You Need to Develop a Hard Skin
So there is this person - I know, I know but let's keep the anonymity going here folks - who for a few days now, has decided to take it upon themselves to put angry posts on my facebook page. Now let's face it, I knew this was coming (I'm a little surprised on the speed) and for the time being, I'm not rising to the challenge. I like to pick my fights and Mr. Red Tractor (sorry guys its a 'he' or at least we assume so at this point - and yes 'he' actually has a red tractor for his profile!) you just don't reach the top of the list. In fact the second you decided that you were going to swear at me, I lost all interest in forging a positive dialogue with you.
Let's Break it Down
So I consider myself a relatively helpful individual. I have no issue with people who don't like my writing style (There are more than ten authors whose style I am not particularly keen on - I don't swear on their Facebook Page. I just don't buy their next book!). Mr. Red Tractor has to my knowledge not purchased or even read the free extract. No, his main complaint is that he saw my post promoted to him by the Facebook Algorithm (I know, I know, the shock of it). I'm happy to admit that I run ads. In the long term I'd like to not do this but there are billions of pages out there and the sad fact of the matter is, I don't have a lot of choice. Mr. Red Tractor's initial gripe fell into the ball park of not liking one of these 'boosted' posts. In fact, he was pretty explicit that he felt the post was poorly written and a terrible ad - note his issue was not the fact that he had seen the ad. He was very kind to point out to me that it had no contact details - no method by which to actually talk to me.
"Fuck off! My feed is not an ad zone!"
I Think We've Established the Problem
So I think we can see the stereotype here. After I offered to help him locate somewhere to buy my book (Oh, I had a suspicion that he wasn't after that but a gal's gotta try!) and then offered tech support to help him stop seeing my posts on his feed (which by the way, can only be happening because one of his friends is sharing them - kudos dude/dudette you legendary person you!), this is what he posted to my FB page: "Fuck Off! My page is not an ad zone!" - charming! Of course, I simply deleted the post - my policy to all those who try to engage my attention this way - but it got me thinking. This individual wasn't upset because of the post he'd initially seen. He was upset because he had failed to obtain enough contact information to ultimately harass me on a personal level! He was angry because I had been nice! True, his second post did suggest that he was tired of hearing/seeing me but then he'd just spend two days of his life actively posting on my page (which FYI will post it on his page too - how ironic!) on his time.
Just Deal With It
So the moral of this lengthy memoir? My fellow authors would tell me that it happens to the best of us. In fact I'm pretty sure that even the top dogs of the writing industry have received some hate now and again - I should feel so honoured! So I'm not letting it get to me. I'm picking my battles and this simply isn't one that needs to be fought. We like to think that our world is filled with people who love us but there is always 'that one'. So what am I doing going forward? Well, nothing. Yep, I'm not changing how I do anything. Instead, I'm asking you (with a big pointy finger) to go and share my posts far and wide on as many platforms as you possibly can because Mr. Red Tractor isn't alone and if I meet more Red Tractors in the future, well, I'm obviously doing it right!
Commentaires