I am a male, millennial hipster, so, therefore, my market (primarily) is likely going to be millennial male hipsters. Does that mean my writing won't appeal to others? I don't know. Hopefully it will. I mean, after all, hipsters do discover everything, so, if my writing becomes mainstream (eventually) I will have sell out and change my marketing strategy (by highlighting the sex and violence and denying any deeper meanings). Until then, well, I am happy with marketing my writing to people who, like, like obscure, underground shit with some depth and, yes, even some irony.
And yes, I have come to terms with and accept the fact that I am a hipster. While I don't necessarily see why this is an applicable label for me, I have been told that I am one -- by various people -- so, therefore, if that is true, then who am I to debate it? Do I love music, art, and want to preserve the environment, and don't buy into popular culture, necessarily, at least not 100% of the time (or really even 50% of the time)? I believe those things are true. Do I wear dark-framed glasses and Chuck's? Yes. Do I enjoy irony? It depends. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I am not one to use it just because I want to sound cool.
I try not to be pretentious, but, realistically, everyone is to a certain degree pretentious -- anyone who cares about what other people think and does things differently because of that. I guess that means I just try to keep my pretentiousness to an acceptable level -- at least as much as someone getting a master's degree in English Literature can.
I guess, since I am marketing to hipsters, that means I have to open up accounts to sell through ibookstore and probably smashwords as well. If anyone has any other ideas for places where hipsters are likely to buy shit, please, let me know. As a hipster, I know where I buy shit, but there are different types of hipsters (I mean, after all, what are labels if there aren't sub-labels and sub-sub-labels to more clearly define a person or thing).
Keep in mind that I am a poor grad student and am looking for free and cheap ways to get this collection,
Tales from the Fringes, out to its audience (if it indeed does have one), and other future projects (such as my upcoming novel).
Speaking of my upcoming novel, I am changing my mind back to calling it
Out in the Garage. I don't feel like I have to spoon-feed anybody the main theme by titling it
For Granted. If I have failed as a writer and readers don't get that, I am okay with it, so much as they get something out of it. I am not going to keep dwelling on the same projects when I have so many other great ideas. I am planning on releasing my novel October 18, 2013, because October 18, 1851 is the date
Moby Dick was released. If you don't know by now, I have developed a kind of obsession with Melville (as I am writing my thesis on one of his books). It seemed appropriate to me for that reason and the fact that the epigraph is a quote from
Moby Dick. Although, to be honest, the book is more inspired by Fitzgerald and Salinger.
Now I am going to say
The Great Gatsby a bunch of times:
The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby...
That should be sufficient for now.
