That's Just, Like, Your Opinion, Man

 It’s a common topic around elections:

Should writers express their personal opinions publicly?

The traditional wisdom says, “No. It might cost you sales if you offend a reader or potential reader.”

My thought is, “Has anyone ever done a legitimate, serious study with empirical evidence?”

I’m willing to bet the answer is no to that, too. Publishers and marketing firms don’t have anything like hard data to tell why people buy books, don’t buy books, what marketing works, or what marketing doesn’t work. Everyone is just supposed to cede the field to their “experience” and “expertise,” which I have boiled down into a couple of sentences.

No one knows what will sell, but we know what won’t. And your book won’t.

So I’m not overwhelmed by the It might cost you sales argument.

Two other thoughts come to mind:

1.    Has anyone ever checked to see if expressing one’s opinion might increase sales, at least enough to offset those lost by the people you pissed off? Let’s face it, unless you’re in the Stephen King, Lee Child, Diana Gabaldon stratus of writers, very few people pay attention to what you say outside the confines of one of your books. If you tweet or Facebook discourteous things about MAGA, might that not get the attention of some actual patriots? If your opinions are pro-MAGA, while they might cost a few readers on the other side, it could tick up your sales to MAGAites. (Assuming they have someone who will read the books to them.)

2.    We are all humans and citizens in addition to being writers. I’ll go so far as to say our humanity and citizenship should take precedence over our writing. If you’re afraid to speak out because it might cost you sales, what about if the wrong side wins and the libel laws are changed to what The Felon would like to see? Or if you books are banned altogether because the First Amendment doesn’t mean what it used to? How’s that going to work out for you?

Crime fiction writers are well-known for their empathy. If our consciences allow us to stand quietly by while injustice is planned and perpetrated, how much of a conscience do we really have?

Writers, by definition, have a gift for using words. That gives us an obligation to speak out when we feel something isn’t right, or to pass along compliments when someone steps up and does the right thing.

We all know the famous poem by Martin Niemöller:

 

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

Well, if you – or anyone you care about – are an immigrant, person of color, queer, Jewish, Muslim, or a woman of any description, the MAGAs and their ilk, armed with Project 2025, are coming for you.

Will you stand quietly by and allow the others to be demonized and marginalized – and worse – until there is no one left to speak for you?

I’m not. And if that means I never sell another book, I’m good with it. Book sales have never kept me awake at night. MAGA does.