Caveat emptor

Readers of blogs are consumers of information. There are blogs on virtually every subject known to man -- and plenty that you wouldn't want to know about. A few of them are interesting and/or useful, most of them are filled with nonsense. Included among that nonsense is a lot of bad advice, especially with regards to writing and publishing.

So here's a friendly reminder; a little something to keep in mind when wasting time on the blogosphere:

• If a person offers you advice on how to get published, find out if that person is published. If not, does he offer some other legitimate credentials? (E.g., he's an agent or editor.) If not, you might want to look at his advice with a skeptical eye.
• If a person offers you advice on how to have success in your writing career, try to find out how much success they've had in their writing career. How many books have they published? Who published them? Are they still in print? Have they made any of the bestseller lists? Have they gotten significant reviews? Have they won any awards? If you've never heard of the writer, never heard of their books, perhaps their strategies are not as effective as they reckon.
• If a person offers you advice on how to become a bestselling writer, first determine if that advice has worked for him. If he's not a bestselling writer, perhaps it's because his advice doesn't work.
• If a person offers you advice on how to become a better writer, read some of that person's writing. Is it any good? If not, reconsider how much credence you want to give that advice.
• If a person offers you advice on how to break into Hollywood, find out if that person has broken into Hollywood.
• If a person recommends publisher XYZ or literary agency ABC, do some research. Find out who those companies publish or represent. If you've never heard of any of their books or authors, ask yourself if these are the right people for you to be in business with.
• If a person recommends you pay them or anyone else for publishing, representation, editorial services, a review, reading your manuscript, or anything else, be very, very wary. Chances are better than good that you're being conned.
• Yes, that's right: even those very nice people who promise to make your every dream come true. Them too.

A person does not necessarily have to have done something in order to provide sound, useful information on the subject. However, before you go taking advice from some random person on the internet, it would behoove you to discover if that person has a legitimate basis from which to offer that advice. If they don't, you're probably better off clicking onward and finding something else to occupy your time.

(Note: I'm writing this with masculine pronouns because the first time through I tried using a lot of he/shes, etc. and it just looked clunky. So feel free to substitute feminine pronouns where appropriate.)

Comments

[Dave White]

Interesting... in checking your background, I see that you haven't been very successful giving blog advice before. I have therefore decided to disregard everything you say and pay everyone to who comes along offering to help me.

:-)

[Graham]

Pay? I thought I was supposed to sleep my way to the top. Dammit!

[kim smith]

Hey! just found this blog through another writer buddy... good info here. I agree about the "people who give advice have to have the experience to back it up" theology. This one has bitten my rear-end big time.

[Marie Bailey]

David, you have some great reminders here, and I try to keep these in mind when trolling the internet for writing advice and resources. Recently, I’ve been “offered” the opportunity to develop a novel through a long-distance course with a writing mentor. The red flag for me? This mentor has no presence on the internet (no blog, no self-promoting website) and his two novels are being sold for a penny a piece on Amazon.com. Since he has been published, I’d be willing to accept his advice for free, but since I can barely find evidence of his existence, I certainly won’t pay for it.

One blog that your readers might find useful is the Writer Beware Blogs (http://accrispin.blogspot.com/), a publishing industry watchdog group. I subscribe to their feed because they provide timely and detailed information on scams and sharks.

By the way, I really enjoy your blog. It is the only one on crime fiction that I subscribe to.

Cheers,
Marie

[Delgado30Suzanne]

Make your life time more easy get the loans and everything you need.

[Mr THomas Alan Thomas]

Noir Nation is looking for writers, stories, and graphic novels in category crime/noir.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0MlSe6zU-k

More info: alan@noirnation.com

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