I'm Suspicious!

I vaguely recall Hugh H turned up on kboards last year offering to review people's unpublished works. I don't really understand what he was trying to achieve and it appeared to fizzle out pretty quickly. Neither kboards nor Hugh have the traction they once had. If Amazon sent him in thinking it would encourage people, then they are well out of touch with where things are at.

Yep, I remember that too. I don't think people jumped on the idea the way Hugh hoped and I hadn't heard of it since. 

The indie publishing scene has more than its fair share of the smug and they're like bad pennies, they never quite clear off. And in this business even the shills have shills. Sadly, I doubt Amazon are even paying Hugh. He's probably hoping if he loves them enough they might love him back. It's like the plot of a bad romance novel.

Some of those names I never saw or heard much about. I started in 2014 and hung around KDP forum for a while. I learned fairly quickly that, in addition to the smug and the shills, there were also the liars. Back then, KDP forum was dominated by a roving gang of anonymous know-it-all's, but it wasn't hard to work out who they really were. You only needed to identify one and the rest had left reviews on one another's books (clown move). Turned out every single one was a failed author, and yet they were rude and highhandedly dispensing advice (most of which was wrong).

I learned to dig through numbers, not just look at the author's ranks. Certain other so-called indie icons didn't have the KU All-Stars to back up what they claimed to be earning. You simply cannot make a million a year in KU without having a decent number of books in the top 50 of the All-Stars. Several so-called well known and hugely 'successful' authors barely had one book each in the top 50.

And unless you have a business that locks people into buying every month (like utilities or a train pass, etc), you won't have an endlessly climbing monthly revenue. All businesses fluctuate and anyone who says they don't is lying.

The other fun lie were the authors who claimed to never advertise. One of the authors you mentioned (who also failed the All-Stars test and claimed to be growing every single month ever since she started) said she only spend $100 a month on ads and yet made nearly 100k a month. Turned out she was spending $5-10k a month (& probably a lot more), yet she still claimed to be making a million a year. I call BS. And then there was good old Mark Dawson who conned everyone into his expensive FB course and never once admitted to spending $30k a month on the ads, which was the real reason his books were ranked high.

So, not only have times changed, the times never were what they said they were.

And Hugh played a trick. He made Wool free at a time when there were few indie books. His second book did okay because so many people read the first book, but it was panned in the reviews. His later books performed even less well.

Amazon have a long history of planting fakes. They do it on social media. They do it by selling Amazon own brand versions of popular products. I am absolutely sure some of the famous indies who did so well at the start were in fact Amazon plants. They were there to make sucker authors believe they could make millions. Some real authors went on to do well, but most failed.

I think the con of the indie business is Amazon make more money from creating a competitive model where authors are forced to use AMS. Some authors make money, some break even, far more lose money. In effect, Amazon get the content for free because what they pay in KU earnings they more than make back from each author in their AMS spend.

Is it possible Hugh is plant? He's sure acting like one, but the vast majority of authors don't know who he is and that thread is littered with shills of the shill. 

You should be a PI. Stalker of the wannabe stars. 

K., that Wool movie has been in development for ten years.   It ain't happening. Least not from the people who were originally interested in it. I remember Hugh claimed they had the big time director Ridley Scott. Not sure if that was true or if they were hoping to get it in his hands. I can't see how things went south with this movie if Ridley Scott was at the helm. In think that was more wishful thinking but whatever, something obviously went wrong. No way that movie would take this long. It probably got put on the backburner now dumped by the studio or whoever was interested. Happens all the time. Maybe they couldn't get backing for it or something but if they do make a Wool movie, I doubt it will be the big-time Hollywood film they were first talking about. Also, that book is old and again, Hugh isn't relevant like he was, will anyone care about the movie? Yeah, he'll get the indie shills to go see it but will most of the general public? In Hollywood you gotta strike while the iron is hot and Hugh nor Wool are still relevant. I suspect it would be even harder for them to get someone to take this on with fading popularity. It's not like Hugh has been releasing steady books in a super hot series like The Hunger  Games. He did Wool and Sand and disappeared. But yeah, it it does get made it'll most likely be an indie film and Darryl might be the one making it. LOL!

Also, you made my point when you said, " I think he published a new book." Years ago, when Hugh published something it was all over the Internet within hours so that right there says it all. 

tweek Congrats on your remission! I hope you stay happy and healthy, and the company you work for does well and stays open. Amazon needs the competition. LOL at the PI comment. I've been stalking a subreddit for private investigators, for book research.

writeway Yeah, I don't think the Wool movie will get made, either. I imagine the poster was a super fan, or possibly a new fan, and they were just hoping for the best. You make good points about his books not really being popular enough for investors. Movies are sooo expensive. the only time obscure stories get developed is for a TV show episode. Like for "The Twilight Zone" or something.

iirc he did all his publishing in 5 years or so; maybe his writing too. Could be bored, could be running out of money.
So far looks as if he wrote for one short period of his life, and made a lot of money. Quite a lot of writers do that (most without the money). Not sure that qualifies him to be called a writer more than someone slogging away for years with few sales and no publisher interest or someone who writes a host different things (journalism, advertising etc) to make ends meet. I  always understood that part of the interest in him came from his installment based publishing, so I understand them roping him in Vella.

Always intended to read Wool, but haven't done so far.

A reliable source told me Hugh has his own Vella Account Manager. Guess there's his payback and still the shills and the desperate play to his self serving agenda. Sad. 

Hugh has his own Vella Account Manager? Shocker. 

Interesting about young, newbie writer, Hugh. I had only heard of him after everyone was talking about Wool. I should go back sometime and read his old posts.

Yeah, I can't read that thread in any detail. It's nauseating the way he's kissing up to Amazon all the time. It's spineless and desperate. Even Amazon's move into serials looks desperate. Radish have pivoted off indie published serials to writing their own. And the other serial publisher (name escapes me now) moved into TV and podcast. It implies serials, although huge in Asia, don't do well in the West.

I'm about to start writing my next series and pondered whether to do a serial instead. I even considered switching genres to something that is known to sell in serial land. I don't think it's worth it. Even 60 episodes at 1,500 words is 90,000 words. That's half a trilogy for me. I don't do big launches, but all my trilogies (to me that's 3-4 books) sell on all platforms indefinitely with very little advertising. The profit adds up. Seems like an unnecessary risk to write a serial that might not even sell, and I don't know what the payment model is anyway.

As usual, Amazon will only promote their shills, so Hugh will do fine. Everyone else will have to pay to play and Amazon are ALWAYS the biggest winner in that game.

There are 30 people on that kboards thread. 30 people shilling for Amazon. The rest of 4K views are people who are not convinced but can't be bothered arguing with the shills. The WS thread died out, including the one started for people planning to submit to Vella. The one going great guns is the people testing Radish. No doubt that's why Amazon started the Hugh shill thread. Authors aren't that interested and they need to drum up business. There will always be suckers, but I doubt many of the established, profitable authors are paying much attention to Vella.

Hugh is listed as exec producer, so he is possibly putting his own money into making it for Apple. Amazon no doubt think this will excite all the kiddie authors into believing they can be just like Hughie if they follow him into Vella. Lol. There's one born every minute.

He's one of half a dozen exec producers, so he's probably not putting much in. Let's see if it gets made and picked up or if anyone watches it if it does. A lot more hurdles to go yet.