Miss CP has been furiously scaring up new followers. She’s trying to publicize her blog, facebook page and the fact that she can tweet, hoot, pin, tumbl, klout and flickr all at the same time. As she beats her wings to flush out the new faces, she’s noticed the latest Scheme to Inflate Online Influence.
While this topic isn’t as popular as UFOs or JFK assassination conspiracy theories, it is real. Chillingly real.Those authors with 1.21 gigawatts worth of adoring fans? Pull back the curtain and anyone can see that these fans aren’t really fans at all! They’re all other writers, scratching each other’s proverbial backs.
Go on any social media site where writers hang. Right away they’ll mob a newcomer, pleading with her to “like” their page. And if newcomer bows to the pressure, well gee, the authors promise to “like” her back. All this is to help authors convince themselves that they are not losers, no matter what Mom and Aunt Marge say. When the weekly stats come out, these authors wave them around like they just conquered a small country. It’s that bad.
Miss Crankypants feels obligated to say at this juncture that she herself has probably bribed other writers to pretend they are part of her posse. At book signings, she slyly positions out-of-work writers to man the aisles, whispering to browsers that this really really famous author has written a new book and–wow!–what a coincidence. She’s right over there, signing books! If they do their job, Miss CP pays in chocolate.
Are you a backscratcher? And if so, would you mind “liking” my page?
I agree with your analysis. We need to reach readers as well as each other. I have finally stopped the media frenzied, and read only the things I am truly interested in without thought to the scratch my back result. I do enjoy interacting with friends, family and acquaintances, but in general the social media whirl gives me a headache. Guess I’ll be one of the unknowns without a huge platform. Oh, well.
Dang spell checker. I didn’t want frenzied, I wanted frenzy. Sigh. My tired eyes didn’t catch that until I hit publish…
Cecelia, Yes spell checkers are a miserable lot–they are always looking for ways to embarrass! Thanks for your comment! ~Linda aka Miss CP