The scariest part about the latter model is how the hell are we going to find any more Susanna Clarkes, J. D. Salingers, and any other author that doesn't want to or isn't able to buy into the parasocial nature of patreon and similar platforms? What if the author isn't hot, charismatic, or pleasant to listen to?
I don't look at Patreons that often, but if I think about the dozen or so that I have (maybe half of authors) none of them have had pictures of themselves on it, or audio recordings of themselves.
So, I mean, it takes being somewhat charismatic in writing, but of the other properties you list... I don't seem them as important at all. Moreover, being charismatic in writing seems to be practically a requirement for being a good author.
Nor is it like the previous model did not have biases, you needed to be good at selling yourself to publishing houses and the like instead of to readers directly, but you still needed to be good at selling yourself.
I used to be that way. I created social media accounts this year (and started writing this newsletter) because I realized it was the only way to get my work read. There are so many amazing books out there that only ever see a couple readers because they don't market. It's just a hard reality (unless readers decide to go all indie and hunt for obscure books on the internet, like I do. But I'm sure I'm in the minority).
My biggest fear with that is the opportunity cost. It’s hard to commit to a total unknown as it’s likely their writing will be a waste of time to read unless there’s some assurance it’s competent, interesting, and novel writing.
Where does one even start to find the next Pynchon for example?
