Join the Club! (An “Interview” With Ricardo Praise, Author of The Users’ Club)
Jul 08 '03
The Bottom Line The Bottom Line doesn't care to belong to any club that would have it as a member.
By Dis N. Kleined
It isn’t easy being an author, especially if you’re an unpublished writer struggling to make a name for yourself. But penning an actual book is just the beginning of the publishing process. These days, new authors are taking a hands-on, proactive approach to stimulating book sales: they’re founding vanity presses, bestowing bogus awards on their own work, and planting glowing reviews of their books on review sites. And woe betide anyone who gets in their way.
Typifying the new, nothing’s-sacred authorial approach that some have decried as “self-serving,” “inappropriate,” and “aggressively dishonest”* is Ricardo Praise, author of The Users’ Club. Stooplow Press, which published the book, was so impressed by Praise’s debut novel that it created an award especially for it, singling Club out from Stooplow’s impressive array of two titles to receive the first-ever Break-the-Rules Fiction Award. Is it a coincidence that Praise himself is the administrative contact for Stooplow Press? Hardly, says the ambitious author.
“Welcome to Stooplow Press,” says Praise, unlocking his apartment door in New York City’s East Village. “No lie too big, no conscience too small, as we like to say.” The tiny apartment is sparsely furnished and completely undecorated; most of the “furnishings” are actually boxes of unsold copies of Praise’s novel, covered in old sheets and pressed into service as makeshift coffee tables and chairs.
“This is where the magic happens,” Praise comments, pushing aside some boxes to reveal a small laptop covered in “Stooplow Press” stickers. When asked if he is referring to writing fiction, Praise looks nonplussed.
“Well, that too, I guess,” he says. “But really, I meant the magic of Stooplow Press. Watch this!” Logging on to the Internet, Praise accesses Stooplow’s official email account. From this address, various “employees” of Stooplow send correspondence, cajoling reviewers into accepting free review copies of Praise’s book, on condition that they only submit positive reviews. Reviewers who refuse to abide by the gag rule – and even the unlucky readers who support these reviewers – are treated to a barrage of vile name-calling and wild accusations, all courtesy of Stooplow Press.
“Oh, we’ve got all kinds of aliases here,” chuckles Praise, donning a flowing blonde wig. “Look,” he adds in a falsetto voice quavering with mirth, “I’m Joan Flotsam!” Flotsam is the writer credited with conducting the author interview posted on Stooplow’s website. When asked whether Flotsam – or any of the other “employees” of Stooplow – actually exists, Praise simply grins and holds a finger to his lips.
“On with the questions,” he says.
Q: As a resident of New York City, what was your reaction to the events of September 11? Did they figure into your novel?
Here's a life lesson little girl: it took ten years to build the twin towers, it took 2 hours to destroy it. You made a choice: not to create and build -- but to destroy. One day you may find out what it means to create. I hope when that day comes you'll find support.**
Q: Stooplow Press, the small press which you are both employee and client of, has engaged in some shady publicizing moves to push Club on the public. How do you think others in the industry perceive you, as a result of these tactics?
Some might say unconventional or simply “creatively curious.” Thus, very often neurotic and obsessive, too. Not to mention, in some cases, “unstable”....Despite his obvious lack of success, why does he keep doing it? Again and again? Like a moth to a flame? Is he stupid, or neurotic – or just plain dysfunctional?***
Q: What’s your response to those who have accused you of unethical advertising methods, such as creating an Epinions.com account under the username “kingconerman” simply to plug your own book?
As*hole. Pathetic worm. Stop pulling your pud for two seconds. Shut the f_uck up. Okay, we get it, we get it, we get it: you're retarded....I also don't think it's wrong for a non-corporate entity like Stooplow....to ask for community support. The corporate publisher giants, like Random House and Simon & Schuster, sure don't need ANY support -- and yet many of you will bend over backwards to please them. This is plain cowardice on your part and quite disgusting -- not to mention, useless. Stooplow Press and other micro-publishers like them, deserve a hand for what they're doing. They're lending a hand to unpublished writers, taking risks.****
Q: Some might say it’s awfully coincidental that Stooplow Press, which you represent, created a dubious “fiction award” for your first book. Any comment?
Do you know hard hard it is to run a small press? The hours and the money that go into it? The blood and sweat?****
Q: There’s a bit of controversy right now over your book at Epinions.com, where a reviewer spoke negatively of The Users’ Club. That reviewer, Disinclined, as well as anyone who supported her review, has been bombarded with hostile, abusive language from “kingconerman.” Anything you’d like to tell those reviewers?
Get your nose out of "disinclined's" lesbian a_ss....That isn't a review of The Losers' Club, that's a deliberate hatchet job of the worst kind. Totally unfair and biased. Utterly racist, I might add....Your unconditional support of this selfish, vindictive b_itch is absolutely sickening. Just because she was jilted by the author of this book, is not reason to support her attack on him. Hey, he left her OUT of the novel!****
Q: How would you describe your book, in ten words or less?
It's an energetic, fast-paced underground/outsider novel -- an kissass debut!****
Q: Any final thoughts for our readers?
You lovely peckerhead -- don't forget to remind the folks of the most important thing: Copies of THE LOSERS' CLUB are on sale now at http://ludlowpress.com/to_order.htm Also available at a bookstore near YOU!****
*********
*From the comment section of kingconerman’s review for The Losers’ Club, at: http://www.epinions.com/content_96227397252
**From an email sent to me by Ludlow Press (ludlowpress@aol.com).
***From a Ludlow Press interview with Richard Perez, at: http://www.ludlowpress.com/richperez.htm
****From the comment section of my Epinions review for The Losers’ Club, at: http://www.epinions.com/content_104913538692
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