HOW TO MAKE A KILLING ON THE INTERNET: Salt Lake City writer George Ouzounian’s book is No. 85 on amazon.com’s top-seller list, and the book won’t be out until June 6. Ouzounian, who goes by “Maddox” on his web site, has pre-sold 7,200 copies of his first book, “The Alphabet of Manliness.” He sold these via his rudimentary web site, e-mails to fans, and by word of mouth. It’s also helping that Associated Press and Maclean’s magazine in Canada have written features on him. In photos, “Maddox” looks like the hirsute, overweight computer nerd he is. According to the Maclean’s article, “Maddox is a master at a certain kind of writing -- the combination of mock anger and fake pomposity -- that has flourished on the Web: the deliberately bizarre, floridly written rant that attracts attention for dealing with subjects that are too weird or obscure for ‘conventional’ publications.” He’s built a following since he debuted his off-beat humor columns in 1997. With his newfound success, Maddox may soon flee SLC and his little downtown apartment. He told Maclean’s that living in Utah makes him feel "like I'm in a bad episode of ‘Star Trek’ where they get stuck in a time loop, i.e., every episode of ‘Star Trek.’ "
- posted by Michael Shay @ 8:45 AM