Personal Disclosure
I’m often asked (well, not too often, but it has happened), “Why don’t you have more reviews on Amazon?” “Why aren’t you more well-known?” In general, the premise is that, given my limited, but somewhat substantial critical acclaim, why isn’t The Day After the Singularity: UFOs & the Great Technological Quantum Leap more well-known?
Well, I have to confess. I’m a bust at self-promotion. That’s One Big Reason. These days it’s up to artists and authors to promote their own work through social media. In order to do that you have to develop your own “personal brand,” which, according to Vox’s senior correspondent covering social platforms, is a full-time job.
It’s a full-time job that I don’t want. I didn’t write The Day After the Singularity because I wanted to post daily videos on TikTok or host an internet talk show.
I can’t spend any more time in front of a computer than I already do. I do my research on the computer. I write my books and my blog on the computer. I design artwork for my books and blog on the computer. Maybe the younger crowd can fit in another full-time job, but I can’t and don’t want to. My eyes are bugging out.
So that’s why you won’t see a lot of me on social media. I have a barebones Facebook page that I never update that I’m planning on updating more regularly with links to this blog. That’s probably about it – as lame as that may be – at least for the time being. An AI public relations assistant like ChatGPT may be a game changer for me- if and when one becomes available.
Until then, you may not hear much from me beyond what I’ve already done, which isn’t much. I was lucky enough that my book got the attention of Dr. Paul LaViolette, who compared The Day After the Singularity to futurist Alvin Toffler’s classic, Future Shock, and best-selling author, Whitley Strieber, the face of ET contact.
As a result, The Day After the Singularity was nominated for the Eric Hoffer Book Award’s Montaigne Medal for the most thought-provoking book of the year (2020) and I made a guest appearance on Whitley Strieber’s Dreamland podcast.
Other media appearances never materialized, in little doubt, because I don’t have a large following as a result of my near total lack of social media presence- and my corresponding disinterest in going viral.
I think if people are going to discover my work it’s because they’re googling search terms looking to understand the ultimate implications of the extraterrestrial presence on Earth. If they dig deep enough to find my books, blog posts, etc., it’ll be like finding an Easter egg in a video game- because I’m probably never going to be leaving enough digital breadcrumbs.
I guess not having a personal brand is my personal brand…