Greed

[Thorgalaeg]

Money can buy sex, not women. Any baby staying with you because money is a prostitute of the worst kind, dont forget that ever. You can find prostitutes in the street much cheaper, and of the honest kind.

 

[Zelig]

I'm greedy for health.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

My issue is that the person who asked me if i was interested in this, seemed to have no idea that it is a pitiful thing to do. I even told him so, namely "you wouldn't like it if it was done to you", to which he replied "but it will be a good service". No it won't.

Anyway, it has to do with the publishing world, and i have decided to try to move to somewhat greener pastures within it. It is no surprise that many people in this business view it exactly like a business and nothing else. But it is very annoying to anyone who actually views writing as something serious in itself.
From a more empathic pov (though i doubt it is just empathy with me), i was disgusted by the idea that i - who wouldn't pay to have something published, cause that is really a nasty thing to do to oneself in the first place- would just propose to another writer to pay to have his work published, so that i would take a percentage. That is just jerkish. As noted, i have to move on.

So it was a less-than-ethical vanity press that asked you to do this?

The downside of being on the NaNoWriMo email lists, particularly the winner's lists (which I've done 4 times), is that you also end up on the email lists for various vanity presses and "how to market/publish your book" lists. Some of those are legit, such as Lulu and one or two others. Some are just really pushy and unpleasant and a few weeks ago one of them got really snarly that I hadn't visited his website or bought any of his services, and why was he wasting time emailing me if I didn't do either. I'd just been ignoring his emails up to that point, but finally unsubscribed.

What I write is fan fiction, which cannot be legally published unless it's some kind of situation where an anthology editor specifically asks for such stories and it's a legitimate publishing deal. Star Trek has done this from time to time over the years - people enter writing competitions and the best stories are chosen to be included in the book (after editing, of course). I was actually working on an entry for one of them, but as usual the timing was off; part way through that, the anthology series was canceled. So that story will forever remain unpublished except on the fanfic sites, which are not professional and every story must contain a disclaimer of non-ownership of everything except original characters and plots and non-intention of copyright infringement.

If I actually wanted to make a physical book out of my stories, I can do that myself - it's something I did back in the '90s anyway, editing small publications for the local SCA branch and the Star Trek club (newsletter/fanzine and a small book of filk music).

Money can buy sex, not women. Any baby staying with you because money is a prostitute of the worst kind, dont forget that ever. You can find prostitutes in the street much cheaper, and of the honest kind.

"Baby"?

Women are adult females, not infants.

 

[civvver]

Well what you're describing kyraikos is a little different from a standard endorsement since it sounds like you don't approve of the service. In that sense yes it would be unethical to promote something you don't see as beneficial just for your own gain. Like if I tried to send everyone to my brother's company for IT services even though I knew he sucked and he gave me kickbacks. But in reality he doesn't suck nor does he give me kickbacks lol.

But people view wanting money as something to be abhorred. It's not, there's just a difference between providing goods and services people need and being well compensated for it by people's own volition to use your product, and a lot of other shady schemes to make money. Like no one begrudges netflix for making billions off streaming services cus we have a choice whether to subscribe or not and most people love the product and see the value in it. But everyone seems to hate their ISP cus they see them as having a monopoly on services and cutting backroom deals to keep that, and you have no other choice but to pay their high prices.

 

[Kyriakos]

The issue in my case is that my work is not to be a public relations agent. Furthermore i am a writer myself, and given i would not want to pay to be published, i wouldn't view it as positive if someone other pays so as to be published. Of course it is not for me to say if he will or won't, (i know of at least one fellow writer who is decent, yet paid to be published) but if i was acting as intermediary so as to gain a percentage then that would make me part of a scheme, let alone that it would be a writer (me) who doesn't pay to be published asking some other writer to pay so as to published. It is too much of a "lol, whatever, i just want my cut of your money, bro". So yes, it was a nasty suggestion.
Anyway, i have a thing with empathy, or rather "empathy". That said, i will just be dealing with publishers closer to my own personality later on anyway. I just hate the dog-eat-dog/step over corpses so as to get money.It is vile and trivial.