WEbook? How about WEcrook?

Status: Busy with stuff.

Watching: Fan-Based Collective Time Travel.

Listening To: Nothing at the moment.

Reading: Midori Days manga.

TOPIC: ANOTHER SCAM IN PROGRESS.

I joined another social networking site for writers--thinking it would be cool to ham it up with other writers and see what's going on.

That was three days ago.

What I discovered was a slick scam designed to steal the rights of every author connected with Webook and give very little in return.

As a precaution, I removed all of my outlined projects and have posted warnings on every social networking site there is--about Webook's costly right stealings; which are more complicated and complex.

But let's just say that if you do go through Webook, you won't be able to reclaim your rights to your work or on anything else you submit.

In fact...? They make it so that you no longer have any right to what you've spent years working on; once you become connected to their website.

So pay close attention to what Webook is throwing at you. You may end up regretting it later--if you're not careful and wary.

First, they claim that--for $5--you can get a literary agent after going through 4 rounds of voting.

But what they don't tell you is that there is absolutely zero guarantee that your book will be picked up!

And all the while, you'll be wasting more money trying to "get in" the front door of a literary agent--rather than just spending a small amount of money sending out query letters.

(This way...at least you'll get a generic rejection letter--instead of wasting funds doing it this way.)

Oddly enough, no writer magazine, book, or online site has ever mentioned Webook as being a "realiable", "trusting", and "auspacious" site that GUARANTEES absolute publication or literary representation.

Believe me...I've checked. I spent a few hours going through every site that I could think of, to pull any information on Webook.

And one site--Wikipedia--offered a disturbing premise on what Webook really is: "An online version of American Idol."

Much like "Operation Teen Author" (which offers teens the chance to become nationally best-selling authors for the low, low, price of $2495.00 (that is no typo by the way--they do charge that much!), Webook is nothing more than a vanity-press operation which is obscured in a media cloak of deception.

How do I know this?

One article in The Writer (March 2010 issue), tells writers that, "there is no magic pill to getting published."

And that goes for websites as well.

There is no 'magic pill' website that will do the same.

Bottom line?

Webook is a social networking site that's stamped with the words "SUCKER" and "VANITY PRESS on it.

It won't get you any closer to becoming published, or have tea and cookies with a high-profile agent.

In fact, it will ruin you on so many levels than it is designed to help.

So if you want to save yourself, and your works...?

AVOID WEBOOK!

WARN EVERYONE YOU KNOW ABOUT IT AND STAY AWAY!!!

Schuyler Thorpe


PS: After its launch 3 years ago, Webook declared last month (January 2010) that they had their first winning author; a sucker whose book isn't even being published by Simon and Schuster; a top-level publishing company located in good ol' New York.

Normally, such a valued company would announce a new acquisition, but after some digging, I discovered that the author and the book hasn't even been picked up yet and ready to become published!

So Scam #2 was successful after all. And one person's dream, one person's book, will never see the light of day.

I tried to contact the author and tell him the truth, but he wouldn't listen to me.

He's still convinced that he's getting published!

WAKING UP.

Status: Currently writing on Zombie Nation: Outbreak Zero--Chapter 10.

Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails

Watching: KIRO 7 News; CBS Evening News

Listening to: "Singular" by Mindless Faith

Reading: Resistance by J.M. Dillard (ST-TNG) (On page 225 finally!)

TOPIC: WRITE HOW YOU WANT, PUBLISH HOWEVER YOU WANT TO

The current argument that I've been getting is: "You're not a real author until you're traditionally published."

And it's lame. What we (writers) are being told is that no one will take us seriously enough unless we're taken in by Random House, Bantam, or Tor Books.

And even then, people still don't take us seriously enough!

Getting traditionally published doesn't mean you gain instant respect and accolades from your peers.

In many respects, you're still an unknown author and your chances of making it are pretty small.

But these prideful writers who are pushing people like you and me to become traditionally published are still ignorant of the facts and the odds behind such an endeavor.

Personally, I would love to be traditionally published. Y'know?

To see my book on the shelves so prominently.

But things are tight right now in the marketplace and not many agents or publishers are taking on new authors. The reason behind it is simply this: Money and the bottom line.

The publishers are facing a problem with people not reading enough books these days. The internet and online reading has gained traction and is tearing many traditional readers away from the paperback variety.

Then you have costumers shopping from their homes--on their computers (just as the Jetsons predicted would happen decades ago), and you have even less reason for people to go shopping at their once favorite reading haunts.

To top that off, the last Harry Potter novel did little to save Barnes and Noble, and Borders bottom line in the last quarter--as predicted. Adding severely limited shelf space, the rising costs of books, and you have a real nightmare for the publishers.

And even still, I am being told to traditionally publish. To keep going.

But I've already done that.

I spent 8 long years pushing myself to become traditionally published. I sent out dozens and dozens of query letters; all rejected out of hand.

The reason? None of the agents or publishers took fiction.

But not their brand of fiction. Just mine.

What I write isn't what they want.

So where does that leave me?

Well, ever since I announced my intentions that I was going to self-publish my books under my own imprint, there has been (naturally) some resistance to the idea. It isn't the imprint part that's got some people up in arms, but the self-publishing part.

Many people mistaken that for vanity-press, and so they think that's what I'm doing.

But the irritating part is, is that this isn't what I am doing.

Despite me telling them that this isn't vanity-press, I'm still getting hammered for my choices in publishing or even writing my books how I want.

They still want me to traditionally publish. How many times will I have to say, "No!"?--before they get it through their heads???

I am not interested in the maintream any longer! I have done my bit for king and country--and I am not the least bit inclined to continue spending the rest of my life trying to get into an establishment that is more based on chance than it is on reality.

Please do me the courtesy of allowing me to follow my dreams however I wish., okay? And support me because I am an author just looking to share his numerous works with fellow readers.

I don't need adulation, approval, a ton of money, or an overpowering fan base to know that what I write is good enough for the big guns.

I just want to write what I would like to see read.

Even if the mainstream industry doesn't.

If you like my books, then tell me. But don't ask me to hold back on my imagination.

That's not what an author should do in order to become successful in his or her endeavors.