Aug 25 2008
Aspiring Author Attempts Own Auction
An enterprising author offers up his book for auction on eBay. The auction, entitled “Offering the Rights to My Book” starts with a bid of $5,000.00 and free shipping.
The book has apparently already been sold to a publisher and is set to be published this coming month (September), but the rights (unclear what exactly those rights are) are for sale. According to the auction, there will be no loss of investment because “50,000 MINIMUM COPIES ARE SOLD ON ON AN AVERAGE OF ANY PUBLISHED BOOKS. IT’S MORE THAN ENOUGH TO COVER YOUR MONEY AND NOT TO MENTION YOUR PROFIT!”
Plus, by buying the rights, you’ll be engaging a “great humanitarian help” to the author’s family. “I CAN’T EFFORT TO PAY MY BILLS ANYMORE. I HAVE FIXED THE PRICE BASED ON THE AMOUNT TO COVER MY UNPAID BILLS, MORTGAGE (MY HOME WILL BE FORECLOSED ANYTIME) AND ENOUGH TO SURVIVE TILL END OCTOBER 2008. ”
The Synopsis is included:
What does a married man do when he is obsessed and seduced by another woman? This obsession and seduction cost the man’s normal life, his business and marriage. he was framed and sent to jail by the seductive woman. This man has chosen a mysterious way to get his life back, upon realization of his mistakes the hard way. Ironically his way worked and got his life back to normal saved his marriage too. His wife deserves lots of credit for putting up with his ordeal. She has shown true patience and love. This is a true life story.
Sadly, the auction ended earlier today but without any bids so you could contact the seller if you are interested.
Send to Kindle
Aug 25, 2008 @ 15:10:51
*coughfraudcough*
Aug 25, 2008 @ 15:15:09
I wonder if the author is hoping that someone will buy ‘the rights’ and s/he will be able to go to a publisher, tell them this, and magically get an offer on it. Because that’s how it works. Maybe s/he was planning to claim the ‘rights’ owner was an agent, and thus submit to ‘no unagented submissions’ markets. Because that’s how it works.
Aug 25, 2008 @ 15:29:42
Oh dear. The book is contracted with a publisher (assuming North American print rights only) but the author is selling further rights without stipulating whether they are electronic, audio or foreign language? After reading the auction info, I’d say the chap is selling off a share of royalties from his contracted rights.
“50,000 MINIMUM COPIES ARE SOLD ON ON AN AVERAGE OF ANY PUBLISHED BOOKS. IT'S MORE THAN ENOUGH TO COVER YOUR MONEY AND NOT TO MENTION YOUR PROFIT!â€
The word, ‘copies’ has me stymied (photocopies come to mind) and immediately suspect is any writer who does not revise…”ON ON AN AVERAGE”. More so, I do wonder where the advertiser gained his sale statistics of ‘any published books’. I’m thinking perhaps, Dreamland?
In view of the poorly written synopsis, (it would be termed a blurb by any author in the know), I doubt the writer has a contract. And he appears so desperate, my heart goes out to him.
Aug 25, 2008 @ 15:29:46
Gack. There’s so much wrong with this I hardly know where to begin, although the “all books sell a minimum of 50,000 copies” will do to start.
In what universe???
I’m assuming that by selling the “rights” he means wording the contract so that the “winner” will have all royalties paid to him/her, the assumption being that the book will make soooo much money the bid will be easily earned back, and then some.
Right.
So…this author (?) is asking people to bid on a potential investment (read: completely blind gamble) with absolutely no guarantee of return, which is eye-rolling all on its own. Basically what he’s doing is asking strangers for an advance. Except…if the book is indeed sold (and if it is, then how is he still an “aspiring” author?), he’s either already received an advance, in which case the “investor” would see nothing until that advance is earned out; OR there was no advance, in which case it’s highly unlikely the investor will ever get that $5000 (or whatever) back; OR there never was a book deal in the first place and the man’s just looking to score a cool five grand.
Um…I’m going with Option #3.
My guess is this will be yanked in short order.
Aug 25, 2008 @ 15:41:23
He’s still selling the rights here.
Other than that, words fail me.
Aug 25, 2008 @ 15:56:01
I’m still stuck on the question of whether he’s in this financial trouble to begin with because of that “other woman.” It being a “true life story” and all.
Aug 25, 2008 @ 15:56:34
These words rarely convince me to read a poorly written trainwreck. I’m just funny like that.
Aug 25, 2008 @ 15:59:56
One more quick thing: If you click on the option to view other items by the seller, you’ll see that it’s up for sale again.
I found another version of the auction on a different ebay site.
He says:
Makes me wonder who is publishing.
Aug 25, 2008 @ 16:31:19
A similarity in writing style makes me think this may be the Mike Ryan who won the 2007 Eppie in the Inspirational Category.
http://www.ryanmj.com/index.html
If so, he’s a legitimate e-pubbed writer, and the print publisher he has contracted with might be Charles River Press who published one of Mike Ryan’s books.
Hmmm ….
Aug 25, 2008 @ 18:43:06
He can’t what to pay his bills anymore? Effort?
Aug 25, 2008 @ 19:23:52
If you can’t ‘effort’ to spell correctly in an ad for your book, it’s doubtful the book is worth the price.
All in all, stunningly unprofessional on pretty much all levels.
Aug 25, 2008 @ 21:05:22
**cringe**
Aug 26, 2008 @ 07:56:50
Jo, he gives his email address as “Ryan_Mike” so I’m betting you’re correct.
As for the rest…sheesh.