FULL BLEED: THIS IS THE MOON WITHOUT THE TIDE

Forgot to sneak this in with the last post.

What I most miss about life before the Howling Pit (aka Web 2.0) is non-monetized hobbies, or even being free from the desire to monetize hobbies. Now, there's limits to this, like the semi-pro press magazine world (I'm thinking FAMOUS MONSTERS as the template for this, but into STARLOG and FANGORIA and all those.) Those are snapshots of a time, just as the fanzines (of which I've limited exposure, but some of the HPL orbit, in concept, if not always in execution.)

But now you gotta have a podcast. You gotta have a following. You gotta be a personality and you're god damned right your love of a thing has to be the primary product.

And folks, those two impulses are at war with one another. But then so's the concept of loving a thing and basing your identity on that love (and yeah, that gets monetized, you better believe it.)

Well here's what I ask. If you want to read a book I've written, buy it. If you like it, leave a review. I'm not gonna run a Patreon or lock content behind subscription walls. My thought aren't that valuable.

But I'm not gonna give that content to Facebook or Instagram or Twitter. You'll see photos on Tumblr and maybe Twitter, but those are ephemeral and while not without value, are not monetarily valuable. I won't pretend otherwise. If they're valuable to you, then maybe say something along those lines (but see below.)

If you want comment, well, post it on your blog. You've got a blog, right? I might even read it, given time. Likely I won't engage on it 'cept should we meet in person. Hell, I'll even talk to you about genre boundaries in person, one to one. I'll be brief and then smile and nod while you describe how I'm wrong. It's okay.

Post these thoughts in a place where you run the space. Don't cede it to anyone else. Sure, we're always ceding something to Google. I'm paying Wix to host this space and provide a nice and tidy front end because I'm real tired of hand-coding websites.

But don't do it to make someone else money, or at least limit that as much as you can.