Misleading article from todays DM

shaldna · Nov 2, 2012

Spotted this in today's DM:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...publishing-deal-writing-novel-BLACKBERRY.html

And at first I thought it was a great story, but don't be fooled - this is the Daily Mail we are talking about, so accuracy takes a back seat to sensationalism.

The author wrote her entire book on her Blackberry, which is cool, while not exactly a unique or new idea.

She then 'landed a publishing deal' - which is the basis of this whole story.

Except she didn't.

She self published her book with Memoirs Publishing www.memoirspublishing.com/

Now, while I hate the misleading nature of the story, I have to admire the amount of National press coverage she's managed to generate for her book through this 'story.'

seun · Nov 2, 2012

At least some people in the comments are aware it's the usual spin of bollocks from the Mail.

shaldna · Nov 2, 2012

seun said:
At least some people in the comments are aware it's the usual spin of bollocks from the Mail.

True, but sadly there will be an awful lot of people who will take it as face value and think that's the key to getting a book published.

seun · Nov 2, 2012

shaldna said:
True, but sadly there will be an awful lot of people who will take it as face value and think that's the key to getting a book published.

Yep although they're the same people who think every publishing deal is in JK Rowling territory or every self-pubbed title takes off like 50 Shades of Grey.

shadowwalker · Nov 2, 2012

Y'know, I'm getting to the point where I don't care very much if people are so stupid and impatient that they go crashing into self-publishing/vanity publishing based on very little objective research and on a lot of "well, that one did it!". But that's on my "I've got enough problems not caused by my own stupidity to sympathize, you idiot!" days... :Shrug:

onesecondglance · Nov 2, 2012

shaldna said:
True, but sadly there will be an awful lot of people who will take it as face value and think that's the key to getting a book published.

seun said:
Yep although they're the same people who think every publishing deal is in JK Rowling territory or every self-pubbed title takes off like 50 Shades of Grey.

I partly agree, but with a note of caution - one of the reasons the music industry is so utterly shafted at the moment is that they did nothing to dispel inaccurate perceptions.

People still believe that most artists drive Ferraris and that getting lots of plays on internet sites will lead to a deal (and Ferraris). As with the examples above, that's true for a tiny minority only, with the vast majority of artists (major and indie) earning barely enough to break even, and sticking a track on Myspace (hah!) akin to whispering in Waterloo at rush hour.

The mainstream music industry was quite happy to perpetuate those ideas (and still are, stupidly) - but that means that all the freetards think that the artists can take it when they steal their music, and that the labels are big nasty people who deserve a good kicking. The culture of free illegal downloads has had wide-reaching and damaging effects on grass-roots level musicians. There's more to it than just the perception piece, but it's part of it.

So I can bat this one away with one hand as I do with most DM fluff, but with the other hand I'm cringing a bit at the thought that these fluff pieces are sending publishing down the same road as the music industry.

gothicangel · Nov 2, 2012

I imagine that there are a few SPed writers who wouldn't jump to correct a journalist's/booker buyer's mistake.

Buffysquirrel · Nov 2, 2012

The misinformation out there about publishing is a torrent beyond a million fingers owned by Dutch boys.

Misleading article from todays DM

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

seun

Horror Man

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

seun

Horror Man

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

onesecondglance

pretending to be awake

gothicangel

Toughen up.

Buffysquirrel