The Paper Market

     After listening to The Paper Market my opinion about Nick Mamatas has certainly changed. You can usually tell a lot about a person based on how they talk and present themselves. That tends to be more accurate than basing one's personality off of their writing or whatever else you choose. Honestly, my opinion of Nick Mamatas after reading his article, The Term Paper Artist, was that he was sort of stuck up and a English fiend. I also believed that he looked down upon those inferior than himself.

     Now that I have fully listened to the interview, I feel that I can make a more accurate conclusion about Nick Mamatas and who he really is. I must say that I am actually somewhat disappointed. He didn't talk or sound like anything I imagined, except for the fact that he still talked badly about his "dumb clients". Also, for someone who writes for a living, you would think that they would have better speaking skills. I'm just as guilty as the next person, but I find it less acceptable for someone like him to continuously use place holders such as like, uhm, and uh. I also can't believe that he would purposely send papers to college professors. I understand where he's coming from, but just because someone is rude to you, that doesn't mean you can just go meddling with their papers or class. They paid for your service after all and it's bad for business. Until I read or hear something to prove otherwise, I'm under the assumption that Nick Mamatas is nothing more than a big-headed bully.

Nick Mamatas, The Term Paper Artist.

     Nick Mamatas is an accomplished author, who recounts his days as a term paper writer. According to him, it was a way to make ends meet while working on his independent works, that of which eventually lead him to the prominence, or success if one will, that he has today. According to Mamatas, "Thanks to the First Amendment, it’s protected speech, right up there with neo-Nazi rallies, tobacco company press releases, and those "9/11 Was An Inside Job" bumper stickers." He recalls the instances that made him laugh, and the necessity of doing so. As he states, "The secret to the gig is to amuse yourself. I have to, really, as most paper topics are deadly boring." Additionally, he described other parts of his successful process for paper writing, including the ability to fill pages. For instance, he describes a time when he finished a paper that his peer could not by, "ending paragraphs with the last word on a whole line in order to fill up space."
      The article, THE TERM PAPER ARTIST by Nick Mamatas is really a slice out of the autobiography of any writer. In it, he identifies the main struggles of any writer, the ability to generate income by one's profession. He begins his article in the setting of a party, stating, "One great way to briefly turn the conversation toward myself at a party is to answer the question, "So, what do you do?" with, I'm a writer." This implies his accruement of wealth, even to a small degree. Even if it doesn't to everyone, it implies that he isn't homeless (as some writers practically are). Then, he essentially flashes back to his days as a freelance writer. He goes about chronicling his experience as a term paper writer, with both its good points and bad. His recounting of money and the ability to pay the bills comes up more than once. For instance, he describes, "boiling the 1000-page New Testament Theology by Donald Guthrie into a 30-page précis over the course of a weekend for a quick $600." Through his telling of his own time period of writing papers for money, he alludes to the fact that it is not an example of unordinary circumstance, but rather a happening that can be considered even to be a uniting occurrence between authors. Ultimately, I feel that he seeks to reveal the struggle that almost all writers encounter through his own clever and at least outwardly humorous recounting of his own experience.