Don't Talk to Strangers
Apr. 23rd, 2020 08:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingMy book has a strong title and a gorgeous cover, and it's about things like Sailor Moon and Steven Universe. There's no getting around the fact that it's an academic monograph written by a professor, but I tried to make it as accessible as possible. The chapter titles and subtitles are catchy, and it has a lot of gorgeous illustrations.
So people on social media are interested, which is great! I have decided, however, to no longer respond to anyone asking where they can get my book. The actual answer is simple:
(1) You can order it directly from the publisher. The link is right there in the tweet.
(2) You can order it from any major online retailer, from Amazon to IndieBound to Waterstones to Kinokuniya to Walmart. A quick Google search for the book title will fetch the relevant links.
(3) You can ask your local library to order a copy. Most libraries have simple request forms on their webpages, or you can send an email to the general reference desk.
(4) You can send a DM to me, the author, to (politely!!) ask if I can get you access to a discounted copy or a free promotional or review copy.
I mean, how do you get any book, right? This book in particular is tricky, because the hardcover costs $80. I know how that sounds, but that's just how academic publishing works. Most people don't understand how academic publishing works, because why would they, but that's just how it is. This is not a popular-audience book from a popular press; but, even if it were, hardcover books still cost money, and there's not much the author can do about that.
Yesterday I learned that, when people on social media ask where they can get a copy, they're not actually asking where they can get a copy. What they're saying is that they want me to give them a copy of the book for free.
Which I am totally willing to do, actually! I'm happy to send a free PDF copy of the book to anyone who asks, because fuck the police!!
(By which I mean that the main market for the hardcover editions of academic monographs are university libraries, which have far more resources and a much larger budget than most individuals. I don't get any royalties from book sales - because again, academic publishing - and it's not hurting the giant international press if I send a PDF of the book to a small handful of 20-year-old college students who get in touch via Twitter while we all wait for a more affordable paperback edition to be released.)
Once I have answered the person's question about where to find the book and sent them a link to a free PDF copy, however, that's when they start getting angry. Yesterday people got really upset with me, demanding, for example, why I "chose" to publish with a respected press instead of just self-publishing with Lulu. Trying to explain how academic publishing works (and what I need to do to keep my job as a professor) also makes people angry, because what would I, a professor who just published a book, know about publishing a book? I also got a few people who (absurdly) got upset with me for offering to send them a free copy of the book because I was preventing them from "supporting the author."
By the end of the day, what I realized is that anyone who asks me a question like "Where do I get a copy of your book" probably:
(1) Doesn't know how links work
(2) Doesn't know how Google works
(3) Doesn't know how libraries work
(4) Doesn't know how to talk to an adult
And not to be elitist or anything, but a person like this probably isn't the target audience. What they want isn't the book itself, but the attention and emotional labor of me, the author.
So I guess the lesson I learned on Twitter yesterday is that, just like Tumblr, you just have to ignore the random children with anime avatars. It feels heartless not to respond to young people who are excited about my work, but there are only so many hours in the day - not to mention that I am depressed as shit right now and would rather be playing video games.
So people on social media are interested, which is great! I have decided, however, to no longer respond to anyone asking where they can get my book. The actual answer is simple:
(1) You can order it directly from the publisher. The link is right there in the tweet.
(2) You can order it from any major online retailer, from Amazon to IndieBound to Waterstones to Kinokuniya to Walmart. A quick Google search for the book title will fetch the relevant links.
(3) You can ask your local library to order a copy. Most libraries have simple request forms on their webpages, or you can send an email to the general reference desk.
(4) You can send a DM to me, the author, to (politely!!) ask if I can get you access to a discounted copy or a free promotional or review copy.
I mean, how do you get any book, right? This book in particular is tricky, because the hardcover costs $80. I know how that sounds, but that's just how academic publishing works. Most people don't understand how academic publishing works, because why would they, but that's just how it is. This is not a popular-audience book from a popular press; but, even if it were, hardcover books still cost money, and there's not much the author can do about that.
Yesterday I learned that, when people on social media ask where they can get a copy, they're not actually asking where they can get a copy. What they're saying is that they want me to give them a copy of the book for free.
Which I am totally willing to do, actually! I'm happy to send a free PDF copy of the book to anyone who asks, because fuck the police!!
(By which I mean that the main market for the hardcover editions of academic monographs are university libraries, which have far more resources and a much larger budget than most individuals. I don't get any royalties from book sales - because again, academic publishing - and it's not hurting the giant international press if I send a PDF of the book to a small handful of 20-year-old college students who get in touch via Twitter while we all wait for a more affordable paperback edition to be released.)
Once I have answered the person's question about where to find the book and sent them a link to a free PDF copy, however, that's when they start getting angry. Yesterday people got really upset with me, demanding, for example, why I "chose" to publish with a respected press instead of just self-publishing with Lulu. Trying to explain how academic publishing works (and what I need to do to keep my job as a professor) also makes people angry, because what would I, a professor who just published a book, know about publishing a book? I also got a few people who (absurdly) got upset with me for offering to send them a free copy of the book because I was preventing them from "supporting the author."
By the end of the day, what I realized is that anyone who asks me a question like "Where do I get a copy of your book" probably:
(1) Doesn't know how links work
(2) Doesn't know how Google works
(3) Doesn't know how libraries work
(4) Doesn't know how to talk to an adult
And not to be elitist or anything, but a person like this probably isn't the target audience. What they want isn't the book itself, but the attention and emotional labor of me, the author.
So I guess the lesson I learned on Twitter yesterday is that, just like Tumblr, you just have to ignore the random children with anime avatars. It feels heartless not to respond to young people who are excited about my work, but there are only so many hours in the day - not to mention that I am depressed as shit right now and would rather be playing video games.
