Day 690
I got a message the other night from a new-ish (I think) reader that, after a number of messages conversing back and forth, seemed to highlight my issues with the community concept of the past few years.
The reader was asking me why I felt compelled to "whore myself", as I've recently gotten to calling my choice to open friend requests to people I don't know. I simply explained that it was hyperbole and that it was my way of describing a choice intended as a little bit of viral marketing for the forthcoming book.
I hate advertising and marketing, but no matter what the quality is of my writing, without anyone knowing about it, nobody is going to be buying it or reading it. It's the "tree falling in the woods" question. And I don't have the marketing or advertising arms of a publishing house behind me to any degree because I'm self-publishing. There's probably a shitload of good or great writers out there that have written something great or shitty or anywhere inbetween that nobody ever actually bought, simply because nobody knew it existed. And thus, a viral marketing by just opening up my friend requests to anyone anywhere was my way of doing it. It puts it in the friend feeds of more people, which allows a greater chance of comments, which then puts it in their activity and thus their friends' friend feed. Exposure. That's it. But as I said I kinda hate marketing & advertising, I feel dirty doing it. I feel like a whore. As much as it might be a necessary evil, it still makes me feel dirty and like a whore for doing it.
Well, this reader replied with something that, when I first read it, kinda grated on me. I couldn't quite figure out exactly what it was though. It took me a few moments to figure out why, but eventually I did.
The response was that people would buy it simply because we're all part of a community and should support one another.
Aside from the kumbaya hippie commie stuff in there, it took me a moment to figure out why this line of reasoning behind the statement bothered me as much as it did. After a little reflection and a moment or 2 of thinking about it, I finally figured it out.
I don't want people to buy it because we both happen to share the trait of owning a sexual appetite that deviates from the established idea of what is "normal" in the world-at-large. I don't want anyone to buy it just because we both like to spank people. I don't want people to buy it just because rope is as hot to me as Barry White and some rose petals are to 18-year-old virgin imagining her first time. I don't want people to buy it just because I drink with them or play with them or went to school with them or anything like that.
I want people to buy it because they'll enjoy it. I want people to buy it because they might be able to use it as a cautionary tale or a way to embolden themselves to live life a little bit outside of their comfort zone. I wan people to buy it because it makes them laugh or smile or elicits some sort of emotion from them. I want people to buy it because they want to read something different. I want people to buy it because it's good.
And I want people to not buy it if they think it sucks. Or if they think I don't know the first thing about writing. Or if they can't stand me as a human being. Well, actually, on that last one, they might definitely want to buy it because it'll give them a lot more ammunition to prove that I'm a horrible person.
I just want it to stand on its own merits or fail on its lackthereof. That's all I want. I don't want people to buy it just because it's written by someone that also shares a love of inked up girls with fake tits and more daddy issues than Batman. Granted, they'll get a little bit of their appetite whetted in there, but still. You know what I mean.
This brings me back to my Day 579 thought about "community" concept and what role it actually serves. It also brings me back to the fight that I've had for a long time with conformity or assimilation into group-think. Think for yourself. Question Authority. Stop being a fucking sheep. Be. Fucking. Punk. Rock. Do it yourself. Play in the darkness. Make shit up as you go along. Do your own thing. And fuck everyone else or what they think.
I don't know how many more cliches I need to throw at you people before the message hits home. Maybe I'm just preaching to the choir.
We've seen it time and time again. We've seen the cheerleaders touting all these mediocre "achievements" as something major. We've seen the bandwagons. We've seen the mob mentality. We've seen the torches and pitchforks being raised or the pom-poms brought out to cheer lead this thing or that thing. How about we all stop and think and forget that it's the Internet and behave like the critically thinking adults we SHOULD have been raised to be? And if someone did a shitty job on teaching that critical thinking when we were younger, well... no time like the present to figure it out for yourself.
In fact, I'll go as far as to say that nobody should be getting supported by the "community" just by virtue of them being a member of said "community". And any community that has an expectation of support just for being there is not one I would have ever wanted to be involved with. Give support to those that need it based on if they deserve it. And don't support things or people that don't deserve it. It's as simple as that in my opinion. But simply because you're a member of any community doesn't mean you should get support simply for existing. To steal an oddly and frequenctly useful yet still somewhar cheesy line from a movie; "if the juice is worth the squeeze".
No comments:
Post a Comment