Professional? Not today!
May. 17th, 2008 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erastesWhen I first came out of the wank-infected pond that is fanfiction and decided to go professional, I had some kind of misguided idea that the world of professional fiction would be some kind of rarified temple, where writers wrote and all in the garden was lovely. I thought that it would be an entirely different world. I was soon to find I was horribly wrong, and this past week seems to be the nadir of that belief, just about wiping away any faith I did have.
Firstly - the world doesn't owe anyone anything. Reviews are nice, nice reviewers are even nicer, but if an author doesn't Google-wank (to Google yourself. E.g. "He was Google-wanking all through his lunch break, checking and comparing how many results came up for his name compared to his friends.")(and a lot of authors DON'T believe you me) and/or a friend/fan or the review site doesn't let them know that they've had a review, how the blinkity blink COULD they know? I've often found reviews on my work ONLY through Googlewanking. A good few websites (particularly for unsolicited reviews, and in some cases even for solicited reviews) DON'T let the authors know when a review goes up. Then, even if the author has seen a review there's no moral duty that said author should blog about it, even if it's a good review. Granted many authors do, including me-but I don't kid myself that my links to reviews make one gnat's fart of difference in future sales- but not everyone does. No reason that they have to. Why should they?
Perhaps this obsession with squeeing about good reviews is only found in this stratum of writing, I couldn't see JKR linking to reviews could you? Or the Telegraph or The Observer or The New York Times getting bitchy and huffy and saying "OMG That bitch, I'm always giving her reviews and you know, she NEVER mentions them?" No. Me either. However, I can see JKR or Anne Rice bitching about bad reviews which shores up my belief that this kind of wank goes from fanfiction all the way to the top of the tree.
While I appreciate every single review I get, good or bad, I don't feel any obligation to mention them to anyone. The reviews are not for me, (unless there's something odd about the reviewer) the reviews are for the readers.
So when I see this sort of reported behaviour it really makes my skin crawl, especially when one person publicly starts name-calling on another in public. It just gives everyone who cheers this sort of thing on a bad name and smacks of the sort of thing I read time and again in the shallow end of the gene pool in fanfic.
I've said similar before, but Kirsten Saell sums it up nicely in a longer form, in the comments to that post.
"...the best response to a good review? An email: "Thanks for taking the time to review my book, I hope you'll consider my next release."
And a critical one? An email: "Thanks for taking the time to review my book, I hope you'll consider my next release."
A vitriolic one? No response at all."
Hear bloody hear. And ditto for reviewers with a grievance. With knobs on.
On a mildly related note, I am disgusted with Kellie Lynch's behaviour regarding Iris Print. Three friends of mine are tangled up in this mess - not that you can even call it a mess as Ms Lynch is simply refusing to respond to anyone:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rwday and Tina Anderson and gehayi (and very probably more). Ignoring emails and letters from contracted authors is not funny, clever, and it's definitely NOT professional. It's the behaviour of a little girl who's dented daddy's car and is terrified to admit to it. Ms Lynch, if you listening - you owe your writers AND your readers an explanation. People have paid you good money in advance for Queer Magic and they either need their money back or assurances that they will get their books and when. Otherwise, it's fraud. Writers need their royalties. NOW. Otherwise it's theft. And breach of contract. Speak up, will ya?
Firstly - the world doesn't owe anyone anything. Reviews are nice, nice reviewers are even nicer, but if an author doesn't Google-wank (to Google yourself. E.g. "He was Google-wanking all through his lunch break, checking and comparing how many results came up for his name compared to his friends.")(and a lot of authors DON'T believe you me) and/or a friend/fan or the review site doesn't let them know that they've had a review, how the blinkity blink COULD they know? I've often found reviews on my work ONLY through Googlewanking. A good few websites (particularly for unsolicited reviews, and in some cases even for solicited reviews) DON'T let the authors know when a review goes up. Then, even if the author has seen a review there's no moral duty that said author should blog about it, even if it's a good review. Granted many authors do, including me-but I don't kid myself that my links to reviews make one gnat's fart of difference in future sales- but not everyone does. No reason that they have to. Why should they?
Perhaps this obsession with squeeing about good reviews is only found in this stratum of writing, I couldn't see JKR linking to reviews could you? Or the Telegraph or The Observer or The New York Times getting bitchy and huffy and saying "OMG That bitch, I'm always giving her reviews and you know, she NEVER mentions them?" No. Me either. However, I can see JKR or Anne Rice bitching about bad reviews which shores up my belief that this kind of wank goes from fanfiction all the way to the top of the tree.
While I appreciate every single review I get, good or bad, I don't feel any obligation to mention them to anyone. The reviews are not for me, (unless there's something odd about the reviewer) the reviews are for the readers.
So when I see this sort of reported behaviour it really makes my skin crawl, especially when one person publicly starts name-calling on another in public. It just gives everyone who cheers this sort of thing on a bad name and smacks of the sort of thing I read time and again in the shallow end of the gene pool in fanfic.
I've said similar before, but Kirsten Saell sums it up nicely in a longer form, in the comments to that post.
"...the best response to a good review? An email: "Thanks for taking the time to review my book, I hope you'll consider my next release."
And a critical one? An email: "Thanks for taking the time to review my book, I hope you'll consider my next release."
A vitriolic one? No response at all."
Hear bloody hear. And ditto for reviewers with a grievance. With knobs on.
On a mildly related note, I am disgusted with Kellie Lynch's behaviour regarding Iris Print. Three friends of mine are tangled up in this mess - not that you can even call it a mess as Ms Lynch is simply refusing to respond to anyone:
rwday and Tina Anderson and gehayi (and very probably more). Ignoring emails and letters from contracted authors is not funny, clever, and it's definitely NOT professional. It's the behaviour of a little girl who's dented daddy's car and is terrified to admit to it. Ms Lynch, if you listening - you owe your writers AND your readers an explanation. People have paid you good money in advance for Queer Magic and they either need their money back or assurances that they will get their books and when. Otherwise, it's fraud. Writers need their royalties. NOW. Otherwise it's theft. And breach of contract. Speak up, will ya?
