{"id":462,"date":"2016-03-14T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=462"},"modified":"2016-03-14T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T16:00:00","slug":"there-is-a-singularity-go-viral-or-go-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/03\/14\/there-is-a-singularity-go-viral-or-go-home\/","title":{"rendered":"There is a Singularity: go Viral or go home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;There is a Singularity, and it is Google, and it is also very stupid.&#8221; \u00a0This is perhaps my favorite bit of wisdom shared with me by a coworker (Sir Alex Badley, in particular) during one of our short windows of illumination between work.<\/p>\n<p>His point is that while the internet opens up huge, casement windows of opportunity and knowledge (all at the tip of our fingers), the processi and algorithmi of ye oft-exalted search engine are\u00a0narrowing our field of vision to the point of singularity, which defeats the purpose of all that knowledge at\u00a0all those fingertips. \u00a0The fact is this: We are led to search what everyone else is searching (in the same suggested words), we are led to read what everyone else is reading, and we are led to consume whatever is the most popular, since everything else is reduced to white noise on page 50 of search-engine-nonoptimization-ville. \u00a0This content still exists, if people wish to find it, but it has essentially lost all value.<\/p>\n<p>This is affecting authors and publishing, too. \u00a0Publishing companies had been\u00a0paying larger advances to pick up really promising bestsellers, because when a book gets big, it gets\u00a0<em>RAIL BHIG\u00a0<\/em>thanks to the singularity. \u00a0You&#8217;ll notice this: you might have a few books on hold at the library or even on your personal bookshelf that you bought because everyone else was reading it, not because it&#8217;s particularly interesting to you. \u00a0The side effect is that our attention is short lived, and every book&#8211;no matter how good&#8211;is essentially a fad, waiting to be replaced by the next bigger-est thing that the singularity opts to promote.<\/p>\n<p>The result for authors can be really nice&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" size-full wp-image-693 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zachbarnesonwriting.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/200.gif?resize=261%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"200\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;if your book essentially goes viral. \u00a0Once your writing becomes popular, the Singularity (All Hail the Mighty Search Engine) will inevitably focus the wider attention on you. \u00a0And keep in mind that The Singularity only magnifies peoples&#8217; tastes. \u00a0In High Fantasy terms:\u00a0<em>You cannot seek to wield its power for your own. \u00a0<\/em>So, trying to will your book into viral popularity is like the guy I saw driving down the freeway with a mattress strapped to the top of his car and one hand out the window, as if he could stop a\u00a0<em>freakin&#8217;\u00a0<\/em><i>mattress <\/i>(read: fluffy, spring-loaded SAIL) from flying off his car.<\/p>\n<p>The good and the bad takeaway from this is that there&#8217;s nothing you, as one person, can do about The Singularity. Let it free you or damn you: either way, remember that in order to &#8220;go viral&#8221; you&#8217;ve got to have content\u00a0<em>out there\u00a0<\/em>in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a mountain to brighten your week.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-683\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zachbarnesonwriting.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/nature-mountain-hd-wallpapers.jpg?resize=640%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Nature-Mountain-HD-Wallpapers\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. Zachary Barnes 2016\u00a9<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, trying to will your book into viral popularity is like the guy I saw driving down the freeway with a mattress strapped to the top of his car and one hand out the window, as if he could stop a freakin&#8217; mattress (read: fluffy, spring-loaded SAIL) from flying off his car.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2,6,18,38,39,46,1,50,52],"tags":[101,102,152,168,172,173,204],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/08\/observe-experience-write\/","url_meta":{"origin":462,"position":0},"title":"Observe, Experience, Write!","date":"January 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Writers observe everything. \u00a0But Zachary, you might contend,\u00a0doesn't everyone see everything? \u00a0Ah, nope. \u00a0It's the\u00a0difference between\u00a0hearing music and\u00a0listening to music. \u00a0One requires active participation, and one does not. \u00a0Writers\u00a0are human-shaped sponges, absorbing experience, digesting it, and turning it into meaningful prose. Just try it. \u00a0Step back from a group conversation\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"Similar post","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}