What is the story on people who seem illiterate publishing books?

Question

Not to be critical, but I am seeing a lot of quesitons concerning those who apparently want advice (and it's always incorrectly spelled "advise" when they use it in a sentence) about publishing a book, or getting an agent. I notice that the words in these questions are frequently misspelled, the grammar is atrocious, and sometimes the question is not even comprehensible in the least. Also, sometimes they say they have had three or four books published and are looking to publish another one. Where in the world are these people (some of whom cannot even seem to write a comprehensible question) going to get these books published and who would publish them? Certainly not an actual book publisher whose books you would find at Barnes and Noble or Borders. I did click on a link with one of them, and it took me to a site where this person's book appeared. It was literally awful, with spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, and more. Nothing made sense. What's going on here?

Also, many people seem to be asking for titles to their books and stories, or for others to write plots for them. If these people cannot even think up titles or plots, how in the world are they getting books published or even contemplating doing so? This is peculiar. Or, they post a bunch of mishmash, tell you it's a vampire story (those seem very popular) and then ask for a name for their main character. Again, this all seems strange, as actual writers don't have to ask other people for plots, names, titles, and those things. And these people are actually getting this stuff published? I am really confused.

Something I should have added before that just occurred to me. I am also seeing a lot of what is evidently passing as poetry written by what appears to be teens in the throes of passion, or rejection (I am not sure which), and I am further confused as they always ask for everyone's opinion of their poem. This is fine, but an opinion is not really an answer to a real quesiton. It is merely an opinion. I am new here and I thought this was going to be a site (at least this section) where people asked questions about for instance, an author, or something like that. Instead I keep seeing things like: Do you like my poem. I read them and almost never do. Just had to add this point. This is not at all what I expected. And sometimes you don't even know it's a poem, because the lead in makes you think it's a question about something else. This whole thing seems odd, and from the responses so far, I guess I have some in agreement. Thanks.

Answer 1

Anyone can get his or her book self-published on the internet these days. Before the internet, they would have been the nutter in the corner of the poetry cafe with the photocopied manuscript. Before photocopiers, they would have been sitting there with handwritten copies. Before universal education, they would have had to get a real job.

Not that I'm deploring universal education, of course. But these people are basically delusional. I think it very unlikely that any of them survives on an income from writing; certainly very few of them are reviewed in print or sold in real bookshops.

Anyone can sit on a throne, wear a tinfoil hat and call himself a king. But he only becomes a king if we all consider ourselves his subjects. Ignore the literary trolls: they'll be gone when their next shift at the burger bar starts, anyway.

Answer 2

People are probably self-publishing or paying a company that offers "publishing."

Several years ago, I compiled a supplementary stylebook for my newspaper because my editor had lots of style preferences which differed from AP style; and although I was able to memorize pretty much everything he wanted, it was a lot to ask that all the writers do the same.

So I prepared the text and took my 30-page printout to the nearest Kinko's. They did a small "run" for me and book-binded each copy.

It didn't look too fancy, but technically, I "published" it. I could've made as many copies as I wanted, and I could have tried to sell them in stores or online. Of course, that would have been a waste of time because the content was so specific to such a small group of people.

So yeah, I think some people bypass traditional publishing.

Answer 3

i think people need to be educated in the difference between having their book in print and having their book published (ie distribution, in book stores, marketed etc.)
additionally i also find it annoying that people ask for ideas for books. if i had an idea why would i give it away, ideas are hard to come by.
i think that certain people should not have access to certain information, like how to publish a book or how to get published. most of these people sound like they expect their book to be a best seller just by handing it off to someone.
my personal opinion is if you're not willing to do the work, if your not that good at the work or if you're in it just for the money say out of IT. there are too many good writers/artist that can't even get seen because publishers and agents are overwhelmed by junk.

Answer 4

I think it's sort of like the American Idol phenomenon. People think they are going to become rich and famous by becoming writers and so they attempt to write poems or stories when they really don't know how to put words together in an articulate, intelligent, literate and interesting manner. Just like American Idol, there are very few who can actually achieve success in the field and the rest are going to be disappointed. Sad but true.
Vicky

Answer 5

I'm totally with you on this. The spelling & grammar in here is horrible, which makes me wonder about the age of the writers or how they made it through school, assuming they are adults. In fact, I commented about the spelling & grammar in a response I made, and was sent a "nasty-gram" by yahoo for being "abusive" in my response. Hard to believe, but true. In answer to your question, I don't believe any of those who said they are writers have ever published anything. If they have, they must have great editors, who cleaned up their work. Sometimes, you just have to laugh & move on.

Answer 6

I agree with all you say. If a person needs to ask for ideas on plot, title etc they are clearly living in cloud-cuckoo land if they also think they are an author. But re 'advise' for 'advice'. Isn't that an Americanism?

Answer 7

Apparently, a lot of vanity publishing, and the age old human problem - talkers rather than listeners, writers more than readers.