Digital Detox

Now that Leverage has been on bookshelves for about a month—and the literati have long moved on—I've taken some time to consider how I'd like to operate in the digital wasteland.

For the moment, here's where I've netted out.

Email Newsletter

Over the years I've exhausted myself (and you people) by analyzing the pros and cons of the newsletter business model. No matter how much I piss and moan, however, I always come to the same conclusion: Of all the attention-sucking and soul-crushing tools available, an email newsletter is the least useless option.

As such, I'm gonna keep producing my eclectic mix of humorous and satirical essays, flash fiction, razor-sharp recommendations, real-talk parenting riffs, publishing and publicity updates, and more. Barring catastrophe, I plan to dish out at least one dose of madness per month.

TikTok

My alter ego Kash "Money" Cash had a ton of fun on TikTok, and performing tasteless jokes on the batshit crazy platform appeared surprisingly enjoyable.

Despite his seemingly unlimited reservoir of bile, my doppelgänger completed his objective and—for now—is moving on to more misanthropic pastures.

I, Amran Gowani, non-famous Author Guy, however, will assume control of the account in his stead. I'm currently brainstorming new ways to experiment with the platform and will unveil a new content strategy in due course.

Follow me by clicking HERE.

LinkedIn

When my literary career dies, and my wife throws me out of the house, I'll be forced to make a nightmarish choice: self-terminate or limp back to Corporate America. I don't own a gun, so I'm reluctantly keeping my LinkedIn account active.

I plan to use this platform to announce professional updates and to toss out the occasional one-liner.

If you're a depressed corporate cuck, you can follow me by clicking HERE.

Bluesky

I want to like this platform, but I find it utterly humorless and increasingly depressing.

While my fanciest literary connections reside within this digital holding pen for disaffected millennials, I plan to dramatically reduce my presence on the pathetic platform for the foreseeable future.

You can nevertheless follow me by clicking HERE.

CuckStack Notes

As predicted, CuckStack's enshittification death spiral has continued unabated.

Worse still, these days I'm neither famous enough nor thirsty enough nor bitter enough to use the once simple newsletter platform turned half-baked social media site—which ludicrously fashions itself as the home of "great culture."

To minimize distractions, I unfollowed everyone on Notes. As with Bluesky, I expect to check in periodically but will be far less visible than in the past.

To further extricate myself from CuckStack's walled garden, I'm also receiving all my newsletters in my—gasp!—email inbox. Unfortunately, in order to manage the volume of posts I receive, I'm in the process of unsubscribing from all but a select few publishing- and humor-related newsletters.

Turnabout's Fair Play: If you're a fellow writer and your newsletter falls victim to my purge, please don't take my departure personally. Attention is our most precious commodity and these days I'm directing all of mine to researching and drafting my work-in-progress novel. If jettisoning my newsletter helps you prioritize your own passion projects, Godspeed.

As always, stay frosty out there.

—Amran