Publishing Scandals

It's all so weird, because I'm on goodreads all the time, and it all seems so friendly and yay books from my little corner of it where I just talk about books with my friends. Why do authors feel compelled to do shit like this? I speculated to someone the other day that it's because being a full time writer and being so insular can just start to drive you crazy, and because you are alone all day you do not have people to have the "I shouldn't read reviews of my books, right?" "I especially shouldn't respond to them, right?" conversation.

Some authors get riled about the tiniest thing on Goodreads. I read a comment somewhere in this brouhaha from an author who was really annoyed about people rating her books 1-2 stars and then not explaining why they gave this rating in a review. The nerve!

Good buzz on the Internet will definitely make me take a look at a book--this site alone is responsible for at least 1/3 of my book buying. A bad review only affects my book buying/reading if I know the person reviewing has similar taste and even then it depends on why they didn't like the book--whatever issue they had with the book may not necessarily be an issue with me. Stars and numbers or whatever ranking system on their own have no effect on what I decide to read. Writers acting like entitled jerks on the Internet do affect what I read especially if I haven't read any of their work. There are a lot of books out there and I have a huge TBR pile so don't give me a reason NOT to pick up your book.

There are a lot of books out there and I have a huge TBR pile so don't give me a reason NOT to pick up your book.

That is so true. Especially for someone like myself who doesn't blog on YA, or write fic, and isn't very knowledgeable about the latest in that publishing niche, there is something of a struggle as to what to actually read. Especially as the pond is still so full of the urban-fantasty/Twilight knockoffs. So when Becca Fitzpatrick spouted out that "Be Nice" post, or when Maggie Stiefvater giving "advice" to that LJ reviewer, it's a given that my reading hours were going to be directed elsewhere. If I spend my hard earned money - and more importantly, IMO - my very precious time reading the output of someone's creative endeavours, you'd better believe that if I have an opinion about it, it's not necessarily going to stay under wraps. Hey, I was brought up to be mouthy.

The whole author-responding-to-reviewer relationship shows how immature the industry author-as-publicist is, in historical terms, compared to the actor-as-publicist. Stars of stage and screen pay a lot of money to people to consistently coach them to sit down, answer questions politely, look good, and don't piss anyone off when promoting their work. After all, being freelancers, the future of their careers are dependent on keeping the artist-media-audience balance in check. Paul Newman decided not read reviews for his own peace of mind, and loads of actors do the same. I read an early interview of Cate Blanchett promoting Pushing Tin, in which she said that John Cusack gave her a great piece of advice: don't ever get angry with or take out your frustration at the media. They all know it's not worth it.

And it's probably not worth it to get angry or frustrated at consumers and opinionated reviewers whose words don't fill a writer with joy, either. The post-fanfic brood of authors haven't established appropriate boundaries. And, actually, it's not just the YA writers, it's also successful, pre-blog traditional writers like and Alain de Botton and Alice Hoffman who still haven't conquered to paper-to-email-to-twitter divide. Michel Faber has a really funny bit in The Fire Gospel about an author reading the user reviews on Amazon. Authors have a long, long history of treating each other and the media with contempt. The smart ones know who and when to vent.

They should thank their lucky stars Twain isn't still alive to review books. His takedown of the Leatherstocking Tales is a masterpiece of literary demolition. Or Dorthy Parker OMG.

OK, I had to Google it since you mentioned it, and that was awesome in so many ways. I need to read me more Twain.

Twain hated Jane Austen but he loved Anne of Green Gables. I like Austen but his quotes on her make me laugh.

"Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone."

Negativity is not usually a source of beauty, but that is on my list along with a. Orson's Frozen Peas rant (inspiration for Pinky and the Brain) b. Harlan Ellison talking about TV in What Killed the Dinosaurs, c. Ms. Parker, and d. Byron's dedication of the Vision of Judgement to Robert Southey. Classics all!

big chicken wrote:Twain hated Jane Austen but he loved Anne of Green Gables. I like Austen but his quotes on her make me laugh.

"Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone."

*gasp* OK, now that goes too far.

The best part about Twain v. Austen is he says "everytime." He hates the book so much he reads it over again.

bbridges wrote:The best part about Twain v. Austen is he says "everytime." He hates the book so much he reads it over again.

Hah, you just know if he were around today that Twain would be a top poster on the TWoP forums!

Author swindles two women out of millions

And also posts fake Amazon reviews, sigh.

bookworm wrote:OK, I had to Google it since you mentioned it, and that was awesome in so many ways. I need to read me more Twain.

This is off-topic, but you do! Hey look, here's Twain mocking text speak several hundred years early*.

And here's Twain talking about humanity.

He was sort of the George Carlin of his time.


*=The link to the longer "Simplified Alphabet" essay doesn't work. This one does.

Amazing! Thanks for the links.

I love that all three share the same literary agent, awkward!

That article is hilarious, as are the comments. He sounds like quite the catch!

This is not a scandal, but it's a publishing...thing, and I didn't know where else to put it.

Guy has terminal cancer, loves unfinished series by Harry Turtledove. Guy's friend makes contact with Turtledove, who not only sends him a manuscript of the next book, but agrees to tell him the whole rest of the series over the phone.

Awesome friend is awesome.

Aw, that's awesome.

My friends and I had a pact that if one of us died before the last Harry Potter book came out, we would read them the book at their graves.

Aw. Sniff. I'm sorry, I appear to have something in my eye.

That's such a sweet story. With all the doom and gloom you hear on the news on a regular basis, it's nice to know that there are people out there who care and are doing good things.

That is such a sweet, awesome story. I needed that today. When he hugs his friend who did that for him, I got a little something in my eye. That's awesome of Harry Turtledove. I've never read his books, but he is obviously one of the good guys.

The odd thing is, only last night I watched "Fanboys", the movie where a group of friends tries to get a copy of Episode I for their terminally ill friend.

The thing that got me was the friend who arranged the surprise, who couldn't look at his buddy as he was telling him all about it, and there was something where he said something like "It'll come out next July" or something and the unspoken "after you're gone" was hanging there and they all knew it, and he was trying to shrug off what he'd done as "no big" the way guys (especially young guys) do but his friend is dying, and, oh, sorry, I have something in my eye again. Sniff.

MLIS wrote:The thing that got me was the friend who arranged the surprise, who couldn't look at his buddy as he was telling him all about it, and there was something where he said something like "It'll come out next July" or something and the unspoken "after you're gone" was hanging there and they all knew it, and he was trying to shrug off what he'd done as "no big" the way guys (especially young guys) do but his friend is dying, and, oh, sorry, I have something in my eye again. Sniff.

Yeah, that moment when they both pause and then hug is just brutal.

Here's a 'New Yorker' article about a serial plagiarizer who was finally discovered after the spy novel he published last year when the internet got its hands on it. I just don't understand people who do stuff like this and expect not to be caught.