It's much less fun to release a book these days—with all the necessary Twitter and Facebook promotions—than when the novelist began.<br /><br />Question: Are contemporary book launches more or less fun than <br /> when you started? Bret Easton Ellis: Oh it's less fun. It's much less fun <br /> because we're in the post-Empire world now. I mean, book publishing <br />flourished in the Empire and I can... look I haven't done any kind of <br />touring or any sort of book stuff for about six years. And even in <br />these past six years I can see a massive difference in terms of how it <br />works. I mean, my Facebook and Twitter stuff are personal. I mean, I <br />have my.. I have a Twitter account and I have a Facebook account are <br />solely mine and then there's like three or four or five others that are <br />there primarily to promote this new book and to get the word out there. <br />That I am semi hands on, semi. But a lot of other people are dealing <br />with those sites and maintaining them. <br />I'm completely for it. I had to like fight my publisher to, you know, <br />make sure that they were using these networks in order to, like, promote <br /> the book and they came around. I mean literally, they... I don't think <br /> my publisher is even using Twitter five or six months ago. And then I <br />was having a fit about it and said you have to use Twitter for contests <br />and information and all this stuff. And they came around and they <br />started to do it. <br />But in terms of myself getting a lot of satisfaction or enjoyment from <br />it, I mean, sure. I mean, I guess on a certain level but I'm also old, <br />you know, compared to the average person who uses those sites <br />extensively. I have friends who are in their early- to mid-20's and the <br /> way the way they use Facebook completely different from the way I use <br />mine. You know, updating your status hourly and having eight different <br />chats going on at once, and it being almost second nature. I mean, to me <br /> it's kind of amusing and a game but it's not something that I feel the <br />need to express myself with. Recorded June 23, 2010Interviewed by David Hirschman<br /><br />Question: Are contemporary book launches more or less fun than <br /> when you started? Bret Easton Ellis: Oh it's less fun. It's much less fun <br /> because we're in the post-Empire world now. I mean, book publishing <br />flourished in the Empire and I can... look I haven't done any kind of <br />touring or any sort of book stuff for about six years. And even in <br />these past six years I can see a massive difference in terms of how it <br />works. I mean, my Facebook and Twitter stuff are personal. I mean, I <br />have my.. I have a Twitter account and I have a Facebook account are <br />solely mine and then there's like three or four or five others that are <br />there primarily to promote this new book and to get the word out there. <br />That I am semi hands on, semi. But a lot of other people are dealing <br />with those sites and maintaining them. <br />I'm completely for it. I had to like fight my publisher to, you know, <br />make sure that they were using these networks in order to, like, promote <br /> the book and they came around. I mean literally, they... I don't think <br /> my publisher is even using Twitter five or six months ago. And then I <br />was having a fit about it and said you have to use Twitter for contests <br />and information and all this stuff. And they came around and they <br />started to do it. <br />But in terms of myself getting a lot of satisfaction or enjoyment from <br />it, I mean, sure. I mean, I guess on a certain level but I'm also old, <br />you know, compared to the average person who uses those sites <br />extensively. I have friends who are in their early- to mid-20's and the <br /> way the way they use Facebook completely different from the way I use <br />mine. You know, updating your status hourly and having eight different <br />chats going on at once, and it being almost second nature. I mean, to me <br /> it's kind of amusing and a game but it's not something that I feel the <br />need to express myself with. Recorded June 23, 2010Interviewed by David Hirschman
