“Value in the Experience, Not the Artifact” True?
Challenge everything. Ethan Kaplan talked music with Veronica Belmont at Maholo. It made me wonder if the “experience” was really the core appeal for readers as it is for music fans. Sure the “value” for music labels (i.e., the money) is in the experiential stuff. Sure the book-as-artifact is losing value as I type this. But author-access, constant contact or not, has never really provided readers with value. Author appearances suck. Author scarcity on the other hand (Pynchon, Salinger) is appealing. To switch from scarce to plentiful will put the zap on many an authors’ heads. I don’t want to follow Tom Clancy’s life in the news let alone on Twitter. But I would follow Neil Gaiman (I am not even really a fan). What does that say? When the person and the product are indistinguishable (arguable with musicians and their music) then constant contact with the brand is satisfying — it is like hanging out with your really talented friend. I am not sure it is the same in cases where the person tries their hardest to dissimulate their personality in their work. I think we are due for a refinement of Foucault’s author function. Authors are the likable ones. Writers are the cranks.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLKf8diwqls
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