Is History New To Authors?

One thing that I have noticed over the years, both in society and with authors, is that everyone acts as if the current state of affairs never happened before and that we are on the precipice of great doom.  But this forgetful, ignorant, or uneducated take on things does more harm than good.  So stop it!

For instance, many say Donald Trump is the worst president. He may prove to be just that, but within his first year he’s done too little to put him in the worst 10 just yet.  Is he worse than Bush-two wars, two recessions?  Is he worse than Nixon-Watergate?  Is he worse than Carter-hostage crisis and 18% inflation?  I think not.  So let’s keep things in perspective.

People act like the stock market will keep growing without a major correction.  But we know that Wall Street works in cycles and the bubble will burst, so let’s not act as if new record highs are the norm forever.

Many fear Amazon is taking over the world, and in some ways they are but they are just the latest version of monopoly-bully corporations.  See before them:  Wal-Mart, Sears, IBM, Jonson & Johnson, etc.

Along these lines, people talk about terrorism or possible war with North Korea as signs of mayhem but we lost many, many more people in real wars.  And the Cold War was a lot scarier than Kim Jong B.S.

The opioids epidemic is bad but every generation had a demon that killed in huge numbers – see opium, heroine, crack, coke.  Truth is, alcohol and cigarettes, two legal and legitimized addictions – along with junk food – combine to kill well over a 9/11 every day.  Yes, every day.  And yet, it used to be worse. People drink more responsibly, smoke less, and live longer.

We forget or don’t know our history, then we let the media stoke fears and social media spread rumors.  Add it all up and we live in fear or unsupported wild optimism.  We lack perspective and context.

Authors do the same with their books.  Many writers act as if no one ever tackled their subject matter before or that no one knows and says what they do.  Please, what nonsense.  I say the opposite.  I struggle to see what’s new, unique, or better than any book already published.  When authors let ego or ignorance guide them, it’s a recipe for disaster.

One fear that I think is founded is the one we have about technology – robots – automation taking over and replacing humans.  It’s a fear society has had for at least a century but it’s become more justified of late as we see the digitization of business, government, entertainment, and human socialization.  We see it when jobs get eliminated in huge numbers at accelerated paces.  We see it when Wall Street rewards every dot.com and financed new ways to minimize humans.

But even this will not happen in our lifetime.  We will continue to see more technology in our lives, not less, but we’ll find a way to assert the human side so that we separate metal from flesh, virtual from real.

Okay, I digress here.  Got to get off the soap box.  But authors need to get a reality-check.  They can’t operate as if today is radically different-worse-better than other generations.  They can’t think no other author has written a book like theirs.  They can’t talk about a book or the world in a way that everything is expressed in extremes or dire predictions.

Step back and survey the book landscape and the states of affairs for the nation and world.  Separate truth from lies, hype from reality, fact from fear.  You may start to realize that today, you, or your book are not dramatically different from what and who has come before you.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs