Writerly Wednesday short – Authors, if you talk smack about another author on twitter, it is public. As in, that author you’re talking about will most likely see what you’re saying. So unless you want to own your words face to face, hold that stuff for when you’re in private. And yes, I just told you to say it in private rather than not to say it at all, because we’re all humans and mockery is part of who we are and how we process. So of COURSE people talk about each other. I expect that. It’s how we blow off steam.

But when I see an author do that, whether it’s me being discussed or not, I think less of them. And the author I saw today will be someone I never, ever buy a book from. Nor would I ever work with her or recommend her to anyone else I knew.

Manners don’t cost a thing. Taking the high road, at least in public, is the right thing to do. Your readers don’t need to know you snickered at such and such’s bad numbers. Or that you thought so and so’s book never should have been bought. (not specific examples) There are elements of our business that aren’t part of your brand as an author. Unless that’s what you’re trying to build. But I don’t think most people are. They just talk shit because they’re lazy and it’s easy to forget the internet isn’t private.