#The diary of an oxygen thief for free

The author was living in Amsterdam at the time, still working the ad agency circuit that cemented his alcoholism.

#The diary of an oxygen thief for free

“Anonymous” perfected what Lin did after publishing one thousand hardcover copies of the book when a friend of a friend offered to do so for free in ’06 (thank god not everyone is allowed the luxury of this offer or there really would be a lot of shite out there). And, to be frank, the assessment was not off the mark. You’re maybe perhaps the single most irritating person we’ve ever had to deal with.” Gawker also went on to flat-out call Lin a “retard,” back when you could still do that. I just want you to know that because of your ill-conceived self-marketing strategy, you have 100% guaranteed that I will never read your damned book. As Gawker did when they personally addressed Lin by writing, “I know you’re reading this. Put any drivel you want in it (as Lin so often does) and people will buy it so long as they can recognize its cover from the streets of New York, Twitter and/or Instagram (Facebook, not so much).īecause even when they mock your whorish marketing strategy, they’re still talking about you. It was the first no-turning-back solidification of the fact that selling books has nothing to do with the book itself. No meaning, no association whatsoever with his book. No, that wouldn’t come in its “true modern state” until 2008, with Tao Lin’s “promotion” of his book (or second poetry collection), cognitive-behavioral therapy, by way of plastering stickers throughout the city that read simply: BRITNEY SPEARS. The city of New York had not yet truly become bombarded by the marketing schemes that social media has made a part of our everyday existence. In 2006, the “anonymous” author (though many a passerby has bought his book from the man himself in SoHo) responsible for Diary of an Oxygen Thief was still marooned in Europe.