Bleeper Button
I'm by no means popular as a writer, or as a furry.
But that said, the more I write, the more I social network, and the more I build my brand and voice, I get more notice. This notice means that people follow me, they watch my comments, they review my works. I, of course, welcome this, because as a writer, we need this to continue to build our foundation. After all, all famous writers, and all successful writers, started off this way for the most part.
But one thing that people, whatever kind of artist they are, seem to forget is with the public eye comes the need to install a 'bleeper button' to self edit what you say/do.
You see, a slip of the tongue can cause a lot of damage. A misunderstanding can cause you to lose support for your brand. A freak out of any sort will frown poorly on you, and can continue to haunt you for years and years down the road.
Take the case of 'The Greek Seaman' by Jacqueline Howett.
I've known about this since it was posted, and I still remember it a year later. I read the review, which was fairly well done, and then I read the responses from Howett. All of them...
http://booksandpals.blogspot.ca/2011/...
If you go check out her book on Amazon, it has (at least a year go) a very, very bad rating, mostly because people who felt she was acting out of immature anger, went and reviewed her book based ONLY on her comments to Big Al's review. I don't agree with that action, but it shows extremely well what damage an irrational action can cause.
I've seen this happen to artists and writers both. One of the first things I was told about being a writer, and one of the first things I experienced, was that you have to accept the bad with the good. Your stories may get bad reviews, they might get good. If the person gives you a reason they are bad, and it's well thought out, it should be something you may want to look at. After all, you want to improve in your craft, don't you?
This is why you need that internal bleeper button, so that when you're about to do something as a knee jerk reaction, you can stop and decide if you should bleep it or not. I've had people respond to reviews that I have given in a negative way, and I ususally drop it. The reason is, it's not worth my, or their time, to start a fight over the internet.
What's the point? No one 'wins'.
With the case of Big Al and Jacqueline Howett, neither won, but Howett damaged her reputation as a writer through her actions, where Big Al took the higher road and acted out of calm and tried to diffuse the situation.
In fact, as I just checked, her book is no longer on Amazon.com, and her only work on there is rated 2/5 stars. One angry outburst and her career as an author has pretty much been halted before it even got started. She could have simply listened, and followed some of the suggestions given by Big Al and the other reviewers of her work. Her second book, 'The Secret Passion of Twins' clearly suffers from the same errors as 'The Greek Seaman'.
So as my work becomes more well known, and people review my pieces, I have to become more aware of what I say, who I say it too, and how I react to various things. I've started seperating my writing self from my personal self online, and may at one point seperate the genres I write as well. It's something we all will eventually have to do when the time comes. Because as much as we love our writing, and how much it doesn't feel like work, it is work.
So keep in mind the person you are portraying to your audience and readers. Keep in mind who you want them to see you as, and watch out for how your actions can affect your viewership. Without them, you're just writing for yourself, and yourself only. And if that's the case, why are you publishing your work?
Edit: Howett has since followed the advise she was given, and has hired a professional editor to go over her story 'The Greek Seaman'. I hope that her actions don't affect the later reviews of her revised work. Unfortunately, she may very well be haunted by this no matter what she does to the story.
But that said, the more I write, the more I social network, and the more I build my brand and voice, I get more notice. This notice means that people follow me, they watch my comments, they review my works. I, of course, welcome this, because as a writer, we need this to continue to build our foundation. After all, all famous writers, and all successful writers, started off this way for the most part.
But one thing that people, whatever kind of artist they are, seem to forget is with the public eye comes the need to install a 'bleeper button' to self edit what you say/do.
You see, a slip of the tongue can cause a lot of damage. A misunderstanding can cause you to lose support for your brand. A freak out of any sort will frown poorly on you, and can continue to haunt you for years and years down the road.
Take the case of 'The Greek Seaman' by Jacqueline Howett.
I've known about this since it was posted, and I still remember it a year later. I read the review, which was fairly well done, and then I read the responses from Howett. All of them...
http://booksandpals.blogspot.ca/2011/...
If you go check out her book on Amazon, it has (at least a year go) a very, very bad rating, mostly because people who felt she was acting out of immature anger, went and reviewed her book based ONLY on her comments to Big Al's review. I don't agree with that action, but it shows extremely well what damage an irrational action can cause.
I've seen this happen to artists and writers both. One of the first things I was told about being a writer, and one of the first things I experienced, was that you have to accept the bad with the good. Your stories may get bad reviews, they might get good. If the person gives you a reason they are bad, and it's well thought out, it should be something you may want to look at. After all, you want to improve in your craft, don't you?
This is why you need that internal bleeper button, so that when you're about to do something as a knee jerk reaction, you can stop and decide if you should bleep it or not. I've had people respond to reviews that I have given in a negative way, and I ususally drop it. The reason is, it's not worth my, or their time, to start a fight over the internet.
What's the point? No one 'wins'.
With the case of Big Al and Jacqueline Howett, neither won, but Howett damaged her reputation as a writer through her actions, where Big Al took the higher road and acted out of calm and tried to diffuse the situation.
In fact, as I just checked, her book is no longer on Amazon.com, and her only work on there is rated 2/5 stars. One angry outburst and her career as an author has pretty much been halted before it even got started. She could have simply listened, and followed some of the suggestions given by Big Al and the other reviewers of her work. Her second book, 'The Secret Passion of Twins' clearly suffers from the same errors as 'The Greek Seaman'.
So as my work becomes more well known, and people review my pieces, I have to become more aware of what I say, who I say it too, and how I react to various things. I've started seperating my writing self from my personal self online, and may at one point seperate the genres I write as well. It's something we all will eventually have to do when the time comes. Because as much as we love our writing, and how much it doesn't feel like work, it is work.
So keep in mind the person you are portraying to your audience and readers. Keep in mind who you want them to see you as, and watch out for how your actions can affect your viewership. Without them, you're just writing for yourself, and yourself only. And if that's the case, why are you publishing your work?
Edit: Howett has since followed the advise she was given, and has hired a professional editor to go over her story 'The Greek Seaman'. I hope that her actions don't affect the later reviews of her revised work. Unfortunately, she may very well be haunted by this no matter what she does to the story.
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