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We think it will lead to recognition beyond the ghetto of author blogs and then to higher sales for our books.
But would it?
This past Saturday, Jake Flores writes of his words going viral in the The New York Times.
Whoa. The New York Times? Yeah .. they don't pay for opinion pieces. Oops.
Who's Jake Flores you ask. So do a lot of others ... many of them who quoted his viral words even.
Earlier in the year, February 13th, Jake tweeted:
"I'm starting to think that this is the last season of America and the writers are just going nuts."
Funny and all too true, right?
On the first night after the tweet took off, his name was trending in different cities around the globe.
Celebrities were batting his joke at one another.
People like John Hodgman, Bette Midler, Minnie Driver. People he watches in movies and doesn’t even consider real.
Friends from all over the country got in touch to tell him they heard someone quote him.
Someone in Britain immortalized it in needlepoint. The tweet reached easily more people than any album or podcast he’d ever produced.
Jake is a joke writer and would-be comedian. He thought his career would take off.
Ah, not so much.
Though his joke was quoted in FUNNY OR DIE and PLAYBOY
(fairly big accomplishments for an unknown comic.)
He woke up to find his words were on CNN!
And how much work did it get him? None. None at all.
In his words:
"I think the Internet is like a broken slot machine.
I didn’t put any money into it, I received all of its flashing, shrieking, beeping cacophony when I hit its jackpot, and no money came out.
I wonder why I believed in this system at all."
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
I never really thought of a viral anything leading to anything except a few more page views.
ReplyDeleteWell, if my words made it to CNN, I would hope for a few extra sales at the very least! :-)
DeleteUnless the Tweet was about a thing that could be purchased, going viral won't make much difference.
ReplyDeleteA video going viral is a different thing...
Since his tweet was a joke, and he was a joke writer, I bet he was hoping to sell a joke or two from all the notoriety. Life is odd in what we expect versus what we get, right? :-)
DeleteStep 1: Create something that goes viral.
ReplyDeleteStep 2: Figure out a way to cash in on said viral fame.
Step 1 is hard enough. Most people wouldn't think about figuring out step 2.
Yes, going viral is completely random I would think -- which makes planning what to do next next to impossible. Sigh. :-)
DeleteGoing viral implies the net which implies it's not real. simple.
ReplyDeleteWhat is real? Sometimes only the intangibles are real ... like love, friendship, loss.
DeleteHi Roland - interesting outcome ... or lack of ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI guess, Hilary, it suggests we enjoy the moment for what it is ... and isn't. :-)
DeleteMy dream is to someday write something quotable that enters the English language like the term "life in the fast lane" did after the song of the same name was written... and to have my name attached to it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a neat dream, David. It would be nice if Samuel McCord and Victor Standish were as recognizable as Sherlock Holmes and the Artful Dodger. :-) Ah, dreams. :-)
DeleteIt's nice to think that in this rhinestone world some days can still be diamonds :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's all in how you view life as Abraham Lincoln and I believe. His ghost is still not speaking to me since I made him the villain in my latest series of Steampunk fantasies!
ReplyDelete