Joe Konrath issues challenge to fisk his latest blog entry or any of his blog entries.

Status
Not open for further replies.

Mr Flibble

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
18,889
Reaction score
5,029
Location
We couldn't possibly do that. Who'd clear up the m
Website
francisknightbooks.co.uk
Oh, I see he quoted me...I suppose that makes me a pinhead to him. How flattering. I shall have a t shirt made. (ETA: Where's my attribution, huh? huh? :D)

It's an opinion. He's allowed one, same as I'm allowed mine. Oh well.

I see he asks us to respond to his points etc*. Can't be arsed, tbh. If he wants to do this, that's great. If other people want to listen to him, that's their prerogative. My only point was this: If you want to self publish, read widely about it. He says that AW is all 'Nyah nyah', but he's nothing but 'rah rah'. You (proto-self-publishing person) need to see all POVs on this.

Read. Learn. Make up your own mind.

*ETA I did respond to ask that IF he's going to quote me, he should include the most salient part, which I then added.
 
Last edited:

leahzero

The colors! THE COLORS!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
2,190
Reaction score
377
Location
Chicago
Website
words.leahraeder.com
When this guy learns how to write a succinct, focused, non-ranting journal entry, I'll give him another shot.

I don't have time to read 3400 words of crazy.
 

HoneyBadger

terribly loud, emotionally distant
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
1,175
Reaction score
351
Location
Fort Wayne, IN
Website
twitter.com
My advice to writers: stop being stupid.

Publishing Culture is guaranteed to end, and when it does everyone will be better off.

Well, everyone except the gatekeepers. But don't cry for them. They never cried for you.

I think I'll just keep being stupid, as being stupid in pursuing a stupid traditional writing career via trade and journal publishing is what will help my stupid writing career so I can win the stupid Orange Prize and make stupid money.
 

mccardey

Self-Ban
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
Messages
19,211
Reaction score
15,811
Location
Australia.
I read it! (most of it)

So, now I know who Mr Konrath is, and although that's fifteen minutes of my life I'm not going to get back again, can I just quote his statement -

If some legacy publisher gave me 1.5 million for a book, I'd take it.

and add -

Me too, Mr K!

Oh, me too!

:Sun:
 
Last edited:

Mr Flibble

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
18,889
Reaction score
5,029
Location
We couldn't possibly do that. Who'd clear up the m
Website
francisknightbooks.co.uk
When this guy learns how to write a succinct, focused, non-ranting journal entry, I'll give him another shot.

I don't have time to read 3400 words of crazy.

Yup.

I think he has a point in that writers should really think about contracts etc. He's taken a contract from Amazon which he finds appealing. Others may well find contracts with Big Six appealing, for their own reasons. That's up to them, and I lose him when he bashes authors who are taking a contract that works for them.

Sadly any good points are lost in a landslide of:

captain-james-t-kirk-awesome.jpg
 

shadowwalker

empty-nester!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Messages
5,601
Reaction score
598
Location
SE Minnesota
One thing he's got down pat - how to tell people what they want to hear. Or is it fooling some of the people all of the time. Or... something...

But yeah - I prefer being my kind of stupid to his kind.
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
God, who cares what Konrath says? It's all opinion. He should spend more time writing, and less time issuing challenges.
 

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle
Absolute Sage
VPX
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
25,582
Reaction score
3,785
Location
New Hampshire
Website
madhousemanor.wordpress.com
Publishing Culture is guaranteed to end, and when it does everyone will be better off.

Well, everyone except the gatekeepers. But don't cry for them. They never cried for you.

Oh, does he mean the people who nurture the careers of young authors, including the young Joe Konrath?
 

kaitie

With great power comes
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
10,992
Reaction score
2,525
Pretty sure he was banned awhile back. Came and spouted some pretty nasty insults at the mods in the self-publishing forum, if I remember correctly. I could be wrong on that, though. He might have just been given a time out.

ETA: Just correcting myself to say I looked it up and he wasn't, so it was just a time-out. But yeah, he's here. He pops in sometimes. :)
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 42

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/...nt=1337423718251#comment-c3444709850467972064

Challenge issued in comments section by Joe Konrath at 2:07 AM near the end of the comments.

Any takers?

He's already been pwnd.

Also? He's an not really in a position to pontificate regarding the history of publishing; publishing has at least a 3,000 year old history. It's still working just fine. The current publishing paradigm works so well that if I want to read something by Konrath, I have to look for it; I'm otherwise protected from his ramblings.
 

CrastersBabies

Burninator!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 24, 2011
Messages
5,641
Reaction score
666
Location
USA
Seems like a great way to drum up site-traffic to this blog. I don't know the guy. Don't read his blog or posts or books (except glancing at his page for a few minutes now). If he's found a model that works for him, great. I read one post where he yells at his readers to get the F off his blog and websites and message boards and just WRITE, and then he baits people into coming to his website to debate with him?

Maybe he has a blog-monkey to do the net stuff for him.
Maybe he has a clone.

I dunno. I never took to people thumping their chest on the internet in hopes of getting into an epic pissing contest. I'll pass. The people on this board (minus the few asshats which every board has) are pretty damn helpful and thoughtful. You get out of the board what you "put in," in terms of reading and educating yourself.

Again, don't read this guy's stuff. It could be that the more I read him, the more I agree with him. I'm just not interested seeing the few internet tantrums he's already had. Doesn't seem very professional to me. Maybe it's my loss.
 
Last edited:

Alitriona

Attends The School of AW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
958
Reaction score
96
Location
Ireland
Website
www.caroloates.com
This is a classic case of someone believing their own hype. I have no interest in anyone with such blinkers on and this is him blowing more hot air about the evils of every way but how he tells people to publish. A route he doesn't follow himself.

I would love his sales but not his crazy distorted opinion of how he achieved them.
 

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
16,441
Reaction score
1,529
Location
between rising apes and falling angels
Website
www.cranehanabooks.com
I wonder how good his sales are, since he keeps stirring up the blog pot to get more readers. When I first heard about him, I was impressed with his story (if not his actual writing). The more I read of his rants, the less I care.

Self-publishing works for some people, if they can spend the time on promotions. Ol' Joe lucked out because he already had street cred from his work with Hyperion. I guarantee you, his results are not typical. Folks who will not get rich off multi-level marketing, real estate, gold sales, Mary Kay, or Amway will not get Konrath-style returns from self-publishing. Not in the current economy.

Now, there's still a lot I don't like about the Big Six model, and even some of the standard operating procedures from the smaller, nimbler trade publishers. But I'm currently working with an e-pub for a niche market piece, and will be working with a 'tradtional' agent to sell some mainstream SF&F. I'm looking at self-publishing as a sales tool linked with those other efforts, not as a replacement.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.