My feeling is that it isn't that they were complete strangers, it's that being published lends legitimacy to the writer.
You're just Athelind, Our Obedient Serpent, they're *glee* published writers! SJG, or whomever, is able to confer legitimacy on those writers in a way that you don't have. It isn't that they know you, it's that you don't know Steve Jackson.
Or, at least, that's my take in that kind of situation, which I've been in not only as a GM but also as a writer, being mystified why my friends seem so eager to read utter crap but I have to engage in emotional manipulation to get them to read even brief pieces I've written.
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You're just Athelind, Our Obedient Serpent, they're *glee* published writers! SJG, or whomever, is able to confer legitimacy on those writers in a way that you don't have. It isn't that they know you, it's that you don't know Steve Jackson.
Or, at least, that's my take in that kind of situation, which I've been in not only as a GM but also as a writer, being mystified why my friends seem so eager to read utter crap but I have to engage in emotional manipulation to get them to read even brief pieces I've written.