I Lurk

Brennan: "[As you talk about investing in this town] you can watch as their eyes glaze over a little bit --"

Ally: "'Cause they're not staying."

Brennan: "[...] Some of them are talking about San Francisco or Seattle, other far-flung places. In other words, you guys talk about investing in this town ... I think either the kids are like, 'Cool! I'm a Junior. I've got one year left here.' or even if they're not, they're going like 'how long does it take to make a town good?'

You're watching a little bit of youth, and there's something very beautiful in youth in terms of their aspirations. But I think you can see, in the aspirations of many of these young people, there is a single-minded focus on the personal ambitions of their own life.

This is about one major thing:

Knowing Your Audience.

Is it the college student that's literally a couple of months away from never stepping foot in this town again? The traveling nurse that stays a couple weeks before they go to another coast and another hospital?

Folks with one foot already out the door are more likely going to be more concerned with immediate needs and actions, not the long term campaigns that can take months to years to accomplish, IF you accomplish them at all.

So you talk to them about the short-term, the flash actions, and the things that affect them directly.

Or are you talking with the family fighting for the elementary school to treat their dyslexic child well? The retired immigrant couple that plan on dying in that house and are struggling with the bank? The newly married queer couple that just bought that house and have brand new jobs, and want to build their lives in this place?

These folks are often 1) not in a financial position to leave, 2) don't want to leave because that's their community, their friends and families, and they lack that support network anywhere else they go, and 3) are more willing to get involved with (put their hands in!) slower moving projects because they intend to be here for the process and end result. It will affect them, even if it's five years down the road.

You're simply not going to talk to these people the same way about the same things.

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.)

This is Cosmos, my publisher's dog.

He barks at my publisher's phone notifications. So every time a book is sold, Cosmos barks.

It's been days.

I think you guys would love to know that when you buy a book, a dog barks in Vancouver, Canada.

take up space, read the plaques, get the audioguides. you are just as entitled and right in being there. visit museums, boycott museums, be expressive about your opinions about museums.

a lot of museums are free, or discounted for youth and students. take advantage of that. check your local art museum. check your local history museum. museums are there for you, they are there to educate the public, not to distinguish between class. it isn't a private collection, it's a public exhibit.

soliloquy by an immortal cave painter.