Wednesday, May 21, 2014

I'll Own Me, Thanks

Let me make something really REALLY clear here: the only person in this fandom who speaks for me is me. This is especially true when the person who thinks she's speaking for me is rude or entitled, as happened yesterday on Twitter.

I first caught wind of it at Armitage Agonistes this morning but didn't have a chance to read the whole thing till this afternoon. I read the Tweets to Hewson and Hartley -- you know, the guys behind the Hamlet project who've been nothing but accomodating and kind to everyone who's contacted them. Apparently their generosity so far hasn't been enough and at least one person who thinks she represents the fanbase as a whole thinks that she -- on behalf of we -- is entitled to proprietary sales information. Uh, no. When they weren't forthcoming -- because why the hell would they be? -- a tantrum was thrown.

Let me loop you in here: these people, Hewson and Hartley and Richard Armitage and the Audible sales and marketing and press teams? They're professionals. They've been hired to do what they do because they're good at it. You aren't a professional in this scenario. What you are is a fan, same as me, and also a blogger, same as me. That's where the sameness ends. Please keep that in mind the next time you think you're entitled to shoot your mouth off on behalf of the fanbase.

39 comments:

  1. I agree one hundred percent. These guys have their jobs b/c they're good at them. Our job is to appreciate what they do and have fun with it!

    Have you recorded yourself saying "to be or not to be / that is the question" yet?

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  2. I agree, too. Thank you for this.

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  3. Just kind of got the whiff of trouble coming and moved quickly away from it. Has there always been this much drama?

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    1. Your guess is as good as mine on that one. I certainly hope not.

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  4. How arrogant for anyone but the actual COLLABORATORS on the project to attempt to take credit for its success! Or to pose as an official "fan spokesman" when there is no such thing. Richard doesn't need that kind of "help" to look more valuable to this project - he's doing great at that all by himself.

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    1. Thank you for commenting and welcome to the blog. The pros have really done a great job on this the whole way through. They could not possibly have been more gracious.

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  5. Sometimes it seems that newbies make a splash when landing, usually by accident. I certainly hope no one is under the delusion they can possibly speak for all of us - except to say that no one speaks for all of us. Ah sweet irony. I think having humility, respect for others, acceptance and patience go a long way in this fandom. If you forget, just read one or more of Richard's messages and initiate a fandom group hug.

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    1. I agree with Grati, you put it very well. Thanks for commenting and welcome to the blog.

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  6. Obviously, I am in agreement. Thanks for helping to spread the word.

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    1. Thank you for signal boosting it this morning. Good to see you!

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  7. I stopped following her on Twitter long ago. Really rude! But why do we have to act as though she is particularly representative of anyone? She's just who she is and it has nothing to do with me. The authors have certainly interacted with many RA fans politely and even warmly! It's just one person.

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    1. I agree with you that it's nothing to do with me but she brought all of us who have ever retweeted or passed along links into it. We're not a public relations team, we're fans. While the fanbase has gotten larger the retweeting and linking is in itself nothing new, it's something the fanbase has done since the beginning.

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  8. Seriously? *shakes head* I must have missed this whole episode. Anyone have a transcript? Ha! Just kidding. Hugs & Cheers!

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  9. Couldn't have said it better. Thank you.

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  10. Just saw the rest of "that persons" convo with the authors...I feel sick to be honest. To have the absolute GALL to say that "WE" are the main reason the audiobook is a success. And to DEMAND facts and figures from men who have JUST released it.

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    1. Yeah. I'm not slamming anyone's contribution to its success but we have no way of knowing what the real driver of it is and we're not entitled to that information. Thanks for commenting.

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    2. no problem, thank you for eloquently posting several of (not all of us as a whole RArmy mind ;) ) our thoughts :)

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  11. I totally agree! I read the tweets and felt a little embarrassed. Why, I don't know. It's just one person but still I felt it.

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    1. Welcome and thanks for commenting, CarolynD.

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  12. You nailed it, Jazzbaby1! As usual, I'm in total agreement! The whole thing made me uncomfortable! We will continue to be supportive in a more positive way.

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    1. Welcome back and thanks for commenting, Ms. Mel.

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  13. I'm the person who sent the ' One thing I cannot abide is a dismissive attitude to RArmy contributions. Guess our work here is done, so "See ya!" ' tweet.

    Stepping back a moment: the authors - especially AJ Hartley - were smart to reach out to RA's fans... remember his May 2 tweet about how to get 1000 hits in one hour? "Mention Richard Armitage." And I happen to believe that all the mentions by groups and on blogs and Tumblr sites and in tweets by members of the "Army" - which means thousands of individual RA well-wishers - were a major contribution to the book's initial success.

    Back to yesterday: I requested a comparison between Hamlet's first-day ranking - since the authors were touting its rise all day - and that of The Scottish Play novel's... it's comparing apples to apples, right? I thought it would be interesting to know. I didn't care how much money they made or how many specific units they sold or what their percentage was, but a comparison of the first day *rankings* between the two. That wouldn't interest you?

    Although AJ Hartley later answered that he felt it was slower, David Hewson response to that request was, basically, the British version of fuggeddaboutit.

    Without AJ Hartley's to-the-point response, David Newson's answer made me feel that at the BIG MOMENT, the contributions of a community of which I am a part seemed minimized. (And like it or not, guys, I am a part of this community.)

    So that's it. That's my point of view.

    On the other matter, I don't understand why one person's/blogger's/FB admin's remarks or opinions are felt to represent everyone who is an RA well-wisher, or who feels themselves a part of this nebulous RArmy. I certainly don't feel that way when I read something with which I disagree. Why would anyone take on ownership of opinions and statements that are not yours?

    Most of you know, I'm new to the Fangirl thing. Just started the FB page last July, and over 2300 people have LIKEd it so far. That may not sound like much to some, but every single day I read our members' posts, I'm gratified. They're a great group.

    In creating the page, I use skills from my former professions. Once upon a time, I was a reporter. Once upon a time I was a media and community relations professional. I'm certain my background - like anyone else's - informs my approach to what I do. I believe in credit, attribution and ensuring the accuracy of my posts, which is why I go to the source... which seems to be an issue in that it is seen as "over-reaching." But I got burned posting something I couldn't confirm, and I won't do it again

    That's how I work.

    But I defy any of you to cite a moment at which point I claimed to be a "fan spokesman" or an official representative of the RArmy. Believe me, every time I step outside the line, I am jolted into remembering that I'm barely considered a member of the community.

    So believe me - for future reference - when I tell you this: I do not claim to speak on anyone's behalf but my own. If I *ever* speak as RA US and our FB members, rest assured that the members of our FB page have been involved in the idea and are totally up for it (e.g. the North & South 10th Anniversary Celebration).

    I know I don't represent any of you (I don't even know you). I'd appreciate it if people would stop popping off at me as if I claimed I did.

    And I'll bet you'd also like to know how Hamlet's first day stacked up against The Scottish Play.



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    1. First, no I really DON'T care how it stacks up against anything else. I'm glad for everyone involved that it's doing well, sure. Please don't put words in my mouth that because you're excited about it's blowing the doors off of another work that I must be, too.

      In your Tweets to Hartley and Hewson you more than once said that "the RArmy has been a formidable promotional partner." When they tried to tell you that not even they had that information you implied heavily that you were entitled to it because of all the work that "we" did. What "we" did in linking and Tweeting and FBing is what the fanbase has always done. Of course fans are excited to hear a new audiobook but that's because of RAs work, not ours. We do stuff on his behalf, sure, but we don't work for him.

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    2. Armitage Army is name that applies to all of us. If you want to say you are under appreciated, that's fine, or maybe even people on your facebook page are under appreciated, although I disagree strongely with either assertion, go for it, but no one speaks in all of our names and when you use that name you refer to all of us.

      Armitage and audible.com both have professional publicists. I wasn't aware that you had been hired by either. Fan labor is supposed to be fun; that's why we do it. If you feel like you're doing too much of it for not enough reward, you might want to consider taking a break.

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  14. Saying, "our work here is done", right after mentioning RArmy conveys that you are speaking for that group of people. If you are only speaking for yourself, don't use the word "our". Or specify that by "our" you mean your FB following.

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    1. Exactly. Welcome and thank you for commenting.

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  15. Another one,Jazzy? :(

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    1. Thank you,darling :) Everything's O.K.
      Yesterday I had a meeting with an moron....I wish you were there ;) Hope you are feeling better,today ?

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    2. Joanna, I will happily take on any morons who irritate you. :)

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  16. One of our profs is German--great guy! And he has a habit of referring to a certain someone as a moron--dragging out the word, as in "more-onn".

    I giggle every time he uses the word--more so now, because of your regular blog series about moron sightings in real life. Ha!

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    1. Lol! I was thinking about doing the most recent Led Zepplin suit but I haven't really had a chance to read too much about it beyond this is the third or fourth time they've been hit with a copyright suit.

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Thanks for commenting!