Hey /lit/
My debut novel is coming out in March next year. However the publisher (the biggest in my country) have made it pretty clear that I will be "marketed" as a "hot young thing" (that is the translated term) and have turned down my initial request that my work be published pseudonymously.
What advice do you guys have about this?
I wish to publish my works anonymously is possible, and pseudonymously otherwise. Am I selling it out by accepting to their terms?
>>7433042
m or f?
>>7433046
Male. My book is to be called The Melancholy of the Defective Pixel or La melancolie du pixel mort in my native language.
Can't offer you any advice but that title sounds cool.
>>7433088
Thanks.
>>7433042
The only way to know if you are violating your values is to know why you wanted to publish it anonymously in the first place.
>>7433042
What was the French term they used for hot young thing?
>>7433105
It's ripped straight from his life and will alienate everyone he knows.
>>7433105
I want to do that because I genuinely believe that anonymity is superior to having your name associated with a thing, not only because I despise the notion of fame (especially in the contemporary climate) but because I wish for my writing to be judged on its own merit rather than for me to be interviewed and speak words that will be superfluous when the book is in print. What's more, and I know how this may seem though I do not care, I despise this world and do not feel very comfortable existing in it, and the more I can say "NO!" to life and distance myself from it the less distressed I am, and that includes distancing myself from any form of stable identity or any identity that is partly based on how I appear physically.
>>7433111
Not true. I am interested in Proust and even Knausgaard (and Lin to certain extent) though my own novel is only partly based on my life. I am relatively young so I understand that I have yet to experience much of what life tends to inflict on most people.
>>7433042
>Am I selling it out by accepting to their terms?
Yes. Obviously. It means a lot to you and you're letting them trample you. They want to use your name for some superficial marketing ploy and you're letting them. It's selling out. No doubt about it.
Question is, does it bother you enough to put your foot down?
>>7433054
>The Melancholy of the Defective Pixel
FUcking hell
>>7433042
Unfortunately you have little choice in this regard. The great capitalist machine demands a work of fiction also makes money and people are quickly seduced by simple marketing.
You'll either have to self-publish and accept that your work will probably go unread, or try and accept the downsides of your current predicament while embracing the joy that this modest success would bring.
>>7433112
And now we know this thread is lies
>>7433121
The question is one I ask myself all day since they told me the offer is not negotiable. They of course said it in a nice enough way and probably laughed at my reasoning in a patronizing way, and though I am prone to doubting myself and dismissing my beliefs as a consequence of my inexperience, still I feel as long as I can make a logical argument then why cannot they point out its flaws rather than simply reject?
Do I wish to be published? Yes, more than anything. Is it normal for an author to make my demand? No, not at all. Here is my dilemma that I face.
>>7433133
Why do you beleive it is lies?
>>7433042
>Am I selling it out by accepting to their terms?
Obviously, but selling out on can be worth it.
>>7433054
Well, if you're actually attractive, I said go with it.
If it gets a female to purchase a copy, this leads with sales, a happy published and better opportunities for you in the future.
>>7433160
Then you can write about audience pussy in your next one.
>>7433112
I thought it might be something silly like this. The day you were born you were born playing the game. At least, from what it sounds, you have the upper hand aesthetically. If you hide anonymously, it is just another type of play that will flavor your novel in its own way.
I know that I would rather deal with the marketing bullshit if more people were reading my novel.
Sure you'll be selling out, but what you're selling you never really owned to begin with.
>>7433042
heeyy anon, can you give us a link to the book?
>>7433143
Tell them to go fuck themselves and pull out. If you really believe in anonymity, then do it. They'll either cave or call your bluff. If they throw you out, then just tell the story to some other publisher. If you're worth salvaging someone else will pick you up, if not then that just goes to show they didn't want you that much anyway and you need to work harder.
>>7433160
It does not matter how I look. I hate celebrity culture and especially authors who take too many photographs. Oscar Coop-Phane is a writer I am due to appear alongside next year and he is a little older than my age. He is very good at photographs but I don't understand what the appeal is of it. I know if I look sullen and depressed in the photo to express my discomfort it will make me seem like a "rebel" or something. I have no photographs of myself since age 10. I don't like them! The value of 4chan is that no such things like looks overwhelm the QUALITY OF YOUR EXPRESSION.
>>7433172
It is in pre-publication. When the proofs return and the early reviews appear I will perhaps post another thread here.
>>7433173
The problem is the woman who is in charge of my book told me in her experience nobody has asked for what I asked, and even were I to take my work elsewhere such a thing just isn't imaginable. What can I say? It seems true and not an empty threat from her. Maybe I am asking too much!
>>7433174
So post your book on here.
Oh wait...
>>7433180
Bitch, people write under pen names all the time. You're folding like a faggot based on some lazy capitalist argument about celebrity, just tell them straight-up no and say you'll walk because you care more about beliefs than money. Be blunt.
>>7433042
You can't opt out of the "rat race" and also commercially publish a novel. Just roll with it, and consider your public persona a learning experience. If you actually sell a lot of books you may have the power to control your image more, but you just don't have that leverage with a debut novel.
>>7433112
>I wish for my writing to be judged on its own merit
Impossible. Nobody reads a book with no context- nobody is neutral. But if you promote the book, you increase the number of readers and therefore increase the number of discerning people judging your work.
>the more I can say "NO!" to life and distance myself from it the less distressed I am
In that case publishing a book seems a strange move.
>>7433042
Congratulations, OP, I am happy for you.
The image of choice in your thread suggest me you have good taste: I wish you the best.
Also, there is no problem in have your own name and image exposed when it comes down to serious things; it will be up to you if you are going to act as a professional or an attention whore.
>>7433201
Do NOT call me bitch okay! Seriously don't mess me around this way.
>>7433143
>Do I wish to be published? Yes, more than anything.
Then this is a non-issue.
>Is it normal for an author to make my demand?
I think it actually is.
>>7433201
>you care more about beliefs than money.
muh spooks
1/10 troll thread
>>7433174
William Vollman looks like a ruptured anus and he's a well regarded author. He likes photographs too
honestly, no one cares. this is a concern for your ego alone. do your work and decide how much you'd like to be paid for it. the rest is out of your hands, and all the same besides, so should you pursue one you'll be the same as any who pursue the other.
>>7433296
You didn't read Stirner.
>>7433277
THis was hilarious
>Seriously don't mess me around this way.
>>7433180
>The problem is the woman who is in charge of my book told me in her experience nobody has asked for what I asked,
Obviously making it impossible. Middle-management are the antithesis to visionaries.
>>7433042
Hachette?
Also, how did you manage to get into publishing? Contacts?
>>7433174
stop being a hard cunt and go with it for christs sake
authors 1,000,000 times better than you allowed their photos used.
To make it as a writer, you're going to have to sell out in some way. Just sort of how it works. Nobody is going to publish your shit, then give you 100% free reign to do whatever you want. You're going to have to promote the book, take pictures, do signings, you know....SELL the motherfucker.
tell them doing press and your name being out there will absolutely cripple any chance of you ever writing a second book and that you'll do it after the second book. Then after the second book say the same thing and keep that going until you're a literary sensation
Tell them marketing wise no one wants their literary fiction to be written by a hot new thing.
We want to imagine our literary authors under bridges writing in shit and blood, not see them doing interviews on brokedick blogs and tweeting pics of their guacamole salads.
use your real name though dont be a coward ace
>>7433042
Tu t'es pris pour Pynchon?
Tu as la chance d'être publié, profite.
>>7433042
>plus grande firme de publication en France
De laquelle s'agit-il donc? Et vu ce fil, tu me parais plutôt intelligent. Je garde l'oeil ouvert pour ton livre l'ami.
>>7434238
Je ne suis pas le mec publié, mais je le comprends. Il me semble qu'aujourd'hui la figure de l'artiste telle qu'elle se conçoit doit disparaître, la médiatisation à tout va ne peut que nuire à l'honnêteté et à l'authenticité de toute oeuvre future dudit artiste. Il va sans dire que ce phénomène abaisse l'art et le souille : il est ainsi impossible de vraiment en parler dans toutes les émissions de grande audience, où l'artiste véritable est mis au même rang que l'artiste capitalisant, le sportif, le politicien, ou pire, le journaliste chroniqueur. Et puis aujourd'hui une médiatisation efficace demande toute une gestion de réseaux internet, dits sociaux, qui peut être contraignante, voire contraires aux convictions de l'auteur (car ne nous leurrons pas, l'éditeur ferra pression pour que l'auteur utilise ces sites).
Et puis il y a le problème des relations sociales. Si je devais être publié, je pense que je le cacherai, sauf à mes connaissances les plus proches : mon oeuvre contiendrai forcément une part significative de réflexions, d'observations sur moi et sur les autres qu'il serait néfaste d'aller hurler sur les toits. Sans parler du statut conféré à l'écrivain : il peu être soit raté, auquel cas condescendance et mépris se tirent la bourre, ou bien il a un certain succès, au moins critique, et dès lors une sotte aura d'admiration l'entoure. Bien entendu j'exagère, je caricature, j'exhibe les cas les plus visibles et les plus frappants. Mais la réalité reste la même : le statut d'écrivain modifie profondément les relations sociales. Il y a aussi le risque de la célébrité, je ne développe pas, tout le monde comprendra les affres de la chose. Et à plus petite échelle, être publié sous son nom, même une seule fois, c'est un noeud qui ne peut se défaire.
Imagine donc que tu publie un livre à 25 ans, dans lequel, pleins d'illusions, tu présentes assez positivement une sexualité libre, un peu trop libre par rapport à ce que veut la bienséance (en dehors de l'onanisme solipsiste des journalistes culturels des grands médias). Imagine toi ensuite, plusieurs décennies plus tard, coincé dans quelque entreprise quelconque. Ne serait-il pas rageant de voire sa position compromise par ce livre, publié il y a si longtemps ?
Je suis fatigué et j'ai l'impression d'écrire de la merde, donc je finis brièvement par un dernier point, celui qui mériterait le plus d'être développé. Il est probable que l'anonymat se banalise dans le milieu artistique : c'est un thématique qui préoccupe de plus en plus l'art et les milieux intellectuels. Ainsi de Banksy (1) ou de Pynchon sous une forme légèrement différente. Enfin, le pseudonyme et l'anonymat ont toujours existé en littérature (pour des raisons différentes la plupart du temps certes), puisqu'on est sur /lit/, citons Soren Kierkegaard.
(1) : auquel j'attribue la qualité d'artiste par commodité
