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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

No One Likes Arrogant Assholes

As I sat down to write this, I found myself struggling to control the venom that wanted to seep into the post and infect the meat of it. It ravaged every key stroke and bleed into each word on the screen until it mutated the entire post into a rant that, no matter how much you sliced and sucked at the offensive wound, would ultimately kill it's intended victim.

Yes, I wanted to teach someone a lesson in humility. To rake their naked body over the coals of Publishing 101 and drag them into the depths of Intro to Self-Promotion only to leave their broken and bleeding ego at the feet of Every Author Who is Better than Them.

But alas, I have calmed down.

Oh, you thought you weren't getting a rant. Sorry, but I haven't calmed down that much.

While I am in no way an expert on writing, publishing, or advertising, I can tell you:


1-- Every author has those moments of "Goddamn this is the best sentence/paragraph/scene/chapter/book I've ever written."

And it is OKAY to have those. Hell, we NEED to have those. They are what keep us doing what we love. Without those moments of self-proclaimed genius, however warranted or unwarranted they may be, failure is inevitable.

2-- No matter how great you think you are, or how many of your family and friends fluff your ego, keep it to your goddamn self.

Telling people how awesome you are will only ensure they never read your book. Or, if they do read your book, they do so in order to pick apart every one of your self-proclaimed awesome sentences/paragraphs/scenes/chapters. This leads to rotten reviews, deep sighs, frustration, and possibly ranting blog posts about arrogant assholes.

3-- There are people who will read your work, unbiasedly. These people EXCLUDE friends, family, co-workers and yourself.

THESE are the people that matter. THESE are the people who give their opinions without feeling obligated to stroke your already bloated ego. They have nothing invested in your book because they do not know you personally. THESE are the people you don't want to show you're an arrogant asshole, no matter how awesome you truly are, because THESE are the people that post reviews of your book.

THESE people are the reason you publish . You write for yourself. You publish so others can enjoy your works. Plain and simple and brashly stated, but true.

So, keep the fact that you are the Best thing that's EVER happened to writing between you and your bathroom mirror--don't lie, we all have a mantra that keeps us going. 

Feign modesty to everyone else.

No one likes an arrogant asshole.

Happy Reading. Happier Writing.

J






4 comments:

Rachel said...

Oh, Jodi, I'd love to join you in this rant. I recently came across someone that I suggested their writing wasn't quite up to par and they just about tried to bite my head off. Needless to say I am not editing anything for them EVER. I don't care if they'd pay me a million dollars to do it. It's not worth the hassle. It soothes my soul to know that I am not alone in such feelings.
Authors need to remember that the people reading their things don't have to, and if they don't think you can take criticism well they won't. After all even the best books still have critics.

Roland D. Yeomans said...

That person is only hurting him or herself. I save my sanity by picturing them as a child wearing the hugely over-sized clothes of the parent of their sex and thumping around as if they all "growed-up!" :-)

Michael Di Gesu said...

Hi, jodi...


Wow.... I hope you feel better. I agree. People really do need to be more gracious and humble. We all have our moments, BUT keeping them in tact is THE ONLY way to go.

I hope this person soon realizes this for THEIR and OTHERS own good.

Otherwise, I hope all is well.

Querying BG like crazy this week. Sent out six so far.

DL Hammons said...

Now I'm curious about what lit the flame that started this semi-rant! :)