Working alone shouldn’t be the only perk of writing. I’m no fan of that Gravity’s Rainbow guy, but he was onto something.
I will not join a union. I will not be told when and how to write by a thuggish crew of petty tyrants picking my pocket for dues. Unions may have been a force for good for a brief period lost to the mists of the 20th century but it’s common knowledge among anyone trying to actually get anything done, from loading trucks to writing books, that unions have been a thing of disruptive, sometimes violent, and parasitical evil for a long, long time.
Nor will I join any writers associations. I see absolutely zero prestige in being a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association or Horror Writers of America or whatever they call themselves outside of their respective groups. P.E.N. has been a hyper-politicized joke since at least the 1980s. Most of these associations exist for no other reason than to give their anointed ones awards that presumably confer prestige because they are awards.
Besides, most writers I've known or met are horrible people, insufferably full of themselves. I don't imagine I'm a lot of fun to be around either, so I'm doing what's best for both of us. It's just as well my favorites are all long dead. There's no one alive I care to meet.
I understand some people are really all about selling more copies of their work, and that there are people out there who will trust the fallacious Appeal to Authority that is the Blah-Blah Writers Guild Award-winning seal on the cover instead of “taking a chance” on someone “lesser known,” i.e., outside the awful cliques that form within genre groups. It doesn’t matter that so much award-winning dreck is still dreck. People will still buy it for the prestige.
The dreck awarded proves the fakeness of the prestige, though, and I refuse to take seriously any writer who is so concerned with such things. It’s my understanding that when awards season comes around, writers in these organizations will bomb their fellows with emails begging for their vote. I get enough spam in my inbox, thank you.
By way of winding this up, a riddle only the truly wise will correctly answer: How many Grammy Awards did The Beatles win in their brief career as the first world famous supergroup from 1964-1970?
A midwit will spout off the 1965 Best Song “Michelle” and the Best Album win for 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band but the correct answer is the same if you replaced The Beatles with Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who, David Bowie, Guns ‘n’ Roses, or Nirvana: Who cares?
The true Legends let their catalogues speak for them. Do the work for the sake of doing the best work you can, and your audience will find you. Social media helps, but you’d better live up to your hype.
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