Someone once told me that my book Diminishing Return changed their life and got them through a very dark time. It was the greatest compliment I’ve ever received. But here’s the thing, the book is not particularly positive or upbeat. It’s really kind of dark and sad and honest about the shitty way people feel about the shitty way things are and how that should make us a little more compassionate to everyone else’s plight. When the person told me what my book meant to them, I understood, more than ever, that many people don’t need all this overly positive, enthusiastic kind of encouragement we so often see. I think some of us just need to be able to find something we can relate to that lets us know we aren’t the only person who feels this way.
I haven’t been blogging much at all for a while. Instead, I’ve been spending my spare time trying to gain followers and increase my reach on social media with the goal of getting my work and the writing of others through Dead Star Press to a larger audience. It’s been going well.
Why do these two things have any correlation?
Well, after receiving the feedback from the person who my book meant so much to, I started a series of Unmotivational Life Coach posts and reels on social media. I thought that maybe I could bring this sort of approachable and relatable darkness to a venue where people are inundated with the opposite. The bulk of the posts are humorous satirical takes on the cliches of super positive “Life Coaching.” The idea being that it’s totally normal and acceptable to not relate to the ilk of cheeriness that I imagine many of us find to be pretentious, unrealistic, and simply annoying. Many have responded in a very positive way to my non-positive suggestions.
Here are some examples:
Now, what’s the point?
The point is that it’s been a great tool to introduce people to Dead Star Press, my writing, and the other Dead Star Press works like Dan Scamell’s upcoming sci-fi novel, Walnut Ridge. It has also become a “thing” in and of itself, but I’m trying to bring it back, full circle, to the original point. I’m starting with some humorous bumper stickers with things The Unmotivational Life Coach has said that are now available on DeadStarPress.com, and we’ll see how that goes for a while. Maybe there will be more merch and publications for this comedic social media identity, or maybe no one will give a shit. Either way, I think it’s worth a shot to put these funny Unmotivational Life Coach stickers next to our publications and see if we can get more eyes on incredible works of literature like Dan Scamell’s.
Here are the three stickers. They’re 3X7 inch high quality vinyl stickers. Please don’t download them and make your own stickers. That would be pretty shitty. I made them as inexpensive as possible at $3 plus $1 shipping because making money on them isn’t really the point, and any money we do make will go right back into publishing and promoting indie authors books. If you think they’re cool, find them on DeadStarPress.com by clicking the pictures below, and don’t forget to check out the books while you’re there, especially Walnut Ridge.
And click here to find my profile on Facebook.
Joseph D. Newcomer 