Don't look: this image is EVIL!!
CHRISTMAS is not a good time to be #belly-aching BUT . . . You
know what’s coming next, don’t you? My #Xmasbelly-ache is about the witch-hunt on
self-promotion.
The final straw was today on a site with a thread promoting new
releases books from a certain country.
As some of you know, I have a publishing hut Bent Banana
Books. I have promoted two BBB titles in December on the new-release thread.
I tried to promote a third BBB, the new release at the top
of this blog. (Don’t look. Avert your eyes. It’s disgusting. O! No! It’s
self-promotion. )
But no. My book met every criterion
for being on the thread but it was barred because I wrote it. “Bernie, you gotta
use the tradies’ entrance,” the mod said.
“That’s the entrance to the place
no readers go because it’s full of self-promotion,” I clarify.
“That’s the one,” the mod says.
A couple of days ago a kind person
from net info/ opinion exchange Reddit Australia was kind enough to re-tweet my 12 days of Christmas promotion. I had
spent a far bit of time and a little money putting it together and I think it
comes up all right. (It is at the bottom of this blog. But don’t look. It’s worse
than pornography. It’s self-promotion.)
I have been working in journalism a
long time and I figured it might be able to get some free ink – unpaid editorial
– so I sent it to the main Reddit website. After the event, I saw it was pretty cut and
dried that it was ineligible. I gave up reading rules on the internet ages ago
so I did not know before I posted it.
At face value the Reddit rules
seem fair enough. Take a closer look.
Copy is not being selected on quality
or public interest. It is being selected on some vague notion that copy without self-interest is better. A former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said you should always bet on self-interest. "It's always trying," Keating said.
Many website mods also find self-interest trying.
Why is an exclusionary clause needed?
Well, it’s not.
In the case of the book thread, my book should have been included, in edited form, at the very least.
In the case of the book thread, my book should have been included, in edited form, at the very least.
On the case of Reddit, the mod
could have applied the criteria of quality and perceived public interest. Instead
we have the producers of books as the pariahs of book sites. Strange days,
indeed.
Happy holidays,
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