Why honesty is a bad idea (redux)
(I now call it my Jimmy Carter “I have lust in my heart” moment –the blogpost where I shouldn’t have said what I was really feeling.)
Over at the ”Dear Author” website, I’m being blasted for my tongue-in-cheek comments about the McGillivray mess. Last night my husband told me he was concerned that I let it “all hang out” on this blogsite and that I keep telling the truth about exactly how I see the industry. And it’s true. I’ve confessed to my insecurities here. I’ve revealed what I know about how the business works. I’ve talked about bestseller lists and hard numbers and incomes and racial issues and a lot of things that most authors will never tell you about.
And now, it seems, there are tons of people who say they will never buy another one of my books or hang out with me at conferences because I’m such a jerk for telling the truth (about my feelings.)
This is the sort of defining moment that tells an author it’s time to close down the blogsite.Â
As an author, one has to deal with enough difficulties. And as for being stalked by weird readers/reviewers, hey, I’m the author about whom a reviewer wrote (in print) she’d like to slap me, and who also revealed the town I lived in and encouraged readers to accost me on the street. So yes, I know something about feeling a bit stalked. (But honestly? I was more bothered by the fact she didn’t like my book. How crazy is that?)Â
I’ve always reserved my deepest passions for the stories I tell, and for the whole, fascinating world of publishing. I didn’t realize that just talking about these passions could make a whole host of people who don’t even know me want to have me drawn and quartered.
So I think it’s time to cool the blog for awhile. I may be back. I may not. Either way, at least I can leave feeling that I’ve always been honest here. (Well, except for the times I exaggerated for the sake of humor.) I’ve tried to tell it like it is. I’ve tried never to hurt anyone. I’ve never used the internet to harass anyone, lambaste anyone, nor done any of the weird things McGillivray is accused of doing. I’ve never bitten back at a reader (even though, as I confessed, I sometimes want to.) I’ve never advocated any of these things. I just said, quite honestly, that when your feelings get hurt, you have emotional reactions that aren’t quite rational.Â
But on Dear Author, it appears that just confessing to those emotions are thought to be akin to actually committing sins, and in this age of internet pile-ons, it’s just too dangerous to be truthful.
(editorial changes)
Until today Tess, when I have been catching up on your last few blogs, I had not heard of this person Deborah MacGillivray. The irony could be that as a result of all these ‘fireworks’, she becomes better known and better sold, while your blog is suspended or even shut down.
Whatever happened to the wonders of free speech? Looks like it has a price after all.
As JMH aptly put it : [i]Tess, take a deep breath, chill out for a few days, and then come back where you belong. See you then![/i]
dammit, how do I put words in italics!!
Tess:
My name is Doug and I am a travel writer. My wife and I live in Mexico and have for the past five years. I have not only written about travel in Mexico but also about Americans expatriating to Mexico.
What I write is very niche. I am able, through book royalties, to pay the rent and light bill. Magazine articles and another source of income make up the rest. I’ve found that the only way I have been able to pay the rent via my books has been through my constant and never-ending self-promotion for which, would you believe, I get blasted for promoting my own work?!
I wanted to tell you that we too get threats for our writing. Book reviews on Amazon are not reviews but rants. I’ve complained over and over to Amazon and thankfully they have removed the ones in which I am called names.
I’ve been threatened by a woman in NY who told me, on Amazon, she should come to Guanajuato, the city where we live, find me and do me in!
There was even a suspected attempt to kill us. One expat in the area where we live threatened, in an comment about an article, to do us in. He clearly identified himself as a fellow expat living in my city or in a nearby city called San Miguel de Allende. A little more than 12 hours after getting this threat, a fire was set in or under a taxi which was parked outside our bedroom window. Had I not been up, it would have blown up the neighborhood, killing us and the neighbors.
Another person (who also lives in our town) sent me an email stating he/she thought I should go live in Iraq where I would get the punishment I deserve (i.e., death).
We’ve even had people who have read our books come to our door. Fortunately, they were friends of some expats who actually like what we’ve written, so it was a positive encounter.
However, there are several people in this town who do not like us and who know approximately where we live and who could bring those who want to harm us right to our doorstep. Scary!
There is the delusion that free speech in America means being able to curse someone wildly and threaten their lives.
Amazon could do something about their review format but won’t. The technology exists to control these bitch session disguised as reader’s reviews.
Hang in there! Keep writing your books (which, by the way, both of us LOVE!!!!) and your blog.
Sincerely,
Doug
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