A Hedonist by heart

Was she just working at an atypical point in literary history when it was genuinely possible to be that specific and individual and deeply weird (/fond) in your interests and their expression, but still find a large audience who that spoke to?

How much did the mass market paperback have to do with it, and what does its demise mean for comparably idiosyncratic authors and their careers? Do we we just have a future with more cult hits? Do more people go to smaller independent publishers and to self-pub?

I mean, I agree with the quote above; I think you can survive writing potboilers so long as you have something that's just for you and that you don't compromise on and which hopefully also finds its audience, but it always fascinates me how specific those books are, and yet how widely bought and widely beloved.

me: yeah, i posted on tumblr

publisher: .........tumblr?

me: that's where the gays are.

publisher: And what is your marketing strategy on... tumblr?

me: idk, i shitpost at 2am?

publisher: .....and it works?

me: depends on what the gays find funny at that point in time.

publisher: Could I have a link to your tumblr?

me: .......absolutely not.

publisher: I've been looking into tumblr, have you thought of using Blaze to promote your book?

me: NO

publisher: But it seems like an efficient way to get this in front of more eyes-

me: people on tumblr hate Blaze.

publisher: There is no algorithm and you can't pay to promote a post? I don't understand how anyone advertises anything on tumblr.

me: That's the best part. They don't. They can't.

(trying to make him understand that we do not control the attention. We just have to show something shiny and gay enough and if people are interested, they'll reblog.)