Essay–When Words Fail (mea culpa)

My wife often tells me that while I’m a good writer, I’m a very poor communicator. It’s something I’ve been working on getting better at and I obviously have a VERY long way to go. The stutters and stammers you hear from me when I’m doing interviews are not nearly the whole story. I’ve always had a nasty tendency to speak first and think later. Scary part is? I’m a thousand time better than I used to be.
In my Content Hostages essay, I was making a point about what I see as an unethical business model. I’m not taking that back. I still feel that way. Asking folks to pony up money for a product that hasn’t even begun production just seems icky. Those who do it, great, I wish them well. But I don’t like it. I don’t have to–I’m not the one doing it or supporting it. Nor am I here to judge those that do.
Here’s what I WASN’T saying: I was NOT saying that folks like Tee Morris and Matthew Wayne Selznick won’t deliver on their kickstarters. On the contrary–I know they will. I wish them all the luck in their endeavors and hope they succeed.
But I still don’t like the model. At all. And I’m standing by that.
With one apparently inappropriately worded blogpost, I’ve managed to piss off and enrage a metric fuck-ton of podcasters and their supporters. Gee, I’m sorry, but that doesn’t change the way I feel about holding content hostage. Not at all. To those that choose this model? Best of luck.
I’m not under any delusion this will serve as a balm to those I angered. And frankly? I couldn’t give a shit. I’m very tired of the pervasive attitude in our community that we’re not allowed to call bullshit when we see it. And why get your panties in a wad anyway? I’m just some horror writer dude who doesn’t have a huge listener base, isn’t selling books, and therefore, why the hell does my opinion even matter?
I won’t be invited to any reindeer games at Balticon or probably any other con in the future. That’s cool. I have things to do–like attend panels, meet my readers/listeners (I do have some, I bribe them), and network with new folks who aren’t part of the “in-crowd.”
So that’s that. If I see something out there I don’t like, I’m going to call bullshit. I think if those of us in the podcast/writing community were more interested in discussing these things rather than kissing people’s asses, we might actually be taken seriously.
My two cents. And as always, mileage may vary.

6 thoughts on “Essay–When Words Fail (mea culpa)”

  1. Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade. I really shouldn’t reply to things like this during my late night shifts, but I was glad to hear your opinion. To be honest the folks you mentioned by name above are not folks that have made it into my ears yet, and so it never occured to me that you had them in mind until I had soem chats on the side. But I can tell you that I feel as though I have been burned as a listener who was on the verge of becoming a fan by one particular podcaster who pulled his toys off the market after promising repeatedly not to do so. I don’t think i woudl trust that author with the kind of support that goes into kick starter or something like patreon (to which I am slowly warming).
    As someone who hounded you to release the beautiful ahrdcover of GC:A, I can only say that I hounded you for it because I already knew that it was great, and something I’d want to read multiple times.
    For me, that’s the podcast to purchase model that I like best, the model for which I save my pennies and get into debates with the boss about what I can and can’t spend my money.
    That you came out and said that the model isn’t ethical in principle is an opinion, one that you ARE entitled to express. One that I happen to agree with.

  2. When people get too thin-skinned, I worry about their opinions of themselves. You weren’t being a jerk and you were expressing an opinion. I don’t think you deserve blackmailing if that’s what happened.
    Everybody chill the hell out.

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