I have to admit, I was in the mood again to spend yet another $9.95 for a slap in the face. The slap into the face came in form of buying the eBook version of The Simple Secret To Writing A Non-Fiction Book In 30 Days, At 1 Hour A Day by Joel Orr. This book is an insult to every serious non-fiction writer who takes his work seriously.  I had a feeling the result may be as disappointing as it was, but I needed a confirmation that I was right, and that alone was worth spending the money.

Yes, it is true, you can write a non-fiction book in 30 days at 1 hour a day, and what you get is utter nonsense like Joel Orr’s book. To his credit, Joel Orr is a very clever business man, but the success of his book is based on an utterly misleading title (he never really explains the concept of 30 days at 1 hour a day). It took me an annoying 10 to 15 minutes to scan through the continuing blubbering that is nothing but mere motivational crap (I apologize for my tone, but I am trying to be as polite as I can justify to myself after reading the book.)

The actual topic of his “trademarked” method (In truth, Orr has trademarked a number of marketing-rich terms, but not the methods) can be put into a few sentences: Select the topic to write about. Find a strong title. Write for about one hour a day without wasting time for editing. That’s it. Really!

Yet, Orr has the skills to write a 112 page book and actually sell it. Well, the average number of words per page is very low, and many pages are empty. It’s in the nature of books that pages between chapters are blank, but about 10% of the pages in this book are empty.

There is also a major flaw in his method. It may be true that you can write a non-fiction book in 30 days. His method (if you can call it that; in all truth you find more information about writing a book on the Internet) may produce a number of pages that would fill a book, but that doesn’t mean the writer has actually created a book. Orr explains that you don’t need to be a good writer, so if you write like you think it should be, but it’s like not good, and like you need an editor, and like it doesn’t matter … you get the picture.

Orr also attempts to provide tips on self-publishing, self-printing, marketing, etc., topics that are totally out of the scope of his book. That information is utterly superficial, but he needed something to fill the book, yet another point that his method is flawed.

Last, but not least, let me admit that I am very jealous that Joel Orr’s book is one of his publisher’s best selling books. Yes, I do believe I have the ability to write a non-fiction book every month, as shallow as his, and make some good money. My major flaw is my honesty. I would never be able to promote such a nonsense and take money for it.

In some way I am also very disappointed by the publisher, Booklocker.com. I receive and read Angela Hoy’s (she is a co-owner and also runs WritersWeekly.com) newsletter on a regular basis, and so far I did appreciate her straight-forward and honest style. But this is now the second time I bought a book she mentions in her newsletter, and it’s the second time that I call a book a fraud. I am a publisher myself, and I know about the strength of a good title. As a business man I also look into making as much profit as possible, but I don’t publish literature as misleading as Joel Orr’s book. See also my post Book Review: New Path to Riches by Nick Usborne, a book also published by Booklocker.com.

Booklocker.com is, of course, another vanity publisher, i.e. authors pay to be published. In all consequence, Booklocker.com is not responsible for the content, but their main focus is on profit.

Now it’s time to unsubscribe from Angela Hoy’s newsletter…

P.S. Just for the record: I have written and published four non-fiction books. None of them took only 30 days to write.