"It�s finally come to this" - by Almeida Gaspar, www.goa-world.com
I laughed when I saw the headline "Authors Giving Themselves Good Reviews." The article originated from the New York Times News (wire) Service. This means folks all over the world now know there are quite a few writers "pseudonymously" touting their own books in the reader reviews section of Internet bookseller Amazon. Well, we have known over the years, there is a similarity here too, among our very vibrant community. This does reflect on some Goans. We have plenty of them among our midst, some innocently genuine, some laughing away with innocence, with a mischeivous grin. Last year a well scripted and directed tiatr had good reviews. Recently Cecil Pinto's observations - a lot of tiatr oddities have vanished - are indeed true. But, although some of these oddities are dead, there are some new ones 'cultivated' and they like weeds are 'sowing' the seeds of defamation and abuse. Recently (accidentally) one such individual who is also a member of an association which promote art and stage artistes, faxed an item from a defense consulting office. This opened the whole 'pandora's box' without an iota of doubt, leaving the person defenceless. Who said only IP addresses can be located? Fax IDs and like as in the 90's the famous IBM typewriter's fonts could be traced from a Shuwaikh garage to the newspaper's editors office. Self glorifying as well as showering praises (as if one is about to be nominated for an Oscar for NOTHING) on others is the work of the bald, confused and the bearded. Some are cowards who proclaim self discipline, openness and like-minded, are also in the fray. We all know well who these characters are. Like the Konkani saying goes thus: "Padricho sermao vonneak nhoi". At an appropriate time, we will get these individuals exposed, the head of our 'investigating team' concluded. Coming to the few writers "pseudonymously" making themselves heard or gain popularity, some people do not like this practice, believing that it is, as one writer said, "a rhetorical war," where authors�and, in some cases, their friends and family� write good reviews to rebut the bad ones, which may or may not come from the writers� enemies. While people who legitimately read the book or go for a tiatr, or a football final, ostensibly write reviews both positive and negative, the idea that a writer would pen his own praise is somewhat distasteful�mostly to those who don�t know how tough the business is. A few like-minded fellows, we have observed, are among us on the forums. They praise themselves as well as their buddies after even a 'condolence meeting' in their reports. This is a very frightening trend to the average Goan who 'once in a while' read such postings on the Goan internet forums. Going back to my opening paragraph above..... Which is what struck me funny about the article�s headline. My first thought upon reading it was, "It�s finally come to this." It�s no surprise that writers have to use such seemingly sneaky tactics to get their names and devilish ideas out there. It�s part of the evolution of the modern world. Those who do win the veritable lottery of acquiring an agent, then a publisher, then a couple dozen hardback copies are also required to be marketing geniuses when publishers don�t have adequate funds to publicize the work. So, while authors reluctantly take on self-promotion as a necessary marketing technique, others think they�re blowing their own horns for the sake of popularity. Yet, we in the biz know that these Amazon infiltrators really aren�t any different from job hunters that puff up their r�sum�s. And now....... having written a mystery novel "To Kiteak Nachlo Nam?" in amchi maim bhas Konkani for which I am seeking a publisher, I wonder if I will eventually get that "reader in Candolim" who anonymously submits a good review or the LRNB "dusreanchea nanvant fax/email dadpi" from Quepem, Bardez, Ilhas,...... oh, the list ends at Salcette! I doubt it, may be these are "Migrated Goans" ? I�ll probably just get my colleagues or the several heads of the Goan organizations in the Gulf region to do it...... if such trend becomes the 'in thing' for everyone. Almeida Gaspar www.goa-world.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you�re looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
