Scamming Writers for Fun and Profit

As long as there has been money, there have been scammers trying to separate people from their coin while providing nothing in return.  Today I’ll discuss scamming writers, from the scammer’s point of view.  (Note:  I am not encouraging scamming; I’m trying to make a point to budding writers.)

Writer ScamIn general, scams work best when your mark has a strong need for something, but not a lot of knowledge of the world.  You’d think that a rare combination, but there’s enough of them out there for you to get by.

People who want to be writers are particularly susceptible.  Why?  Glad you asked.

1.  New writers without much experience are confused by the process.  After all, it’s not like other businesses, where you get a company-paid training session on Day 1.

2.  Writers can get really, really desperate to be published.  They’re willing to do anything to see their name in print.

3.  Writers work alone, so they’ve got no one to turn to for advice, guidance, or support.

4.  Beginning writers are used to rejection, since they’ve been submitting stories and getting turned down often.  That means you can string them along with vague promises awhile; for them, a half assurance is better than outright rejection.

5.  In a lot of other businesses, you really do have to pay a little money now to make a lot of money later.  Therefore, you can easily convince new writers that writing is the same way.  Newbies don’t know that money should almost always flow to the writer.

6.  The writing biz is just complicated enough so you can set up your scam at almost any point in it.  You can be a scam-editor, a scam-publisher, a scam-agent, or a scam-marketer.  You can offer a scam-writing workshop or scam-conference, run a scam-contest, or dozens of other things.

7.  It’s difficult for new writers to distinguish your scam from a legitimate business.  As long as your website looks professional, how are they going to tell?  There are plenty of editors, agents, publishers, etc. that are legitimate and not scammers but are just bad at their job.  Unlike us, they provide something to the writer, but it’s of low quality.  We’re just one step across the line from them; our task is to give nothing in return for the writer’s money.

8.  There’s no place a beginning writer can go to find out information about us scammers.  Well, okay, there’s Writer Beware, but how many of them know about that?  Besides, our message is positive and enticing (You can be published!  You can have guaranteed sales of your stories!), but “Writer Beware” is just a downer.

I’m done thinking like a scammer.  It felt so wrong and I had to scrub down in the shower for ten minutes just to get the slime off.

You understand my overall point.  The scammers are out there, and they’re after your money.  As a writer, money flows to you, not the other way around.  There are resources out there to help you.  Whether you’ve been scammed or not, whether you’re a scammer or not, I’d love to read any comments you have about this. Remember, it costs you nothing to leave a comment for—

                                           Poseidon’s Scribe

January 12, 2014Permalink

When Your Protagonist Meets You

It saddens me to report that author Ann (A.C.) Crispin died a few days ago, on September 6.  Before I discuss my connection with her, I should give you a brief bio.

ac-crispinA.C. Crispin was a science fiction writer who established herself with “tie-in” novels delving into the characters of established universes of Star Trek, Star Wars, the V miniseries, and others.  She also created her own Starbridge series of novels.

Angered at how some agents, editors, and publishers cheat beginning writers, Crispin co-founded a group called Writer Beware in 1998 to both warn writers and to help law enforcement agencies prosecute scam artists.

I don’t know exactly when, perhaps ten or fifteen years ago, I enrolled in a creative writing course at my local community college.  A.C. Crispin taught it.  I recall her being a tough teacher, direct and honest with those whom she thought should consider non-writing pursuits.  She usually said encouraging things to me about the homework I submitted, though.

A.C. Cripsin’s lectures contained references to the great works of literature, and she’d look around the class for flashes of recognition.  When she didn’t see any, she admonished us to read the classics if we wanted to write well.

She asked us all a question on the first day of class that has stuck with me.  None of us answered it correctly, and she’s written about the question in her essay, “The Key to Making Your Characters Believable.”

If the protagonist of any of your stories saw you walking along the street, and recognized you as the writer, what would he or she do upon meeting you?  The answer, if you’ve done your job properly, is  the protagonist would punch you in the nose.  After all, your story drags that protagonist through bad and progressively worse situations.  You’ve challenged that protagonist with tests of character that force him or her to confront deep, inner beliefs or fears.  Perhaps in addition, you’ve pitted the world against your protagonist, multiplying the external problems that character must face.  No wonder that protagonist is furious with you!

While you cowered from the rain of your creation’s blows, your nose bleeding, you’d be blubbering that you had to do it, you were forced put the protagonist through Hell for the readers’ benefit, to make a compelling story.  That would probably sound pretty hollow to your character, I suspect.

Luckily, your fictional creations won’t be meeting you on the street or in any dark alleys.  You are free to force them to crawl through mud and gore, to confront giant monsters, to face their deepest terrors, to suffer the despair of lost love.  All with complete impunity.  Go ahead; they can’t strike back, and your readers expect you to write stories like that.  That was A.C. Crispin’s message to the class.

Goodbye, Ann Crispin, and thank you.  Not only did you touch readers with your novels, you protected budding authors through your Writer Beware group, and inspired many beginning scribblers, like—                                            

                                             Poseidon’s Scribe

September 15, 2013Permalink