Dear Dan,
Kathleen forwarded your email to me. Actually your assumption about Toni Lopopolo is not true. She helps build careers so she can sell their books. In the last month she has sold the manuscripts of three of her Tea with Toni and ooVoo students. She reviews submissions prior to acceptance and regularly turns down would-be writers that have no idea how to write. She is looking for quality that needs fine tuning. She has taught writing at Temple University based on over 20 years in the publishing industry as an executive editor. She knows what she teaches through "in the field" experience. Toni is a teacher, not a con man like many in LA. The Pacific Institute, and especially its co-founder Shelly Lowenkopf (who taught at USC for years), would not have her involved with the organization if her classes were a con. Toni is Shelly's agent. PIPW will be starting a newsletter soon on Scams Aimed at Writers, a plague that is growing daily. Toni delivers the goods, not like many out there. And she has a track record to prove it. I would like to keep you on our lists as we promote many positive, productive workshops for writers. May I?
Kate Kate Sexton Executive Director The Pacific Institute for Professional Writing 805-633-1506 www.PacificInstituteForProfessionalWriting.com --------
Original Message -------- Subject: Re: New Online Writing Workshop forming From: Dan Mc Nay
Date: Thu, May 10, 2012 2:06 pm
To: Kathleen Kaiser
Please remove me from your mailing list. This is just another way to try to get money out of people, that you have no plans to rep for
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was what I replied:
What on earth are you doing for me, except sending me come-on emails that I don't want. Pay to take a class?
I've taken classes at USC in the Masters Writing Program and ended up realizing I knew as much as John Rechy and several other 'famous' writers. I have a handful of people that bring me their manuscripts for feedback and if I think there's talent there I help them for free. Has your friend read Barthes, or Empson? Has your friend read all of Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Flaubert, Woolf, analyzed paragraph structure in a dozen English Nobel writers for understanding the development of the paragraph over the last hundred years in English Literature? Lectured on Frost, James Agee, Sherwood Anderson and Robbe Grillet? I've even taken McKee's classes on script structure.
I've studied my entire live to understand literature and write really well, and I have. There are several professional writers that think I am the best writer they know. But I've just spent three years peddling a novel around the world, doing all the right things to get it looked at and cannot even get a bite. The last best comment I received was from an agent that did not see the manuscript was that 'it might be boring'
I might be willing to teach for free if you ask politely, other wise quit sending me spam
Dan
Kathleen forwarded your email to me. Actually your assumption about Toni Lopopolo is not true. She helps build careers so she can sell their books. In the last month she has sold the manuscripts of three of her Tea with Toni and ooVoo students. She reviews submissions prior to acceptance and regularly turns down would-be writers that have no idea how to write. She is looking for quality that needs fine tuning. She has taught writing at Temple University based on over 20 years in the publishing industry as an executive editor. She knows what she teaches through "in the field" experience. Toni is a teacher, not a con man like many in LA. The Pacific Institute, and especially its co-founder Shelly Lowenkopf (who taught at USC for years), would not have her involved with the organization if her classes were a con. Toni is Shelly's agent. PIPW will be starting a newsletter soon on Scams Aimed at Writers, a plague that is growing daily. Toni delivers the goods, not like many out there. And she has a track record to prove it. I would like to keep you on our lists as we promote many positive, productive workshops for writers. May I?
Kate Kate Sexton Executive Director The Pacific Institute for Professional Writing 805-633-1506 www.PacificInstituteForProfessionalWriting.com --------
Original Message -------- Subject: Re: New Online Writing Workshop forming From: Dan Mc Nay
1 comment:
I once played guitar for a pick-up band put together by a friend of mine. We played country music backup for one show with a woman who'd been to Nashville 3 times and paid good money to 'self-publish' the CD's at about $3,000-$4,000 per disc. She was not a good singer, but had a fantasy that she could make it big and was planning a 4th trip back to make another CD. I gently took her aside and gave her the rundown on how the unscrupulous recording studio was taking advantage of her. She looked shocked, but understood. However, to this day, I still wonder if I really did her a favor. I saved her some money but killed her dream. I guess we can't save folks from having dreams about being great singers or writers, but it's good for the con artists to know someone is watching.
Post a Comment