An open letter to twitter authors

Dear anonymous indie/small-press author I met via Twitter,

First let me say I love the fact you're breaking away from traditional publishing. I agree. Many talented and capable writers are overlooked for the sake of profits. And yes, readers should explore alternate avenues beyond the expected tripe the Big Six churns out. Like you, I too believe small-press/indie publishers are changing the industry for the better. More writers are breaking away from the herd at record numbers, and I'm totally behind all that! 

However, please stop the elitist, self-righteous douchebaggery on Twitter. Snark is OK. Cyber bullying is not. 

Do not attack other writers, regardless how talented or untalented you think they might be. And when you promote your books on Twitter, stop treating your fellow small-press/indie peers like "customers." Enough with this: "Hey, hey, buy my book! Let me flood your twitter feed with at least 200 different purchasing links! I have 1,000+ followers so that makes me super talented and famous!"   

I can count at least four times I bought a book from some indie/small-press writer only to have that person UNFOLLOW or IGNORE me after my purchase. Um, hello. Don't you want a Goodreads review? Amazon rating? Guest blog opportunity? Or do you only care I increased your sales count? C'mon. Network professionally! 

Indie/small-press writers cannot survive without helping one another. It's not a competition, guys. Really. It's not. Granted, not every indie writer on Twitter is a flaming asshole, but dear lord, the loudest of them are! 

Social media is a useful tool to promote yourself and your work. And Twitter can be a wonderful place to meet and connect with other folks in the industry...but the cannibalization needs to stop. I urge you to pull your head out of your ass. If you truly care about books, you'll stop tearing each other apart and focus on your own work. Write the best book you can and stop worrying what the other writer next to you is doing. 

And so ends my morally superior rant of the week. Over and out, minions. 

Getting into Twitter

Social media is evil. Once you start using it it just sucks out your life force. I'm a reclusive person. I'm one of those writers who lives in an abandoned hut in the forest and never talks to people. I have a wreath of human skulls hanging from my door. I paint my shutters with clown blood. I talk to the empty walls in my house. And I have like...100 feral cats living in my basement. None of this is true. But yeah, I still consider myself to be a misanthropic hermit. 


I said NO to Facebook. Then NO to blogging. Then NO to tumblr. Then NO to twitter. And we see how that turned out, didn't we? But alas. Now that I'm querying agents, I decided it would only be in my best interest if I take up "teh twitter"and stalk their various twitter accounts. And you know what, Twitter isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be! I actually *gasp* LIKE using it!  Perhaps a little too much. 


I'm sure you minions have noticed the nifty little Twitter feed thingy on the righthand sidebar, yes? I'm still a n00b with Twitter...so yeah. I'm learning. *sigh* Anyway I think this blog post is enough social interaction for the day.


Over and out, minions. 
VC