Flopaganda

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Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:I,_Libertine_(book_cover).jpg

Flopaganda

By Ray Tabler

In the 1950s, Jean Shepherd was a New York City radio host, with a large following. Later on, Shepherd co-scripted the movie A Christmas Story, based on his childhood. Shepherd was of the opinion that the celebrated lists of best-seller books were too easy to manipulate. And he proceeded to do just that. On his radio show, Shepherd talked about a book he’d read, called I, Libertine, by Frederick Ewing. I. libertine was a historical fiction, about the scandalous life of a 1700s scoundrel. Shepherd’s listeners were intrigued. They went to book stores, and asked for copies of I, libertine. Within a short time, I, Libertine was on the New York Times best-seller list because of the demand.

Trouble was, the book didn’t exist. Neither did the author, Frederick Ewing. Shepherd made the whole thing up, as a prank, and to prove his point about how malleable the best-seller lists were (and are?). No fool, Shepherd then hired science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon to write I, Libertine (in an all-night, marathon typing session), and they hastily published it. You can buy it on Amazon today.

I, Libertine, the book and the hoax, stands as a cautionary tale of the power of marketing and advertising. Granted, Shepherd was uniquely positioned to take advantage of his nightly platform and large listening audience. But he knew just where to target his prank for maximum effect. His success inspired the advertising industry ever since. Think the Pet Rock, bottled water, and “Got milk?” Simply create a need, then fill it.

Honestly, I’m not a marketing expert. I aspire to be a (successful) author. Imagine my surprise that the job of author entails much more than simply telling stories. Being an author, these days, requires the wearing of multiple hats, including chief marketing officer of your brand as an author. It is difficult to describe how unsettling this realization is for an introvert.

One aspect of being an author in 2025 is the relentless bombardment by offers to help sell your book(s). Hardly a day goes by without these queries on social media. Some are scams. Some are legit. Often, I cannot sort out which is which. To be sure, there are some obvious clues. Rapid, and persistent responses, no matter the time of day or night. Identically-worded questions about what genre my writing falls into. Photos of the individual on the other end, which a reverse image look-up search finds on stock image sites.

I understand that legitimate marketers, who might actually help me, employ AI tools these days, to manage the workload of finding new clients. All well and good. But, to be frank, that raises red flags for me. I simply can’t tell if you’re real, or a set of algorithms. A cybernetic marketing partner might be useful, perhaps even essential. But I don’t have the expertise to determine if it’s worth the price or a self-delusional way to pour money down a rat hole. As a result, I have abstained from advertising, to this point anyway. Is it powerful propaganda, or futile flopaganda.

Advertising can work. I, libertine proves that, even when there wasn’t even a product in existence at the time of the hype. The numbers support that view. There are north of 8 billion people on Earth, at the moment. 1.5 to 2 billion of them understand English, and 700 to 800 million of those can read. If I imagine that 0.1 % of that might like my writing, that’s almost 1 million potential customers. I’d be satisfied with that. 😉

The tricky part is getting my books in front of that big number of eyeballs. Even if those I chose to deal with are honestly trying to help. Much like lawyers, they get paid whether they win or lose. And, as mentioned above, I’m not at all sure they’re human, let alone honest.

Some still succeed, wildly so. Larry Correia, Dennis E. Taylor, and Craig Alanson are standout examples. Of course, those 3 also brought stories that resonate, talent, dedication, persistence, hard work, and a helping of luck to the table. That’s a tough recipe to pull off, though many have tried to replicate it.

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