Okay, so as I continue to navigate my self-publishing journey, and more specifically, the promotion of my books on various social media groups and forums, I frequently see requests for "no triggers" from people seeking book recommendations.
Now, I fully understand that some people may have suffered trauma in their lives and wish to avoid certain subject matters in their reading material. Still, I am suspicious that there may also be an element of the ever-growing woke brigade jumping on board without genuinely understanding the whole concept.
Accepting that my use of the term 'woke brigade' may itself trigger a reaction, I will apologise in advance. I use this term only to describe an anecdotal group of people who are perceived to get disproportionately aggrieved on behalf of others when the issue could be more simply avoided, in my opinion. Let me explain:
I am more than happy to see the request for 'no triggers', but surely it needs to be qualified? The term is often used without qualification, so how are we supposed to know what may trigger you? Sex? Violence? Homosexuality? War? Bullying? Racism? Murder? Loss? Divorce? Smoking? (Yes - smoking is now considered a trigger.)
I am not trying to stir any controversy with this post; I am just airing my observation and requesting that, if you have a trigger, perhaps give a little more information so we can advise accordingly. However, if you are so triggered that you can't even bring yourself to state the nature of the trigger, hopefully, the book blurb will alert you to some degree. I find it hard to believe any book would be completely trigger-free. Certainly not mine! More information of which is available below:
https://www.richardgodfrayhoare.com/books (WARNING: May contain triggers!)