Alienating Your Audience

I've seen it a lot, and I can't understand it. Some writers, as well as many industry bloggers can't seem to stop themselves from getting political. It's mind-boggling. I'm very opinionated, yet not once on this blog have I talked politics. Why not? Because that's not what the blog's about! It would make as much sense as discussing Italian cooking or woodworking. 

A while back I discovered a blog I found really interesting. The guy is a former literary agent and what I liked best about his topics was that he always provided examples. I love examples; they're much more useful than dry text that requires you to imagine what the writer's explaining. I spent a lot of time reading through his advice, and not wanting to miss any new posts, I subscribed to his newsletter.

Then it began. He couldn't help but throw in little (and not so little) political digs. You know, more power to him. We have free speech in America, and he can say whatever he wants. But I have the freedom not to read it. So I don't, not anymore. I gave his newsletter a chance; I thought his first newsletter was a one-off and he'd get back to the topic(s) at hand. Maybe he'd just had a mini-breakdown for a minute there. It wasn't until the second time that I hit the unsubscribe button. In the same way that I don't foist my political beliefs on readers, I don't want writers foisting theirs on me. That's not what I came for.

There's another, a quite famous marketing expert, whose newsletter I'm currently receiving ("currently" being the keyword). To be frank, her news isn't all that interesting or relevant to me, but occasionally she'll include a tidbit I can learn from. But she's another who can't or won't stop herself from giving her political views. I'm on the fence as to whether to continue subscribing. At least she hasn't (yet) dived into any furious rants. 

The mistake that many people make is in thinking that everyone shares their opinion. It might be geographical and/or industry related, since publishing is concentrated in New York; nevertheless, especially for someone whose specialty is marketing, and marketing to independent authors, no less, hey, there's a big wide world out there. 

In any creative field, we find people with no impulse control. For big-name entertainers, I suppose there's no risk involved in lecturing their audience, but there are enough examples to be found where everything went haywire. I'm not into naming names, and if I was to boycott every musical artist whose politics I disagreed with, my playlist would be pretty short. What will turn me off to an artist is "attitude". Fine, you like who you like and hate who you hate, artist, but don't be a prick about it.

Luckily, my political beliefs haven't cost me any fans. There are two reasons for that:

1. I don't insert politics into my stories.

2. I have no fans.

And maybe #3: I don't have any sort of platform, but if I did, I'd steer clear of politics. I just want to sell books.

The closest I came to a teeny hint of a political statement in Running From Herself can't really even be identified as political. The main character has one hit song before hitting the skids, and now she's working as a server in a bar. When the local band onstage breaks into that song, one of MC's customers says something about how he normally hates feminist songs, but he likes this one (not knowing that his server is the person who wrote it). She's more angry about someone else singing her song while she's reduced to serving drinks than she is at the customer's remark, but she spouts, "It's not feminist!" 

That's it. That's all. Hardly a political screed. (I enjoyed writing it, though.)

Anyone who depends on good will to sell whatever they're selling (themselves, their work, their expertise) would do well to just stick to the topic at hand.

I can't believe this even needs saying.