Marketing and Slavery
What does Nietzsche have to do with the success of my book?
Ok, I am going to tell you how many books I have sold so far.
Since that is the measure of success and many of you have asked me that question.
Right?
But before I say it, I just want to make it clear I am no slave.
You, slaves.
“Oh shit, Karlo you are going mad again,” I can hear you saying.
Let me explain to you what is going on.
Friedrich Nietzsche, that complicated German philosopher with a complicated name, in his 19th century book ‘Beyond Good and Evil’, went deep on the subject of slaves and masters. He believed that vanity is atavism.
“Vanity is atavism? What the hell does that mean?”
It means that the vanity of a vain person comes from their ancestors or, to be more precise, from their slave ancestors who were doing hard labour for their masters.
To simplify it, a slave can’t create an opinion of himself without a master. Regardless of how much cotton they picked or sugarcane harvested, if a master told a slave they were a good slave, the slave would believe they were a good slave. If a master told the slave they were a bad slave, the slave would believe they were a bad slave. Their worth was coming from the master.
Why did masters hold the right to tell slaves who they were? Because they created values. They constructed what was good and what was bad. Even more so, what was good really meant what was good for them.
Although Nietzsche was born in 1844, when slaves were already gaining a rebellious momentum, true slaves have stayed devoted to the master’s evaluation of themselves to this very day. Such a limiting way of seeing the world and ourselves is atavism, a kind of trauma that we carry from generation to generation.
“The vain person takes pleasure in every good opinion that he hears about himself, just as he suffers any bad opinion: for he submits to both, from that old submissive instinct that breaks out in him. It is the ‘slave’ in the blood of the vain person,” wrote Nietzsche back in the day.
So, how many books have I sold?
I-am-no-slave many books!
“Karlo, why are you like this?”
Let me tell you what Nietzsche and his slave theory have to do with the number of sold copies?
Well, masters are still in the driving seat. They are not running cotton or sugar plantations anymore, but huge corporations instead. If slaves’ parents and grandparents conditioned their successors to submit to masters, then masters must carry conditioning by their parents and grandparents as well. They are conditioned to make values in a society. They are doing it by teaching us what it takes to be a good member of society and what it means to be a bad member. We all have an idea of what it means to be a successful man, don’t we?
Think of Jeff Bezos and his Amazon, one of the biggest companies in the world and a platform where I self-published my book. Now, I don’t know if Bezos himself carries a master DNA, but like most of the companies that function in the upper echelon of the capitalistic system, Amazon prevails on the idea that a good company is the one that generates most revenues. Publishing a book on such a platform comes with a clear idea of what makes you a good publisher and what makes a bad publisher. I’ll give you a clue — it has to do with the number of sold copies.
And here is the thing!
I don’t need nobody’s confirmation to tell me if I am a good author or not. No master participated in the process of writing the book ‘Beyond Cristiano’. When you dedicate fully to something as I did to writing that book, every moment of life becomes a part of that process. Every single person you meet, every single lesson you learn, every single excitement and drama you experience plays their part in that process. Do you think someone can tell me if I did it good based on the number of copies I have sold? Of course not.
I am no slave.
I am not a slave to my writing!
My worth doesn’t depend on the opinion of others. If you read it, read it. If you don’t read it, you don’t read it. Simple as that. The book is not for everyone, anyway. It is a complex bastard, figuring out some philosophical and spiritual concepts while using football as a metaphor. It is not for an average football fan who simply takes all the pride in the world by identifying with a club’s badge. It is for people who think critically, who can see both sides of the story, who understand there is no victory without loss, no good without bad.
There, I have finally done it, I have defined my target audience — The crucial step when it comes to marketing.
And that is why I am sceptical about marketing. Because it expects you to put people into categories. And it expects you to fit yourself and your book into a category. And when you put people into categories, you are taking their soul away; they become labels. At the same time, you lose the ability to truly connect with someone. Because to thoroughly connect with someone, it takes listening and understanding, observing with compassion, and not only addressing to a category. When you put someone into a category, you reduce the vast universe that human being is to a transaction.
There is no real connection!
Just as there is no real connection between a master and a slave. Because if you tell someone what they are, good or bad, you put them into a category. If you put someone into a category, that is the game of control. A master controls a slave by telling them what they are, he gives them a sense of self, an identity. And then the master uses that identity to manipulate the slave. Because the slave derives their sense of self from the master.
If a master encourages a slave to give himself a meaning, the master-slave bond is broken. If a slave doesn’t need a master to give him a sense of self, the slave is free.
Freedom is to create your own idea of success.
Yes, I always have a couple of copies in my backpack wherever I go in case I come across someone who might be interested in buying. But, if I really wanted to get a ‘best-selling author badge’, I would need to do Amazon marketing. And Amazon marketing is something I can’t be bothered with at this point. I have figured out that I can either spend time doing Amazon marketing to rank my book higher and become a ‘better’ author, or I can spend time on my new writing projects that I want to do. It is a no brainer. The book ‘Beyond Cristiano’ has taken me some interesting places and made me meet some interesting people. It feels like success to me!
However, if someone is interested in doing Amazon marketing for me and putting myself and potential buyers into categories, let me know and we can make a deal. But let’s try to see it as ‘spreading the word’ and not ‘marketing’. That is what I am trying to make these articles about — to see them as part of the creative process. To keep them inclusive. There is no true creativity without connecting with human beings on the level much deeper than categories they fall into. A master will tell you who you are to limit you. But when a master puts someone into a category, they also limit themselves. Because they don’t allow themselves to create a real connection with a fellow human being. And if you can’t make a true connection, you will never be a true master (of the craft).
