by Rich Moreland, June 2015
We’ve all heard the old adage about the chicken and the egg and the question of which of the two led the parade. To put it another way, what comes first often shapes new directions and alters perceptions. Happily, this blog’s little conga line has garnered some attention and a few followers. For me, that is an accomplishment and I thank everyone who takes value time to stop by here for a visit. But to be honest, I never intended to become a blogger.
The genesis of this online journal was advice from one of my students a few years ago. If I bothered to invest time in writing a book, he said, then I should self-promote thorough a blog. The young man is probably in marketing by now; his persuasive skills were impressive. However, I’m resisting the transformation into a brassy midway barker hawking a book. It is, to say the least, not my style.
To further complicate everything, I’ve discovered the truth of another adage, this one specific to the publishing industry. Marketing your work is more time-consuming than writing it. And, I might add, a lot less fun.
Having established the miserable pursuit of self-aggrandizement, it’s time to come clean about the chicken and the egg. After long conversations with a good friend back in 2007, the author seed in me germinated. Research was on the horizon and ideas about putting together a book floated in my head. Ready for this? My original book writing thought was a collaboration with a faculty colleague on a history of Mid-Maryland colonial pottery. No joke.
Instead, I discovered the fascinating business of adult film and its people. “Who would do this kind of work?” I thought, and from there another round of directions and perceptions took up residence in my historian’s brain.
So there you have it. This blog was fathered by a book-in-waiting and led to my column at Adult Industry News. To borrow a well-worn phrase from the adult film set, a completely different universe opened up for me (“opening up” is a technique that all performers learn) that was a far cry from a potter’s wheel (though I wonder if the folks at Kink.com ever used a similar device in one of their shoots?).
So, the marketing adventure is underway. I’m no salesman, but I’ll give it a shot. Here’s the initial word that would, in my fondest reveries, also be the final mention.
Pornography Feminism: As Powerful as She Wants to Be is available now. The publisher is John Hunt Publishing of the UK and the title in listed in their non-fiction division, Zero Books. The advert is just to right on this page.
My relatively obscure opus is a popular history disguised as journalism. If you enjoy reading this blog, you’ll like the book because you’ll meet some of the same people again and with more to say about what they do.
If you are so inclined, purchase a copy.
And that, dear readers, is the end of my shameless self-promotion . . . well, sort of. I have to have some fun, so I’m starting book number two on the industry . . .
3hattergrindhouse
3hattergrindhouse 