It's getting tempting...

[Kitty Foyle]

I see now why you wear a bag on your head. How many books have you written, and more importantly, how many of them have sold? How much have you made as a writer? I know the answer will be as empty as that bag you wear.

See, anyone can play your childish WN game. So what does it accomplish? In the mean time, my books are selling and making me thousands a month. When I'm finished with my next book, I'll be making another two or three grand a month. You will probably still be posting insults here. How much does it pay? The chance of you ever making a dime getting a book published is less than you being hit by lightning. You certainly will not get anywhere in that endeavor posting on WN.

James, if you read Jena's profile (in the "About Me" section), you will see:

Biography

Author of 2 contemporary YA novels (Bloomsbury USA) plus a paranormal YA to be published in 2012. A personal essay appears in the HarperCollins anthology DEAR BULLY: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories (summer 2011).

*_*

[Jena Grace]

I repeat: wow.

[James North]

WN profiles are BS. Only ONE WNer has actually been published. That was a book about fishing back in the 60s. Its ranking on Amazon is very low. Perhaps all of you should wear a paper sack. I now know what that smell is and what that sack is full of. I've already sold more copies than 99.999% of writers published out of New York. One writer who has sold more than 300,000 copies in seven months at $5.99 per Kindle was offered a contract. It would have cost her over $400,000 to accept their terms--IF the books sold as well after they were through butchering them. She asked why she should throw away that much money. They responded that she would be a "real" writer "really" published. She said the money she was already earning was real and that's what mattered to her. This woman never had any thought of writing until she lost her job a few years ago and wrote only because she had nothing else to do. She does not care about pretending to be anything. She just uses writing as a way to make money. In other words she has actually grown up. Maybe that's why I too do not write for children.

[James North]

"Author of 2 contemporary YA novels (Bloomsbury USA) plus a paranormal YA to be published in 2012."

This means nothing. What are the titles? You can put anything on your WN profile! Have her books sold hundreds of thousands of copies? Millions? All I see is a paper sack full of BS.

[Jena Grace]

"Author of 2 contemporary YA novels (Bloomsbury USA) plus a paranormal YA to be published in 2012."

This means nothing. What are the titles? You can put anything on your WN profile! Have her books sold hundreds of thousands of copies? Millions? All I see is a paper sack full of BS.

There are people here who know me and know what I write. I will be happy to PM anyone with the titles if they are interested--if I know them, if I feel they are trustworthy, and if they don't behave like paranoid, delusional children. Unlike you.

[jayce]

Only ONE WNer has actually been published. That was a book about fishing back in the 60s

That's funny, a book about fishing. Like, how did your research lead you to that fact?...

Say again? No research?...

Yeah, I guess not, otherwise you might have stumbled across WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. (Among others.)

[Liza B.]

This is the ONLY listing for James North on Amazon from several years ago that I found on a Google search, seems he is talking about his OWN book on fishing. There is no mention of him on Amazon's "top 100 list" that he claims to be on, for Kindle or anything else.

Amazon.com: Beginners Guide To Fly Fishing eBook: James North: Kindle Store. .

Jena, on the other, has her novels published by one of the top publishing houses in the world. I know her books AND her website are for real. (Duh)

James, let's see some links to back-up & verify what now appear to be your bogus claims, otherwise, I'll continue to think you're full of it, and just jealous of other people's success.

[leslee]

These posts by James North are examples of genuine, 100% pure, trollism.

Troll: One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.

It really isn't worth anyone's time to dispute them.

I do find it interesting that, lately, we have so many posters spending hours here solely to b*tch about how there's no value in coming here. Mercury retrograde?

[Keith .]

I've no wish to jump into this mess, but I read and have a copy of Jena's debut. It's wonderful. In fact, it's one of the best examples of 1st person present I've read. She is also represented by one of the most successful literary agents in the business.

[Liza B.]

My last novel has been on Amazon’s list of 100 bestsellers for weeks (Kindles, not paperbacks). I’m earning about $2,000 a month. I’m working on a sequel to that last novel and expect to at least double my earnings when it’s published. One science fiction writer has more than half a dozen novels on Amazon and all are ranking high. She makes $23,000 a month. Yes, stories like hers are rare. But stories like mine, involving people earning a thousand to several thousand a month, are not. It is true that the great majority of self-published books do not sell. I feel, though, that wasting decades trying for a nearly impossible dream when so many are doing well as a lowly self-published writer on Amazon (and others like Smashwords) is foolish. How much have you made by spending time on WN? From what I can see, only one regular poster on WN has offered any proof of being published. This man has written a nonfiction book on fishing -- ONE -- and that was half a lifetime ago. I’m not putting him down in any way. From his posts, he seems like a great person. And how could I put him down when he’s the only WNer who has given any proof of ever being published? He has told everyone the title so they can look it up. The other WNers who claim to be successfully published authors refuse to give the titles to their books. It could very well be that they do not want spiteful WNers posting bad reviews on Amazon. Looking at many of the posts here, I have that concern too.

At this moment, by last novel is ranked in the lower 2,000s out of nearly a million Kindles on Amazon and # 69 in action and adventure. And, no, I’m not giving it away or selling it for $.99. I charge $2.99 and make $2.05 on each Kindle copy sold. I plan to charge $3.99 for the sequel. (My paperbacks are selling but nowhere near as well.) The book’s overall ranking was 1,700 a few days ago, and it ranked # 49 in action and adventure. I have a screen shot of the Amazon product page but hesitate to post it (I guess you ARE allowed to post attachments here). I use a pen name, but I could post a screen shot of my royalty reports from KDP. Maybe that would prevent me from being called a liar, maybe not. It’s not exactly anything to brag about, I’m not getting rich. If I keep writing with the same level of success, I could easily be making over $100,000 a year though. Again, not getting rich, but the great thing about it is once you’ve published it all the work is done. Many writers on CS and KDP forums have asked me what kind of promotions I did. My answer is NONE. For some reason, my third novel stood out and caught people’s attention. Once that happened, my rankings brought my novel into the list of 100 bestsellers. That prompted them to buy my first two novels while looking for anything else I have published. Now I’m outselling brand name authors (on Amazon only of course and only Kindles) who have sold millions of books. I often outsell Clancy, Grissom, Stephen Hunter, Lee Goldberg, and sometimes John Locke. This is only one or two of their books at a time, not all of them. John Locke has so many bestsellers on Amazon it’s amazing, but I do outsell some of his books for short periods at a time. My royalties do not compare in any way to any of these authors’, but my last novel’s ranking on Amazon Kindles DO! Yes, I admit it’s an ego boost to see it. Not that I will ever be more than a self-published writer enjoying an extra revenue stream thanks to Amazon.

How much have you made by spending time on WN? From what I can see, only one regular poster on WN has offered any proof of being published. This man has written a nonfiction book on fishing -- ONE -- and that was half a lifetime ago. I’m not putting him down in any way. From his posts, he seems like a great person. And how could I put him down when he’s the only WNer who has given any proof of ever being published? He has told everyone the title so they can look it up.

Amazon.com: Beginners Guide To Fly Fishing eBook: James North: Kindle Store.

.

Yeah, the author of that fly fishing book that you bizarrely refer to in the third person and call a "great person" is, um, you. And your book on fishing is the only one that I could find - and it's, as you even say, from "half a lifetime ago."

I use a pen name, but I could post a screen shot of my royalty reports from KDP.

You could just as easily fake that as you accuse us of doing here.