More BS From The Self-Promoted

A rather depressing day yesterday, dealing with the costs of dental health.? Both my wife and I need some serious work done and we are finding it difficult to manage the financial requirements.? But we’re getting there and the all-pervading funk that settled on our household yesterday afternoon is beginning to dissipate.

(Of course, all problems would be solved if I could:? finish my novel, get it sold for six figures, followed immediately by a major Hollywood option, a games option and a licensing to Fredericks for clothing designs… but that is the kind of thing you write about happening, not the kind of thing that really happens)

Spirits were lifted a bit by this piece of news from Matt at Enter the Octopus about Robert Stanek and his self-promotional ways.

The various pieces pointed to by Fantasy Hotlists post (an entry from Edelman, Amazon reviews, etc) caused all kinds of thoughts to percolate and rather than discussing them in any kind of detail, I’ll just enumerate them here:

1. how about a “photoshop yourself with your favorite author” meme?? (Make it obvious AND funny)

2. like we need some kind of eye-triple-e rating icon for fan-run conventions (that are of known quantity), we need all legit publishers (ok – define THAT one) to put up a list of their authors in one database somewhere so that we can all check that list to see who the ‘real’ authors are

(said I wasn’t going to discuss but that one needs it:? utterly impossible to do, I know:? and same thing on the review side.? Somehow we need the ability, in electronic media, to note ‘legitimacy’. )

3. how far can this kind of thing go?? Quite some time ago I wrote here about a pitfall of electronic media that I hadn’t seen addressed:? deliberate impersonation.? Ever mis-type ‘google’ and end up on one of those scam pages?? Imagine the same thing for electronic documents, sold through e-stores.? How’d you feel if you ended up purchasing a copy of “Little Bother” by C. Doctoro? (Or worse, if what you purchased was properly identified, but what you received was the counterfeit?)

4. We all hate vetting systems, glass ceilings, having to pay your dues, spending time in the trenches (especially when they are arrayed against us), but this is what confers that legitimacy (however legitimate it may or may not be) on just about any system.? Such can be open and friendly or draconian and mean-spirited.? In publishing its the publisher and the editors you have to ‘prove’ yourself to.? The alternate path is going directly to the readers.? Are outing campaigns an effective foil to the kind of thing Stanek engages in?? As various comments have pointed out, the damage done can be far greater than just money spent on crappy books.

So – who wants to send me a photoshop of them with hobnobbing with RAH or Clarke or Cordwainer…?? I’ll put something up myself later on today