Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pie eater]

I know Korea and amongst the ESL community has a lot of budding, wannabe writers - they have their blogs on the net and their homepages and it seems the country is full of writers writing about their experiences.

So tell us all - if you are writing a book as well as teaching - how is it coming along? What is it about?

[Trevor]

I don't like the sound of this one; could be a blocked writer looking to urinate on writers that aren't blocked. Fairly common.

[asmith]

[eIn07912]

Just to state: I'm not a writer, nor do I wish to become one.

But I've noticed a total lack of orginality from the wanna be writers crowd here. All of them want to write about their travels, and teaching, and the pople they meet. But come on guys. Go to any book store and look next to the guide books in the travel section. How many travel essays written by 20-somethings trying to "find themselves and their place in the world" do you see? Literally dozens upon dozens.

I'd love to see something new come from one of these hopefuls. Just keep in mind, you're not the first white north American to come to Asia and experience things that are alien and unique to you. You wont be the last either. It's not like you have some completely new perspective on things here. True, the life we live may be fairly unique and different compared to 90% of the people we grew up with or know from back home. But in all reality, the lives people live here are rather similar. So many people have backpacked South East Asia, your experience is not going to be all that different than the rest.

[ekul]

It's so witty and insightful to slag off a genre that is so clich� nobody really cares enough to be offended.

[mc_jc]

Thank you for asking- my book is doing quite well actually. My book so far has been marketed in India, Japan, China, England, Italy and many other places around the world.
I came back from a book signing I did while in New York City on vacation recently, it was really enjoyable meeting all those who liked what I wrote and found some type of inspiration for their own works.
And the royalty checks are helping me live well here also, so there is nothing wrong with that.

By the way, OP, how is YOUR book doing these days?

[Bramble]

I'm writing a book about the mods and their socks. So far it's going great, but the current draft still has some slightly distasteful content ... it might need editing, I suppose ...

[nathanrutledge]

[madtownhustl]

better to blog than complain.
bloggers actually get out and experience stuff, instead of sittin on daves and complaining all day...

[samcheokguy]

my blog would get me arrested. It has fewer than 10 readers in the world, by invitation only.

[Trevor]

Yep. A garden-variety blocked-writer looking to urinate on others that are not blocked. Common as crabrgrass.

"Don't bother writing anything because you have nothing original to say, just like me, so shut up since I can't do it either."

Was I right, or was I right?

[eIn07912]

[kentucker4]

I worked as a newspaper reporter for a year, so I don't consider myself a wannabe writer. My former employee is VERY picky about who she chooses based on writing samples and references. No one on here will believe me, but I am a talented writer. Not talking about these forums because I just like to *beep* around on this. A book about my time in Korea is a very good idea, though. Thanks for the suggestion. If I ever secure an F2 visa and return, I will make that thought a reality.

[madtownhustl]

[quote="eIn07912
Really hard to tell if you're joking or not. I'm gonna go with joking until you give us the title of your book. What can it hurt? Just means more money to you should we buy it.

But here's where I know you went wrong. Very, very, very few people make enough in royalty checks to even make the slightest dent on a monthly income. I have known authors of fairy successful non-ficiton novels (largest market out there) and on a good month, they might net $140-$200. And those months are only few and far between. Hense the reason many authors try to crank out as many books or novels as possible. There's a reson it's a cliche to see authors wearing decades old sport coats, smoking dime store pipe tobacco, and driving a beat up mercedes from the mid 70's. It's not because it has "character", it's because it's the only thing they can afford.

And book signings? Even in New York, unless you've been featured on Oprah's Book Club, you'd be lucky to sign a dozen in a day. Half of those are going to all go to the same guy, so he can sell them on ebay to your actual fans on the other side of the country and could never afford to make it to New York for a book signing.[/quote]

I see some people are taking this thread way too seriously.

[AgentM]

I've actually recently taken up writing, purely as a hobby for now. I'm writing science fiction and fantasy stuff. Right now I'm just focusing on practising and improving my craft. Maybe someday I'll get something published, but as they say, don't quit your day job!