prillalar | Fandom, High School, and Mozart

Fandom, High School, and Mozart

This is expanded from something I posted on Glass Onion today. The context is a discussion about "SV is mean and cliquey" but since I'm not a part of SV fandom, I can't speak to that.

But I've been thinking a lot lately about fandom in general and recognition. I may sound very cynical, but you'll have to take my word that I'm not bitter. In fact, I'm quite happy. :)

I've concluded that in fandom, like real life, who you know matters a lot. And so does what you do. Writing ability is definitely a big part of having your fic noticed. But it's not the only part.

If I have time to read 3 stories and 6 have just dropped on the [insert fandom here] list, of course I'm more likely to go with people I already know to be good writers. And if I have to choose between a good writer who's my friend and one who's not, I'll choose my friend. Of course the reputation of your peers and mentors affects your own reputation. In fandom, in life.

About a month ago, this essay about high school popularity was making the rounds. If you didn't read it then, you should read it now.

One of the main points of the article is that in order to be popular in high school, there are a lot of things you have to do. And some people just make the decision -- maybe unconsciously -- that they don't want to spend their time on that. And they don't. Or they don't figure out that there are things they have to do.

Fandom isn't high school, but it's close enough for government work. If you want to be popular in fandom, there are things you'll have to do. I don't mean this in a negative way -- this is just how groups work.

If you're looking to have your fic noticed and it's not, first get yourself an honest beta and find out if it's any good. Then, if it is, make yourself a marketing plan. If you're looking to be personally popular, make yourself a plan for that. If you think that quality will win no matter what, remember VHS and Beta.

When I set out in fall of 97 to write some X-Files slash, I had a plan to gain recognition.

I chose my pseudonym. I wanted something that had a sci-fi flavour but was not fandom-specific. And I wanted something that stood out. So, I picked "Halrloprillalar", from Larry Niven's Ringworld. In retrospect, I would advise you to pick a name that's easier to spell, though.
I found a beta reader. Someone posted to the list I was on about needing a beta so I responded and we did some for each other.
I posted discussion to the list. I didn't post all the time, but I tried to make topical, interesting posts so people would begin to recognise my name. I don't think there was a FAQ, but I was always cautious about overstepping my bounds.
I sent feedback to other authors. Of course, you're supposed to do that anyway, but I figured that they'd be more likely to read and feed me if I did the same for them.
And then I posted my first story. It seemed to work pretty well.

Volume of work also affects people's perception of your skill. (Well, if you suck, of course posting a lot won't work for you.) I recently read The Borderlands of Science by Michael Shermer. (And would recommend it.) One of the chapters was on "the myth of the miracle of genius".

He quotes from Dean Keith Simonton's Origins of Genius:

In fact, empirical studies have repeatedly shown that the single most powerful predictor of eminence within any creative domain is the sheer number of influential products an individual has given the world.

...

Mozart is considered a greater musical genius than Tartini in part because the former accounts for 30 times as much music in the classical repertoire as does the latter.

So, write early, write often. *g*

Also illuminating to this topic is Clay Shirky's essay on Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality.

Prior to recent theoretical work on social networks, the usual explanations invoked individual behaviors: some members of the community had sold out, the spirit of the early days was being diluted by the newcomers, et cetera. We now know that these explanations are wrong, or at least beside the point. What matters is this: Diversity plus freedom of choice creates inequality, and the greater the diversity, the more extreme the inequality.

Of course this relates a lot to LJ, but also, I think, to fandom in general -- the whole web of journals, mailing lists, rec sites, and word of mouth. The larger the community, the more people filter what and who they read. And how I choose to filter affects how other people choose to filter and vice versa.

Inequality is always going to exist. But there are things you can do about it, if you want to make the effort.

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Most interesting... Thanks for these insights! & :-)

I'd be more elaborate if I wasn't hung over and forced to do my last few pages of crime law...

Loved all your fic I read, by the way!

Mona

Hey, thanks. Hangovers bad.

And I'm glad you've enjoyed the fic. :)

I can't remember what links I followed to find your post, but you say (and link to) some very interesting things! I'm pretty new to fandom in general, and when I suddenly (yes, that it what it felt like) began writing fanfic, I had to publish from a starting position of absolutely zero. Some of my tactics were very similar to what you describe...The joy of shared experience is what prompted me to reply.

Love your name too, buy the way. One of my all time favorite series and authors!

dutchbuffy2305

It must be very intimidating starting out in fandom now. When I began, I think online fandom was just beginning to take off in a big way. I was on one mailing list. I think it got split into two -- one for diss and one for stories -- soon after.

And I think the "joy of shared experience" is what fandom really is all about. That's what prompted me to start writing -- I wanted to join in.

Any experience with media -- a book, a movie, etc -- has an element of co-creation. Your interpretation and experience of the piece is part of it. Fanfic is much more so. No wonder fandom -- the people -- is so important to us.

I hope navigating fandom is going well for you. :)

You're giving it all away! How can you and I expect to take over the world with our Devious Marketing Schemes if you share them all with our adoring public?

(:

Good stuff. I would add that the *timing* of a story's release can be a critical factor (witness my own brainless post of new fic at 5pm on a Friday -- gee, I wonder where the feedback is? *duh*). And many of these points are equally relevant to the vidding community(ies) as well.

Hey, I didn't share all the secrets. If you've got the mass mailing software sorted, we can start our MAKE FEEDBACK FAST NO SELLING campaign any day now.

Good point about the timing. Though I've never worked out when the best time to post is. On a weekday morning so everyone can read at work? Latelate Friday night so people can read over the weekend? Does anyone have some numbers we can run?

And your feedback should be in your mailbox, if your mail server isn't still rejecting me.

You want to avoid Fridays/weekends. Late Sunday nights is good to hit the Monday morning crowd.

Also, avoid dropping fic in an active fandom the night of or morning after new episodes, unless their actual codas to the episodes.

What?

I'm no statistician, but I'm not blind. I can see the trends in my own feedback, and also in the way I read fic. Less time for it on the weekends.

As for everything else, yeah, my path through fandom was similar, though I started on a newsgroup and didn't start writing fic until two and half years into my online fannish career. Of course, the fandom I started writing in was not one where I knew anyone, but I got in early and became fairly well-known in my pairing and, eventually, throughout most of the XMM community.

While I've not got that name recognition anywhere but XMM (and with certain oldschool BtVS/ANgel fans from my ng days), my forays into other fandoms have been mostly successful in terms of getting nice feedback, because of Glass Onion and Silverlake, even though no one in HP or LotR knows who the hell I am.

As for SV, of which I am on the fringes, it's like any other fandom. I just think the sheer number of well-known writers from other fandoms, colliding with the sheer number of first-time media fans, makes for an uneasy coexistence, probably not helped all that much by the LJ phenomenon, where people can be whiny crybabies in public and find sympathy, instead of sucking up whatever slights (real or imagined) come their way and bitching privately, the way we did in the old days. *g*

their actual codas to the episodes.

That should, of course, be "they're".

Sigh.

You want to avoid Fridays/weekends. Late Sunday nights is good to hit the Monday morning crowd.

That's interesting to me. I've never really tracked feedback on that basis, but since I always have more time to read on the weekends, it didn't really occur to me that most people didn't.

As for SV, of which I am on the fringes, it's like any other fandom. I just think the sheer number of well-known writers from other fandoms, colliding with the sheer number of first-time media fans, makes for an uneasy coexistence, probably not helped all that much by the LJ phenomenon, where people can be whiny crybabies in public and find sympathy, instead of sucking up whatever slights (real or imagined) come their way and bitching privately, the way we did in the old days.

Yeah, you're probably right. I've been thinking lately about how blogs and journals have contributed to putting a lot of the social minutiae from RL onto the net. Previously, I felt like I was more directly connected to people's brains online. Now, there's a lot of the same info that you'd chat with your co-workers about: the weather, your lunch, your sprained ankle.

And it's not like there's anything wrong with that, but it's getting harder to separate signal and noise, at least for me.

but since I always have more time to read on the weekends, it didn't really occur to me that most people didn't.

I'm lucky enough to have a job that allows me lots of time to roam the net, so for me, it's easier to read during the week; the weekends are busier and spent away from the computer mostly.

However, I'm also talking about what I've seen on lists and ngs and now LJ - posting goes down on the weekends, whether from malaise from the work week, excitement about the weekend, limited access for some people...

Then again, I'm sure other people have exactly the opposite experience. *g*

Now, there's a lot of the same info that you'd chat with your co-workers about: the weather, your lunch, your sprained ankle.

And it's not like there's anything wrong with that, but it's getting harder to separate signal and noise, at least for me.

Hmmm... I find that the venue has changed, but that I'm probably doing as much skimming as I did prior to LJ. I deleted a lot of chatter from mailing lists and killfiled a lot of annoying and pointless posters on newsgroups. Now I set my LJ friends filter and avoid the cat stories and the politica/war talk, and I find I'm not as resentful of it, because it's not coming into my inbox, exciting me with that "12 new messages" and then only 1 turns out to be fic or interesting discussion.

Does that make sense?

Hmmm... I find that the venue has changed, but that I'm probably doing as much skimming as I did prior to LJ. I deleted a lot of chatter from mailing lists and killfiled a lot of annoying and pointless posters on newsgroups.

That's interesting. I agree, there is/was a lot of noise-like chatter on mailing lists as well. But I think not quite to the same degree as LJ. But you make a good point about the expectation you get from messages in your in-box as opposed to posts in LJ. It *is* easier to ignore.

The two mediums are different in fundamental ways I'm just beginning to figure out.

There are, after all, people in my fandoms who are hugely popular without me really understanding why. People who write at best middling fic yet get touted as the best of the best. I think prescence and quantity do a lot to help that.

And also, it's so about who you know. I've seen crap authors get big because they know the fandom BNFs. It's rather annoying to those of us who like actual good fic.

*sigh*

Some people just have more charisma than others and there's really nothing to be done about it.

Quality, though, is ... well, subjective, of course, but also not always directly linked to popularity.

For example, take two juvenile fantasy novels: The Golden Compass (Philip Pullman) and Harry Potter. IMO, Golden Compass is a far superior book. The writing is brilliant, the plotting is tight, the characters are fully developed and real. I've read it about 3 times and it moves me every single time.

OTOH, I've read Harry Potter probably 10 times. I talk about details with my SO. I write fanfic for it. I have a Slytherin House scarf that I wear about. And there are lots of other people who do these things, probably more than ever read The Golden Compass.

Why is that? Well, that's really a question for another time. But the best writing isn't always the most accessible writing or the most popular.

I remember a few people back in my TXF days saying that if they needed a boost and they weren't getting enough of one from their usual feedback, they'd write some NC17 MSR under a pseud and get lots and lots of feedback. And then they'd go back to writing their usual stuff.

And, yes, it's about who you know. :) That's not going to change any time soon.

I know who what?

Ok, so I blithered. :) I should never post on my lunch hour.

Some of it is just when you "arrive" as well. I've been online since 1987 and had heavy, heavy involvement in the old ras.* groups starting in around 1990. (I got very involved after the ras.* hierarchy split, if anyone remembers what that even means.) And I ended up writing a monster fic that took off at precisely the time when online fandom was taking off. If I had written it much later, maybe it wouldn't have taken off like it did.

Then, I ended up churning out a bunch of stuff over the next couple years, and I think that quality-wise, I've managed to sustain it fairly nicely. However, that initial boost-launch from putting "Delightful Education" on asfs did give me a lot of inertia. I was also on a mailing list that, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, ended up farming some of the best-known (and best) fic authors out there, including Julia Kosatka and Kellie Matthews. It wasn't conscious; we just gravitated because we liked each other and wound up on a list together. I think we became fic writers at the same time.

None of this was planned. Like most of the companies that hit the stratosphere during the sudden explosion of the net, I think a lot of it was timing. We just happened to be talking and started ficcing when the net and the web exploded, so we got a tremendous boost from it. Those of us who were good authors could ride that boost.

It's convenient, because now it lets me gafiate (except when I poke around idly in metablog :-)) without losing name recognition. *shrug* Although the net/web is so plastic nowdays that it's probably tailed off considerably without my being aware of it. At any rate, for the most part, I just write and keep to myself nowdays.

Some of it is just when you "arrive" as well. ... I ended up writing a monster fic that took off at precisely the time when online fandom was taking off. If I had written it much later, maybe it wouldn't have taken off like it did.

Good point. New fandoms can explode so easily now, what with free mailing lists and journals, etc. When I got into TXF fic in 97, I was on one slash list and one general list. So, you could know all the people and see all the fic. Then onelist and egroups arrived on the scene and things really began to split.

If it didn't sound so much like work, it would be interesting to look at various fandoms and chart their popularity -- people involved, number of lists and communities, fics/vids/art being created. And make a cool graph.

There may also be a life-timing issue. Frankly, when I first got heavy into fandom, I was in grad school after having passed my quals, so I was in a "vacation" frame of mind and could be online for, like, ridiculous amounts of time. When you're running rn every ten minutes and replying to vast numbers of posts, you can establish a presence. Now, I can't do that anymore. I post from time to time, read a bit, but otherwise I'm a working stiff. I'm doubtful (although I imagine it's possible) that a working woman with a job that takes a lot of time, or maybe kids and that sort of thing, can enter fandom as a complete newbie and establish herself as a name to be recognized. (I'm not talking about moving from an old fandom to a new one, I'm talking about getting into fandom itself for the first time.)

I think what I'm saying is that there's a confluence of timing issues. It helps to hit a communications wave at the right moment, and also to be in a position in your own life where you can dedicate a lot of your time to taking full advantage of it.

I read this post right before I went out of town & was without web access for several days, and though I'm about a week late I wanted to say I found your points about recongnition and popularity quite interesting.

Though your list of steps you took to gain recognition focuses on what you did *before* you posted your first story, I would add at least one that I think is important for authors who want to *retain* positive recognition: replying to feedback. I remember which authors are like you, and reply consistently, and believe me, I also remember which authors do not reply (including some who ask for feeback in their headers.) I don't think they are bad people, and I'm usually not personally offended, but I certainly don't go out of my way to rec these authors, in public or privately. I think in the long run responding to feedback generates good will and helps an author maintain a good reputation with readers, even though not responding may not have a big impact on popularity.

And thanks for the link to the essay about high school popularity - I had skimmed it but had forgotten to get back to it.

That's a really good point, about replying to feedback. Everyone misses some at times, including me, but I think it's important to make an effort because:

It's polite. Someone took time to say they liked your work, take the time to say thank you.

It builds relationships. Through feedback and responses to feedback, I've met some good friends, gotten to know people, had some quirky conversations.

It makes you look like a nice person. (Unless you're mean!) As you say, it helps to maintain a positive image.

It's positive reinforcement for feedbackers. If they get a positive response to their feedback, they will be more likely to feed both you and others in the future.

And you are one of the best feedbackers I know!

Well, I read this a few days ago, and had planned to post a response, but it just got longer, and loonger, and looonger.... :-D

What I wound up with isn't really a response, so much as a riff on what you've said here. Unfortunately, I wouldn't know the brevity fairy if she flew up my nose.

Fanfic Marketing (http://www.livejournal.com/users/minisinoo/71096.html)

Cool! I'll go check it out.

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Fandom, High School, and Mozart

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Interesting post

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stupid typos

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fandom and timing

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failure of the brevity fairy

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