My morals and my value to the literary community

A couple of weeks ago, I posted Beware of Vanity Press Scams, in which I singled out the Strategic Publishing Group, affiliated with the hydra-headed AEG Publishing Group.

I received this response from an anonymouse:

Your research.
You're comments are way off base and at best, amateur. There are numerous authors published by Strategic that are doing quite well with book sales and book signing events. You should really do more research before making such "preachy" and uninformed opinions yourself. These kinds of comments only question your own morals and your value to the literary community.

Dear anonymouse:

Are you a butthurt author victimized by Strategic and trying to convince yourself you're a real author? (You're not, not in the eyes of the publishing industry, no more than if you listed a self-published book as a publishing credit.)

Or are you, perhaps, Robert M. Fletcher, the person behind AEG?

Here is some more of my research:

Robert Fletcher of Writers' Literary Agency Labelled Fraudulent And Frivolous In Legal Ruling

Robert M. Fletcher, literary scammer

AEG (Writer's Beware)

Writers Literary Agency/AEG Publishing Group/Strategic Book Publishing/Eloquent Books (Absolute Write)

Strategic Book Publishing AEG Publishing Group Complaints - Fraud

So, anonymouse, do tell, name me some of these "numerous authors" published by Strategic who are enjoying such literary success? Name me one book published by Strategic that I can walk into Borders or Barnes & Noble and purchase? (No, ordering off of B&N or Amazon's website doesn't count -- anyone with an internet connection can put their book on Amazon or barnesandnoble.com now.)

(P.S. It's "your comments," not "you're comments.")

My morals and my value to the literary community

A couple of weeks ago, I posted Beware of Vanity Press Scams, in which I singled out the Strategic Publishing Group, affiliated with the hydra-headed AEG Publishing Group.

I received this response from an anonymouse:

Your research.
You're comments are way off base and at best, amateur. There are numerous authors published by Strategic that are doing quite well with book sales and book signing events. You should really do more research before making such "preachy" and uninformed opinions yourself. These kinds of comments only question your own morals and your value to the literary community.

Dear anonymouse:

Are you a butthurt author victimized by Strategic and trying to convince yourself you're a real author? (You're not, not in the eyes of the publishing industry, no more than if you listed a self-published book as a publishing credit.)

Or are you, perhaps, Robert M. Fletcher, the person behind AEG?

Here is some more of my research:

Robert Fletcher of Writers' Literary Agency Labelled Fraudulent And Frivolous In Legal Ruling

Robert M. Fletcher, literary scammer

AEG (Writer's Beware)

Writers Literary Agency/AEG Publishing Group/Strategic Book Publishing/Eloquent Books (Absolute Write)

Strategic Book Publishing AEG Publishing Group Complaints - Fraud

So, anonymouse, do tell, name me some of these "numerous authors" published by Strategic who are enjoying such literary success? Name me one book published by Strategic that I can walk into Borders or Barnes & Noble and purchase? (No, ordering off of B&N or Amazon's website doesn't count -- anyone with an internet connection can put their book on Amazon or barnesandnoble.com now.)

(P.S. It's "your comments," not "you're comments.")

Is FictionAlley really a worthy charity?

I have mixed feelings about FictionAlley's application for a $25,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh challenge.

I know that they've been put in a tough spot financially, and it would be sad to see FA disappear. (Though I barely visit the forums anymore... too many trolls.)

When I remember to, I do go through FA's affiliate link to buy stuff from Amazon. But I'm not sure I can really get behind a push to vote for them as "most worthy charity." Let's face it, they're in competition with animal shelters, school music and arts, libraries, and other charities that to my mind are a little more worthy of $25K.

I don't think the FA folks are selfish or immoral for applying for this grant, and I wish them luck. I hate it when people start listing hierarchies of need and saying "This cause is clearly less worthy than that one." It's not like donating money for animal shelters and donating money for starving children is mutually exclusive, or else we should all choose the one worthiest cause in the world and donate money only to that one until the problem goes away.

Still, I'm having a hard time seeing a fan fiction site as a charitable cause.

I might feel differently if they really were fulfilling their educational mission ... to help writers improve their writing skills. But it's not like they are running workshops or online classes. They haven't even updated their homepage in forever.

(Yeah, I know, that's because they've got no money. But with $25K, are we really going to see FA suddenly become a hotbed community for aspiring young writers?)

ETA: They got wanked by people thinking the same thing, but less charitably.

ETA 2: Now I am regretting saying anything. I didn't realize the whole damn Internet was going to explode with rage at Fiction Alley. C'mon, people. Someone at one of the wank threads said "This is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my forty-three years on the planet." Seriously? Seriously?

Is FictionAlley really a worthy charity?

I have mixed feelings about FictionAlley's application for a $25,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh challenge.

I know that they've been put in a tough spot financially, and it would be sad to see FA disappear. (Though I barely visit the forums anymore... too many trolls.)

When I remember to, I do go through FA's affiliate link to buy stuff from Amazon. But I'm not sure I can really get behind a push to vote for them as "most worthy charity." Let's face it, they're in competition with animal shelters, school music and arts, libraries, and other charities that to my mind are a little more worthy of $25K.

I don't think the FA folks are selfish or immoral for applying for this grant, and I wish them luck. I hate it when people start listing hierarchies of need and saying "This cause is clearly less worthy than that one." It's not like donating money for animal shelters and donating money for starving children is mutually exclusive, or else we should all choose the one worthiest cause in the world and donate money only to that one until the problem goes away.

Still, I'm having a hard time seeing a fan fiction site as a charitable cause.

I might feel differently if they really were fulfilling their educational mission ... to help writers improve their writing skills. But it's not like they are running workshops or online classes. They haven't even updated their homepage in forever.

(Yeah, I know, that's because they've got no money. But with $25K, are we really going to see FA suddenly become a hotbed community for aspiring young writers?)

ETA: They got wanked by people thinking the same thing, but less charitably.

ETA 2: Now I am regretting saying anything. I didn't realize the whole damn Internet was going to explode with rage at Fiction Alley. C'mon, people. Someone at one of the wank threads said "This is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my forty-three years on the planet." Seriously? Seriously?