Getting a book published is one of those joys a writer experiences in life, along with the first time you’re published for a wide audience and the first time you get an angry comment on a blog post. There are likely many more, but being published is always that ultimate goal. That’s what Laura Kalbag was doing when she shared this tweet on Friday morning:
If you missed it:
I’ve written a book! It’s coming out very soon, sign up to get it firsthttps://t.co/y0sMW97Xyjhttps://t.co/sWWrIFzQub
— Laura Kalbag laura@mastodon.laurakalbag.com (@LauraKalbag) August 18, 2017
It should be a moment of triumph to come out and publicly show that you’ve crossed that hurdle, but one reply she got seemed to end up spiraling into more than anyone could’ve expected. Worse yet, it all seems to be due to a disagreement over terminology according to this fellow:
Laura seems to take it all in stride, even noting that she’s new to the publishing world and giving credit to those who made the book possible.
Sorry, I’m so new, I’m still learning the correct language. Nothing I wrote, let alone the book, would be worthwhile without other people.
— Laura Kalbag laura@mastodon.laurakalbag.com (@LauraKalbag) August 18, 2017
Others were not so kind and actually took it as “mansplaining,” while others just felt it was just generally rude
Why? Just, why?
Literally *zero* people read that & thought she was including any book making tasks beyond the colloquial use of authorship.— Jacques (@betaorbust) August 19, 2017
The outrage grew to such a point that some big names got involved, including Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling and Roxanne Gay who gave Laura a bit of encouragement while attempting to stand in contrast to her critic:
Congratulations on writing your first book, Laura. Other people edited, copyedited, proofread, printed and bound it. You wrote. Be proud x
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/rgay/status/898990597977116672
Some other folks all joined in, dropping their own well wishes and congratulations to Laura for getting published:
Laura, congrats 🍾! Don't let Eric get to you. There wouldn't be a book to be made if your hadn't written the "text."
— Jason Frostholm (@jfrostholm) August 19, 2017
Erik, you've literally just listed writing books as one of the things you do.
Laura has done it too! Congrats Laura, can't wait to read it👍
— Paul Annett (@PaulAnnett) August 19, 2017
As for the man behind the initial criticism, he at first seemed to be unaware that he had been taken the wrong way:
Happy to help. You’d be surprised how little most other people know about it. I write, design, set & print books, so I know.
— erik spiekermann (@espiekermann) August 19, 2017
Erik, you've literally just listed writing books as one of the things you do.
Laura has done it too! Congrats Laura, can't wait to read it👍
— Paul Annett (@PaulAnnett) August 19, 2017
And then decided to apologize and delete the original tweet, finally congratulating Laura for the accomplishment.
Laura (@laurakalbag): sorry that this went out of control. Irony obviously is not for Twitter, and certainly not in a foreign language … 1/3
— erik spiekermann (@espiekermann) August 19, 2017
… of course you “wrote” a book, we all call it that. My ironic “actually” (which actually did not work) simply meant to draw attention … 2/3
— erik spiekermann (@espiekermann) August 19, 2017
… to the fact that many readers are not aware of what it takes to make books. You are, obviously, & you picked the best publisher for it.
— erik spiekermann (@espiekermann) August 19, 2017
The entire thing shows a lot of moving parts that go into this type of situation. While the initial post was rough, it didn’t seem like Laura was willing to let it knock her down and the well-wishes it brought after were just an added benefit. It also doesn’t seem like the gentleman who caused the outrage meant to do so either way, though he does seem to be on in a long line of knee jerk reactions to comments you see online. If anything, it’s another good example of keeping your opinion to yourself about some aspects, especially when it is something as trivial as this. You might just end up waking J.K. Rowling from her slumber and join her long enemies list.
(Via Mashable)