Marketing just isn't my thing

Today I was reading an article titled "The Top 10 Publishing Trends for 2024" and I pulled up short at trend 2: Authors Build Their Brands and Communities.

Sigh.

Now, let me say right here, I don't have anything against my fellow authors who work at their branding, at marketing, at building a community, at media or public relations, or whatever the hell you want to call it.

Allow me to repeat that for those who will start screaming "But ... but ... but ..." I don't have anything against my fellow authors who work at their branding, at marketing, at building a community, at media or public relations, or whatever the hell you want to call it.

All that work ... well, it works for some people. I'm sure there are those who even enjoy it, who like reaching out and making connections with their fellow authors, with readers, etc.

But that's not me.

Maybe you could call me an introvert. Maybe I'm a luddite. Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man. Go ahead. Call me whatever mean-spirited, nasty thing you might want to call me. This is the Internet and the days of social media and manufactured rage, after all.

Simply, frankly, I just don't care.

It's not that I don't care about other people. I do, but only in a general, I-wish-we-could-all-just-get-along kind of way. I do see and read about plenty of things that are worth outrage, but I also see and read about a lot of outrage that's focused upon things that simply are not worthy of anyone's time.

I'm tired.

I'm tired of social media, of this faux world we've created, of that fake outrage. And I'm frankly tired of humanity, mainly of what we've become because of our use of technology.

I'm not saying the technology itself is evil, nor am I suggesting all of humanity is evil, but I will say our modern technology brings out the worst of us and the worst in us. Our modern technology gives voice to every little thought in our heads, when maybe sometimes we should just shut the hell up about things that aren't truly worthy of rage.

Okay, I'm digressing. It happens.

Anyway, marketing, branding, whatever you want to call it ... I simply don't care.

I want to write, edit, publish, do some graphic design, that's it. I have no interest whatsoever in reaching out to my readers, to fans or possible fans.

I realize that sounds atrocious in this day and age, maybe even selfish. Okay, maybe I am selfish. But I write a book, it gets published somehow or other, the reader pays a few bucks for the book, reads it, hopefully enjoys it, maybe even leaves a review somewhere ... and that's where it should end, as far as I'm concerned.

If a reader reaches out to me with praise or damnation or questions or what-have-you, that's fine. I don't mind hearing from folks, and I try to answer.

But I'm not your buddy. I'm not your friend. Hell, I don't even want to be your friend.

There are a number of people in real life that I'd call friends even though I have not spoken to them face to face in years, maybe even decades in some cases, but they're the type of friends for which it wouldn't matter, that if I ran into them tomorrow it would be just like we saw one another yesterday. I also have a fair amount of acquaintances online and in the real world, people with whom I'm generally on friendly terms, some I know personally and some I know professionally.

But the truth is, I don't have a lot of friends. And that's on purpose. I'm not crying out here that I'm lonely or anything. Believe me, that would be far from the truth.

Maybe I'm just a loner. I have a beautiful woman in my life, and that's really all I need. I don't feel a need for a lot of close relationships, and I definitely don't feel a need for a lot of pseudo-relationships or fake relationships. I don't have a need to talk with complete strangers about anything, not even my writing.

If I have anything to say, it's in my writing or maybe it's here on this blog. In truth, at this point I'm even to the point where I don't feel much of a need to talk with other authors, because most of the talk usually comes down to one of about three conversations, usually involving money or marketing or maybe reminiscing about some book or author, but on rare occasions involving craft.

I don't care for marketing, reaching out, building community, etc. All this really came to light for me a month or so ago when the company I've been using for more than a decade for my e-mail newsletter informed me they were going out of business. My initial thought was, "Crap! Now I'll have to find another service." But then it dawned on me, why? I only send out a newsletter about once every other year anyway, and with my current state of health it's not like I'm churning out novels often, so why bother?

So, I'll keep writing, even if it's a slow process for me nowadays.

No, I don't wish anyone anything bad. I simply don't feel a need to reach out and make contacts with complete strangers.

If you enjoy my books, I'm glad. Truly. Really. I'm appreciative. But I don't need to go over ad nauseam with dozens or even hundreds of strangers about my writing process, or about what's coming next, or about my personal life. Hell, half the time I couldn't even answer any such questions because very often I simply don't know what's coming next, and my personal life is exactly that, person. As for my writing process, it changes somewhat depending on what's going on in my life at any given time.

I do recognize that marketing and all that goes with it is a road to success for many authors, but I'm simply not interested. Could I have more success? Sure, but I'm satisfied where I'm at, being a relatively unknown writer who still manages to eke out a living typing on a screen. Yeah, more money is always nice, but the emotional drain it would take for me to do all that marketing work? No, thank you. I'll pass.

So ...

Sigh.

There. I've given my grumpy old man rant for the day.