Subs for Subs

When I initially considered this rant I contemplated placing it on my gameplay blog, but remembered the practice I’m about to discuss existed while I was writing a fiction blog as well. Although, I think the prevalence of such a practice is more rampant in gaming than in writing. This is due to the demographic differences between fiction writing and YouTube gaming channels. And I suppose the following practice is plague-like when it comes to social media, too.

A few years back when I started my fiction blog, a practice I learned to be a terrible idea for anyone wanting to become a successful fiction writer much too late to rebound from the mistakes, I also joined the social media world. This all came on the heels on my short story “Mirrors” (a story I feel is some of my most accomplished writing even though it isn’t well written) being accepted in a short story anthology, which is now defunct. Well, defunct is too strong a word. More accurately the creator of the short story anthology shifted focus to follow her own career path. One I hope has been successful.

During that time of excitement about my fiction writing career, a rather short and mostly disappointing one, I was all about finding fans. I wanted people to come to my blog to read my episodic novel “Buried Alive” in its rough draft format. Again, a terrible idea, but I was new to the game and wasn’t aware of all the unwritten rules. During that time I spammed communities on Google Plus, I spammed Facebook, I spammed Twitter, and I spammed LinkedIn, which is a place I don’t recommend for new writers. Those stuff-shirt “professionals” on LinkedIn will do more damage than good. Just steer clear of the dumpster fire that is LinkedIn. I would post once a week about the adventures of my protagonist as he came to grips with his own mortality. And for quite some time doing that was successful. My blog was growing in readers and subscribers. But it all started to tumble down hill when two things happened.

The most critical problem I ran into doing a fiction blog was providing quality content. As my fiction writing began to unravel, I started becoming more and more disenfranchised with the idea of posting my fiction on a blog. I started doing ridiculous posts with other authors in an interview format. I was doing poetry, which continues to make me gag. I was writing book reviews on mainstream authors and self-published authors. Of course writing reviews for self-published authors who have followed your blog and followed your social media outlets is an accident waiting to happen. As soon as you speak disparagingly about a self-published book from someone you know...well, may Zeus strike you down with lightning regardless if your issues with the book are accurate and valid. I had one author say to me, “I thought you were my friend.” And another one say, “I thought you enjoyed the book.” I did enjoy the book but the writing was awful. Going straight to hell for that one, do not pass GO. I was doing all those things because I wasn’t comfortable with my own writing and I was even less comfortable posting that writing on a public blog. And I still feel that way. Sorry for anyone hoping to see an fiction on a blog anytime soon. Unless of course you were able to decipher anything from the photos of my handwritten scene I posted a few days back.

The second problem I ran into was the fake support. I use the term fake because that is exactly what it is, and I’m running into the same kind of situation as I try to build my YouTube gaming channel. And this is really the point of this rant, although it is a rather subdued rant compared to previous rants. As with my fiction blog, I continue to get the “sub for sub” request. Essentially, it goes like this: a person either replies to your post or the video, lathers it with honey about how good it is and blah, blah, blah. Then the other shoe drops and they want you to “please take a look at my channel and subscribe.” I don’t know how many of those I’ve received. Of course I don’t play that game. And for anyone who read my post about the game giveaway in August you would know how hard it is to be a winner, and the reasons for the hoop-jumping. It isn’t because I don’t want to give away the game, it’s because I want honest people watching my channel and enjoying the content. I mean that’s the point of doing something for the public eye. But back to the point. I tend to get off topic easily. As I mentioned people want you to subscribe or follow their blog or vlog or channel, which is the only purpose they subscribed to your creative media. The problems arise when I don’t subscribe to whatever they're peddling. They get their panties in a bunch and suddenly unsubscribe to you because you wouldn’t subscribe to them. These hissy fits are a major annoyance. I’m not going to subscribe or follow your content based solely on you subscribing or following mine. If you’ve only subscribed or followed my content because you want me to return the favor, I prefer you don’t trouble me. Besides, if your blog is terrible or littered with mistakes why would I bother? If your channel doesn’t showcase the games I’m interested in or your voice makes me cringe, why would I want to watch your videos?

Do everyone a favor and only subscribe or follow things that interest you or that you can stomach. Don’t do it because you think it’ll curry favor for you because it won’t. I’m selective in what I want to waste my time on.