Maybe Book Tube is not for me
Jan. 11th, 2019 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marlowe1I'm looking at those "Book Tube" videos and they are all so damn chipper. And seriously, there is not a chance in hell that I'm going to review most of the books that they are reviewing. Hate to be that guy but I know a lot of these people. I remember the contempt I felt for a guy live tweeting the Academy Awards at his apartment and saying that he would not say anything mean about the boring best song because he wanted to get into this industry and shit talking about his contemporaries is a bad idea. They weren't his contemporaries really but he was still worried (so if you want to know why R. Kelly and the rest could get away with it, know that the entertainment industry is even more stuck on the "don't say anything about anyone" track than the most obnoxious Chofetz Chaim fan.
Anyhow, I can't really talk about many new books because I know too many writers. I am a writer. And there are two things that bother me -
1. Horrible people who write great books (less problematic unless they are alive - currently I'm loving Burr by Gore Vidal - it's so good. He's so shitty).
2. Really sweet people who write books that I hate.
Note the qualification on that last one. Jay Lake helped me out a great deal when I was starting out Dybbuk Press and he didn't have to answer any of my questions. I hated his books. I thought he was a great guy but I'm not going to be going on some Book Tube either lying about his books or saying how much I hate them.
That feels safe because he's not alive and won't get his feelings hurt, but I still feel bad about it.
Also I don't really want to get into the whole extra stuff that goes on - the book hauls, the book shelves, the fan gushing over modern authors who follow the tubes, the advice on how to make a book tube (ok I watched those).
Of course, this is all academic as I don't have the time, equipment or skills to make videos like that yet. So right now I'm like I was back in my 20s, an unpublished author sending shit out to markets that were rejecting it fast while feeling a little weird talking shit about books that I hated because damnit, at least Piers Anthony could finish a fucking book.
Anyhow, I can't really talk about many new books because I know too many writers. I am a writer. And there are two things that bother me -
1. Horrible people who write great books (less problematic unless they are alive - currently I'm loving Burr by Gore Vidal - it's so good. He's so shitty).
2. Really sweet people who write books that I hate.
Note the qualification on that last one. Jay Lake helped me out a great deal when I was starting out Dybbuk Press and he didn't have to answer any of my questions. I hated his books. I thought he was a great guy but I'm not going to be going on some Book Tube either lying about his books or saying how much I hate them.
That feels safe because he's not alive and won't get his feelings hurt, but I still feel bad about it.
Also I don't really want to get into the whole extra stuff that goes on - the book hauls, the book shelves, the fan gushing over modern authors who follow the tubes, the advice on how to make a book tube (ok I watched those).
Of course, this is all academic as I don't have the time, equipment or skills to make videos like that yet. So right now I'm like I was back in my 20s, an unpublished author sending shit out to markets that were rejecting it fast while feeling a little weird talking shit about books that I hated because damnit, at least Piers Anthony could finish a fucking book.
