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Here is a very nice little Huffington Post article about why Indie Authors aren't taken seriously: www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01…
Anyway, the Huff list, in order, is below. With my snarky commentary.
1. Bad Editing. Haha. Even more than that, is the simple Sturgeon principle that 90% of everything is crap to start with. And when you have no editorial filters, you get what we now have: a fire-hose of independent publication with practically nobody rating the stuff that readers might find "better" than other stuff... for some value of "better". And we can also face the fact that not everyone who actually writes a book is competent to do so in the first place.
2. Quantity/Quality. The rush to press. Yes, in the print-on-demand world, everyone wants to get there first to get the big bucks and become famous. I blame this on Hollywood, really, and the sad lack of childhood discipline. Nobody instills reality checks in kids any more. Hey, dumbass: not everyone is going to be a movie-star or a rock-star. So stop whining if you aren't at the top of everyone's short list of talent.
3. No Gatekeepers. Hmmmph. This is really all part of the "fire-hose effect". Everything is available anytime to everyone. It's the same phenomenon we're seeing in Indie Music and Indie Everything Else. The "means of production" as Karl Marx would call it, have suddenly become almost free. For a $500 investment in a cheap laptop computer, anyone can write a book and "publish" it without making any other investment, aside from the time spent typing the damn thing. They don't even need marginally acceptable grammatical skills. And the happy fact of the modern age is that everyone already has the computer, because it's a tool that's just about as essential to "modern city life" as the telephone. (In fact, now that I think about it, anyone with one of the fancy new phones could write, upload, and offer their book for sale without even bothering to get a computer, because the phone already is a computer!)
4. Crappy Covers. Mwahahaha! Well. I'm really glad I didn't fall into that trap. Except for a few of my own really crappy so-called "art" on a couple of covers -- which you will no longer find for sale, thankfully -- I think they're all damn fine covers. The only elements on their list of "essentials" that I don't do are: professional author photos and exciting blurbs. Huh? I prefer my readers to think for themselves. I mean, if they don't buy it for the cover or the 7-page preview on Lulu.com, they aren't gonna buy it at all... And I vastly prefer my readers to imagine me as a massive five-tentacled blob from some maniacal planet 700 light years east of Alpha Centauri...
The thing they left off the list is actually, to my mind, of importance also: Indie Authors have no advertising budgets. So, duh. Nobody who has no advertising budget is taken seriously, unless they win the "lottery" and go viral on Youtube. The books that sell well are handled by really enormous corporations with dinosaur sized advertising budgets.
And... if you're still with me, friends, you might want to read this article, for a laugh: Is this the worst book ever?
What lovely examples! That kind of B.S. definitely contributes to Indie Authors having a bad name...
Anyway, the Huff list, in order, is below. With my snarky commentary.
1. Bad Editing. Haha. Even more than that, is the simple Sturgeon principle that 90% of everything is crap to start with. And when you have no editorial filters, you get what we now have: a fire-hose of independent publication with practically nobody rating the stuff that readers might find "better" than other stuff... for some value of "better". And we can also face the fact that not everyone who actually writes a book is competent to do so in the first place.
2. Quantity/Quality. The rush to press. Yes, in the print-on-demand world, everyone wants to get there first to get the big bucks and become famous. I blame this on Hollywood, really, and the sad lack of childhood discipline. Nobody instills reality checks in kids any more. Hey, dumbass: not everyone is going to be a movie-star or a rock-star. So stop whining if you aren't at the top of everyone's short list of talent.
3. No Gatekeepers. Hmmmph. This is really all part of the "fire-hose effect". Everything is available anytime to everyone. It's the same phenomenon we're seeing in Indie Music and Indie Everything Else. The "means of production" as Karl Marx would call it, have suddenly become almost free. For a $500 investment in a cheap laptop computer, anyone can write a book and "publish" it without making any other investment, aside from the time spent typing the damn thing. They don't even need marginally acceptable grammatical skills. And the happy fact of the modern age is that everyone already has the computer, because it's a tool that's just about as essential to "modern city life" as the telephone. (In fact, now that I think about it, anyone with one of the fancy new phones could write, upload, and offer their book for sale without even bothering to get a computer, because the phone already is a computer!)
4. Crappy Covers. Mwahahaha! Well. I'm really glad I didn't fall into that trap. Except for a few of my own really crappy so-called "art" on a couple of covers -- which you will no longer find for sale, thankfully -- I think they're all damn fine covers. The only elements on their list of "essentials" that I don't do are: professional author photos and exciting blurbs. Huh? I prefer my readers to think for themselves. I mean, if they don't buy it for the cover or the 7-page preview on Lulu.com, they aren't gonna buy it at all... And I vastly prefer my readers to imagine me as a massive five-tentacled blob from some maniacal planet 700 light years east of Alpha Centauri...
The thing they left off the list is actually, to my mind, of importance also: Indie Authors have no advertising budgets. So, duh. Nobody who has no advertising budget is taken seriously, unless they win the "lottery" and go viral on Youtube. The books that sell well are handled by really enormous corporations with dinosaur sized advertising budgets.
And... if you're still with me, friends, you might want to read this article, for a laugh: Is this the worst book ever?
What lovely examples! That kind of B.S. definitely contributes to Indie Authors having a bad name...
RIP Christo...
Haven't read much of the news about Christo's recent passing, but... My long-term followers may "recognize" him from some of the old spoofy deviations. RIP Christo, may your work live on and on... over hill and dale. http://www.openculture.com/2020/06/how-the-visionary-artist-christo-rip-changed-the-way-we-see-the-world.html
The US Election Fiasco Blah Blah
It's no secret around here on DA that I have a few opinions. Sometimes I post them for people to mull over.
Now, everyone's grandma has probably said, at one time or another: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."
So I put on my thinking cap and decided to do that. After all, even loathsome pussy-grabbing troglodytes must have some redeeming characteristics, right? I mean, at least one, right? Hmmm.
The nicest thing I can say right now about president elect Trump is that he'll certainly be more undignified than his predecessor.
At least the new first lady will be an unrepentant plagiarist.
And Trump definitely has
Calling All Escapees: Please Check with Reception!
It's that time of year again, September 25. Some years ago on this date, I wailed into the night that wonderlustqueen (https://www.deviantart.com/wonderlustqueen) had disappeared. And VoodooPhone (https://www.deviantart.com/voodoophone) also disappeared, last seen on September 7, 2009. You can read about the beginnings of this tradition here.
Yes, I do mean tradition. Last year's invocation can be seen HERE.
Welcome, friends, to the show that never ends, the Fifth Annual Invocation of the Magical Disappearing Poets... A kind of low-budget Yodel Festival, you might say.
Hoya Oya, Ooly Patooly, Vim-vam Palooza and Gigamaroo...
This year, new to the missing pantheon is oaklungs (https://www.deviantart.com/oaklungs) a.k.a. "Charlotte" who completely
SROP New Year Predictions for 2016
Yes, it's that time of year again when the furry faced folks at SROP make a few annual predictions... Here is an amazing crop of events that you won't want to miss.
On October 17, the planet Saturn will come to a screeching halt. Astronomers will be baffled, and pundits will say it's a hoax. Meanwhile, incomprehensible chaos will ensue in the outer solar system, and the planet's flock of newly lost moons continue to wander aimlessly for years. Look for spectacular smash-ups and near-Earth encounters sometime early in the next millennium.
The planet Mercury will go into full retrograde on January 5, but nobody will notice anything awry excep
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"Hey, dumbass: not everyone is going to be a movie-star or a rock-star. So stop whining if you aren't at the top of everyone's short list of talent."
Pfft, that's what I'm trying to tell you from the beginning. Most people are crap and shouldn't live, me included. The advertising industry and fucked-up education system instill false hopes in people because it is a part of the strategy to decrease the quality of the average human being. My views are "inhuman" because they are the exact opposite of this. Yes, it starts with the kids (remember this? [link]), but you gotta ask Qui prodest? - in whose interest does this form of child abuse (yes, it is - we have an ad for a bullshit drug called "Protexin", which is supposed to enhance the effectiveness of the immune system, that uses a 3-5 year old girl to sing their jingle at the end... just think about it) take place? Commercialism as the new religion might just be a flashy mask our old friend, G-d hides behind (I hope you know why I chose that spelling ).
BTW, this journal entry describes pretty much why I'm decidedly not after recognition as an author while I'm still breathing. If my shit's any good, it will last, if it's not, it will go the way of the dodo and most of the teen girl bands of the last decade. Give me a place in the SAT criteria from 2123 over millions of bucks in 2012.
Pfft, that's what I'm trying to tell you from the beginning. Most people are crap and shouldn't live, me included. The advertising industry and fucked-up education system instill false hopes in people because it is a part of the strategy to decrease the quality of the average human being. My views are "inhuman" because they are the exact opposite of this. Yes, it starts with the kids (remember this? [link]), but you gotta ask Qui prodest? - in whose interest does this form of child abuse (yes, it is - we have an ad for a bullshit drug called "Protexin", which is supposed to enhance the effectiveness of the immune system, that uses a 3-5 year old girl to sing their jingle at the end... just think about it) take place? Commercialism as the new religion might just be a flashy mask our old friend, G-d hides behind (I hope you know why I chose that spelling ).
BTW, this journal entry describes pretty much why I'm decidedly not after recognition as an author while I'm still breathing. If my shit's any good, it will last, if it's not, it will go the way of the dodo and most of the teen girl bands of the last decade. Give me a place in the SAT criteria from 2123 over millions of bucks in 2012.