Are Amazon Authors the new Amway?

[DMC]

I know a couple people personally who have published several books on Amazon, and they both call themselves "authors" in their everyday lives even though they both have full time jobs that don't include authoring. Their books seem to be largely bought by other Amazon authors, and their reviews are by friends and family members. They talk about it every time you see them, they email you updates, they have stacks of their own books in paperback sitting around their homes. This reminds me of Amway people who buy from each other and always dream of some way to climb the ladder in the Amway world by selling more to more Amway people. Herbalife would be the same thing.

I get it that some of this is just people wanting to tell a story they've had in mind for a long time, but some of these people just keep churning out to build their resume.

Does this type of thing dilute the concept of becoming an author, when anyone can just jot down some fiction and publish it?

I realize there are some real deal authors who likely use Amazon, so in no way am I saying that all Amazon authors are hobbyists, but do you know people who claim to be authors because they hit the "publish" key on their Amazon page? If so, are we also authors here?

[cantthinkofanything]

I know a couple people personally who have published several books on Amazon, and they both call themselves "authors" in their everyday lives even though they both have full time jobs that don't include authoring. Their books seem to be largely bought by other Amazon authors, and their reviews are by friends and family members. They talk about it every time you see them, they email you updates, they have stacks of their own books in paperback sitting around their homes. This reminds me of Amway people who buy from each other and always dream of some way to climb the ladder in the Amway world by selling more to more Amway people. Herbalife would be the same thing.

I get it that some of this is just people wanting to tell a story they've had in mind for a long time, but some of these people just keep churning out to build their resume.

Does this type of thing dilute the concept of becoming an author, when anyone can just jot down some fiction and publish it?

I realize there are some real deal authors who likely use Amazon, so in no way am I saying that all Amazon authors are hobbyists, but do you know people who claim to be authors because they hit the "publish" key on their Amazon page? If so, are we also authors here?

I don't think it dilutes the concept. An author is an author no matter how ty or unimportant. Just like YouTube has provided an outlet for wannabe musicians and singers, Amazon is doing the same for writers. So there are surely to be some gems out there among the piles of . But the big difference being that it takes a lot less effort to watch a couple of minutes of a YouTube video than read a book or short story. And I imagine for the newer writers, the reviews are heavily skewed to positives as they are probably friends, family, or multiple accounts from the author them self.

But as you should know, in today's world, you can be whatever you want to identify your self as. If a 50 year old man with a beard and a can be a woman, then I guess a burger flipper can be an author.

[m>s]

^you should post your version of goddess on there lol

[DMC]

I don't think it dilutes the concept. An author is an author no matter how ty or unimportant. Just like YouTube has provided an outlet for wannabe musicians and singers, Amazon is doing the same for writers. So there are surely to be some gems out there among the piles of . But the big difference being that it takes a lot less effort to watch a couple of minutes of a YouTube video than read a book or short story. And I imagine for the newer writers, the reviews are heavily skewed to positives as they are probably friends, family, or multiple accounts from the author them self.

But as you should know, in today's world, you can be whatever you want to identify your self as. If a 50 year old man with a beard and a can be a woman, then I guess a burger flipper can be an author.

In this day and age and in some countries/states you can call yourself an engineer even if you only clean toilets. That dilutes the concept of calling yourself an engineer when you are actually a certified, degreed engineer. "I'm an engineer"... "oh yeah? My brother is an engineer as well, he works for Molly Maids... they are residential domestic engineers, and my sister replaces light bulbs at her work, she's a tubular florescent lighting device engineer, and my friend Skillet is a sanitation engineer, I see him every Tuesday".

[m>s]

^but how many are electrical engineers who choose to pay themselves rather than the Jew

[DMC]

^but how many are electrical engineers who choose to pay themselves rather than the Jew

There are a few but we don't see a lot of compe ion where consulting is concerned by qualified individuals. Most choose to stay in the comfort of lower wages, but guaranteed disbursements. If I took my income and divided it by 26 weeks, I could give myself reassuring paychecks as well, but I prefer to manage my own money rather than allowing Herschel to do it for me as he skims off the top.

There's a reason they chose names like Gold this and Silver that. Never met a Jew with "charity" or "bronze" in their names.

[cantthinkofanything]

In this day and age and in some countries/states you can call yourself an engineer even if you only clean toilets. That dilutes the concept of calling yourself an engineer when you are actually a certified, degreed engineer. "I'm an engineer"... "oh yeah? My brother is an engineer as well, he works for Molly Maids... they are residential domestic engineers, and my sister replaces light bulbs at her work, she's a tubular florescent lighting device engineer, and my friend Skillet is a sanitation engineer, I see him every Tuesday".

It's different though isn't it? One is evaluated subjectively and the other objectively. I suppose by definition, an author is anyone who writes a work. Being an engineer implies some kind of education, training, or experience in engineering. Do you really know a lot of people claiming to be engineers using the criteria above?

I guess if it really bothers you, anytime someone claims to be anything, you can just respond, "oh yeah? how does that pay?". They'll either shove it in your face or stumble around embarrassed. And if it's the latter, they probably won't shoot their mouths off about it as much in the future.

[Trainwreck2100]

Most authors have full time jobs btw,

[cantthinkofanything]

^you should post your version of goddess on there lol

I struggle with allowing myself to think of Goddess. Once allow, it takes over my world an interferes with my daily tasks. Then I can only get back to the real world by expelling Goddess from my thoughts in words.

[DMC]

Most authors have full time jobs btw,

Of course, that's my point. Most authors are ty writers who just pen nothing onto paper, some fantasy using words they stole from other authors, and they publish it. "20 Grey Shadows"..

Real authors don't have 2nd jobs. I'm not talking about the Bill O'Rielly's and those people who couldn't sell a book if they weren't celebrities already.

[cantthinkofanything]

Of course, that's my point. Most authors are ty writers who just pen nothing onto paper, some fantasy using words they stole from other authors, and they publish it. "20 Grey Shadows"..

Real authors don't have 2nd jobs. I'm not talking about the Bill O'Rielly's and those people who couldn't sell a book if they weren't celebrities already.

At some point, most "real" (your definition seems to equate as successful) authors had 2nd jobs. As did artists and musicians. This is a surprisingly ty take from you and makes me wonder if you have a personal axe to grind with someone claiming to be an author.

[DMC]

At some point, most "real" (your definition seems to equate as successful) authors had 2nd jobs. As did artists and musicians. This is a surprisingly ty take from you and makes me wonder if you have a personal axe to grind with someone claiming to be an author.

http://nanowrimo.org/

Write a novel in a month!

What is success where authorship is concerned? If you just want to put your thoughts to paper, why do you put it out there for sale? What is this "Best Sellers" list if not "successful"? At some point most professional basketball players had a regular job of some sort. The point isn't whether or not a person can become an author without having to have a day job. It's that these people have created a community where they circle jerk each other off to some of the tiest offerings ever made. If you're a Kindle reader you know the quality of offerings out there is akin to Netflix , but imagine everyone you know can film a home movie and put it on Netflix, then they review the other "directors" movies in a positive way so as to skew the facts. A ty movie that never switches frames and has poor lighting and is basically not worth even a family viewing by those who made it, suddenly has a top review on Netflix. Wow you think, so you start to watch it and guess what? It's .

That's diluting the product.

[cantthinkofanything]

http://nanowrimo.org/

Write a novel in a month!

What is success where authorship is concerned? If you just want to put your thoughts to paper, why do you put it out there for sale? What is this "Best Sellers" list if not "successful"? At some point most professional basketball players had a regular job of some sort. The point isn't whether or not a person can become an author without having to have a day job. It's that these people have created a community where they circle jerk each other off to some of the tiest offerings ever made. If you're a Kindle reader you know the quality of offerings out there is akin to Netflix , but imagine everyone you know can film a home movie and put it on Netflix, then they review the other "directors" movies in a positive way so as to skew the facts. A ty movie that never switches frames and has poor lighting and is basically not worth even a family viewing by those who made it, suddenly has a top review on Netflix. Wow you think, so you start to watch it and guess what? It's .

That's diluting the product.

I don't disagree with that. And for better or worse, I never download those written just for Kindle books. Although I'm sure there is something incredible out there somewhere that I'm missing.
But it's providing some true talent an outlet that they didn't have before and possibly encouraging someone who didn't think they could go the traditional route. But if the opportunity or net is cast further, dilution is inevitable.
But each person can determine what they want to read or watch.

I'm curious why you give a . Are you actually reading all these crappy authors?

[DMC]

I don't disagree with that. And for better or worse, I never download those written just for Kindle books. Although I'm sure there is something incredible out there somewhere that I'm missing.
But it's providing some true talent an outlet that they didn't have before and possibly encouraging someone who didn't think they could go the traditional route. But if the opportunity or net is cast further, dilution is inevitable.
But each person can determine what they want to read or watch.

I'm curious why you give a . Are you actually reading all these crappy authors?

No I don't even own a Kindle. I have friends who write those books and they are like Amway people, always talking about their new book, always trying to push a ty product on you. You know how home business people are, those kinds who are trying to make money without investing anything... they think their friends and family are "networking" contacts. They aren't. I don't want to see your new book, so if you have one, keep it to yourself unless it's like Clancy or something along those lines then I might check it out. I've tried to read some of the sci-fi stuff but it's not even remotely interesting and it reeks of plagiarism of ideas and concepts. Every sci-fi book seems to rip off Roddenberry, Lucas or Spielberg. I realize we write what we know, but I think some people saturate themselves with other people's ideas and can't think for themselves.

And yeah, there needs to be an outlet for talent just like there needs to be one for sewage, but if you clog it with you have to have someone clean it out. There's no plumber.

[cantthinkofanything]

No I don't even own a Kindle. I have friends who write those books and they are like Amway people, always talking about their new book, always trying to push a ty product on you. You know how home business people are, those kinds who are trying to make money without investing anything... they think their friends and family are "networking" contacts. They aren't. I don't want to see your new book, so if you have one, keep it to yourself unless it's like Clancy or something along those lines then I might check it out. I've tried to read some of the sci-fi stuff but it's not even remotely interesting and it reeks of plagiarism of ideas and concepts. Every sci-fi book seems to rip off Roddenberry, Lucas or Spielberg. I realize we write what we know, but I think some people saturate themselves with other people's ideas and can't think for themselves.

And yeah, there needs to be an outlet for talent just like there needs to be one for sewage, but if you clog it with you have to have someone clean it out. There's no plumber.

Yeah...I guess I can see how that's pretty irritating. I've had friends who did some of those deals where they sell electricity or some other service and they just bombard the out of you with emails how they talk about starting their new business. None of that worked for any of them and it ran its own course. I'm assuming the same will happen with the authors that are just trying to sell . But I'm sure there are some deluded enough to continue to crank out their masterpieces.

As time goes on, "nothing new under the sun" will apply more readily to art. Or at least the standard forms that we know today. I think it's why we see more things pushing the envelope on the shocking end. Everything has been done already. There are only so many notes in a scale, so many plots to be told, or so many ways to put color on paper.

Anyway, you should tell your author friends to post some paragrpahs here for reviews.

[Blake]

Same thing with journalism. So many articles out there with suspect source material and bad grammar thanks to the internets

[DMC]

Same thing with journalism. So many articles out there with suspect source material and bad grammar thanks to the internets

True, but then it's not that so much as it is the fake reviews that make these things indistinguishable from one another until you've purchased it, and even worse the people who engage in it remind me of Jethro Bodine's never ending search for a career. Today I want to be an author, tomorrow, a sportswriter and the following day, a brain surgeon.

[cantthinkofanything]

Same thing with journalism. So many articles out there with suspect source material and bad grammar thanks to the internets

Now that's the one that is really irritating. But what makes it more worrisome than that bad writing is the ability to maniuplate the masses with "news" stories that aren't factual. It's too easy to make up bull and pass it off as real. I'm sure BigGovern is licking their chops at the potential.

[DMC]

Yeah...I guess I can see how that's pretty irritating. I've had friends who did some of those deals where they sell electricity or some other service and they just bombard the out of you with emails how they talk about starting their new business. None of that worked for any of them and it ran its own course. I'm assuming the same will happen with the authors that are just trying to sell . But I'm sure there are some deluded enough to continue to crank out their masterpieces.

As time goes on, "nothing new under the sun" will apply more readily to art. Or at least the standard forms that we know today. I think it's why we see more things pushing the envelope on the shocking end. Everything has been done already. There are only so many notes in a scale, so many plots to be told, or so many ways to put color on paper.

Anyway, you should tell your author friends to post some paragrpahs here for reviews.

I try to avoid talking about their "profession". One guy is an engineer, but he lists himself as an "author" on Linkedin... lol. He has made 300 dollars off of 8 books he's published.

[cantthinkofanything]

I try to avoid talking about their "profession". One guy is an engineer, but he lists himself as an "author" on Linkedin... lol. He has made 300 dollars off of 8 books he's published.

Jesus. Maybe it's cathartic for him to write but then again, 8 books... Seems like he's looking for some validation that his career and life aren't providing. If it ever comes up again, you should claim that you're a wizard and then wave your hands around all crazy and . And tell him that you've turned him into a non-author.

[DMC]

Jesus. Maybe it's cathartic for him to write but then again, 8 books... Seems like he's looking for some validation that his career and life aren't providing. If it ever comes up again, you should claim that you're a wizard and then wave your hands around all crazy and . And tell him that you've turned him into a non-author.

He wouldn't go for it since he's a higher level wizard with a business card.

[Trainwreck2100]

Of course, that's my point. Most authors are ty writers who just pen nothing onto paper, some fantasy using words they stole from other authors, and they publish it. "20 Grey Shadows"..

Real authors don't have 2nd jobs. I'm not talking about the Bill O'Rielly's and those people who couldn't sell a book if they weren't celebrities already.

Most authors don't start out as an author. I'm not disputing your point about the amazon thong, but having a full time job does not disqualify being an author.

[DMC]

http://nanowrimo.org/

Write a novel in a month!

What is success where authorship is concerned? If you just want to put your thoughts to paper, why do you put it out there for sale? What is this "Best Sellers" list if not "successful"? At some point most professional basketball players had a regular job of some sort. The point isn't whether or not a person can become an author without having to have a day job. It's that these people have created a community where they circle jerk each other off to some of the tiest offerings ever made. If you're a Kindle reader you know the quality of offerings out there is akin to Netflix , but imagine everyone you know can film a home movie and put it on Netflix, then they review the other "directors" movies in a positive way so as to skew the facts. A ty movie that never switches frames and has poor lighting and is basically not worth even a family viewing by those who made it, suddenly has a top review on Netflix. Wow you think, so you start to watch it and guess what? It's .

That's diluting the product.

Most authors don't start out as an author. I'm not disputing your point about the amazon thong, but having a full time job does not disqualify being an author.

[GoodOdor]

I love Amazon authors. 95% of them are absolute , but every once in a while you stumble upon a really good fantasy/sci-fi. Fairly cheap too.

[Drachen]

It's different though isn't it? One is evaluated subjectively and the other objectively. I suppose by definition, an author is anyone who writes a work. Being an engineer implies some kind of education, training, or experience in engineering. Do you really know a lot of people claiming to be engineers using the criteria above?

I guess if it really bothers you, anytime someone claims to be anything, you can just respond, "oh yeah? how does that pay?". They'll either shove it in your face or stumble around embarrassed. And if it's the latter, they probably won't shoot their mouths off about it as much in the future.

I have inadvertently done this with people who claim to speak another language, specifically German. Mousy recently, I was having a drink at a gas station that I go to with relative frequency and I heard the cash register attending engineer (lol) tell the person in front of goon that he likes learning languages and knows french, German, Spanish, and is learning mandrin. He had a bit of an at ude while saying it. Anyway, I said "wirklich? Wieviel Deutsch sprichst du?" His eyes got all big and he had a very embarrasses look then restated that he had just started learning. He's been an asshole to me ever since