A poll!

[erastes]

Just some random questions.

[Poll #1248414]

Comments

[alankria.livejournal.com]

For this question: Can a cover put you off buying a book, even from a writer you like?

It most certainly can for an author I don't know or haven't heard any opinions about. But for an author I like, no, it wouldn't put me off.

For the fianl question, I don't read ebooks so I clicked 'other'. I struggle reading short stories on-screen, so the idea of reading a whole novel that way is pretty D= D= D= for me.

As for the gender (open or secret) of the author, I honestly don't care. Coming at this as someone who doesn't read romance books, I suppose I'm not quite your target question-answering audience; that said, if a genre/literary book was advertised as containing a prominent romance, the gender of the author wouldn't affect my buying decision at all. Men and women are equally capable of writing terrible romance plots, and equally capable of writing good romance plots. Including ones outside their own sexuality.

[ggymeta.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

Other: I don't read lesbian romance.

Other: That's a tuff one - for comics, I'd prefer an eFormat first to determine if I should buy it. For print, it's always going to be print.

[angrboda]

I didn't vote, since I don't read romance at all really. My last attempt at romance was Twilight and... yeah.

If I was interested in reading romance, however, I would probably have answered 'no, it would not put me off' to just about all of them. How would a man writing lesbian romance be different from a woman writing gay romance? To be honest, I don't care about what gender people have as long as they tell a good story. As a matter of fact, if the story was good and entertaining I wouldn't care if it was written by donkey.

[anderyn.livejournal.com]

I don't read lesbian romance, so I wouldn't buy it from either male or female writers.

Meanwhile, covers CAN put me off a book, if they're horrible enough. But they have to be really horrible if it's someone I normally read.

[megleigh.livejournal.com]

If a book is only available in print and you prefer ebooks - would you buy it?

Other: If it was a book I really wanted and print was all I could get, I would stretch the budget for it, but I might wait a while to see if it came out in ebook.

Also, on the man writing lesbian fiction question, I would only buy it if it was recommended, or I knew the author's work, because men do sometimes write a form of lesbian erotica that is geared more towards straight men than towards lesbians and it is not a style I prefer to read.

Interesting poll.

[fleurrochard]

Would you read a lesbian romance written a man?

Other: I usually don't read lesbian romance and if I do, then only from authors I know and really like. But even then, I often don't.

[tammylee.livejournal.com]

The gender/sexual orientation of an author doesn't matter to me. If it is an ebook the cover isn't terribly important but I DO put a lot of stock in a well-designed cover. Print books must ALWAYS have good covers or I won't buy them. Nothing reads cheap or half-assed like a crappy cover.

For short stories or anthologies I don't mind ebooks but my preference is now and always a dead tree copy I can hold in my hands and read in the bathtub. (Bath time is the only time I really have to read a book.)

[tammylee.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I rarely read romance. =p I like erotic fiction but I could stand less romance and more plot/uncertain ending.

[volterra.livejournal.com]

I responded with "Other" for the first two questions because I don't read lesbian/gay romances, and I'm rather notorious for avoiding authors who people declare will "change my life". (I cannot tell you how many years it took me to read Annie LaMott's "Bird by Bird" but I finally did and I am a huge fan, although I like her frank autobiography/Christian journeys more).

I responded to "Other" for the last question because I don't prefer ebooks.

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

A lesbian romance written by a man? My first instinct is "no," just because of the association it brings to my mind of countless Penthouse Forum letters supposedly written by women etc. etc.

Which is why I answered "yes." Because I consciously try to break out of my own prejudices when I recognize them. So though my instinct would be "no," I'd probably go out of my way to read a lesbian romance written by a man because I recognize that this instinct is coming from an unfairly prejudiced place.

Besides, I write m/m and f/f myself, so turning down a book based on the gender or orientation of the author would make me the worst kind of hypocrite!

[cleo]

Other - I really don't prefer e-books.

[haydenthorne.livejournal.com]

I don't read anything het (I grew up reading nothing but het, so I'm done with that). I'd a book with a crappy cover and will read it. If I have to take it with me to work, I cover the cover.

[mongrelheart.livejournal.com]

Can a cover put you off buying a book, even from a writer you like?
A cover could definitely make me not buy a book. But it would have to be a pretty cringe-worthy cover, if I already knew & liked the author.

Never read a lesbian romance written by a man, but I'd be quite interested, just to see how they did it, whether i could tell it was a dude writing it, etc.

[suryaofvulcan.livejournal.com]

I don't normally read romance, but if I modify your questions to read 'story with a strong romantic B-plot', then I'd make the following comments:

I wouldn't normally read lebian romance, whether written by a man or a woman.

For gay or het stories (or fioction in general) the sex of the author is of no interest to me. I actually prefer to know very little about my favourite authors (same goes for actors, musicians etc.).

A cover might put me off if I'd never read that author before, but if it was an author I knew or a book that someone had recommended to me, the cover would be immaterial.

I have no preference in the ebook/printbook debate - I'll read in whatever format is available.

[stitchwhich.livejournal.com]

I don't care what the sex of the author is - if they are a good writer or if the story intrigues me, it's mine to read.

[asphodeline.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, now I have to remember all the bits I put other to!

I'm not put off knowing a man wrote a romantic novel under a femal name but when I first came across the phenomenon, I was quite taken aback. I was new to bookselling when I met a male author with a female name and more than anything what put me off a bit was he was a huge, hulky, very male looking male and that image just didn't fit my image of hte books at all!

I don't really understand e-books (*is horrible backward*) so am wary of them but often I'd like to buy them because I want to read the content.

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

It's hypothetical, because I don't read romance. If I would, that's the answers. :)

Other: Bad covers put me off, but not from favourite writers (I know, it's shizophrenic).

[lunalelle.livejournal.com]

You fooled me with your cleverly placed negative "put off" in the question about a man writing under a woman's name. That wouldn't put me off at all. So ignore my vote that it would. :)

[rbm00.livejournal.com]

I don't care if the author is male or female and writing under male or female pseudonyms. It's none of my business.

Would you read a lesbian romance written a man?

I haven't read lesbian romance for a long time, so I probably wouldn't read it regardless of who wrote it. I might again in the future, in which case, yes, I'd read a lesbian romance written by a man.

Can a cover put you off buying a book, even from a writer you like?

From a writer I like: no.
From an unknown writer: it will definitely put me off buying his/her book.

If a book is only available in print and you prefer ebooks - would you buy it?

Depends. Paperbacks are extremely expensive, especially the ones put out by small presses. Lol. Unless it's an author I'm dying to read, I'll do without. Or wait a couple years when the used paperbacks will be sold for really cheap.

[leebenoit.livejournal.com]

Explaining my "other" answers:

A horrible (or embarrassing, or explicit) cover puts me off in ebook less than in print becasue you don't have to look at it every time you open and close the book (and you don't have to cover it in public). Bad covers don't stop me buying from known authors, and really only slow me down a little with unknown ones (I realize authors have very little control over their covers).

I prefer ebook for fiction, print for nonfiction, and I have been known to not buy a book (or wait a long time) if it's only available in print and my library network can't get it for me.

[seraphim-grace.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to fill in the poll because for the most part I genuinely don't care who wrote it, I'm in it for the story,
but american covers kill me, I have books i bought in england and sequels i got in the states, ours our elegant, delicate with strong bold symbols, american covers are tacky covers with either freakish looking characters or paintings that have little to nothing to do with the book.
But the one exception is I will buy a book with a cover by an artist i trust beacuse I tend to know what kind of work they suggest.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I said that I wouldn't buy a lesbian romance written by a man. I wouldn't--but then, I wouldn't buy a lesbian romance written by a woman, either. It's not a genre I care for. So the author's sex, or gender, or whatever, wouldn't have anything to do with my failure to purchase.

[lferion]

I generally don't read lesbian romance at all -- I don't mind a lesbian romance component in a story, but I won't generally buy/read something for that. If I were going to read one, the gender of the author would matter less than the enthusiasm of whoever recommended it to me.

Het romance usually needs something more than 'romance' for me to pick it up, but the gender of the author isn't a deciding factor.

Covers. A cover won't put me off if I already know the author, or have the story in mind to read from other input. If I've never heard of the author/book, I do use cover art as part of the discernment data, and some covers will put me right off at the outset -- "Nope, not for me. Don't even pick it up/read the blurb/click through for more info" if I don't know the author.

[jessewave.livejournal.com]

Would you buy a gay romance written by a man?
Definitely. Why not? The better question should be - Would you buy a gay romance written by a woman?

Would you read a lesbian romance written a man?
I don't read lesbian romances.

Would it put you off a romance if you found out a male author was writing under a woman's name?
Why would it? women write M/M romances under male pseudonyms all the time or they use gender neutral names

Can a cover put you off buying a book, even from a writer you like?
If I let covers put me off buying books I would never have read Captain's Surrender, a truly marvellous book. I had never heard of Alex Beecroft at the time so she was 'unknown' to me but I bought the book, horrible cover notwithstanding, and really loved it.

I prefer e-books now because I have run out of space on my bookshelves but I still buy print books if they are not available in e-book format. Plus I won't be killing any trees if I stick to e-books.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes, but we've covered the "gay romance written by women a billion times over" - this question related to men writing romance, will be explaining more in a post today.

[jessewave.livejournal.com]

I did not mean to offend :) I only flipped the question ... a billion times over? Since there were other general questions about book covers and readers' preferences of ebooks over print books and vice versa I thought it was a fair question - obviously my mistake.

By the way, my question was not serious since I firmly believe anyone should write what they please and I said as much in my comment (under "Wave") on T.J.Pennington's rebuttal in Speak Its Name to Jean Roberta's ERWA article "Turns on Squicks". Looking forward to your post today!
Wave

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh hun, I wasn't offended!!

OK, not a billion times, but many times.

:)

[ctrl-issue.livejournal.com]

I would only buy a romance novel if I thought I would enjoy the story.

With regards to the covers: "Never judge a book by its cover." If I was iffy before, then the cover has the potential to dissuade me altogether. As for the question about buying eBooks... well, I'll be honest. I'll first see if I can get it some other way. *shrugs* I'm honest!

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I strongly hesitate to buy any sexual material written by men. They tend to share a porno aesthetic that turns me off. Especially when it comes to lesbians.

These days, I only tend to spend my limited book budget on male authors that come highly recommended. Bryan Smith's The Freakshow was the last one. (I got it for $5 and autographed directly by him) I prefer to buy emerging female authors, especially ones I know personally.

[gavinatlas.livejournal.com]

If a book is only available electronically, and you prefer print, would you buy it:

If it's a short work, e-books are fine. But for something longer than 40,000 words, I really don't want to be looking at a computer screen that much.

If a book is only available in print, and you prefer e-books, would you buy it:

With Print-on-Demand, a lot of print books are becoming too pricey for me, and I'd only buy the cheaper download. If the cost is within reason, I'd be fine with a print book, especially if it's novel-length.

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

I would almost always rather have a print book, but if I'm not sure about the author I might go for the e-book. Bad covers do put me off, but if it's a favorite author I'd still buy the book--and hope it came out with a better cover somewhere down the road.

The writer's gender doesn't matter, either, but if I read a book by a guy writing women and the women don't sound right, I'd probably never buy another of his books. There was an interesting anthology out some years back, Switch Hitters, with lesbians writing gay men and gay men writing lesbians. Most of the women wrote what I thought were convincing men. About half the men wrote convincing women--but a couple were in genres so alien to my experience (club punk lesbians having an anonymous shag--which in itself seemed more like a gay backroom scenario) that I really couldn't tell. I know I wouldn't have wanted either of 'em.

[withsweet-words.livejournal.com]

Can a cover put you off buying a book, even from a writer you like?
- Definitely, but I don't let that be the deciding factor. If the book was recommended or sounds interesting, I'll buy it. I'll just be cringing at the cover the entire time.

If a book is only available on ebook and you prefer print would you buy it?
- I still cant stand ebooks. I like having something in my hand, something to tote around, and I'm not a fan of staring at a computer screen for long hours looking at print. So, even if it sounded interesting I wouldn't buy the ebook.

[angelabenedetti.livejournal.com]

Dropping in late, playing catch-up.

I don't buy lesbian romances -- just not into girls -- so it doesn't matter to me who writes them.

And a bad cover won't prevent me from buying a book by a favorite writer, but it'll certainly keep me away from an unknown. I know it's unfair, but in all seriousness, there are so many more books out there than I could ever read in ten lifetimes that I have to weed them down somehow. I know I'm going to be missing a lot of books I would've liked, but that can't be helped no matter what weeding criteria I use. Avoiding ugly covers is an easy way of reducing the pile toward manageabilty, with the bonus that I don't have to look at the ugly while I read. :P

Angie

[veggieg.livejournal.com]

Where can I purchase your e-books?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Hi, thanks for getting in touch!

Transgressions is available from Kindle and Sony

Frost Fair and Speak Its Name are available at Linden Bay or Fictionwise or AllRomanceebooks

http://www.lindenbayromance.com/

Chiaroscuro (in Night Moves 1) is available from Aspen Mountain Press

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/anthologies/male-male/night-moves/prod_104.html

Sadly - Standish is not yet available as an ebook.

I hope you enjoy them!

Erastes

[veggieg.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the infor and I wish you all the best. Looking forward to read all your books.