Loser wanna be Peter David can't pay the rent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_playing

Victim playing (also known as playing the victim or self-victimization) is the fabrication of victimhood for a variety of reasons such as to justify abuse of others, to manipulate others, a coping strategy or attention seeking.

Manipulators often play the victim role ("poor me") by portraying themselves as victims of circumstances or someone else's behavior in order to gain pity or sympathy or to evoke compassion and thereby get something from another. Caring and conscientious people cannot stand to see anyone suffering, and the manipulator often finds it easy and rewarding to play on sympathy to get cooperation.[1]

Don't worry Wombat, I don't believe you really run a deep fryer, anymore than I believe any of the other careers you've claimed to have had.

Maybe. Although one of the few things he seems capable of doing is typing, and one afternoon on the fryer and his hands would be burned so badly that he'd never type again. Perhaps he has access to really good voice recognition software.

While it's unclear, to say the least, what his profession is, his calling is obvious: enacting scenes from Weird Al's One More Minute. Burning down malt shops, eating shards of broken glass, performing abdominal surgery on himself with a fork, licking the bathroom floors in Grand Central Station clean, crazy gluing his nostrils shut; these are all things he is vastly more likely to do than any of his claimed professions.

So out of nowhere you mention a poster's name, they reply, and that makes you a "victim"? Wow.

Now, suppose you go in to pick up your paycheck some payday and you're told "Oh, sorry. We won't be paying you until next month." You go to pick up your check the following month, same story. Next month, same story.

How would you cope if you didn't get paid for six months?

I mentioned the lawsuit against Pocket. I can give you numerous other examples of "the check is in the mail"...when it isn't.

A small publisher's parent company pulls the plug on an imprint. The dozen or so writers now need to find another publisher. Oh, and the royalties they were due at the end of the quarter? The senior editor emptied the corporate bank account on his way out the door and absconded to Vegas. So that $6,000 that's owed you? You won't recoup that until three years from now when the lawsuit's settled.

You submit your manuscript on deadline, and you expect your editor to say yea or nay within the standard 6-12 weeks. You don't get the second installment of the advance until he approves it. After three months, you make a judicious inquiry. "Oh, Bob? He's on sabbatical. Won't be back for another nine months."

"So, is someone filling in for him, or is he working from home?"

"Actually, he's writing a novel of his own. And, no, no one's filling in for him. You didn't hear this from me, but there are like 20 unread manuscripts on his desk..."

Eight months later, an associate editor is assigned to wade through the 20 mss. He does finally approve yours and release your second payment...a year later than you were supposed to receive it.

Every midlist writer will tell you these shenanigans are endemic at the fiction end of things, because there is no WGA to set rules and enforce them, and only the Big Names have the fire power to fight back..

Flashy doesn't understand any of this, but then my answers are for the adults.

Your posts are cringe-worthy.

Well, DeCandido can't be all bad, here he is dancing while George Takei sings country-western

Instead of panhandling, maybe he could have scheduled a couple more conventions and offered a discount on signed copies of these ultra cool Farscape comics?

@The Flashlight will now spend all night posting videos of KRAD because he's unable to link to the post where I supposedly said what he claims I said.

Actually, at this point, after doing just a little bit of research on DeCandido's body of work, I would challenge the assertion that he's a "midlist" writer. He's not Stephen King, but he's certainly more published than Garamet, and further along the spectrum towards "Big Name" than her.

So, to repeat:

Garamet's entire thesis that DeCandido is a "midlist" writer is false.

Even if you accept her assertion that he is a "midlist" writer, she fails to demonstrate that DeCandido's current financial predicament is the result of any of the injustices she complains about.

Why would DeCandido be any less aware of the perils of the publishing world than herself, and how could he fail to anticipate these perils and take the appropriate precautions (e.g. save up money in case of rainy days?)

Garamet won't understand any of this, but then my questions are for the adults.

@The Flashlight doesn't even understand what "midlist" means. He will now spend all night obsessing about KRAD because he's unable to link to the post where I supposedly said what he claims I said.

Dayton remembers you saying it, I remember you saying it. End of story.

You're worth neither the time nor effort to track down the specific post.

But please go on denying it.

As for the definition of "midlist" writer.....my god, you're so fucking stupid. He's not a "midlist" writer. And even if he is, so what? Either respond to the arguments that have been made or go back to cleaning your dentures old woman.

Much too busy posting thousands of words of gibberish. You can't track down what doesn't exist.

You're laboring under the delusion that it means "number of books published," aren't you?

Mind-reading is now one of your abilities? Perhaps I should refer to you as Xavier.

You wrote:

You're laboring under the delusion that it means "number of books published," aren't you?

Ironic post is ironic.

I'm pretty sure that someone who can't figure out how to google a two word phrase has never used Westlaw, Lexis, or even a library catalog.

No sweetheart, I'm saying the subject is irrelevant and there's no further point in discussing it. Whether he's a "Big Name," midlist, or some other classification, the issue is that he's a long-haired filthy hippie who wasn't able to manage his finances correctly and resorted to cyber-begging to pay the rent. Hopefully he uses whatever is left of the charity money to start a savings account.

IOW, you finally googled "midlist" and you'd rather choke on your own vomit than admit you don't know what you're talking about...again. Why, then, are you still discussing it, aside from your enduring rage against published authors?

So, to summarize from post #126 onward.

I went through several days thinking that the amazing thing about this thread was how utterly mean-spirited it was, designed merely to pull down someone and gleefully revel in his misfortune.

But upon reflection, I find that the real cause for amazement here is that none of this mean spirit spewed here and elsewhere was able to dissuade people from helping when and whom they wanted to help. KRAD is not only better off, but knows how many people sincerely want him to be better off -- no clearer way to show that than putting up real money. So he wins, both by method and outcome of his campaign, and the @Flashlight s of the world lose, yet again.

Assuming all that is true Garamet I do indeed understand how he could have a cash flow problem.

Though I can't remotely understand how something like this would be at all legal and why a major publisher would pull such stunts.

If his purpose was to troll FryBoy™, then yes, KRAD wins! But if he doesn't figure out some long term solution to his cash flow problems, then the ledger will start to shift, and rather quickly.

Don't worry, maybe one day you'll get that sandwich artist job you've always dreamed of.

Strawman. Nobody ever said folks weren't entitled to give this guy handouts. Fools and their money are soon parted, but fools have the right to do with their money what they please. Panhandling works, no doubt about it. There are always plenty of bleeding hearts who will hand over money despite knowing it will be spent at the liquor store 10 minutes later.

Better off? He fucked up his finances and had to beg for money from the general public to stave off eviction. Even though he seems to have met his goal (although I take note of the fact that he didn't bother to specify exactly how far behind he was in rent), I wouldn't characterize that as being "better off." What about next month when the anticipated contract money still hasn't shown up and the landlord comes knocking again? Will he be back on GoFundMe begging for more cash?

So panhandling is O.K. because it helps validate someone's sense of self-worth?

Being reduced to panhandling isn't my definition of "winning."

Oh my, so I "lost." Gee, what exactly did I lose?

*Looks around home*

Nope, doesn't appear as if I've lost anything. Certainly not my dignity, something DeCandido waved goodbye to when he shamelessly begged the public for cash.

They do because they can. Screenwriters have the WGA to see to their interests, but there's no union for fiction writers, and unless enough of them can get together in a class action suit, as in the SFWA case, they're considered expendable. "You're not happy with your terms? Fine. We can pull ten people out of the slush pile to replace you."

It's why so many of us take a dim view of mega-corporations (and if you look at who owns the major publishers, you'll see what I mean).

Of course, online publishers have been nipping at their heels for over a decade, and eventually they'll bring these dinosaurs down, but right now they're still engaged in their Stupid Pet Tricks.

Not sure how much KRAD's made public, but the much-delayed contracts have come through. (Nevertheless, people are still kicking in because they love the guy.) I won't speak for him, but I wonder if part of his motivation was to embarrass the packager who was remiss by months in paying for a done deal into coughing up the bucks.

And, as I know Keith, he'll pay back those who left their names, and pay the rest forward.

Flashy, friendless and without talent as he is, will understand none of this, and continue to lash out.

In that case what do you think if self publishing. You might've answered that before but I can't find it in the Ask Garamet thread.

Self-publishing doesn't have the onus it once did. In fact, as more and more publishing houses expect the author to do most if not all of the marketing themselves, you have to ask yourself why anyone would bother with traditional publishing.

Couple of things, though. If you're going with an online publisher, how do you know they're legit? That I can't answer, because I have no experience with them, but if you check out the thread @Volpone started a couple of weeks ago (and in which, with his usual gracelessness, he neglected to thank those who gave him the advice he sought), it's clear his "friend" was being charged a great deal of money for not much return.

Then again, it costs nothing to publish on Kindle, and you do have to split your royalties with them (but at a much nicer percentage than you'd get from a traditional publisher), but that comes with the cachet of having your book listed on Amazon.

However, you have got to be able to devote the time and energy to marketing that book. Pestering your friends and family to buy it might move a few copies, but it also might make you persona non grata at Thanksgiving dinner.

So how do you get strangers to buy your book? For that you need to ask someone with a background in marketing (which, interestingly, @Volpone has). It might even be worthwhile to pay a marketing consultant for an hour or two of his/her time. But beware of anyone who contacts you out of the blue with offers to "package" your book, because whatever deal they're offering, they'll earn the lion's share. Or they just might take your money and return nothing.

So, short answer - yes, self-publishing is worth a try. I'd recommend you subscribe to writersweekly.com (it's free). They have tips about the pitfalls (and, of course, they offer their own imprint which is supposedly superior to anyone else's, but you can decide that for yourself) as well as recommendations.

Nothing ventured...

Lol I JUST screen captured this. He's out to eat spending his begged for funds from suckers





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Funny, he doesn't tweet how his meal was paid for, or by whom. You have evidence to back your assertion I presume?


Nah. Didn't think so.