I Have A Chip On My Shoulder. I Named It Dale
From author and regular visitor JW Manus:
There’s a minor hoorah going around the blogosphere this week. People complaining about self-publishers with chips on their shoulders and big mouths. There is a call for civility.
When it first came up, I blew it off. I have an advantage in that I survived five teenagers, four of them girls, and I’m adept at activating the ol’ Cone of Silence. If somebody is saying something I’m not interested in, I shut them out. If someone is being obnoxious, I shut them out. The only time my hackles raise is when some noodlehead trespasses in my yard or gets up in my face.
. . . .
This morning I read Jane Friedman’s take on the hoorah and read this: “In a post we’ve needed for quite a while…”
It hit me. Who has needed this for a while? Think about it. Who?
People so inept with computer technology they don’t know how to unfriend, unfollow, block, click on through? People too dumb to not click on links to blogs or forums they find obnoxious?
. . . .
Here is the fact of the matter. If you please readers, it doesn’t matter if you’re loud, obnoxious, hostile, prickly and your eHarmony profile reads, “Hobbies include long walks on the beach and kicking puppies.” It doesn’t matter if you’re a criminal or a reality TV star or a plagiarist. It doesn’t matter who publishes you. If you’ve got the goods, you can be the world’s biggest douche-canoe (thank you, Bloggess) and readers will still line up to line your pockets. On the flip side, you can be the nicest, most congenial, easiest to get along with person in the world who never even thinks nasty thoughts much less expresses them, but if you don’t have the goods to wet reader panties, you will not sell very many books.
. . . .
Nice writers do not rock the boat. They do not make waves. They do not stir the pot, kick the hornet’s next or open the cellar door. That’s the way it’s always been for as long as I’ve been publishing. Sure, writers bitched about poor treatment, but they did so in whispers, anonymously, behind closed doors. If somebody did raise a fuss, others panicked and suddenly it was Smear the Victim time. Publishers and agents freely disrespected writers, abused writers, discounted and dismissed writers, and writers MADE EXCUSES FOR THEM.
We shut up and we took it because we knew what was good for us.
Like anybody in a sick, dependent relationship, we convinced ourselves the abuse was normal. Or that we deserved it. Or that we’d curl up and die without it.
Those kinds of relationships can only exist in SILENCE.
Link to the rest at JW Manus
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for this! Huzzah and amen and all sorts of similar exclamatory expressions of agreement! Any writer worth their salt should be allowed to comment on modern states of affairs, especially in regard to publishing, without being accused of having a chip on their shoulder. Think about it – traditional publishing has the brilliant Jonathan Franzen, and that guy has a whole pile of chips on his shoulder.
I am going to both agree and disagree.
I agree that it’s past time writers spoke up about the way they have been treated by publishers. The only way to affect change to speak truth to power.
On the other hand, if a writer is a “douche canoe” who is obnoxious and kicks puppies, I am never going to even hear about their work because I will unfriend, unfollow, block, and click on through anything they have to say because life is too short for me to listen to douche-canoes.
Speak out about the abuse in your life. Shine the light in the dark corners and chase out the monsters. But don’t take your readers for granted and turn the abuse on them while you’re at it. It doesn’t matter if you’ve “got the goods” if you’re a dick about it. There are a couple of famously “noisy” authors out there and I don’t care if they’re channeling the direct word of God, I will never read them because I’m simply sick and tired of hearing about them and from them.
It pays an author to remember that they have two audiences: other writers, and their readers (who are sometmes one and the same). Remember that tact is the art of stepping on someone’s toes without messing up the shine on their shoes. Speak out about your beliefs, but don’t become a douche-canoe while doing it.
Well you gotta admit the wack job that Chuck Wendig wrote about was a special kind of case, no? That’s no ordinary chip.
Traced back to that OP. Had a hard time reading red lettering on a black background so I’m sure I missed a bunch.
Having said that – does one arrogant writer speak for everyone? Does one guy who was clearly offended – and sounded off – become ALL Indie writers?
And if we aren’t allowed to call ourselves Indies – who exactly gets to protest the term?
The tone I’m hearing is still ‘Go the ef away you pesky writers! We don’t want you around.’
I still think that’s a crappy attitude for someone who claims they are entitled to 20% of my income from now until the end of copyright.
I’m trying hard to play nice – but my WTF reaction at the unprofessional conduct of these ‘Author’s Respresentatives’ hasn’t gone away.
Yeah. I have to agree. I don’t think people who post stuff like that are doing themselves any favors. JW Manus has a point. Being OVERLY aggressive never helped anyone. The guy wasn’t really promoting himself. He was just spouting off, which everyone’s done before (in some context) and never really helps your case.
As a fairly combative person, I probably collected more chips in my lifetime than I had shoulder space. Fortunately as I become stooped with the wisdom of age, most of them are sliding off.
What strikes me about the whole debate is that, as much as I agree with Jaye Manus, it’s all largely irrelevant to the folks that count, the readers. Our success as Indies, self-pubbed (or whatever your preferred term) is pretty much based on our own efforts in producing quality work and readers’ acceptance of that work. I doubt one reader in ten thousand even knows this debate is raging, or would care if they did. They’re really the only people that get to vote.
As for me, I don’t really care what the traditional folks call me, as long as I like what I’m writing and readers are willing to pay for it in reasonable quantities.
As a wise man once said, you don’t have to attend every argument you’re invited to.
Actually that’s Jaye’s point – it’s irrelevant to the people who count… the readers.
I agree. Readers want good books, and most don’t care if a publisher and writer are in a pissing contest. Most won’t even know about it.
Seems the gatekeepers are more than a little upset that the peasants have had the gall to storm the castle.
I’m not sure this guy realizes this is all about a specific event and a specific guy with a chip on his shoulder. I think this guy thinks this is about writers whining about publishers, and he thinks being a dick about that is good. Revolutionary maybe.
I think (even out of context) in the real world he’s right. Even the special case “douche canoe” made a buck off being a total dick.
I also think that we should do as he says and speak up. I want the real world to look more like the one I want to live in. That means public outcry for a little manners on the interwebs.
Those poor mainstream publishing pros, neglected and disrespected and worst of all, eclipsed by those undeserving filthy wretches who are self-published.
Damn straight we have a chip on our shoulder. And before you know it, we will have more influence in publishing (and more sales) than the Big 6.
Deal with it.
– Bill Smith
http://www.BillSmithBooks.com
I’m reminded of Neil Gaiman’s speech to the University of the Arts.
“People keep working, in a freelance world, and more and more of today’s world is freelance, because their work is good, and because they are easy to get along with, and because they deliver the work on time. And you don’t even need all three. Two out of three is fine. People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time. They’ll forgive the lateness of the work if it’s good, and if they like you. And you don’t have to be as good as the others if you’re on time and it’s always a pleasure to hear from you.”
Emphasis mine. I think this is true. If you write good books and you produce consistently, I don’t think most readers care a bit if you’re a jerk.
I’ll tell you who has needed this for a while: Me. An indie writer who really is sick of the, um, spam in every conversation.
I have nothing against people telling their story about how badly they were treated, or touting how wonderful they are doing in self-publishing, or giving an opinion about publishing and practices. Even if they put it rudely, that’s not having a chip on your shoulder. That’s just telling it like it is.
What I hate, and really want to see an end to, is when an agent speaks up and says something sensible, like “a beginning writer should have patience” and the voices start screaming “How dare he say that!” Same voices who were counseling patience just a short time ago.
And pretty soon a conversation which should have been about patience becomes a conversation about the Real Agenda Of Agents.
This is spam.
It is unwanted junk that disrupts every conversation. As in the old Monty Python sketch that gave spam its name; you can’t order a plate of breakfast without it no matter how hard you try. (“You could have the Spam, Spam, Spam, Egg and Spam, dearie. That doesn’t have MUCH spam in it.”)
Edit to add: and I’m also getting tired of hearing about how those evil agents and publishers and traditional writers are saying bad things about us. So what? If you apply Jaye’s point to the people who get all upset about that, instead of letting it be… I’m cool with that.
Love the word ‘hoorah’ but this too shall pass. Being firm in your belief as a writer/entertainer/artist and not a piece of garbage either way will have an effect.
Times are achangin’ and so as in other times of change there needs to be a period of adjustment. History repeats itself even in the New Era. When everyone decides it is not and ‘us against them’ situation but a ‘us AND them’ the situation all will chill in the land of publishing vs. independents.
What is stopping anyone from making your point known in a respectful way to (in my case Indigo/Chapters) that a good part of the masses (consumers) now consist of Indies and suggest a solution?
Up to and including today Indies have no place in mainstream book stores unless a) they pay their way in temporarily or b) they find a piece of temporary shelf space.c) they somehow manage to get on a regular shelf of one store because the manager is a cousin of a friend
Amazon has to stop with the TAGS and RATING system which runs highly on Give-Aways (???) And re-design their systems – Their algorithms are becoming weird to say the least.
I have some loose solutions –
Open up and Indie Department in Store! WATCH as RESPECT is once again given to the giants if they take on INDIES- Watch the CREAM rise to the Top.
– include an Indie Kiosk in Libraries where books can be ordered direct from Amazon and the LIBRARY profits from the SALE – who goes to libraries? duh – readers! Why are Indie books that are requested not available? MAKE them available!
– let libraries have access to Indie lists
and judge for themselves by having every single Indie writer open a Publishing Company instead of selling their soul to the .03 royalty for expanded distribution.
Some may say I’m a dreamer but Thankfully – I am not the only one.
I get tired of the us and them – when together we can be stronger. I will be so happy when this debate gets old so we can all get on with creating stories that people want to read.
Hi, PG. I’ve had my head buried in a project (a beautiful bee-yoo-ti-ful ebook!) and didn’t connect why my post was getting so much traffic. Now I know.
I’ve nattered on about the subject ad nauseum over on my blog, so not much to say about it here. Except thanks. Now toddling off to tackle some pesky em dashes.