Charlie Stross

Fucking ChatGPT book marketing spammers.

"… the Laundry Files represents the kind of established intellectual property that can deliver sustained value when marketing infrastructure is aligned to capture both existing and new readers."

What does that gibberish even *mean*, translated from the LinkedIn?

2:53pmWeb
Show threadDaniel Lakeland11h ago

@cstross

"Nice book you've got there, want me to flog it?"

Show threadCharlie Stross11h ago
@dlakelan Nah, they want me to pay them, I'm clear violation of Yog's Law.
Show threadDaniel Lakeland11h ago

@cstross

I should have said "Nice book you've got there, wanna pay me to flog it?"

Show threadCalum Andrew Morrell11h ago

@cstross it means "buy our shit or we'll never leave you alone".

Spoiler: they won't leave you alone regardless.

Show threadLaust11h ago
@cstross according to Kagi's LinkedIn translator:
"The Laundry Files is a decent series that we can keep milking for money as long as we actually bother to advertise it to people."
Show threadDan Sugalski11h ago
@cstross I think it means "we want to suck all the value out of your work and audience and keep it for ourselves."
Show threadHugo Mills11h ago
@cstross I think it translates as "just bend your neck over a little more... the vein's hard to get at when you hunch up like that".
Show threadThe Penguin of Evil11h ago
@cstross I believe it translates to "if we flatter you will you give us money"
Show threadUilebheist11h ago
@cstross I think the meaning is evident, they want to breed their marketing people with the, ahem, people who work for the Laundry.
Show threadPhilippa Cowderoy11h ago
@cstross "We market your books real good, books sell real well!"
Show threadPhilippa Cowderoy11h ago
@cstross (with, of course, a side of "if you are tradpubbed we hope you're daft enough to move to selfpub in the hope it'll make more money")
Show thread"Musty Bits" McGee11h ago

@cstross "pay us and you will get more money, probably"

Same as it ever was...

Show threadbazzargh11h ago
@cstross marketing infrastructure, aligned to capture both existing and new readers
Show threadColman Reilly11h ago
@cstross eldritch snatch teams tying (potential) readers to reading chairs, Clockwork Orange style. I think.
Show threadCat 🐈‍⬛🛰️11h ago
@cstross "This is something with an established audience that can make money for someone who wants to farm it. Don't tell the author, though."
Show threadAdam Shostack  11h ago
@cstross I think it means spy on and harass your readers, they way they’re harassing you?
Show threadSandra Bond11h ago
@cstross It means they want your money.
Show threadAngus McIntyre11h ago
@cstross “In his office at R’lyeh, dead Spamthulu dreams lies.”
Show thread~n11h ago
@cstross something along the lines: "monkey together strong! work together on torment nexus, stonks go up!"
Show threadmikeash10h ago

@cstross “It’s a series with a fanbase.”

Ironically, their pitch seems to be that you don’t actually need them.

Show threadMattJohns10h ago
@cstross
Translation:
“The Laundry Files is something that quite a few people like, and have liked for some time. Therefore we can sell things associated with it without having to do much work to ensure that it’s any good. The books will continue to pull people in and we can sell tat with Charlie’s name on it”
Show threadPhil Wolff10h ago
@cstross So, you're finally ready to train an authorbot on your corpus so a revenue trickle continues after you die? Unlife insurance for creators.
Show threadBen Aveling10h ago

Existing _and_ new readers?
What do they mean be that, readers of your book, or readers of books in general?
If the former, marketing to ppl who already have a copy seems not intuitive.
If the latter, marketing to ppl new to reading also seems a bit bold move cotton.

@cstross

Show threadretech10h ago
@cstross I keep thinking what does it say about culture in general. What it spews out is an amalgam of what we put online and in print. The culmination of 200yrs of the written word and that polysyllabic puke is the highest ranking version of what we say and popularise.
Show thread★ Amy Star ★10h ago
@cstross "this product will make line go up and to the right"
Show threadHighlandLawyer10h ago
@cstross
"You have books that sell; give us money for advertising so we can cash in"
Show threadPaul_IPv610h ago

@cstross

gack.

the worst of linkedin-speak, marketing dweebs, and AI assisted text. we have achieved peak gibberish...

Show threadT.M. Baumgartner9h ago

@cstross For my sanity, I'm trying to see the humor in all the ChatGPT marketing scam email. They have all decided that T.M. Baumgartner (me!) and S.F. Baumgartner (not me!) are the same person. It took me a bit to work out why I was getting so much praise for books I'd never heard of much less written.

Today, they decided "S.F." is responsible for books my pen name wrote. Fuck ChatGPT.

Show threadCharlie Stross8h ago
@tm_baumgartner I count myself lucky I'm only getting an average of one of these bullshit scam emails a day. I've heard of other writers who are just snowed under.
Show threadMichael Vilain4h ago
@cstross Friends don't let friends use ChatGPT.