A Tale of Two Empires

Hello, Dear Readers. You all remember my blog about Chuck Tingle, John Scalzi, and the infamous attention whore, Vox Day (Theodore Beale)? Well, rabid little Voxxie is back doing what he does best- being the biggest puddle of pond scum he can make himself.

John Scalzi has released a new novel, The Collapsing Empire, and Voxxie, who just can’t seem to accept Scalzi is a much better author and person, has also released a new book, The Corroding Empire, with an almost identical cover, title, and author name. (I’m sure it’s just an unfortunate coincidence. Yeah, right.)

Beth Elderkin has more of the story here.

 

EL James Celebrates, Chuck Wendig Pouts, Annie Rice Spreads Hysterical Rhetoric (as usual)

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” – Martin Luther King.

Hello, Dear Readers, how are you all today? I’m feeling a little ranty, so be warned. Did any of you participate in the #AskELJames Twitter yesterday? You did? You didn’t? Well, it was a rousing success. What? You’ve heard just the opposite? I know, but really, Dear Readers, what has the internet been talking about for the past 24+ hours? Here’s a hint:  Not Anne Rice.

Once again, threats of physical violence are not acceptable so all those who felt the need to leave one attached to the hashtag managed to make James the object of sympathy, so think about it.

I haven’t been all that involved with the whole 50 Shades furor because I just plain hated her writing, if you want to call it writing. James has had an interesting rise to infamy. She started by writing fanfic and indeed  50 Shades is a Twilight fanfic ripoff. Not only that but she seems to have left the fanfic community on a father sour note. There are more accounts of her fanfic days out there but I’m going to borrow a page from James’ style of research and just not bother.

What has bothered a lot of people is that James seems to like to ignore, avoid, and block those who wish to engage her in a discussion of the inaccurate portrayal of BDSM, the abusive nature of Christian and Ana’s relationship and what a lot of readers define as rape. She also likes to send inappropriate messages and engage in a little jeering and belittling* with her fans. This Twitter exchange highlights a response, to a DV survivor yet. Charming.

So. When #AskELJames appeared a lot of people had a lot of questions and a lot of snark to post. Hey, it’s not like EL hasn’t done the same. S lot of posters have been saying she should have known better, that her PR people are probably looking for their next position, and that there just wasn’t any excuse for what happened to her.

What happened to her is people are still talking about a woman who can barely write her name. Do I think she got spanked? Hell no. She’s probably laughing her ass off and high-fiving whoever thought that campaign up. People are still talking and it seems to me it’s all about what happened to James and nothing about what James has done to others.

Now we come to Chuck Wendig who wrote this post about poor, beleaguered ELM James and then this post where he pouts and whines and get sympathy because what? Oh, I guess people pointing out where you totally ignored James’ behavior and the people she has attacked is more than you can handle. A more graceless, self absorbed post I have seldom seen. Not once, not once did you acknowledge any of the legitimate issues people have had with James, not once did you point out her behavior has fanned the ire of members of the BDSM community and DV survivors. No, no, you just couldn’t be bothered.

What was it, Chuck? Did you just not bother to do any research or are these people not as important as a woman on top of the best seller lists despite her inability to write a decent grocery list? Let me give you a clue, Chuck, those people read books and now I’m betting they won’t be reading you.

“Today I peeled back the Internet curtain and looked into that #AskELJames hashtag and thought, “Well, there’s some ugly stuff going on there and it’s against a woman,”” C Wendig, Online is IRL. You know, I had to reread that line a couple times before I actually figured it out, “and it’s against a woman”, so you chose to leap on your keyboard and ride to the little woman’s rescue. “To that society, women must shout back and louder, until a woman’s voice is as unremarkable as a man’s.”– Caroline Criado Perez. So the next time you decide to ride to the rescue ask yourself if you would do this for a man and if the answer is no,  then shut up.

BTW, congratulations, you have gotten the STGRB’s seal of approval for your post. If that doesn’t make you realize your colossal mistakes and missteps then nothing ever will.

Dumbass.

Then there is Annie, what can I say? That isn’t profane, that is. If ever there was a menace to authors and reviewers online it is Annie, who never lets the facts get in her way. Annie has been trying ever so hard to silence those that she doesn’t like and won’t bow down to her. She’s even found herself a couple mind numbingly stupid stooges to do her dirty work so she can claim willful ignorance.

I guess it’s understandable in a way that Annie would want to rush  to James’ defense, she did thank her for making erotica more acceptable and thereby making A N Roquelaure more profitable. Ever the champion of hysterical, overwrought, incendiary accusations having little to do with reality this link takes you to a solid rebuttal of her latest foray into the reality only she inhabits, and this is not the first time Annie has used inflammatory language to garner sympathy for her Holy Cause, read this. And this link points out that Annie, for all her holy fervor, doesn’t really look into the James furor, she just takes the word of someone who wants to curry favor and runs with it.

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” – Martin Luther King.

ETA: “jeering and belittling“

Addendum- Guns & Plagiarism

Because nothing says targeted for the 12-18 yr old category like advising them to send someone to Hawaii.

Forget the discounts.  Everyone gives boring discounts.  Give them something of ‘value’.  Give a free make-over, a free consultation.  make it over-the-top.  Create a contest and the best entry wins a free iPad or a trip to Hawaii.  Make your offer something that really, really stands out and that sets you apart from your competition.– 6 Tips on How to Advertise More Effectively

Guns & Plagiarism- A YA Story

It’s Friday morning and I’m angry. You remember this piece of crap I reviewed? At the time good ol’ Dennys had only one other “short book” for sale, now he’s got three.

Here’s the description of his newest book:

“”Kids Only” is a short book for kids, This book teaches kids how reality actually works.
Kids now days don’t know how to control their actions and by reading this book it could change the way a kid at a young age to see the world in a different perspective. Kids only is a book inspired by my younger brother and how his mind change after i explain what i wrote in this book.” -book description on Amazon.

I can’t even. But this “book” is not why I’m angry (even though it should and normally could make me).

I lied to you, Dennys doesn’t have three “books” for sale, he has four.

Let’s take a closer look at number four.

Advertising Weapons, wow,  ol’ Dennys has made a radical departure from the light and fluffy of kiddie books. “Any medium that can take a message from an organization to a potential consumer can be used for advertising. Of course, the most popular media are television, print (newspaper, magazines, etc.), radio, and the Internet. Television is popular because of its large reach, but it is also costly. This Ebook contains wonderful tips on how you can Advertise with success.” –book description from Amazon. Yes, ol’ Dennys is aiming (no pun intended) for adults now.

Or is he? Read that last screenshot again. Better still, let me point it out:

Because you 12 year old can’t have too many helpful tips on selling his WTS .50 BMG (Browning Machine gun Cartridge) Pistol. Uh-huh. I. Am. Angry. It’s beyond bad enough that this clown can’t write but now a “book” on tips to sell your weapons for the 12-18 age group? No.

Fortunately there is a remedy. If you wander over to this listing on Amazon and scroll down, you’ll find this:

Content inappropriate. Yes, indeed. I think so.

Any medium that can take a message from an organization to a potential consumer can be used for advertising. Of course, the most popular media are television, print (newspaper, magazines, etc.), radio, and the Internet. Television is popular because of its large reach, but it is also costly. – Common Advertising Media and Examples

“Any medium that can take a message from an organization to a potential consumer can be used for advertising. Of course, the most popular media are television, print (newspaper, magazines, etc.), radio, and the Internet. Television is popular because of its large reach, but it is also costly. This Ebook contains wonderful tips on how you can Advertise with success.” –book description from Amazon.

I suspect that the description might not be the only thing Dennys has lifted word for word from someone else.

Don’t Put all of Your Eggs Into one Basket
Spread your advertising dollars around by choosing a variety of suitable media for your audience and budget. – DBS Media

Last two sentences. Despite the weird typos, which I suspect is Dennys way of trying to get around a call of plagiarism his previous shining literary examples have proven that he can’t write a decent, coherent sentence so anything approaching that is immediately suspect.

Don’t try to be everything to everyone. No product or service will appeal to everyone. Many business owners, including corporate executives, try to come up with ways to reach every market. Typically, this does not work. It can spell disaster for small businesses, who cannot afford to spread themselves too thin. Therefore, find your market and be everything you can be to that audience.- Top 10 Tips for an Effective Advertising Campaign

See above screenshot.

Diversify. It is all too common for business owners to choose the best place to advertise based on price and potential rate of returns and then stop. As is the case with investing, you do not want to put all of your eggs in one basket. Spread your advertising dollars around.– Top 10 Tips for an Effective Advertising Campaign

See above screenshot again.

Don’t allow your budget to run your advertising campaign. If you budget $5,000 per month for advertising, you’ve made it very easy from a bookkeeping perspective. However, if like most businesses you have seasonal highs and lows, you are spending too much money advertising during down times and not enough when you want to attract customers. Too many entrepreneurs do not budget according to their seasonal advertising needs.– Top 10 Tips for an Effective Advertising Campaign

Establish an image. You can recognize the McDonald’s arches while whizzing by on the highway. Likewise, there are plenty of products that you recognize by their packaging or logo. Image counts when it comes to advertising and promoting your business. Too many advertisers do not work to build a consistent image. Check out Three Brand Identity Myths That Will Bring Your Business Down for additional issues to avoid.– Top 10 Tips for an Effective Advertising Campaign

I think we know enough, and there isn’t that much more book to check.  Strangely, there is not one mention of weapons in the, at most, six pages of plagiarized material.

But are they your words, Dennys?

I’m going to hazard a guess that ol’ Dennys didn’t get permission.

So please report him for inappropriate content and hopefully  All Business will take care of the plagiarism (yes, I emailed them).

Should I? Yes, I should.

Edit:  It has been pointed out to me that Dennys might mean that the tips in this “book” are weapons to use for marketing. If so, he’s reduced them to the level of a spray bottle of water set on “mist”. And they are still other people’s words. (thanks to Tina Nicole)

 

 

Kids Today-The Joe Gazzam Story

You all are familiar with Joe Gazzam and his spamming as a twelve year old girl, right? If not, try Shelby’s blog and her other blog,  this blog by 1st Avenue and  Cameron’s Utube video. It seems that Joe wanted to promote his book and the best way to do it was as a girl or several girls. I am not sure why he thought this might be a good idea.

My review of his book, Uncaged. I posted that on the 7th and today in my GRs mail I find this:

Okay

I’m hesitant to write this as I’m afraid you might misinterpret my tone as aggressive, when I don’t mean to be.  If it weren’t for my niece, I wouldn’t risk it, but here it goes.  I don’t think Cameron is a bad guy or means to hurt anyone.  Nor do I think you are.
But you are hurting people.  Someone in particular.
The 12 year old that wrote a glowing review for my book was…a 12 year old.  She is my niece.  Her mother is very strict, hyper conservative in extremely weary of the internet.  Thus, she is not allowed on Facebook and not allowed to post pics on anything.
So, she joined goodreads and pulled a pic off the internet to use as her sig pic.  Just like half the people on Goodreads use pics off the internet and not their own.   Unless there really are vampires on this site.  Now, she then did go overboard and messaged a bunch of people telling them to check out the book.  I believe so much that she was marked as spam and kicked off.
I had no knowledge of this.  Was I mad about it?   To be honest, no.  How mad could I be?  She was trying to help.  I was actually flattered and honestly though that was the end of it.
Problem is Cameron, without any facts, without any knowledge whatsoever — assumed the worse.  He decided that it had to be me — the author — who was doing it.  But it wasn’t.  The conclusion he jumped to led to a bunch of really, reallllllly creepy attacks on me.  And then all of his friends — assuming Cameron was acting on fact — joined in.
Again, I can take it, I’m a grown up.  Problem is — my niece now knows about it.  She still goes on this site and has seen all the attacks. She literally was crying to my sister the other night.  This is a 12 year old who thinks she’s the cause of all this stuff.
Again, I don’t think Cameron is a hateful guy.  He actually seems like a pretty nice guy.  But you can’t make accusations like this on a hunch.  You can really hurt people.
Anyway, I hope my tone came off okay, you never know when you are writing.  I would send this to Cameron, but ironically, he doesn’t accept messages.  If you would pass it along, I would appreciate it.  If he wants to talk to me personally, I will call him to discuss.
I’ll try and send this note to a couple other people as well, hopefully it registers.
Thanks for listening.  Take care.

Joe had reached out to me. It’s a nice post, isn’t it? One polite post deserves another, my reply:

I will consider your post but-12 yr old are not allowed on GRs. At all. So if this all is true and I am not dismissing you without more consideration, your sister, the strict mother, violated GRs TOS by letting her daughter on this site.

” This Service is intended solely for Users who are thirteen (13) years of age or older, and any registration, use or access to the Service by anyone under 13 is unauthorized, unlicensed, and in violation of this Agreement. If you are under 18 years of age you may use the Service only if you either are an emancipated minor or possess legal parental or guardian consent, and are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in this Agreement, and to abide by and comply with this Agreement.”

The easiest solution to this then is for your niece to stop visiting this site. Age limits are there for a reason. But I will give your post more consideration.

I did give Joe’s post consideration, I considered it right into a an email to GRs customer service. Because I have a few problems with Joe’s post to me, let’s start with this:

“The 12 year old that wrote a glowing review for my book was…a 12 year old.  She is my niece.  Her mother is very strict, hyper conservative in extremely weary of the internet.  Thus, she is not allowed on Facebook and not allowed to post pics on anything.”

Aside from the obvious mistakes in construction, Joe would like me to believe that a very strict, hper conservative, internet wary, I assume it is wary that he meant, mother would allow her daughter to create an illegal account on a website that I am assuming she would know next to nothing about and then let her roam free to spam until she got banned for doing so. And then she then returned to GRs under another account and is now “crying to her mother”, whatever that means.

All of us who had strict mothers raise our hands. I ask you all, would you have been able to pull this off? Not only would I not have been able to I shudder to think of the consequences of getting caught. And I had a healthy respect for the rules, children generally do.

But it seems that Joe’s niece doesn’t have to worry about any of that and since Joe is pleading for me to change my review it must be because she will be returning to read my gentle gibe again? Why, yes, ” She still goes on this site and has seen all the attacks. ” Oh, Joe, rest easy, she won’t be returning because I complained to GRs that it is not my problem if an underage child of a very strict, hyper conservative, internet wary mother creates a second  account, violating the TOS yet again, was upset by my review. GRs takes a dim view of these activities.

Dear readers, all three of you, if you detect a slight note of skepticism on my part for Joe’s story, I must sincerely apologize. I do not have the slightest bit of skepticism, I think Joe is lying like a cheap Wal-Mart rug. I do not think Joe can take getting one star reviews and/or people talking about his little masquerade(s), I think Joe is handling this, or mishandling this, in a manner that would have that niece of his rolling her eyeballs at the great lameness of Uncle Joe.

“But you are hurting people.  Someone in particular.” Yes, Joe, but the only person you’re hurting is yourself.

Carroll Bryant Strives For Relevance