It’s midafternoon and I’m between tasks at work. Now’s as good a time to at least start the post, even if I have to wait until I get home to finish it.
[Future Brian here… I wound up having to put it away and finish it in the evening. It wound up being a really long work day.]
Personal News
Remember a couple weeks ago when I couldn’t stop talking about how the cat in our house was in heat and none of us could get any sleep? Ha ha! Good times, good times.
Why am I bringing this up? No reason.
On a completely unrelated topic, do they make Midol for cats?
The Topic: Ethically Working as a Writer
I came in to the office today, and I’ll be coming in tomorrow as well. Coming to the office means I get to go to lunch with my coworkers. At least, the ones that also come in to the office. We went to lunch, and we introduced ourselves to our newest member. That gave me the opportunity to tell him that I’m a writer.
The conversation during lunch went through various topics, at one point landing on what it takes to make it big as an author. I maintained that the quality of the writing is secondary to the luck factor, as there are scads of writers out there producing good work that will never be seen. We touched on gatekeeping and publishers and whatnot, and while talking about one independently published author that made it big, I said, “He got lucky, but there were some allegations that he created sock puppet accounts in order to boost his reviews.”
The person across the table from me said, “Everybody does that.”
The person to my right said, “I think it’s generally expected that to make it, you must inflate your own numbers.”
A third person said, “They’re just trying to reduce the amount of luck involved in making it.”
One of the first two people said, “It’s just like people buying views or followers on Instagram and YouTube.”
I shook my head and tried to tell them it was unethical, but the conversation moved on by then.
I will never buy reviews, trade reviews, or do anything unethical with my writing career. I’ll put in the hours. I’ll go to events. I’ll do whatever I can to be a successful author, except compromise my integrity. Even if it means I die in obscurity.
Am I being naive? I don’t care. Everyone should know what lines they will and will not cross.
100% with you. It’s frustrating to hear that ‘everyone does it’ mentality so widespread. Underhanded tactics are underhanded tactics. Even if it is common, that doesn’t mean it’s right and it shouldn’t be accepted or it will be further normalized and corrode the very industry they’re trying to participate in. Glad you’re holding yourself to a higher standard.