Categories: uncategorized
Date: 14 June 2006 16:54:47
First of all an apologie, apologit, aplogieo. Sorry I refuse to say that word.
I'd just like to say that I meant no disrespect to the man formerly known as Paperback Writer. I thought that naming him after a Beatles song would be acceptable. It also scans better than Hardback Writer to my ears. Therefore I withdraw that name. From now on you will be Sir Huggalot, named after the toy bear from The Simpsons episode about Love Day and the attempts by Hallmark to invent new theme days to market more cards.
Hope you like it. If not, tough, you're stick with it. You won't be getting another.
I must say that, together with Best Man, he is one of the two published writers I actually know personally. There is another I've met briefly on a few occasions and of course the odd one on the Wibsite.
I do envy their ability to write and get themselves published, always a hard thing to do. Its getting harder now as the big publishers are more interested in signing celebrities to have books ghost written for them. Such as David "Has Difficulty Forming Sentences" Beckham, who is soon to have "his" 3rd book published in 5 years. Even people under 25 can have their autobiographies written now.
What really gets my goat though are the writers who allow themselves to become brands. People like James Patterson who writes some books and has others written by James Patterson and..... He may have the initial idea but the other guy writes them.
This was especially galling when I heard that Robert Ludlum died about 3 years ago. This doesn't seem to have stopped him writing though. Yet most of the books are Robert Ludlum's xxxxxxx by xxxxxx. Even beyond the grave you can still increase the size of your estate.
I shouldn't be surprised as Jimi Hendrix, Elvis and Jim Morrison, among others, have been doing this with music for years.
Therefore my advise to all talented people is this:
If you want to earn good money, then write a few things, leave some unfinished bits/notes around and die soon after.
For those with principles, and there are still some out there, be prepared to die an unappreciated pauper. Don't worry though, I'll still buy your books, even the crap ones. Stick to your principles, your day will come.