In software development, DRY is an acronym or aide-memoir which stands for “Don’t Repeat Yourself”. My “DRY Writer Advice” is stuff I’m seeing commonly discussed on social media, and I’m getting tired of repeating myself. So, I’m going to be posting it here, and passing out links as required. I hope someone finds value in my thoughts.
The question is usually something along the lines of “Unpopular Opinion – Readers don’t care for or want Trigger Warnings because those are really just spoilers.”
Now, we all know that anything that starts with “Unpopular Opinion” is just rage-farming, but it always sparks off a lively discussion about racism, ableism, what is or is not a spoiler and such. What we don’t often touch on is the ugly issue of Capitalism.
Companies don’t do anything that doesn’t benefit them. If it doesn’t improve their bottom line in some fashion, they don’t do it. Movie ratings and video game ratings are an example.
Movie Rated “R” — Restricted.
Children Under 17 Require Accompanying Parent or Adult Guardian. … may include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements
Video Game Rated “M” — Mature 17+
Contains content that includes intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, strong language, drug use, and nudity.
Okay, I’m going to say the quiet part out loud; that’s my target audience. Right there. If you’re into stories about sex, drugs, rock-and-roll, fast cars, fast people, fancy places and strange situations, then you’re who I’m writing for.
Ergo, I don’t consider them “trigger warnings“. To me they are “content labels and guidelines“. And that change of terminology is valuable
Not every book is for everyone, and if you don’t like low-star / negative reviews, then “content labels and guidelines” are also known by the name of “wrong customer filters”.
Unless your writing is actually trash, the only thing that will earn you a negative review is the wrong customer buying your product. In sales, pre-qualifying the client is everything. You can never make the wrong customer for your product happy.
As a reminder, if you’re an indie author out there with a cold face working the grind to get your books seen and sold, then you’re a sales person. You’re a company. You’re a capitalist. That’s all okay, there is nothing inherently wrong with any of that. However, if that’s who you are, you might as well do it right.
Since you can’t be in every bookstore, kiosk or online sales chat window, you need some way to pre-qualify the customer to make sure they are part of your target market. “Content labels and guidelines” do that for you.
In my not-so-humble-opinion, they are one of the best sales and marketing tools you can put in the first five pages of your book. It’ll ensure that people who are into your favourite stuff are the people reading your stuff.
So, here is the version I’m now using for my “Unseen World” paranormal romance / action-adventure setting:
“Unseen World” Content Labels and Guidelines
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to persons or situations past or present is entirely accidental.
This is a semi-period piece. The attitudes, views and social mores reflect the time in some cases in a way that is out of line with today. There is no attempt to hide that the good-old-days weren’t always as good as we remember.
This is a work of quasi-horror / suspense, as well as complex adult physical and emotional relationships.
This story-series includes scenes / descriptions of racism, intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, strong language, implicit / explicit use of drugs, alcohol and smoking.
It also includes references to criminal activity, religion, slavery, suicide, forced pregnancy, domestic abuse, and emotional trauma.
Scenes of adult and sexual relationships may contain references to, or examples of, heterosexuality, homosexuality, asexuality, pansexuality, bondage/dominance/submissive behaviours, polyamory and monogamy.
If these concepts / themes / subject-matters are upsetting or unpleasant, this is unlikely to be a good reading experience for you.
Consider and act accordingly.
That’s pretty thorough and direct, yeah? I’m being upfront about the reader’s likely experience, and then I’m putting the burden of responsibility on their shoulders.
If they chose to ignore the CLG, I can’t save them, nor is it my responsibility. My side of the social contract is taken care of.
Part of marketing is knowing your target market. Who is your customer? Can you answer that question in one to two sentences? Yes? Good.
To repeat myself here, you can never make the wrong customer for your product happy. Ergo, worrying about the reaction of folx outside your target market is wasted energy.
If you’re reading that above-stated CLG and you’re thinking to yourself “hey, that sounds like my kind of content”, well, congratulations, you’re a pre-qualified customer of mine. Maybe scoot over to my sales page and see if the rest of the experience sounds good to you.
That’s the end of this bit of “DRY Writer Advice”. I hope you found some value in it. Please let me know what you think in the comment section below. You can catch up with me on Threads via this link to my profile. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you again soon.