Reading free writing is like eating McDonald's
I feel like I’m at a distinct advantage. I pay for almost everything I read.
Yes, I read a lot of tweets, and the occasional free news article. But almost all of the reading I do is of Kindle books that I buy.
I read almost no blogs. The quality of free information on the web keeps declining. The only way to do it sustainably is to attract eyeballs and then sell those eyeballs to Pepsi or Gillette or some other advertiser.
As a writer, I know that if you need to attract eyeballs, your writing suffers. You resort to prodding readers for their ugliest emotions. You might even resort to downright lies.
Getting all of your writing for free is like eating every meal at McDonald’s. You saw what happened to Morgan Spurlock when he ate McDonald’s for 30 days on Super Size Me. He gained weight, his cholesterol skyrocketed, he accumulated fat on his liver. It took fourteen months to undo the damage created in one month.
Back when I did lots of free reading, I suffered similar ailments, but of my brain. I became paranoid and lonely. I had difficulty concentrating. The eyeball economy was frying my brain: Everybody became an enemy, because animosity attracts eyeballs. I couldn’t focus because the more you fragment someone’s attention, the more times per minute you can sell their eyeballs.
When I stopped reading free stuff and started paying for my reading, everything changed. I stopped being hooked on Facebook. I started thinking things through. I started to question my initial reactions to what I read.
As a reader, I now had an honest relationship with my writers. I paid them for their writing, and they wrote things I liked to read. Their writing wasn’t a tactic to hack my behavior. I took care of them, and they took care of me.
Something to think about: Where do you get the words you read? Are your words factory-farmed, or are they free-range? Do you know your writer? I think if you keep asking yourself these questions, you’ll find your way to a healthier version of you, in a healthier society.
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Most of what I read is "on demand" - it answers a question I have. Been a while since I read any fiction because of the urgency / need of my non-fiction requirements.
By on-demand that includes Kindle books. I use Amazon Kindle as a paid search engine. Amazes me, however, how many people are charging $9 USD for what are essentially brochures or what should have been blog posts.
It means I am prioritizing get to the fricken point already over "prose". I don't need 3 acts, just get to the punchline.
But it also means the reading for pleasure has taken a back seat. That is a shame.
Trying to reduce the mental clutter with things like Unroll.me so I can spend more time reading good stuff rather than spam ;)
( I do get your designforhackers.com emails )
Kindle as a paid search engine – I love that. I've been noticing it being that lately. I actually just published what was originally going to be a blog post as a Kindle short read. You might find it interesting. It's called How to Write a Book.
This makes me think about what DHH said in the rework podcast (https://rework.fm/mailbag-1-2/ minute 19:22). Basically he said that there is so much information today and it's hard to distinguish what's good among all the content. So what he uses is the "test of time". If something is old but is still popular, it means it's good for real and not only transient.
I should really read more books (in fact I have a long list of pending reads), but I find myself reading more blogs because it's "easier" and doesn't feel like I have to commit so much time. Although I have been thinking for a while that I should really read more books. I'll try to change my habits into doing it!
"The eyeball economy" is a great name. I'm going to start using it in conversation, maybe it will catch on.
This is such a great point - it so easy to slip into the groove of snacking on short posts or videos. I really have to dig deep sometimes these days to immerse myself in a good book as I find my concentration span keeps on diminishing (as I am getting used to consuming short posts etc :( ).
I do hold firm though and make sure that I maintain my discipline to keep on reading "proper" books.
One caveat though is there are some books that could just have easily conveyed the point in a short snappy article rather than a full blown book (typically non fiction books) but they are the exception rather than the norm!
Thanks for reminding me of this important point.
You're absolutely right about the books not conveying the point as quickly as they could. @Makerhacks mentioned the same.
I think part of it is that books have traditionally been a certain length because of the economics of books: There's a certain base production cost to creating a book, so they make it longer; also, a book used to need to be a certain width to be seen on a bookstore bookshelf.
Funny, there also used to be a vibrant "pamphlet culture." The English, American, and French Revolutions were powered by these pamphlets. Not only did they help ideas spread, they also made money for those who wrote them.
I'm calling some of these things into question and seeing if I can revive the "pamphlet." I just tried publishing my first shorter "book." We'll see how it goes. It's over here: http://geni.us/4fnQ5
Yes, I like the idea of a pamphlet - or back in the good old days, it was the thing for writers to be serialised in newspapers. Or is this just going back to blogs...?
Will check out your book :)
Books you say, with an actual interest in the author...
Pretty old school, aside from the kindle.
At the moment most of my reading is done on Steemit!
I also read stacks of fast food articles, I like to think closer to in-n-out quality than micky d's, but yes, free reading has affected my mental diet, and I notice when I read a book how differently my brain reacts.
I would love to meet the author of the most recent book, and I took the time to seek out a few of her youtubes, Angela Davis.
Thanks for the food for thought!
If you care to indulge in some free range fast food, here is my latest blog.