We know, this sounds like a warning, it is. Just yesterday we saw a link posted on Facebook, where some of us hang out way too much instead of writing, that caught our eye from an author we happen to follow. And this is what precipitated us deciding to make this post. What would that be? you ask.
Ohhhhhhh, are we ever glad you did.
When you are online and posting, whether under your real name or your pseudonym as an author, you are seen. Your words are seen. Your rants are seen. Case in point! A person of the author nature wrote a piece for an online blog/paper that was an all out attack on an A-list author. A-list meaning someone that isn't scrambling for their next pay check or having to worry about things like a day job.
This person of the author nature clearly stated at the beginning of the piece that a friend had cautioned this person NOT to do the piece. At least NOT to put it out in the public eye. This person of the author nature decided to ignore this very sound and wise cautionary advise and posted the article anyway. Now this person of an author nature is paying for it.
By attacking an author, in this case an A-lister, this person of an author nature has gained a following. But not the sort that any author wants. This following hates this person of an author nature's guts, violently and viciously. The following (not to be confused with the TV series The Following with Kevin Bacon, James Purefoy and many other amazing actors) has shunned this persons works and this person on a whole. To top it all off, the news of this person of an author nature's stupidity has spread to a very popular online paper. And other A-list authors have stepped up to say what a dimwitted twit this person is.
We all want to be noticed. We all want to have our say and, in many countries, we have the right to freedom of speech. We are not trying to squash your right to freedom of speech - we are trying to get you to realize that just because you think it sounds great in your fucking head doesn't mean you fucking POST IT ON THE FUCKING NET!!!
*deep calming breath in..............and out*
Apologies. But we hope you get our point here. With the Internet anything and everything, as we've mentioned before, is PERMANENT! The Net doesn't ever forget and neither do your fans, the friends they told, the friends they told and so forth. If you want to go out with a suicidal bomb bang, be our guest and do it. But if you actually want to continue to write and make a living off your writing - guard your words carefully. Do not ever insinuate. Do not ever try for sarcasm. Do not ever get into a bitch slap word fight. And never, EVER, go off on any author on the Net if you ever plan on selling another book again in your life.
The Moderator
**For those interested in the two posts we referred to above you can see them here
The "rant":
The BBC post: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-26331650
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