I think she may not have had an editor, or much of one, if she was able to get published with that awful prose.

Editors are useful, and my only gripe about the low barrier to entry for publishing these days is people don't think they need them.

I like the Game Informer review quote: "AN EPIC...". For all we know it could say An epic fail, an epic waste of time or an epic disaster compared to the original. I hope it's an epic and engrossing story when I play it after I've completed the first one but it shows how a quote could be misrepresented.;)

It's not nice to make fun of people with obvious personality disorders.

Just so some of you know....

To qualify as a professional photographer you MUST earn over $20,000 per year. That is how they separate the amateur and professional sides of contests etc.

:)

Like StingingVelvet said earlier in this thread, the internet can be a double edged sword.

I feel sorry for her, to be honest. There's many talented people out there that could become really really good at something if only they didn't have one or two things that stood in their way and for her, it's being too stubborn to accept that she could have hired someone to proofread her book and to have it corrected.

A small part of me is like her as well, and is incapable of accepting criticism when I feel the person giving the criticism is on the "wrong page" so to speak. As a graphic designer, I've learned ages ago that you need feedback to grow and to see your own mistakes but a lot of the feedback given is not accurate either. The best kind of feedback is constructive and helps you - the worst is feedback which seeks to criticize parts that you feel are perfectly fine.

The problem with this author, is that she's incapable of accepting the positive feedback and learning from it, dismissing as the bad kind of feedback. The moment she can accept that she can benefit from a proofreader and can accept that not everyone will like the same thing, she may be able to move ahead.

In sports, someone who gets paid a little, but not enough to do it full time, is called semi-pro. A paid and full-time practitioner is a professional.

I haven't had a chance to pull out the Oxford English Dictionary yet, and I promise I will... but yes... The key to the definition is that a livelihood is made from work.

But its even more complex than that, because the teenager who served you a milkshake at a burger joint is not a professional fast food clerk, even if that teen works 40 hours and pays all their living expenses from income from that job.

If anyone who receives any income at all in exchange for any kind of service or work at all is a professional, then every person with a dollar in their pocket is a professional and the word is rendered meaningless because it applies to everyone.

Professional, both as a noun and as an adjective, denotes certain connotations... one being that a professional makes a living doing something requiring a specialized skill or talent that isn't commonly available in the population at large.

The absolute truth is, most people write poorly. But anyone can put frozen pre-made processed french fries in a fryer. Thus there are professional writers and amateurs (or hobbyists or enthusiasts). There are professional chefs and there are guys who make french fries for $8 an hour. There is a difference.

The woman in this case is a hack writer, clearly one of the millions who actually possess no particular talent or competence for writing. Further, anyone with enough stubbornness to eventually string enough words together can "self publish" and offer e-books for $5, but there is no reason any of us should believe she makes her living doing that. No evidence exists at all. This woman may fancy herself an artist and writer, but she isn't either of these things.

I might be wrong. She might make lots of money exclusively from writing. I rather doubt I am wrong, and any benefit of the doubt I was willing to extend to her was lost when she lost her shit on a public forum and attacked a reviewer (an amateur, himself) for kindly reviewing her product.

...

And on a another note... there are lots of people who think they are writers, and they write everything from original short stories and novels to erotic fanfiction about Harry Potter.

Most of them aren't good.

But they are all writers because they write. They are all passionate and they put their best foot forward and try, and many will get better... and some will very much not. But none of these people deserve derision. They just need a creative outlet and writing offers them a sort of peace. And maybe, a few of them will get good enough to do it professionally, which is icing on the cake.

But this woman who published her poorly written ebook and made an ass of herself on a blog that actually elevates these non-famous mostly amateur writers and offers them a showcase and support, she made every one of those other writers look bad to anyone on the outside wondering if they should drop $4.99 on a self-published title. That's a shame for them, and something that instructs me to have no sympathy for her.

If you want to sit at the table with the adults, you have to act like an adult. She didn't, and she should have known better, and she gets the punishment that she asked for.

Wow how did I just see this NOW?

The woman is clearly unable to take negative criticism. She may be suffering from some kind of psychological disorder, I'm not sure. It's kind of sad to see her obviously beloved career go down the drain.

Check out this little blurb from her blog. Note that I have not changed a thing - it's a straight copy+paste.

[i]Description to The Greek Seaman novel.
What is an eighteen year old newly wed doing traveling on a massive merchant ship anyways? Hadn’t she gone to Greece on tour in a ballet as a dancer? These are questions, Katy asks herself while traveling the high seas with Don her chief officer. However, little do they know a smuggling ring is also on board for this ride, on a blue diamond exchange and when explosions and threats to sink the ship also happen, they must try to save themselves.[/i]

I'm not going to lie, I kind of want to read a sample chapter from that book now.

On a related note, I'm not sure if you guys have heard of a little indie book called Moon People that went viral a while back. This kind of reminded me of it. Check it out: Page 1. The reviews on Amazon are pretty funny as well.