If you feel your work is bad, here is something to cheer you up.

[stridera]

Worried that you'll never get published?  Well, have a look at what you're competing against, and you should feel better.

Check out Moon People by Dale M. Courtney.  Amazon Link

Feel free to read the first page and see what you think.

Or read the Authors synopsis of his work

Finally, you can Amazon Reviews about the book.

Enjoy!

_{Note: There is discussion that the publisher ruined this book, but if so, it's just a great example of how the author needs to ensure he knows what his publisher is releasing.}

[ryos]

What's astonishing to me is that an editor picked up that book and actually read past the first paragraph. I know I couldn't. If the whole book is written in that rambling forum-post-by-a-semi-literate style, I'm shocked anyone ever finishes it.

Yet, the amazon reviews are stuffed full of 5-star ratings. Forget cheering up; this is depressing. (The top-rated critical review did make me smile, though. Very clever.)

Edit: I see I'm not alone.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Xlibris isn't a publisher per se. It's a place you go to get your own book printed on demand. The author pays setup fees and then books are only printed when someone orders one.

Though it does look from a review there like Xlibris is a bad POD service to use. Lulu has a much better reputation. And there's Amazon's own POD printer, createspace.com

[stridera]

Yea, the reviews make it look like they mangled his work after-the-fact... but still... the fact that it got as far as it did with such atrocious language is bad enough...

[Silk]

Xlibris? Yeah, that explains a lot. I read the first paragraph and already figured that it must have been self-pubbed.

How much do you wanna bet at least some of those reviews were written by the author?

[Chaos]

A lot of the reviews, at least the misspelled ones, seem ironically written.

[The Jade Knight]

A lot of the reviews, at least the misspelled ones, seem ironically written.

Indeed.  Some are quite hilarious.

[Jexral]

If it was cheaper, I would totally pick a copy up, simply because it makes me laugh so hard.  It's almost more funny than Terry Pratchett.  As it is, however, it would be too big of a waste to justify it.

[Patriotic Kaz]

I laughed at the opening line but was contemplating destroying my computer about 10 sentences in....

[Bravesamwise84]

Ha Ha... just made my day. 

[little wilson]

I doubt the book was mangled before publishing. The author's bio was written by the author too, and it reads the same way.

As for being cheered up...If anything, I'm doubting my sanity. Reading just that first page almost made me grateful for Stephenie Meyer... 

[Patriotic Kaz]

You finished the page? Wow!

[Shi]

You finished the page? Wow!

Oh, oh! I finished a page, too! Because on the second page you find out all you have to be is a high-school astronomy teacher, then NASA will want you, because you know a lot about stars!

[little wilson]

Oh, oh! I finished a page, too! Because on the second page you find out all you have to be is a high-school astronomy teacher, then NASA will want you, because you know a lot about stars!

Oh. My. Gosh. You have got to be kidding....A little tiny part of me almost wants to read that page, and that whole chapter, just to see what else there is. But the rest of me would rather keep my brain cells, which I would undoubtedly lose by reading any more of that....thing.