The New Sheriff in Town: Facebook, Marketers, and the Mythmaker’s Lounge
I use Facebook like many of my generation. It’s familiar, functional, and occasionally even friendly. I’ve made good connections there. It has, for the most part, done what I needed it to do. Until it didn’t.
Things started to change when I launched my book, The Seeker’s Wrath. Suddenly, the friend requests multiplied. The comments rolled in, filled with praise, support, and admiration. None of it was real. This wasn’t a warm reception. It was bait. The bait of the marketer.
These weren’t traditional marketers with portfolios and contracts. These were opportunists. They hunted hashtags and preyed on hope. They said they could get me seen by thousands. They had tools, contacts, and results, just not the kind I could verify. Or trust. They offered everything except proof.
And the worst part? They knew where to hit: insecurity. As a new author, I hadn’t made a bestseller list. I wasn’t traditionally published. And I certainly didn’t have a budget to waste on smoke and mirrors. Still, the temptation was there. That’s what makes their game so dangerous. They don’t need to convince you they’re good; they only need you to believe that you’re not.
But here’s where the story changes. I wasn’t just annoyed. I was motivated. So I did what every spaghetti western cliché tells you to do when the town’s in trouble.
I cleaned up the town.
I found a group called Community of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Readers and Writers. It had been a promising hub once. But the original admin had long abandoned it. In their absence, the marketers swarmed in, flooding the feed with insincere posts and exploitative offers. I wrote to the admin (their email was public) and, surprisingly, they replied. They handed me the keys.
What followed was a purge. I rallied allies. Kevin Eastman, relentless and sharp-eyed, cleared over 300 scammers in 48 hours. We added post approval, entry questions, and real oversight. Then we gave it a new name, a new banner (thanks to the brilliant Melanie Klegerman Fersko ), and a new heartbeat.
Today, it’s called The Mythmaker’s Lounge: Sci-Fi & Fantasy Reads and Writes.
It’s a space for authors and readers to share their work without fear of being sold to. A place where engagement is genuine and marketers don’t last a minute. We’ve made it what Facebook was supposed to be: a community. Not a billboard.
So if you’re a fantasy or sci-fi author, or someone who loves these genres, come join us. There’s a new sheriff in town. And the scammers aren’t welcome.