Meanings
- A maxim about publishing which states that "money flows toward the writer"; that is, an author should never pay to have their work published.
One more thing ... and you can quote me ... To avoid being scammed, remember Yog's Law: "Money flows _toward_ the writer."
2000 January 11, red_...@my-deja.com, “researching the world's most outrageous scams”, in alt.writing.scams (Usenet)2 more examples
That radicalized me. Since then I've seen it as my duty to warn naive writers of the dangers of the fee-charging agents and the pay-to-play vanity presses. But how to do it? What simple meme could spread out in the new-writer community to serve as a tripwire? Answer: Yog's Law. ¶ Money flows toward the writer.
2006 June 30, James D. Macdonald, “Yog's Law”, in SFF Net, archived from the original on 27 Sep 2006[Harry] Connolly is correct that the rise of digital self-publishing puts a new wrinkle on things. I disagree, however, that it means Yog's Law no longer generally holds.
2017, John Scalzi, Don't Live for Your Obituary: Advice, Commentary and Personal Observations on Writing, 2008–2017, Burton, M.I.: Subterranean Press, →ISBN, page 168
Origin
Coined by American author and critic James D. Macdonald, known online by his nickname "Yog Sysop", in or before 2000 (see quotations below). The nickname is a reference to the fictional deity Yog-Sothoth from the Cthulhu Mythos.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Yog's Law. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yog's%20Law
“Yog's Law.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yog's%20Law. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Yog's Law,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yog's%20Law.
Source: Yog's Law on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.