Now on Substack - elitism, condescension and dogpiles

Substack's design and content choices is fostering a social "class" system of elites, followers and outsiders. Can we escape this game?

Who deserves to be in the spotlight? To the elites, probably not you.

The first lady I spoke to at the local writers’ meet-up was probably my worst choice.

I was so excited because I wanted to form connections with fellow writers in my neighbourhood. But before I could speak, she asked: “So, what do you write?”

I said, science fiction.

That was about all I could say.

Because she went on a half-hour info dump in a faux American accent about how she’s a published author and doing an MFA in Ameri-kuh, name-dropped a few major authors’ names (she calls them by their first name, don’t you know) and went on a lecture of how I should polish my craft. Then, finally, she turned her attention to me.

“So, are you writing something right now?”

I told her I was working on a novel.

She sighed and said, as if resigned, “Okay, I’ll have a look at your manuscript. But warning: I’m not going to be kind!”

I was so stunned by her blatant demonstration of superiority that I could only stare, speechless, at her. I had no intention of sharing my manuscript with anyone at that stage, and she’s probably the last person I will think of when it is ready.

It was also incredibly ironic because if she had known what I did for a living, she would’ve changed her tune. I knew her type.

This happened more than 10 years ago when I was a journalist. One of my beats was to cover the local and international arts & culture scene, which included writers. I have interviewed authors such as Jodi Picoult, Louise Penny, Tim Harford and more.

I was behind the scenes at literary festivals and worked closely with publishers. While most authors were lovely, some were entitled boors. It made me cynical about literary fame quite quickly.

(If you want proof that I’m just not making exaggerated claims, you can have a look at some of my journalism works.)

I saw what was involved in getting into these literary networks and it turned me off: the snobbery, the schmoozing, the pandering to big-named writers and publishers.

I didn't want to be part of it even if I was part of it since I helped make their names appear in print before millions of readers.

I could've easily joined them by accepting an egregious book contract and legitimize my position among them but I decided to write quietly on the Internet as it gave me more joy.

In the eyes of the Writing Elite, I do not have the right rank so they mostly sniff at me and ignore me. But when they find out what my day job is ... boy how they change.

This dynamic is found in writing communities around the world.

And it's now on Substack.