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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Why Is Authorial Spam Any Different?

I find it interesting on the Internet where three quarters of the dribble is spam that people take exception to authors pushing their books. We take no exception to the spam on television that hits us over the head to the ratio of about fifty to fifty. Half spam and half content. Could it be that we cannot respond to the hundredth beer commercial? Or are we just more interested in the drama of the commercial.

I would say it is the fact television is a one way street. No one can respond so we take it. But some poor author who posts a link to his book gets blow back. Spammer! Please Everyone on the Internet is a spammer of some sort. Even those who post pictures of their vacation are spamming. They are spamming their life versus yours. We are all well acquainted with the Facebook person who just cannot let us know enough about their life and how much better it is than ours. This is spam. They are selling you on themselves.

And so we get down to how do we define spam. The Internet pushes out information tagged with products. We know this. We accept the bargain. We get information and companies get to us over the head with their products. This is the same agreement we have with television and radio. We want the content so we accept the spam. So why should someone posting about their book be anymore  of a spammer than anybody else?

Again there is accessibility. We cannot complain to corporations about their spam. And we wouldn't because they are companies. But authors or someone selling some product on their own...how dare you spam me! You really cant have it both ways.

 So the next time you run into authorial spam just pretend it is a beer commercial. Your regular programming will return and the world will be right. And you know what...unlike beer, the book might even be good.

www.williamhazelgrove.com
The Pitcher

 

Books by William Hazelgrove