I can’t say I ever watched the movie “The Secret” nor do I care to.
I find just about everything written about the so-called law of attraction takes a backseat to the law of repulsion (i.e., focusing NOT on attracting what you do want, but on repulsing what you don’t want…) And if you don’t believe me about that, then come closer and sit next to your pal & long-suffering daily narrator, and I’ll show you exactly what I mean with a real life story that says far more than anything you’ll see in some goosed-up movie designed to make the proletariat feel good about themselves.
Behold:
Last year when I moved here to elBenbo’s Bluff by the sea, sitting here for 3+ months without high speed internet and having to read to entertain myself… I dug up all my old Wizard magazine (a magazine about comicbooks, comicbook creators, titles, the industry, etc) back issues.
It was an extremely profitable activity, too.
And gave me all kinds of ideas for product & book launches and campaigns.
And, I was reminded about why I chose to so aggressively focus on the law of repulsion in the first place, when I re-read an interview with comicbook writer Peter David and his wildly profitable run on “The Incredible Hulk” — which are some of the best comicbook stories I’ve ever read, incidentally. He basically turned the savage green hulk back to its original smart & crafty gray version Stan Lee created, pissing off the hardcore green hulk fans. Then he spent some 4 years building up the gray hulk, so the readers loved that version and were invested in his story… only to turn the hulk back to green and savage, then into a hybrid of all 3 personalities (Banner, angry dumb green hulk, smart gray hulk), showing Bruce Banner had multiple personality disorder due to being abused as a child.
Deep stuff for a mere “comicbook”, especially at the time.
Anyway, Peter David dropped a fat bomb of knowledge in the interview when he said:
“The people who like the book read it and recommend it to their friends. These people who are outraged by what I’ve done, pick it up each month to see how much more outraged they can get. It’s easy to find comics that bore you or don’t surprise you, but to find comics that royally piss you off is really difficult. Considering how many people complained about Claremont’s X-Men, I figured Chris’s secret was pissing people off.”
Beautiful.
Like marketing poetry.
And when you realize how insanely profitable Claremont’s 17-year run on the “X-Men” was, you will especially see just how valuable a lesson that one paragraph is.
Also, one more thing:
I talk a little more about this story, and about some lessons from that industry I’ve used to completely baffle my scoffers & haters over the years, profit from them, and how you can do the same thing in the bonus “elBenbo’s Lair” insert in the upcoming March “Email Players” issue.
Fun times.
But only for those subscribed in time by tomorrow’s hard deadline.
Here’s where to subscribe in time to get it, while you still can:
Ben Settle
