After reading everyone’s analysis and great insights on this issue. I still find hard to believe a person would try to steal writers’ work and money.
I’m with those who think she made this mistake because of ignorance. She didn’t research, she didn’t do a business plan, she didn’t hire a lawyer with experience in publishing. She launched the project before it was ready. Maybe I’m naive, but this is what I truly believe.
This is also a lesson for aspiring writers. This is what happens when someone bypasses the slush pile boot camp. The author becomes successful, but never learns how the publishing industry really works. All the learning endured between those rejections letters is good in the long run.
Her reaction to the criticism suggests it. She obviously never had a critique partner who told her, “Your masterpiece isn’t perfect, dear.” Neither endured painful revisions with a senior editor.
The slush pile boot camp teaches us to revise, revise and revise. Absolutely everything we do, including the business side of our craft. And when we don’t know something, teaches us to be meek enough to ask advice from those who know better.
In all the years Karen worked in close contact with the industry, she learned how one side of the publishing world functions, sadly she missed the bigger one.
If you have attempted to publish a book via one of the self-publishing arenas, you will pay considerably more than $149.
We plan to publish many runners-up, and with that will come marketing, publicity and all of the things a person attempting to publish themselves simply will not have. As an author myself, I put a lot of thought into the kind of contest I would like to participate in and this is what I came up with.
Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I think what she originally intended was to put ironclad rules that protect First One Publishing from any problem that might raise from the contest. And, the content’s fee would be used to publish and promote ebooks for at least twenty one of the participants. Without First One Publishing investing any money on it.
We all know publishing doesn’t work like that, but apparently she ignores it or she was trying to do something new. Motivated by her previous success, and what she thought she already mastered.