h a l f b a k e r yA few slices short of a loaf.
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[alright- this one is going to happen. baker, please put me in the credits and offer me a job.]
when i was in college i answered a tiny magazine ad: "are you a secret poet? send us a poem! if it's good we'll print it!" sure enough, i got in! that is, they were happy to announce that i made
it into the thick handsome upcoming volume entitled "Our [and im using caps here!] Western World's Most Beautiful Poems". and of course, as a contributor, i could purchase the handsome book at a discount- only $50!
that's a good idea. but this is better.
everyone wants to be published somehow/where. put a few illustrator/quark templates up for download. volumes of poetry, art, photography, etc, assemble themselves(!) as people submit their work. everyone can see the volume in progress (the material that has already been submitted.) anyone can attempt to submit something to a volume-in-progress, but it's the people who have already been "let into" the volume who can vote a newly submitted piece in our out. that way you know what your piece will be sitting amoungst and you wont get stuck with Amy (see link) if you dont want to. after approval by the peers, the submitter must put down a deposit, refundable if it doesnt get printed.
when the volume becomes "full" (when it becomes large enough to make a reasonable profit from the printing), it goes to the printer and gets sent out to the submitters, and goes on sale in the "giftshop". since they're submitting work by template, it's plug and print.
you could use collaborative filtering to title it, select fonts, binding methods, paper quality/color, etc.
(?) Amy [caution: MIDI ahead!]
http://members.spre.../GOLDANGEL/amy.html
i never bought Our Western World's Most Beautiful Poems, but if the publishers are to be believed, Amy and i share the same volume. [gnormal, Mar 23 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
A Warning
http://www.sfwa.org...ontests.html#Vanity
What the Science Fiction Writers of America thinks of this idea. [sirrobin, Mar 23 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
Foucault's Pendulum
http://www.amazon.c...os/ASIN/0345368754/
This fine (fictional) book contains a particularly entertaining look at the vanity publishing industry. I have no idea how accurate it is. [egnor, Mar 23 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
(?) Poetry Scams
http://wind.wind.org/ripoffs.htm
More detailed info and links. [sirrobin, Mar 23 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
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OK so what these poetry people did is get people to submit work to them free of charge then charge the authors for copies of their own work.
That's what we call a rip off.
Here's how the publishing business works. Authors write works which they sell to publishers. Publishers print copies of the work and sell them to bookstores and consumers. Polite publishers send the author several free copies of the work.
The important bit is that publishers pay authors. It's never the other way around. The work of authors is the raw material from which books are made. Books are what publishers make their living from. It's right that they should pay for their raw materials and that authors be paid for their work. |
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this category is Product:Book. |
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if you're "an author" then it is indeed a rip off. if you're a hack (or an "unpublished" author) then you might possibly pay to have your work published. happens all the time. i wonder how many professional artists have paid something somehow to get their work produced in their... early years. all? |
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it's a service. maybe the literary community won't take such work seriously, but the artist would, spurring him on to better work (or in the worst case, just more work). |
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If the publisher thinks it is good enough to make them money then it's good enough for them to pay for it. The people gnormal is writing about don't distribute copies to anyone but the writers so it won't even help get an unpublished writer's career going.
The only "service" being provided is one that can be obtained from any commercial printer at a much lower cost. Lots of writers have started out publishing their own work (particularly in the comic field). All you need is words and a printer, you do not need one of these scams at all.
And, yes, I am aware that this topic is Product:Book. Where do you think all those book products come from? Publishers. Real publishing companies doing real publishing business. gnormal seems to be describing a business plan for a publishing company. That's what I was doing. |
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gnormal - brilliant link! What a fantastic site. Even funnier than the Landover Baptists. |
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And if you Enter the site, and read "1999's Death's," you will experience the work of a true master (anyone p++ or higher enter at your own risk). I especially loved the part about the helicopter drenched in tears and the part where Ron died at his funeral. |
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sirrobin, i hate scams as much as the next guy, but a scam is a not a scam if everyone agrees on the transaction and ends up happy. sushi is not a scam. gwbush is a scam. |
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you are not happy about it, so you wont submit, buy, or profit. but i might do any or all of these. it sounds fun. perhaps i shouldnt have begun with the example of the esteemed volume in which i and Amy are allegedly published. we could call this instead just an online facility for sharing self-publishing expenses. |
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for example, if there were to be a halfbakery book, i would pay... $99 to have all my submissions included in the volume. i wouldnt want to be left out. am i crazy? |
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We have a bid for $99. Anyone care to bid $100 to keep gnormal's ideas *out* of the book? Going...going... |
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(just kidding, gnormal) ;^) |
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I like this. open source publishing. If software, os's, and encyclopedias can do it, why not poetry, or collaborative fiction. I agree with the folks that say a scam is a scam to the people who feel ripped off, otherwisw, it's a great deal!. Im a plus one on this idea... |
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What does the "CF" stand for? |
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//you could use collaborative filtering to title it, select fonts, binding methods, paper quality/color, etc.// |
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Collaborative filtering, I guess. |
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