This Has Gone Far Enough! So I Guess I Should Start By Thanking You!!

(For  those  of  you  that  aren't  aware  of  the  recent  social  media  riot  that  took  place  on  linkedin  during  the  last  2  weeks,  what  you  see  before  you  is  the  pinnacle  of  what  started  out  as  a  simple  book  marketing  post,  that  was   misinterpreted  and  blown  out  of  proportion  by  somebody  that  really  should've  known  better..........
and  for  all  of  the  chaos  that  came  prior  to  THIS  message  being  posted  to  those  linkedin  members  that  seemed  so  eager  to  get  involved,  I've  received  nothing  but  stunned  silence  ever  since.........
 all  but  for  1  or  2  comments  on  a  linkedin  group  page  that  sound  suspiciously  sheepish............

I  Hope  You  Enjoy!!)


I'd  really  like  to  take  this  opportunity  to  thank  you  ALL!!

But  before  I  do.........

I'd  like  to  ask  you  all  a  few  simple  questions  first.
So  here  goes.

How  many  of  you ( when NOT  sat  in  front  of  your  computer  screen )  can  honestly  say  that  you  remember  my  name?

How  many  of  you  can  remember  the  title  of  my  book?

How  many  of  you  have  visited  my  blog,  and  seen  the  things  that  I  wanted  to  show  you?

And  how  many  of  you,  over  the  course  of  the  last  week  or  so,  have  shared  any  or  all  of  this  information  with  somebody  else,  either  in  person  or  online?

Because  if  I'm  completely  honest........

Apart  from  my  good  friend  Dennis  Kitainik,  I  would  struggle  to  remember  ANY  of  your  names.........??

And  I  definitely  wouldn't  have  a  clue  as   to  what  ANY  of  you  are  responsible  for  producing......??

AND!!  As  I'm  sure  that  you're  all  aware  from  the linkedin  stats  that  we  ALL  get  access  to,  I  haven't  even  bothered  to  look  into  any  of  your  profiles,  or  visited  any  of  your  web  pages  either!.............Yet?..........You  all  know  who  I  am!!

I  am  just  one  man!
I  conceived  and  wrote  a  story!
I  illustrated  and  produced  a  book!
I  published  and  now  I'm  even  orchestrating  my  own  successful  publicity  stunt ( if  I  do  say  so  myself )

I'm  27  years  old........

And  I  did  all  of  that  around  being  a  full  time  Dad  to  2  gorgeous  kids,  one  of  which ( my  5  year  old  little  girl )  would've ( a hundred  or  so  years  ago )  been  labelled  as  a  "Retard"  due  to  her  'undiagnosed  developmental  delay'  coupled  with  'unspecified,  complex  epilepsy'.

But  never  mind........

I  did  all  of  that  despite  the  fact  of  having  no  formal  training.  I'm  completely  self  taught,  a  true  indie  author  just  like  a  lot  of  you........

And  yet  my  book  seems  to  be  just  about  the  most  interesting  thing  on  one  of  the  worlds  biggest  social  media  platforms,  among  some  of  the  most  educated  and  well  respected  names  in  the  business!

And  to  top  it  all  off!!

I've  even  got  one  of  you  to  protest  against  it,  allowing  me  to  create  a  sense  of  desire  through  urgency.
Because  let's  be  honest......No  Press  Is  Bad  Press!!.....and  you  all  know  that!

So  Truly!!  I  thank  you  all  for  helping  the  good  people  of  the  world  to  become  more  aware  of  me  and  my  work!  Especially  YOU  Dennis!  (Honestly  mate,  Thank  You)

But  as  an  indie author/publisher,  like  many  of  you,  I've  made  many  mistakes  along  the  way,  and  I'm  sure  that  there'll  be  many  more  to  come  along  this  winding  road  to  success.

But  I  have  to  say,  this  experience  has  truly  enlightened  me  to  the  more  sinister  traits  of  my  fellow  indie  authors ( and  there  was  me  thinking  that  we  had  to  stick  together......sheez! )

Because  what  started  out  as  an  attention  grabbing  headline,  which  was, "Horrific  Images  Being  Sold  To  Children"

( Horrific - as in - to invoke a sense of horror )

Which,  when  clicked  on,  leads  to  an  article  that  quickly  goes  on  to  explain  that  this  is  less  a  book  of  savagery,   and  more  a  book  of  science,  and  was  created  with  the  intention  of  capturing  the  attention  of  kids  who  ALREADY  indulge  in  bloody  video  games  and  horrific  movies,  to  encourage  them  and  maybe  even  inspire  them  to  take  up  a  bit  more  reading,  rather  than  just  sitting  around  all  day  being  hypnotised  by  technology!!

But  because  Dennis  only  took  note  of  the  eye  catching  headline  and  gory  illustration,  he  ASSUMED  that  it  was  about  something  more  sinister.

Which  is  what  eventually  lead  to  his  initial  rant  about "Too  Much  Violence  in  Children's  Media  and  the  fact  that  MY  book  should  be  banned  Blah  Blah  Blah!!

WAIT!!  HOLD  ON!!  No  one  said  anything  about  violence!!  This  is  a  kids  book  about  the  body,  remember!!

So  I  took  some  time  to  think  about  what  Dennis  had  said.......and  decided  to  make  good  use  of  it......of  course........and  so  I  persuaded  him  to  start  an  online  petition.......which  he  did.......and  the  rest  is  history.

But  before  anyone  had  time  to  figure  out  that  this  ISN'T  a  book  about  violence,  it  was  too  late,  the  damage  had  already  been  done!!
I  retaliated,  Dennis  did  the  same,  and  ever  since  then  a  ferocious  frenzy  has  ensued!!

And  like  a  hoard  of  crazed,  wild  animals  you  sniffed  out  and  savaged  any  morsel  of  critique  you  could  find!!........FONT!!!!!!!!   Honestly  People!!!!!    I  thought  this  was  a  petition  about  horrific  images!!!


People  were  commening  from  left,  right  and  centre,  as  I  sat  back  and  watched  the  massacre  continue!!

And  the  funny  thing  is....it  seemed  that  as  they  began  to  realise  that  'SCABS'  isn't  a  book  of  violence,  they  began  to  frantically  clutch  at  any  straw  they  could  in  an  attempt  at  validating  their  own  reasoning. ( and  I  honestly  thought  that  this  sort  of  thing  was  confined  to  the online  antics  of  teenage  school  girls.........my  mistake!! )

And  so  what  started  out  as  a  ligitimate  remark  about  "Too  Much  Violence  In  Kids  Media" ( which  I  agree  with  by  the  way )  turned  into  nothing  more  than  than  just  a  bunch  of  bored  bullies,  probably  discontented  by  the  lack  of  excitement  in  their  own  careers,  that  they  felt  they  needed  to  mob  together  and  'Try To'  make  life  difficult  for  an  individual  that  stands  out  and  chooses  to  do  things  a  bit  differently!!

TUT!!!  TUT!!!  TUT!!!

And  so  I  conclude  my  little  publicity  stunt/  Social experiment  with  this.........

If  this  is  what  passes  for  a  so  called,  self  professed,  'helpful'  and  'united'  community,  then  it  is  no  longer  a  community  that  I  wish  to  be  a  part  of!!

And  so  I  shall  bid  thee  farewell!!

But  not  without  leaving  you  all  with  one  last  final  thought!!

As  you  look  back  over  this  campaign......  how  many  of  you  can  honestly  say  that  you  acted  with  the  mindset  of  self  respecting,  well  educated  individuals  who  form  a  united  community?

Or  was  this  simply  a  case  of  mob  mentality?

And  how  many  of  you  would  be  happy  to  know  that  I shall  be  using  the  screen  shots  that  I've  taken  of  all  your  comments  and  sharing  them  with  the  rest  of  the  world, (  just  as  you  have )  using  the  shame  that  you've  brought  upon  yourselves  here  on  linkedin  to  further  elevate  my  marketing  campaign?

I  hope  that  you're  all  very  proud  of  yourselves............. :)

P.S.  Now  that  this  is  all  over,  maybe  some  of  you  more  educated  folk  can  redeem  yourselves  and  offer  me  some  advice.......

How  does  this  sound  for  an  attention  grabbing,  press release,  headline??

★ BREAKING  NEWS ★
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