I guess I’m in Solnit’s camp when it comes to closing out of Zuck-accounts. She thinks letting them silence us and destroy our online networks give them a win. I personally think someone worth 200+ plus billion is not gonna miss my accounts.
Is AI gross? Yes. Does late stage capitalism have a way of degrading everything online? Yes. Are these platform vehicles for democracy-destroying lies? Yes. End-times climate denialism? Yes.
Still.
All self-published authors have to make peace with Amazon. Period. It’s that or go dark.
But I’ve made sure I’m in libraries and available in independent bookstores and on bookshop.org and a half a dozen other outlets like google play and Apple — so that people rightfully shunning the bald coward Bezos can still get my book.
Going forward, I’m ordering books for myself from bookshop.org even though it’s a pain in the ass and I now run out for my own groceries (something I pretty much stopped during during COVID).
Did you see Jeff’s gross girlfriend, BTW, with the fat MAGA lips and exposed underwear and the gross Zuckerberg staring down her bra? Gawd these people! (And no, I didn’t watch the inauguration, it just came up elsewhere).
I exited Twitter months ago and haven’t missed it. I wouldn’t miss threads either. At all. Even though Bluesky lacks … something. Engagement I guess. In that way Bluesky feels like Twitter (for me anyway) where either I was shadow banned or just not interesting enough to warrant responses. I’m saying: threads feels friendlier. I hope Bluesky improves.
Here’s another thing. Ken and I just spent the better part of last week figuring out Facebook ads for my book which is supposedly how to keep sales going. AND I have this reading this week to remind people about and everyone is going dark. Damn! I hope I’ve posted about it enough (probably).
This, by the way, doesn’t mean I don’t have enormous respect for people wiping their boards clean of these fat cats. I do.
Saw this on Bluesky today. Not bad, eh?
Lastly, with one exception the people least outwardly supportive of my book have been, wait for it … my IRL writing friends. It’s baffling. Beyond disappointing. Last night I realized that publishing a book is like losing a parent. You just don’t know who will step forward and who will sideline themselves. It’s not always what you expect.
Neighbors, family, Tuesday-call friends, Wednesday-call friends, and YOU GUYS have been stalwart and amazing and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that fact. Thank you.
I wish I lived closer, so I could attend the reading! Will Ken record it? I’d love to see it. The book is such an amazing accomplishment! Keep plugging it. Sell amazon sell!
As for those IRL folks – pfft!
You’re sweet. I haven’t decided about recording but even if we don’t I might make some short audios of the passages I read and post them here.
Love that Bluesky post about your book … something like that would have me walking on air … hopefully it counterbalanced some of the self-promotion drudgery
I’ve logged off Facebook, but I have remained on Instagram for now … never was on Twitter and don’t find myself drawn to look at Bluesky … but the blogs? I read them every single day without fail, leaving comments and then going back to read replies … sometimes (okay, most times) it’s a slog to post, but I’m always glad when I do
Liz A (in case WordPress doesn’t let me identify myself)
I need to get more disciplined about the blogs. Ever since it got more difficult to comment (mostly on WordPress), I just don’t do it as much. But this community is so worth it.
People can probably tell, but as a general matter, I’m a read-only follower. Which means I miss out on some personal audio clips and shares from YouTube.
Deb here. I’m glad it’s not just me. It seems like every rare time I have a comment, whatever platform doesn’t know me and won’t let me in the door. Pfft.
Never was on Facebook, Instagram, twitter, etc. Do have to use Amazon due to the VA not always having medical supplies that I need for my husband and it is easier to order books although I do try to patronize our local bookstores, whenever I can.
Faithful reader of blogs and most of the time, I do respond with a comment or two! Over the years though, I have dropped blogs where there is no exchange, no conversation, etc. My time is simply too important to me, at the age of 77, to waste my time on a one-sided experience! Reading the blogs I choose to read offers so much in terms of conversation, food for thought as well as the real deal, food recipes! and most of all, we who come here to this community, connect on so many levels. We learn from one another, we commiserate about the state of the country, we do what we can to bolster and support actions, we laugh, we cry, we tell our stories and in doing so, we are a community that matters…
I’ve come back because I just read something that I want to share.
Some of you know that over the weekend, I made a protective talisman for what came yesterday. It is a small naturally dyed cloth with a few stems of fresh sage stitched to the cloth; sage for protection. The talisman is mounted on a small apple branch and is on the wall nearest our front door, protection for ourselves and all who come into our home. It seems that I am not the only one who felt the need to do something regarding protection. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, attended the event yesterday and over her black dress, ” her necklace of cowrie shells that has drawn the most commentary. In African tradition, cowries ward off evil and call in the protection of the ancestors..”
The photo also showed that Justice Jackson also wore cowrie shell earrings.
Correction: Justice Jackson was wearing her black robes, not a black dress.
I love that she wore cowrie shells and so conspicuously. They were also used as tools of divination and as currency.
Marti ~ Thank you for all of your well-stated comments! Yes, this is why we gather and while it has always been a main ingredient of blog life to me, it feels even more important now. Community you can trust is what I keep hearing and I find that here. (((hugs)))
Nancy
Dee~ I love that too!
So many thoughts on ‘going dark’ or not or what on earth do we do next? Thankfully, I don’t have to decide much as I don’t do any of those other platforms…and haven’t ordered much since October. There are reasons I can’t say never, but I have cut back and I don’t do prime. Does it matter, probably not.
Congrats on being a fav of 2024!! My face would hurt from smiling 😁
Nancy
Everything feels so up in the air and not in a good way.