Putting all my ironies in the fire

Authors are constantly asking themselves why certain books succeed, while others, (usually their own,) fail to generate much interest. We are told, by those who are grizzled with battle-scars and paper-cuts, that we should simply write a superlative book and it will eventually sell itself. That's what sells; good writing. Case closed.

Until we look at the 50 Shades... phenomenon and that theory falls apart like a quivering secretary in the arms of a perverted executive. The author is richer than you'll ever be and good luck to her. I won't generate bad karma by ragging on another author, but maybe you need to have it read to you to get the full benefit.

Well, E.L. James just "tapped into a market", didn't she? Yes, she did, and very successfully. But what the hell does "tapping into a market" even mean? If we knew that, we could all do it, right?

It's perception. People perceive that "everybody" is doing something, and people are social animals. They don't want to be excluded from the group by going their own way and doing their own thing. You can't make friends with someone if you have nothing in common, so, in order to have the best chances of success, you need to do what is common to the most people. Do what everyone else is doing. Follow the herd. Even if you hate the latest fad, at least you can talk about it; at least you're engaged in following it. You can laugh at Twilight in conversation with all the other people who hated it, but you still bought into it as a cultural phenomenon, didn't you? You still saw the movies or read the books, because you didn't want to miss out on the zeitgeist.

And herein lies the problem. The premise of almost everything I write is that: conformity erodes self. Now, with supreme irony, I'm having to do what everyone else is doing, in order to tell my readers to follow their own path. And yes, you can now follow me on the hive-mind of Twitter.

So, I'll leave you with the opening lines of the old Cop Shoot Cop song, "Discount Rebellion":

Our survey told us what you wanted,
Rebellion at a low, low price,
Be an individual through our product,
Why jeopardise your life?

(Words by Tod A.)