TAO LIN | BLOG

7/27/09

the 'most viral' 'book trailer' of 2009-2010

Relevant links: Statistics, Goodreads page, Facebook group, Publisher's page

36 Comments:

Kendra Grant Malone said...: i think i say damn it a lot; 10:48 PM
Anonymous said...: you are fucking ridiculous; 10:56 PM
Mariana Soffer said...: Somehow I do not like the fact that you are selling things to a supposely free medium that lets people share stuff, I know everybody does it, but you do it so blunt. Maybe you are better indeed cause you have notghing to hide; 11:13 PM
Anonymous said...: 'ok, russell'; 11:33 PM
Tao Lin said...: @mariana can you elaborate; 12:12 AM
Anonymous said...: bluntly or something; 12:15 AM
Anonymous said...: seems like the end of this blog in general; 12:27 AM
Tao Lin said...: 'seems like the end of this blog in general'

i grinned and thought something like 'tao chuckled in agreement'; 12:29 AM
thomasplevy said...: cant wait for tao lin ironic 'suicide' attempt x5; 12:30 AM
Mariana Soffer said...: I do not have much more to say, is just that I woudnt use a blog to sell stuff (unless if I where very poor) but I would put advertising elsewhere or build a website, because my idea of blogs is that they are made for a free exchange of information and ideas; 12:55 AM
Brooklyn said...: its still free lovely idealist.; 3:01 AM
Anonymous said...: what is happening

i don't understand; 7:26 AM
redpencil said...: tao lin is blogging about his trials and tribulations as a young writer trying to "make it in this world", including his self-branding and self-marketing

we are all invited to go along for the ride if we so choose, and without paying a penny

i would say "if you don't like what you see then don't come here" but i think that may go against tao's vision for his blog (i think he likes/wants all the readers/"publicity" he can get -duh- isn't it obvious?) so i defer to him, and anyway you should already know that

his antics make me want to read his blog and buy (and read!) his books

i think he's funny, bright, innovative and "painfully honest"

i like the visual i get of him grinning; 10:23 AM
Mariana Soffer said...: Ok, sorry guys I was just telling my problem with doing that, cause I been proposed to sell some stuff, I am not judging other people, I usually dont because you must have your reasons your whys and they must be as respectable as mine. But whatever think what you like, I probably wont step by arround here and we do not have any more misunderstandings of that kind; 10:34 AM
Nate said...: whats the song; 3:27 PM
Will Ragsdale said...: hahahahahahaha

Good one; 5:04 PM
tomkendall said...: addictive.; 9:43 PM
Alec Niedenthal said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9:45 PM
brandon said...: damn; 12:04 AM
brandon said...: i thought 'dad' when your face appeared in the video; 12:04 AM
Anonymous said...: sounds like Mariana is unable to sell her 'things' because she's too much of a 'rich cunt'; 12:40 AM
tiimm. said...: yeah seriously. fuck that bitch, i want to buy, buy, buy. i'm an american. i need things.; 2:21 AM
Anonymous said...: The sexist comments about Maria are kind of disgusting. She's raising an interesting point about your work: You seem to be basing everything on online culture, and write about a life largely lived online, but online people are used to getting things for free: music, news, photos, video, and yeah, literature.

In that culture where "everything wants to be free" you market your products incessantly. That's bound to grate on some people's nerves and others will just figure if they want Tao Lin writing, they can get plenty of it free, so why buy your books?

You think by not having a job you have freedom. But you're totally dependent on selling your product, yourself, your little stuff on ebay. You've got to constantly sell, sell, sell.

And because you're dependent on your target audience for your entire income, you have to keep selling them stuff. Which means that you can't do anything that might alienate them. You end up doing stuff that will please your target demographic, and God help you if you decide to do something for artistic reasons that challenges their beliefs or their lifeview.

You do stuff to cater to your audience, so you can't possibly end up as a literary writer. You end up as a commercial writer, which is fine, but you can't expect the literary world to take you seriously then.

OK, maybe you are a good enough writer in what you do, like say Stephen King, for literary people to respect you. But you don't seem to have heart or real feeling towards other people. You do things like that contest - and the real problem there was not what you did, but that you offered no understanding to the people who felt betrayed, hurt or confused.

You seem to be afraid of your own feelings. You seem to ignore other people's. Maybe it's an act, but your response online will make a very narrow group worship you, imitate you, and always support whatever you do, no matter how stupid, but it also turns off many people.

What you really need is a failure to help you grow as a person and a writer. If you are really good, then some setback in your career will be a blessing.

In the next year or two, or maybe in the next few months, you'll see if you've bet the right way or need to change. Maybe you'll always have the last laugh on your critics, but it doesn't seem to work that way for anyone.

I don't expect any better response than Maria got from further comments - and you'll probably reply, "Damn" or some other feeling-denying response or whatever.

Good luck to you.; 7:25 AM
redpencil said...: what you need, tao, is a benefactor to support you while you write (maybe you already have one- it's really nobody's business)

of course you may still do all this online stuff to advance/perpetuate your "public" persona, (you are not a recluse-writer, although i know you've spent time blanket-hooded on your bed, so have i; and you seem to have a "born entrepreneur" streak) because my guess would be that you "like to", and that's just fine by me

(your blog, and many others, entertain me when i'm bored, which is a lot of the time, so please don't quit)

(and i have purchased some of your books, from amazon, sorry, or not, as the case may be, and i will loan them to my "friends" as long as i can be sure i'll get them back, which isn't always the case)

(i recently asked to borrow a friend's oooold copy of "hitchiker's guide to the universe" and she insisted on putting on of her little "address stickers" on the inside cover before giving it to me and i was a kinda insulted)

you "exemplify" the trend toward ever denser virtual "live(s)", but you still need to eat and sleep and have a roof over your head etc etc, just like everyone else

(and it's important to get up, go outside, walk around, run even, breathe, laugh etc etc, or risk physical atrophy)

(and there does need to be a revolution; "get off the grid"; fight the prevailing paradigms; "barter your skills")

really rich people like to "support the arts", but unfortunately this usually means "the opera" and other "archaic", "obsolete", "irrelevant" shit, things with "a proven track record", and in a venue where they can flaunt their own "rich-ness" and "erudition" or whatever

you need a rich, progressive-thinking supporter of "the arts"

someone who does it "on principle" and not as an investment in (your) future value; someone who "believes in you"

(why am i going on and on like this?
it's ridiculous
i'm using this comments thread like a blog or a fucking "journal entry" or something)

sorry

(anyone seeing "another comment from redpencil' and groaning, feel free to ignore/skim/move on)

ps- @ anonymous: use of the "c" word in name-calling, (but not in eloquent celebration of the female anatomy), is going to alienate "the ladies" and the more highly evolved gents

mariana- ignore that cretin

pps- @ other anonymous: how do you define "literary people"?
i don't like stephen king
he's smarmy; 12:17 PM
Zachary German said...: Roflers; 12:41 PM
Anonymous said...: two back to back fucking intense comments; 12:51 PM
Tao Lin said...: @nate not sure; 5:03 PM
colin said...: feel like voicing my opinion
seems important

feel neutral re this matter, though with regards to what matter do i not

(really just commenting to get more/mad blog hits); 5:20 PM
Anonymous said...: "damn"; 1:30 AM
Patrick @ LitVision said...: Fuck moleskine; 3:44 AM
brandon said...: 'weird'; 4:59 PM
aw, fukk said...: seems painfully obvs that the anon @ 7:25 AM is Mariana Soffer feeling bad after ppl on the internet said mean things

idk

am i alone in this feeling?

seems like it takes away from her argument, cause she isnt willing to voice it as herself

idk

too distracted by the thought of a large pic of tao smiling down on me from a place a little too high up on the wall; 6:59 PM
redpencil said...: @ aw, fukk:
painfully obvious, shit

i have to disagree

anon at 7:25 am and mariana soffer write like two completely different people

mariana "sounds" like someone whose first language is not english (not a criticism- i'd be hard pressed to comment on anything in another language); 6:41 PM
Meg said...: definitely did an unprofessional "lol" at my day job.; 6:20 PM
Anonymous said...: title frm 2006, lame.; 4:25 PM
Anonymous said...: Hello Mr. Tao Lin

I think you look like the Asian person from the television show LOST who is doing all those 'hatch' videos.

I wish you good luck with your books and I hope everything turns out fine with and your family, extended family and Facebook network.

Richard Yates, I was told, is going to be your next level. Good. Go get them! I believe you sir are able!

Best wishes and many kisses.
From your dear friend from the past
'blast from the past'
hehe
Bret Easton Ellis
/a popular generation x novelist/; 3:16 PM