I’m not the only one amused by Lori Prokop and her ridiculous BookMillionaire reality show scam. Other blogs are having fun with it, too. For example, Richard Cobbett took a look at the requirements to be one of the "contestants" on the informercial:
You can apply if you meet any one of the following criteria:
You don’t need to have written your book or manuscript but you have an idea you feel would be a good book, or…
You may have been told by people that you should write a book, or…
You have a desire to become published and to live the incredible lifestyle of a rich, famous author, or…
You may have started writing your book, but it is not completed yet, or…
You may have your book written. It is completed but not published, or…
You may have published your book, but it has not sold like you wanted.
In
other words, you don’t need to write, you don’t need to have written,
you don’t need to know what you’d like to write, and a pulse would seem
entirely optional. According to the infamous host Lori Prokop – whose
name is an anagram of OIL PORK PRO – only about 5% of writing involves
writing, while the other 95% is buying her self-help books-oops, sorry,
business and marketing.
Applying to be a contestant also gets you on Lori’s coveted email list, as SeaWhyspers says.
Then you’ll be subscribed (forever) to the newsletter
which will solve ALL of your problems with writing: Become Best Seller
(does anyone else already feel nauseous over the pathetic grammer used
on this site?). I can’t say ANY of those bulleted items sounds remotely
like writing to me (scamming, sure), but what do I know? I’m not a Best
Seller, and I’m absolutely SURE it’s because I’m not getting this
newsletter.
For someone who thinks of herself as a marketing genius, she sure screwed up this campaign. Perhaps she’d have better luck targeting chiropractors again instead of writers. If you’d like to add Lori to your own "Get Rich Quick" mailing list, her oh-so-subtle, loaded-with-integrity, email address is: Cash@megabestseller.com.
(Click here and scroll down the page to hear Lori pitch some of her get-rich-quick schemes as a tease for her presentation at the "Internet Gravy Train to Riches" conference that was held in 2003.)
From the promises of what I’ll learn…
You’ll discover how to write your book in less than 30 days spending only
47 minutes a day.
Does that include potty breaks?
MATH TIME:
60 wpm x 47 minutes equals 2820 words per daily session
2820 x 30 days equals 84600
Wow. Am I typing MY book, or copying out somebody else’s? Cause there’s no room in any of that for misplaced commas, correction of bad grammar, outlining, looking up definitions…
You’re not supposed to write on the potty? I thought, since you’re probably producing shit anyway. . .