I take chances; everyone does.
Those who say they don’t are just fooling
themselves trying to appear rational and in control. Truthbeknown, evolution demonstrates if we
didn’t adapt, you know, take chances, we’d not learn to survive; and then we’d be
in a sorry fix. Enough with convincing anyone on the taking chance premise.
One
of the chances I take is subscribing to a writers blog. I get these update conversation pieces and when
I’m really bored I’ll read the bleeding dialog over some pretty mundane topics;
therein resides the chance to affect an otherwise calm disposition. It is only a question of time until a
specific topic resurfaces. It seems it just can’t be addressed often enough to
be quieted; The issue I am writing about is the endless whining so many authors
have over doing their own marketing; as a friend of mine once commented. “Some horses are just not dead enough to not beat.”
The stance?
“I’m a writer not a Public Relations person.
If I liked doing PR I’d have followed that vocation”
Let
me consider the validity of that assessment for a moment: Public Relations is a
profession, which means they do it
for money; and what they do for that living is lie; oh that may be brash and
even construed as judgmental, so I could candy coat it as ‘they exercise positive
positioning of convenient facts.’ But I won’t.
Yes, misrepresenting the truth by focusing on selective facts suggesting
they alone are the complete story favoring their client is innocent playfulness
with words; kind of like low-fee lawyers, but without the assurances of appeal
if they don’t win on the first try. So
let me also make notice of a similarity between PR folks and writers wishing to
become authors. The writing craft is
about telling stories, if not mostly made up, parts embellished to make the
tale move along smoothly; which by a broad definition could also be considered;
lying. So let’s get the holier-than-tho
attitude out into the open and admit the truth of it is, we, (writers including
myself) don’t want to tell lies about ourselves so much as really wanting
someone else to do it for us, if it’d sell more of our work. Even at that I’m not all that convinced writers
don’t wish to misrepresent the truth actually holds all that much water either,
because I’ve attended enough seminars and conferences and met a lot of writers
to form an opinion. Most of ones I’ve
met really wax the truth to their advantage.
So the real rub
of the self promotion is this: I’m
afraid and I’ll hang that fear on my forced ignorance.
Can
you imagine the success of that kind of strategy in grade school? “I don’t want to be a scientist so I
shouldn’t have to learn my multiplication tables.” Or “I’m not going to be an
English major so why should I learn how to write?” Oddly, these are excuses that are washing
these days in public schools which might explain why American students are doing
so poorly on International standardize test.
So let me close
this piece of my own observation: Yes, I
don’t like the idea that in today’s market the writer has to take on more of
the burden of selling his work. Research
indicates that overall people are reading less, along with more people are also
writing. So the law of supply and demand
in the free market is still in effect.
If you want to make money with writing, you’re going to have to suit up
and play by the prevailing rules; if you’re honest about the money. If you want to write for your soul sake, then
don’t worry about the market, just write.
My personal ethos is that a great story on the Midway of life, with all
the competing lights and noise of other amusements, still needs no barker.
Write well, and let the chips fall where they may; dollars or no.
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