SquarePeg Books

I’m not terribly deep into setting up my primary marketing platforms, but I’ve already decided I hate it.

I hate algorithms. I hate guessing the algorithm. I hate playing the algorithm, I hate when they “tweak” the algorithm for “better customer targeting.” Especially since I haven’t published anything yet. Just trying to build a fan-base first.

Making videos for YouTube is still better than tweeting, x-ing (sounds like porn), ‘gramming (sounds vaguely drug related), tik-toking (also sounds like it could be drug slang), tumbling (I’m not that flexible anymore) or whatever other social.media.channel will hit the market next week.

This being said, I do not like constantly reviewing videos of myself. But I have to in order to edit said videos. Repeatedly. I don’t like my voice. I’m not an actor, I’m a theatre rat, so having to edit myself in my videos is gross.

I’m very self-critical.

Which is also funny, because the videos aren’t supposed to be art. They’re just supposed to be short and funny.

You would think this goes against the policy “no YouTube. That I’ve blathered on about recently.

Not so. My problem with YouTube is endless bingeing. The ability to just lay there, not even looking at the screen, just listening to someone to you a story is so seductive.

Actually making a video is a whole different thing. Even if it’s okay that it’s low quality. It’s still work.

It’s still thinking.

Which I’m finding very disgusting at the moment.

I’m still trying to figure out widgets and whatsits and all of that for editing, and how this website is going to work.

And GIMP and I are… having… “discussions” …about how I told it to do Action 1 to the image, but it insists I did not.

The GIMP thing is a little more stressful, because, well, it’s cover art. It’s supposed to look vaguely professional.

Though the discussion I had the other day of comparing the “Hook” one adds to the back cover highlighted both the humor and the desperation of my position all at the same time.

Me: “It’s a hard balancing act–how much is too much? Because you’ve got to give your reader just enough to want to find out what happens next, but not too much, because then they won’t want to read the book, but not too little, because then you’re playing hard to get.”

Brandon: “Yeah, I can see that, I guess.”

Me: “Put it another way–building that hook is like the difference between a modern exotic dancer, and an actual vintage burlesque strip-tease. The first you know exactly what you’re going to get, and it’s really kinda boring. You could easily go tot the bathroom for twenty minutes and not miss a plot point. The second tells a seductive story in which you’re not sure what happens next, but you’re invested enough that you’re going to stay seated and finish the whole show for the answer.”

Brandon: “… It hurts my head how that makes sense.”

But it’s thinking! And it’s work! and it feels like every stroke of the keys threatens to ruin EVERYTHING!!!

Gahhhhhhhh!!!!!!

The desire to brainlessly binge is so strong!!!