About That Last Post...

A few people have asked me about that last post. That was satire, right?

Yes, people. I’m not really the biggest jerk-faced, egocentric writer in the history of letters. 

I wrote it in response to yet another list of “important writers” appearing online—this one about writers who “run” the Internet. These lists are click-bait; often if there are 20 writers on the list, you’ll have to click 20 times to see them all. Well, that certainly drives up the page views used to influence what advertisers are charged.

The people who make such lists want to be important, so they pick writers they hope will like them: ladder-climbing by association. After all, if the number of Twitter followers one has matters, and each chosen writer tweets a link to the list, then the writer of that list gets more exposure, too. The implicit argument is always that the list-maker is the most important writer on the list. I took that concept and blew it apart, with a few shout-outs to friends, one of my Lacewing authors, and my wife. I’m not making fun of them—though it’s funny to see a former student, someone I play Words with Friends with every day, and other friends on these lists. I’d had enough of the posturing behind such selections, though, and I’m sad that book coverage has devolved into this.