Meanies Among Us

I get times are tough. Gas is ridiculous. Food is following suit. Where I live, corn on the cob has been advertised as on sale for 99 cents a cob!

That’s almost $12 a dozen. That's nuts! I’ve never paid over $3 and I won't.

So yeah, times are hard, but there’s a recent trend that troubles me. Writers are demanding reads and proof of comment and even more, they’re demanding tips.

It’s mostly on Vocal right now. But yeah, it’s nasty.

Friends of mine as well as yours truly, have gotten messages from purported authors demanding reads and comments on Facebook. Others have been directed to provide tips, some rather aggressively.

That’s not how this works.

Facebook writing groups work on the principle of reciprocity. Someone posts a story. People read it, they give feedback and then others post their stories and people do the same. It’s been that way since I joined Vocal in February of 2021 and Medium a few months later.

It’s, as Sheldon Cooper would say, a social convention.

But now it’s not. Apparently.

I get inflation. I get unfavourable algorithms. I get needing to pay your bills. I’m in the same boat.

But when did supporting fellow writers become bullying? When did it become okay to send private messages demanding reads and proof thereof?

When did it become okay to demand tips when another writer posts a story on Facebook in the same vein as the original poster?

Yeah, that happened. I read a story for the Vocal Fantasy Challenge that was posted on Facebook in one of the groups. I entered a story even though I’m not much of a fiction writer. So, I commented on his story and posted mine. The author actually asked me if I left a tip!

Is this what we’re doing now? Is this what we’ve become? Here’s more:

Really? You “direct me”? You direct me to leave a tip for the what, the privilege of you reading my story?

Okay, but you know, bye Felicia! I’ve won 3 challenges on Vocal and counting because best believe, there will be more, I can fu*king write! I was a Fiction Award finalist and I was one of the top 50 in the Ukraine Challenge.

I don’t like to say it, but for the year and I bit I’ve been there, I’ve become a bit of a Vocal freakin' legend!

So to all writing bullies, and this one, in particular, I have to ask who are you to charge me $5 to read my story? You can write son, you’re obviously intelligent and you can write. But you aren’t the literal shit.

I am. I’m sorta one of the Grand Dames of Vocal Challenges and I DO NOT pay for the privilege of posting or being read (okay, sorry, I'm being a bit hyperbolic here, you got me all riled up).

What you need to do, is humble yourself before me and before all of the other great readers and writers on the platform that do you the courtesy of reading your work.

You’re talented. I can’t deny that. You do good work. Not great. But good. There’s potential there for a great writer to emerge. But you’re letting the hustle get in the way.

I get where you’re at. You gotta eat too. Maybe you have kids to feed. It’s rough out there, but you know the old saying about flies and honey?

Yeah. You’re being a jerk. No one is going to read a word you write when you “direct,” or bully people into tipping. Tipping is a voluntary payment for exceptional work. I haven’t seen it from you yet. When I do, I’ll be the first to throw you a 20. But my standards are high, really high, so ya know.

Or, if you're really having a hard time, there's no shame in saying that straight out. I've seen people post in some of the Facebook groups something to the effect of, "emergency, bad thing happened, would appreciate tips to get me through." You'd be surprised how supportive the writing community can be.

My advice to you is to become more of a team player. You don’t have to badger people into tips. In fact, I’d say don’t.

I don’t like the nasty turn writing groups are taking on social media. I won’t deal with that garbage. I’ve proved my worth. I’ve won my challenges and I will win more. I’m in the top 1% of Medium earners. It’s not ka-ching, buy me a huge house money yet, but it pays my rent and buys me wine.

And it’s also where I learn and grow from other writers every single day. If I didn’t read the work of others, I’d have nothing to say. You know the saying “no man is an island?” Think about it.

You want to bully people 5 bucks at a time, you won’t last long. You’ll be a flash in the pan with so many others who got too big for their teeny tiny pants.

Or, maybe, just maybe, you could put your big person pants on and stop fearing other writers. Because that's what bullying is, right? Fear disguised as aggression.

Post, read, comment, and learn. Humble yourself. We’re all out here trying to earn a coin, but you ain’t all that. You haven’t earned the right to demand payment. None of us has. You love the work, I’ll take your contribution. If not, fine.

Humility, get some.

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Originally posted on Medium.com