It's not just my impression - statistics confirm it: the number of writers is surpassing that of readers, causing turbulence and some unpleasant mishaps. It's a bit like when warm and cold currents meet to create a tornado, or to use a more local metaphor, like having a single henhouse with a multitude of roosters strutting around among the few hens.
Let's be clear - writing is beautiful, requires dedication, and certainly has its positive effects on good health and general optimism. Everyone has their story to tell, their target readers to reach, and the ambition to improve over time like a Barolo wine from the Langhe region.
So it's positive that stories are emerging from drawers and finding their way into cyberspace. It's equally wonderful that prejudices against bestseller writers are crumbling in the face of certain incredible successes (not in this country, mind you) born from works published by small publishers or completely "homemade," released without a traditional publisher and becoming the subject of million-dollar contracts thanks to Amazon rankings. So yes, self-publishing is gaining ground, small publishers are multiplying, literary contests are more crowded than Sunday afternoon stadiums, printing houses are thriving, and bookstores are flooded with new texts. There are even more book launches than before and many more social events centered around literature.
Good, I really have no objections. The phenomenon is a child of our times, a symptom of freedom and a new economic stimulus. In short, I see many positive things in it, while preserving everyone's right to reject the proposal of a non-vetted author or worse, one capable of convincing potential buyers of their lack of talent and inspiration in the few preview pages that online shops typically grant.
But that's another story.
The problem is the author, their often-emerging bad character, sometimes caused by frustration over poor sales, sometimes because they simply have a bad character - except before, only a few people knew about it.
Because if once we had made Italy but failed to make Italians, now we've built up a frightening apparatus that thrives on writers, without these writers ever having been trained. In short, after a few years of frequent social media observation, I've formed an idea of the most recurring archetypes in the vast galaxy of new authors, and I want to joke about it a bit, hoping not to offend anyone.
THE REVIEWS OBSESSED ONE
By far the most common type. They don't care much about anything else - they keep their Amazon link prominently displayed in their favorites bar and check their book's review count at least sixteen times a day. They reject the evidence that real readers usually don't review but rather read, judge, and often keep their judgment to themselves. With each new review, they post a screenshot, enlarging the image crop until it becomes pixelated. They care very little about whether the review might be from their uncle, and even less about the fact that just two days after their book's release, there are more than one hundred and seventy-two reviews, almost all with four stars trending toward five (I'm not sure the fifth star exists, but I liked the idea). When it reaches pathological levels, the Reviews Obsessed One buys review packages and tends to be tempted by that discount on the two-hundred-and-fifty bundle, including random newsletters and a life-sized author cardboard cutout.
continue with:
The anti-System one
Stay tuned — the fauna is only beginning
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