Conclusions

In my dust-up with the HTML herd I was outnumbered 1,000 to 1, deck stacked to favor them. The herd (or some of it)sought to stampede over me. You know what? They failed.

Of course, their intellectual big guns, Higgs and Butler, stayed on the sidelines. I’m not sure how they would’ve fared. Bigger guns—the Rumpus people—may stand behind them. That’s how they operate, through layers of, well, for lack of a better word, puppets. (Or, I’d bet that some of the anonymous comments were from the Rump folks.)

This is different from my style. When I ran the ULA I was always at the head of the pack. I believe this is where a leader should place himself. Don’t kid yourself that Blake Butler isn’t perceived by HTML people and readers as that group’s leader. This true whether he perceives himself that way or not. There’s no getting around group dynamics, which are built into nature, and the nature of human animals.

My own objectives with my visit to HTML were accomplished. First, to regenerate some interest/hits for my main blog. Second, I wanted to test—really test—what HTML was about.

I have more confidence in my ideas than ever.

Mayday!

I'm showing that one unauthorized intruder made it through this blog's defense barriers. And no, this isn't "Forbidden Planet" where the intruder is myself. At least, I think not!
BTW,
I might have to scrap what I said below about HTML Giant's traffic. Now my "Demi-Puppet" is getting decent traffic sent from them, commensurate with their rep. Demi-Puppet's hits approach what they were in the blog's heyday, five or more years ago. Congrats to HTML Giant, then. Enjoy the attention while it lasts.

Paper Tiger

Re HTML Giant.

1.) EXAGGERATED HITS. The hits on their site have been overstated, based on response to a provocative comment I posted on their blog April 1. My comment and followups were accompanied by a blog link. Increased traffic to that blog was modest. But perhaps HTML’s readers are so mind-stunted they have no curiosity.

2.) MORE OF SAME. There’s nothing new about these writers and their work, which is inward-looking. They’re holding events at the AWP Conference in Denver—as status quo as you can get. HTML’s young writers seem to have little imagination. Or, they were born old.

3.) INFRASTRUCTURE? This is the same weakness as the ULA’s, but moreso. There’s nothing lasting, nothing substantial, just an endless series of blog posts forgotten within a week.

4.) DIFFUSION. Another ULA weakness. Many of HTML’s staff and writers are scattered around the country. Maybe, though, their home base is New York—the situation if HTML Giant is merely a subset of the Big Money Boys.

A Better Product

The key to success is to transform the art to offer a new product. Do that, combine it with innovative promotion, and growth will follow. By “better” I don’t mean by the standards of a writing instructor, but better for the general reader, the potential market.

(What makes the current literary culture beatable is that they think about their art within an airy bubble removed from the greater society. Their standards are arbitrary, if not abstract, becoming more skewed—and skewing the art—by the day. And so you get a Great White Literary Hope like Blake Butler praising difficult writing. In another field this would be nonsense. Think if the auto industry operated like that. “Our new model is difficult to drive and repair—and it looks awful!” It’d be to our great shame if we don’t beat these clowns.)

I’m old enough to remember the impact of the first “Star Wars.” George Lucas made the old new. The movie had an old-fashioned feel to it—it looked like a “movie”—yet was strikingly new. What he’d done is adjust the formula of which elements of the movie art to more emphasize, and which to pull back. This can be easily done with literature. It’s amazingly simple. The result is a new product. Sometimes one only needs the imagination and will to do the obvious.

Writers who create the new capture the future.

Demographics

A key part of my plan is hitting vulnerable areas, and, eventually, entire demographics that our mainstream competition has written off.

No, the plan isn't to sell to "street kids," but to about 80% of young people, which established lit isn't trying to reach. $$$. (And face it, all young people want to be "street kids" in some way.)

One of my ULA mistakes was leaving products up to others. . . .

POP STORIES
I'm targeting short stories because,
1.) They used to be the most popular lit form, and could be again.
2.) They're the most vulnerable spot on the literary chessboard. We can easily create better stories.
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Recall how the Big Three automakers were beaten. They lost the subcompact section first. High-end vehicles came later. Novels are publishing's high-end. You don't attack their strength. That's suicide.

The Big Shakeout

I’ve never seen more competition in literature than exists today—yet I’ve also never seen more opportunity.

Writers are flooding toward one spot on the game board. I believe they can be outflanked.

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It’s likely that the monopolies will lose their dominance; that we’re entering a feudal, anarchic situation. If that’s the case, there will be a scramble for positioning. We’ll enter a big shakeout that will rearrange things with a few major players remaining. Study any industry’s history and that’s invariably what takes place. Will one of the survivors be, say, HTML Giant? Or are they destined to be another Foetry—or a ULA?

Are there ways to prevail?

Yes.

Xtreme Art

What about a possible new strategy?

Those who read this blog don’t seem to understand the immense competition which exists in America’s arts, including literature. An example is the big rock festival taking place in Austin, headlined by a gazillion unknown bands who are destined to stay unknown simply because there’s too many of them. There are in fact a million rock bands in this country, and millions of other styles of musicians, all seeking success. The field is saturated.

So is the writing field, of course—for those who follow the traditional paths. The only advantage with the literary realm—the only glimmer of an opening—is that, with will and imagination, it remains possible to transform the art. By contrast, the music business was revolutionized and popularized in the Fifties. Since then, everything’s been tried. Everything’s been done. It serves as a model for writers of what CAN be done.

There’s no mileage in following the pack. In doing what everyone else is doing. Xtreme tactics are required. The illusion of xtreme presentation and promotion, centered around a transformation of the art. I have a total plan to accomplish this. I hope that at some point others will be able to join in-- but they’ll have to be willing to scrap the same-old same-old bourgie business-as-usual mindset.