

And then Rita segues into the fact that she's not going to write a second book, because she only has one in her (*cough*). But if all of her friends out there would be so kind to join her in a collaborative writing effort, in which all moneys go straight to charity, then she'll be able to fulfill this obligation to her new publisher.

Which means if this is a scam, all of those duped people are writing under false pretenses. Methinks they'll be some fur flying when the truth comes out.

I thought the same thing about the second novel - and at the same time, a publisher isn't going to publish garbage churned out by a group of people simply because there's a second book in this supposed deal. The publisher would still have to accept it first - so there's no guarantee that her idea would even work.

I'm thinking all the commenting heerleaders are sockpuppets as well - considering that this woman doesn't seem to live on the same planet as most of us, it wouldn't surprise me at all if she's her own audience.

So, I'm thinking no one will get to see me eat my laptop... bummer, eh?

I second the bullshit.

No publisher just mails a contract - they make an offer first! Usually by letter, or more commonly by telephone. Most major publishers know they might not be the only ones looking at a given manuscript. They wheel and deal with the author - or usually the agent - and hammer out the details before a contract is signed.

THEN most of them send the advance now in three stages - one after the contract signing, one after the final edited version is done, and one at release.

You'd think she'd reveal the name of the publisher. I would. If nothing else, it would show up on publisher's lunch.

I made a comment on her post, so we'll see if she'll allow any more comments that challenge her facts.

Follow-up post (thanks, AF, for the link): http://bloggrrl.com/2008/09/10/my-novel-luncheon/

There are 3 highly negative reviews on her blog now. She even responded to them!

http://bloggrrl.com/2008/09/05/my-novel-is-going-to-be-published/

I just saw this:
http://bloggrrl.com/

I don't know what to say. If it's true, then I'm really sympathetic. But I can't think of why it isn't true.

Also, if her original post is a lie, is there anything she can get out of it? I see nothing.

"As I said in my interview with Blogger Dad, some things were exaggerated due to excitement."

That's the opening sentence to her reply to the questioning comments. So she's admitting it's all bs--in a roundabout way if you continue reading her reply.