This is a really interesting piece - thank you very much for drawing my attention to it. Alas, I am not convinced my manifesto will bring sense to those steering the doomed ship, but I have to have to hope, otherwise what's the point? Without hope I might as well just turn my computer off for good and get a job in a supermarket. Saying that, while I have little faith, my hope has grown since I formed my Twitter account, more so since I published my first substack about the Society of Authors. The number of authors who've reached out to me privately via DM has been astounding. I honestly felt like I was alone in my bewilderment and anger at the madness of it all but there's an army of other authors out there feeling exactly the same way. Some have been far braver than me and are now speaking out openly.
One last thing before I toodle off to my current ms - Joanne Harris might still be atop her perch in the SoA but there's no guarantee she'll remain there in the long-term. All the formal complaints made about her behaviour means she's being investigated by the SoA for breaching its code of conduct. Whatever the outcome, I'm guessing her perch must be feeling a little bit wobbly.
I see you've already recco'ed me on Substack. The math for attracting readers to this Riffs is definitely over my head so I'm grateful for every little push. Merci.
Elated to hear about the response you've received. This 'perfect storm' of ignorance has been gathering momentum since the late 80s and while we want to believe it's reached peak force, it can still wreak a lot of damage - to people's lives.
As many have noticed there is a difference between the open, even virulent debate taking place in the UK and the general uniformity of opinion in liberal circles in the U.S. (You may have seen tweets from the beardy boys on the order of, 'What's in the water over there ?') I'm convinced that people are gnrlly ignorant of the role played by the so-called sensitivity readers. While in the UK, the. Kate Clatchey story is smwht known, I doubt readers know that there is a powerful, invisible Pravda Board at most publishers, a practice that began nearly twenty years ago. To that end, I propose a round table of writers both in and out of the system (named and nameless) giving their experience of this bourgeois phenemenon, and its effect on writing. The resulting discussion could run on both our pages.
You would help me out if you made a note that directed your readers to this essay. I'm putting you on my sbstck recco list. The final para of the essay in the main body is now much improved. All early morning typos 100% mine. Regards.
This was so good I almost read the whole thing. Thanks! Here's the conclusion I've come to vis-a-vis the mythology of the publishing industry:
"In the last sixty years, my writing has been "rejected" in one way or another almost a million times. The more it's rejected, the better it gets. The only writing that gets published (with rare exceptions) is writing that an agent, editor and publisher all agree will make money. They call it, "Do well." If your work is published (and hyped) by a "reputable" publisher, you can be almost absolutely sure that it's vacuous, avaricious shit. Do you really want to write puerile, woke-ass, groveling crap and be "accepted" and get "glowing" reviews and win nonsensical "prizes" and make some money and die and rot and be forgot? I prefer to write things that don't make me want to barf, things I'm proud of, things worth reading...and writing...and watching...and listening to. Which kind of writer would you rather be? Nobody will know how good your stuff is because nobody will ever get to read it but so what? You'll know how good it is."
In which case Gerard you deserve some sort of medal for getting Most of the Way through. It's too long and it's career suicide to publish a piece like this. I'll lose friends, that's already in the cards. And it's getting picked up elsewhere, so I can expect more from elsewhere. I'll have to retire from Twitter after death threats (although who would come this far to kill me?). I'll miss the friends. So it goes.
I've been kicked off Google and YouTube...and I'm shaky ground at Facebook. I don't even try to get on all the rest of 'em. Sometimes I try to keep my remarks insipid, but then I say fuck it. I did read it all the way to the end, but I skipped a little here and there. I even looked at some of the links you stuck in. Here's a 20-year history of my interactions with the media and entertainment industries:
I just blush when i get comments like that. All the way to the end ! I'm touched. Was it good for you ? But no money. Come on, Rocky, I bet you've got a spare grand in your back pocket. In lieu of cash, why don't you recommend my page on your substack ? Would that kill ya ? I've been known to pay in kind.
Tell me how to recommend your page and I'll do it. Not only am I morally opposed to money, but I also don't have a clue about how all this new-fangled digital shit works. Just tell me what button to push and I'll push it.
Oh stop, Gerard. Always flipping the switch and putting the onus on other people. We love you and know how high-toned, moral, anti-money you are. Clue : you have to hunt around on your substack page for "recommendations" just like everybody else does. It's there somewhere. And now I'm going back to the mines. Be well.
Hi James, LoobyLou here.
This is a really interesting piece - thank you very much for drawing my attention to it. Alas, I am not convinced my manifesto will bring sense to those steering the doomed ship, but I have to have to hope, otherwise what's the point? Without hope I might as well just turn my computer off for good and get a job in a supermarket. Saying that, while I have little faith, my hope has grown since I formed my Twitter account, more so since I published my first substack about the Society of Authors. The number of authors who've reached out to me privately via DM has been astounding. I honestly felt like I was alone in my bewilderment and anger at the madness of it all but there's an army of other authors out there feeling exactly the same way. Some have been far braver than me and are now speaking out openly.
One last thing before I toodle off to my current ms - Joanne Harris might still be atop her perch in the SoA but there's no guarantee she'll remain there in the long-term. All the formal complaints made about her behaviour means she's being investigated by the SoA for breaching its code of conduct. Whatever the outcome, I'm guessing her perch must be feeling a little bit wobbly.
I see you've already recco'ed me on Substack. The math for attracting readers to this Riffs is definitely over my head so I'm grateful for every little push. Merci.
Elated to hear about the response you've received. This 'perfect storm' of ignorance has been gathering momentum since the late 80s and while we want to believe it's reached peak force, it can still wreak a lot of damage - to people's lives.
As many have noticed there is a difference between the open, even virulent debate taking place in the UK and the general uniformity of opinion in liberal circles in the U.S. (You may have seen tweets from the beardy boys on the order of, 'What's in the water over there ?') I'm convinced that people are gnrlly ignorant of the role played by the so-called sensitivity readers. While in the UK, the. Kate Clatchey story is smwht known, I doubt readers know that there is a powerful, invisible Pravda Board at most publishers, a practice that began nearly twenty years ago. To that end, I propose a round table of writers both in and out of the system (named and nameless) giving their experience of this bourgeois phenemenon, and its effect on writing. The resulting discussion could run on both our pages.
You would help me out if you made a note that directed your readers to this essay. I'm putting you on my sbstck recco list. The final para of the essay in the main body is now much improved. All early morning typos 100% mine. Regards.
Hey, LoopyLou, you're pretty cool, too.
This was so good I almost read the whole thing. Thanks! Here's the conclusion I've come to vis-a-vis the mythology of the publishing industry:
"In the last sixty years, my writing has been "rejected" in one way or another almost a million times. The more it's rejected, the better it gets. The only writing that gets published (with rare exceptions) is writing that an agent, editor and publisher all agree will make money. They call it, "Do well." If your work is published (and hyped) by a "reputable" publisher, you can be almost absolutely sure that it's vacuous, avaricious shit. Do you really want to write puerile, woke-ass, groveling crap and be "accepted" and get "glowing" reviews and win nonsensical "prizes" and make some money and die and rot and be forgot? I prefer to write things that don't make me want to barf, things I'm proud of, things worth reading...and writing...and watching...and listening to. Which kind of writer would you rather be? Nobody will know how good your stuff is because nobody will ever get to read it but so what? You'll know how good it is."
In which case Gerard you deserve some sort of medal for getting Most of the Way through. It's too long and it's career suicide to publish a piece like this. I'll lose friends, that's already in the cards. And it's getting picked up elsewhere, so I can expect more from elsewhere. I'll have to retire from Twitter after death threats (although who would come this far to kill me?). I'll miss the friends. So it goes.
I've been kicked off Google and YouTube...and I'm shaky ground at Facebook. I don't even try to get on all the rest of 'em. Sometimes I try to keep my remarks insipid, but then I say fuck it. I did read it all the way to the end, but I skipped a little here and there. I even looked at some of the links you stuck in. Here's a 20-year history of my interactions with the media and entertainment industries:
http://www.everyonewhosanyone.com/about.html
Thanks again. I'd give you money, but I'm morally opposed to money.
I just blush when i get comments like that. All the way to the end ! I'm touched. Was it good for you ? But no money. Come on, Rocky, I bet you've got a spare grand in your back pocket. In lieu of cash, why don't you recommend my page on your substack ? Would that kill ya ? I've been known to pay in kind.
Tell me how to recommend your page and I'll do it. Not only am I morally opposed to money, but I also don't have a clue about how all this new-fangled digital shit works. Just tell me what button to push and I'll push it.
Oh stop, Gerard. Always flipping the switch and putting the onus on other people. We love you and know how high-toned, moral, anti-money you are. Clue : you have to hunt around on your substack page for "recommendations" just like everybody else does. It's there somewhere. And now I'm going back to the mines. Be well.
Okay. I think I did it, but I couldn't figure out how to say WHY. I really am clueless about all this stuff. I don't even know how to work an iPhone.