Cool! Your books will be right next to mine then, I’m publishing under Billy Shakes-Pear.
When Fifty Shades of Gray got published big time I looked it up on Goodreads and found it very interesting how practically every rating was two stars or five. Now Fifty Shades, terrible though it may be, is so much better than this, but unfortunately it only has one review before this viral kerfuffle, a five star review from 2013. The same applies to his other books. A smattering of five or four star reviews.
Yeah, people hate that, all right.
Do you mean “good” in a literary sense or in a “financially successful” sense?
There are two authors on the Dope who are self-published (I think - at least they started that way) who I enjoy and I even wrote some positive reviews for one of them.
The Wool/Dust/Shift series was self-published to start.
I believe Fifity Shades of Gray started as a fanfic, even lower than self-published, and went on to financial success and becoming a movie.
The Martian started as a podcast - not sure if that counts - then was published in print form and later turned into a movie starring Matt Damon. If it does count, it counts both ways.
In other words - yes, it’s possible to have good, self-published authors. They are, however, extremely rare.
It’s always a swift move to claim that your writing is so clever and nuanced that it clearly went way over the head of the reviewer.
Twilight fanfic, which is even lower than regular fanfic.
I’ve never had the hubris to submit any of my writing.
I had the impression most publishing companies typically demand a lot of rewrites or they completely reject it?
Self-publishers side-step that process to their detriment. It must be hard finding reviewers that provide reliable critiques for rewrites.
If either of you decide to write erotica, I’ve got dibs on Big Billy Quivering-rod
The most jaw-dropping part was when he got only a four-star review and browbeat the magazine to give him five.
I don’t believe he’s some random arrogant guy. He’s either a good troll pretending to be a bad author (that’s what I suspect), or mentally very disturbed.
Certainly not a troll. The book existed, was online, and was reviewed in online magazines. He makes it clear when he got the four-star review that someone else was reviewing it.
It’s also a pretty complicated way to troll.
The notion that you should only review something if you’re going to say it’s good is asinine. It negates the whole point of reviews.
Any person who shows anything the “I made it myself” category, had better be prepared to accept any response they get.
As we used to say in P.R., if you want to make sure the story says exactly what you want it to say, buy an ad.
Don’t worry. It will die from self-asphyxiation.
Want to bet this guy never participated in a critique group? Or if he did, they are all buried in his lawn?
I have. You need a thick skin to do it, there’s a lot of rejection - and I say that as someone who has actually been published. Acceptance once is no guarantee of further acceptance down the line.
My experience is they mostly just reject it. Most of them are at least polite about it, something along the lines of “Thanks for the submission but it does not meet our needs at this time.”
These days there are on-line communities/groups that will help you with editing, rewrites, and constructive criticism IF you are adult enough, and ego-secure enough, to deal with it.
Those who throw spoiled-brat tantrums tend to be just as rejected as their poor writing.
No. A book publisher will make suggestions after they buy your book, and most of them are things you realize will definitely improve the book. You aren’t even required to accept them, but it’s best to be able to articulate why, at least. It’ll only be a couple of chapters at most. Usually, you just turn in the changes and they take them.
You are always part of the editing process.
Checking the reviewers on Amazon who gave him 5 stars shows several whose profiles make me think ‘astroturfing’ is involved. In particular ‘Angel Love’ submitted about 70 or 80 reviews on one day (I stopped counting at 40), all 5 star. All the book reviews ‘Angel’ wrote were mostly the same, ‘enjoyed the book with all the twists and turns’.
I wonder what that job pays?
Free books. 
No, that’d explain why he’s publishing the first draft, but it still doesn’t account for why the first draft is so bad. And with how complicated those sentences are, I’d actually suspect the reverse: That he started simpler, and then went back with a thesaurus to embellish everything.