(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

Diane Duane's Devious Designs

mariem_1
2008-09-12 11:14 pm UTC (link)

exhpfan, the author of infamous D.I.A.T.S.I.S.S.E theory, according to which Dumbledore impersonated Snape at Spinner's End and vowed to kill himself, posted another conspiracy theory:

"It is clear to me that the main reason dduane is so active in posting on the Leaky Lounge lawsuit thread is to try and get Harry Potter fans to become as obsessed with her Young Wizard's Series as they have been with the Harry Potter series. She keeps describing her views on Her Universe the way everyone describes JKR's Universe. When I realized what she was lamely trying to accomplish on her own, my marketing background began to jump into high gear. It is now possible to create a total fictious online view of a series of literary works for very little initial investment. Let's have a little fun and create this fictious set of literary works.

Author "A" has created a set of books about witches and wizards, science fiction, a super hero, or some other fantasy subject.

Publication of the series is arranged with a publishing company under the following marketing agreement:

Author "A" and 5 of his friend or partners agree tp split profits of the series with all 5 partners doing the following. Each 5 will set up a fan site immediately after the publication of the first book. Each will manage 20 fictious user names and will post on each of the 5 different fan sites. Each will own 20 different computers with 20 different IP addresses and will visit all the different relevant fansites and spread the word about the book conviencing everyone that "A" is the best author ever, etc., etc,. etc. This activity creates the illusion that hundreds and even thousands of fans are totally bonkers over this new book. Fandom is created and a new smash hit takes off.

Initial Investment:

5 fansites-$1,500 each X 5= $7,500
20 computers= $20,000

If each partner contributes 8hrs on line 5days per week the potential market would be satuated within 2weeks and if the book is any good, the fandom would grow at a massive multiply.

Now let us assume that the new series we are wanting to promote is about witches and wizards that would go after all the readers of the Harry Potter series. It would benfit this new enterprize to include the owners of some of the larger Harry Potter fansites as some of the 5 partners of this new enterprize. Not only could they transfer massive new members to the newly created fansites, but they already have experience in running fansites. This time, however, their long hours and hard work would result in profits directly to them. It looks like JKR is trying to discourage this sellout of her fansites by throwing crumbs to Melissa and Emerson. I wonder how long it will be before someone offers them a percentage of profit deal to use their inflence to transfer their fans to another author and which one will accept, if either. Emerson looks to me to be the better businessman, so my guess is Mugglenet will be the first to jump ship."

Everybody can see right through you now!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs diane_duane 2008-09-13 11:48 am UTC (link)
	(grin) It's rare I get a chance to laugh so hard before I've had my tea. Thank you for that! I did wander over there and drop in a reply or two just to clear up the misapprehension about "coattailing" and pub dates, and to briefly mention the "astroturfing" concept. But... (resigned look) Ah well, this too shall pass. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs pyratejenni 2008-09-14 10:37 pm UTC (link)
	Ye-es... you've been writing before JKR. I mean, I had a copy of Door Into Fire with the cover of a guy on a horse, and an introduction by David Gerrold. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs

diane_duane
2008-09-14 11:29 pm UTC (link)

(laughter) OMG, the Thalidomide Cover! :) Know something cool? In six months it'll be thirty years since I sold that book... And SYWTBAW is having its 25th anniversary this year.

What amuses me a little, though, is the suggestion that I'm running some kind of "campaign" over at Leaky based on frequent posting in a single message thread. Come on! If I was going to bother campaigning for anything, I'd be all over the Intarwebz like a cheap suit. I'd be everywhere. But one message thread? SRSLY. ;)

As for those who won't check copyright dates and will jump to the wrong conclusion, well, they will always be with me. (eyeroll) And once the movie deal goes through, I will spend the following five years pointing to those dates about once every ten minutes. Well, that'll just be my cross to bear. But there'll be enough rewards to cancel that out over time. :)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs cleolinda 2008-09-15 12:15 am UTC (link)
	Maybe you should take a picture of the copyright page and have t-shirts printed up. Could save you a lot of time. : ) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs diane_duane 2008-09-15 12:17 am UTC (link)
	It's a thought that's occurred before, believe me. :) (Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs

pyratejenni
2008-09-17 04:26 pm UTC (link)

(laughter) OMG, the Thalidomide Cover! :)

Gotta love the 70s covers!

What amuses me a little, though, is the suggestion that I'm running some kind of "campaign" over at Leaky based on frequent posting in a single message thread.

I like how rattlesnakeroot shut up all of a sudden, too. :D

The JKR IS EVIL crowd keeps going on about how she 'stole' from other authors and books, pointing to Wynne Jones, Gaiman, The Worst Witch etc. Going by their own standard, those guys were akll stealing from Mary Stewart (The Little Broomstick) and Ruth Chew.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs kelmendi 2008-09-15 07:47 am UTC (link)
	the misapprehension about "coattailing" and pub dates This shouldn't surprise me, after seeing HP fans complain that Neil Gaiman and Tolkien plagerised JKR, and yet.... How hard is it to look up a publication date before you make yourself look stupid on the interwebs? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs athersgeo 2008-09-15 09:34 am UTC (link)
	Apparently harder than you'd think. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs diane_duane 2008-09-15 05:20 pm UTC (link)
	Neil Gaiman and Tolkien... AND Pterry. :) He so stole "Hogswatch" from "Hogwarts." ...sorry, it just gives me the giggles. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs kelmendi 2008-09-16 08:34 pm UTC (link)
	You don't think that those two completely unrelated concepts have six letters in common through coincidence... DO YOU? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs diane_duane 2008-09-16 08:39 pm UTC (link)
	(chuckle) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs foresthouse 2008-09-16 08:23 am UTC (link)
	It's all a conspiracy! You're out to get us! Or...something. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs diane_duane 2008-09-16 12:58 pm UTC (link)
	I vote for "something". That covers a lot of ground. :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs

bitca
2008-09-16 05:44 pm UTC (link)

BTW, on a completely different note, my husband recently reread "The Romulan Way" and left a copy of it in the bathroom, so I've been picking it up and reading parts of it when I visit the necessary. It's a really neat book. I noted you had a co-author on that, too. I'd love to chat with you some more about it, or at least read about the book if anything about the co-authoring is online somewhere. I basically was interested in who wrote what, or if it was a full collab? :)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs

diane_duane
2008-09-16 06:08 pm UTC (link)

(grin) Unusually full, since we were on our honeymoon at the time.

Short version of the story: we were married for the first time in LA (the legal-blood-test-paperwork-etc wedding) while I was story-editing Dinosaucers. The finance had been very late coming through, so my co-story editors and I had only a few months to produce 65 animated half hours. And I also had a deadline on RomWay in which the word "dead" was becoming more pronounced every time my editor said it.

Finally our US literary agent (P. and I exchanged literary agencies when we were married) suggested he give me a hand getting the book sorted out. So he did. The outline was mine: he took some of the chapters, I took others, and we sort of "hot-bunked" the book in 16 days (he's a night worker, I prefer days).

We will eventually have a honeymoon that doesn't involve writing a novel. Next year, maybe...

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs watersword 2008-09-21 08:49 pm UTC (link)
	That's possible the most awesome story ever. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs

diane_duane
2008-09-21 09:01 pm UTC (link)

:) It was a crazy time, but we both survived. And it was good practice for later projects (specifically The Ring / Sword of Xanten / Die Nibelungen / whatever) when we had to work around the clock on something, in shifts.

Meanwhile we're still considering honeymoon options. We got close once in the Virgin Islands, but somehow I wound up writing a Spider-Man novel on that one. (eyeroll)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs foresthouse 2008-09-21 12:11 am UTC (link)
	Yes! Including, "trying to steal our trees." Or possibly, "being singlehandedly responsible for global warming." Maybe, "Not eating enough fiber according to U.S. health recommendations." You never know! They could be blaming you for anything. (Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs

mechanicaljewel
2008-09-16 06:19 pm UTC (link)

Oh, Diane, why do you encourage these people? :D

Fandom Wank is a site that interest me because of the cruel way it attacks people. It reminds me a lot of the Republican Party. A person probably has to have been the subject of a wank to dislike the people who are regulars on the site.

I move that "the Republican Party" become the new "rape". Let's see here...

Milk is like the Republican Party because it's white and homogenized!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs diane_duane 2008-09-16 06:39 pm UTC (link)
	...Speaking of which, I got in my overseas ballot today. You know you've been spending too much time online when your first reaction to seeing the names of a specific party's candidate on the paper is (spelled out in your head) (at the very thought of voting for them) "SPORFLE!!!" (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs kelmendi 2008-09-16 08:19 pm UTC (link)
	RPS is like the Republican Party because it is full of closeted white men having sex! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs phosfate 2008-09-16 05:02 pm UTC (link)
	My God...it's so devilishly clever that it sounds insanely stupid! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: Diane Duane's Devious Designs teaqueenie 2008-09-16 11:39 pm UTC (link)
	OMG!!!!! I went to TLC and read Diane Duane's posts and dusted off my old YW books for a reread. Who knew she was such a clever, sneaky manipulator? I also read Nora Roberts response and today, I took two of her books out of the library. Clearly, I am a suggestible loser. I need a spine (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Read comments) -