By now you know that when the four of us are together, in person or via the magic of the internet, the conversations almost always come back to books. We love them. We love the people who write them, the people who publish them, and the people who read them. In fact, we have so many feelings about books that we wanted to find a way to share our conversations with you!
Welcome to a new week of Spotlight Sunday, hosted by Fiction Fare (Erin & Jaime) and Swoony Boys Podcast (Kassiah & Meg), where we dish about ALL things bookish. Each week we’ll post a topic, we’ll start the conversation by telling you some of our thoughts, and then it will be your turn to sound off in the comment section.
How important are author relations? Does bad author behavior make you not want to read a book that you previously wanted to read? And vice versa. If you meet and fall in love with an author, does that make you want to read?
Erin: I do think author relations are important. Not only do they help us get the word out about our little blogs but we help them by reaching out to people that may not know about them (unless they have major PR).
I admit to moving a book off of my to read shelf because of bad author behavior as I am always worried about how my words will impact someone…to think that someone might attack my own feelings/perspective for writing something about it isn’t worth the drama. On the flip side, if an author is a lovely person and engaging with me on social media, I am definitely more inclined to read their books.
Kassiah: I feel like I have so much pressure to read a book from an author that I love. What if I don’t like it? On the flipside, I totally agree, Erin. I don’t want to read books that were written by authors who treat people in a condescending or rude way. There are too many books, and too many awesome people to support.
Meg: I think this can go a few different ways. I think that yes, if I meet an author that is… a diva (I don’t want to use a harsher word!) it can definitely make me not want to read anything they write, no matter how good the reviews are. But if I meet someone who wasn’t previously on my radar and they are awesome and engaging, it makes me want to move their book to the top of my list. Both of these situations happened to me at BEA last year. It should be said thought that it doesn’t just have to be in person, I’ve had these things happen just from social media sites as well.
I love talking to authors and publishers on twitter, but the book world revolves around respect for everyone involved. It all comes down to treating others as you wish to be treated.
Kassiah:
Jaime: I have very strong feelings about this you guys… you know this. I think sometimes it’s easy to forget that we’re complete strangers and while we feel like we may know an author simply because we read their book, that just isn’t the case. I try to take that into account when meeting or interacting with authors. I mean seriously there are books that I fall in love with and my first impulse upon meeting the author is that I want to hug them. Usually that isn’t acceptable. LOL
BUT – I will say this. It isn’t hard to say thank you, and while I don’t usually expect it, it’s a nice bonus knowing that the author has read your thoughts and taken the time to acknowledge that you spent time reading their book and then writing up a coherent review. (Please note: I never tag an author when we give a less than glowing review) I think that is the easiest way to build a relationship, and while it may not be a deep and meaningful one, knowing that they are respectful of your time and effort can go a long way to start building some sort of rapport with them.
Meg: I agree with you, Jaime. I should be more clear about my expectations. I don’t expect slumber parties and hugs (although wouldn’t that be fun?!) but I do think that just general niceties aren’t asking too much. What I was referring to were the extremes. I guess to me if you are going to be out promoting your work, you have to remember that you are a representation of your work. Maybe that’s unfair, but I think it comes with the territory.
Now that you’ve read some of our thoughts, let us know what you’re thinking in the comments below! We’ll be back next week with a brand new topic and lots more to talk about.
Past Spotlight Sunday Topics
- Do You Prefer E-Books or Physical Copies?
- Love Triangles: Love Them Or Hate Them?
- Can You Judge a Book By Its Cover?
- Self-Publishing–Love It or Hate It?
- What’s the Next Big Thing?
- Memes…All That or Just Filler?
- What to Do When You and Your Friends Don’t Agree About Books
- How Do You Decide What to Read Next?
- What Book Has Made the Biggest Impact on You?
- Young Adult Books You Wouldn’t Let Your Kid Read
- What Books Would You Like to See Made Into TV Shows or Movies?
- What Takes You Out of a Book or Book World?
- Is There Anything That You Consider Unforgivable for Characters?
- What Makes an Ending Satisfying to You?
Oh, good one.
The thing for me, is that I don’t usually engage authors online or real life. I’m simply a reader, not a blogger, and even when some authors are nice enough, I always feel intimidated to talk to them. Also, more often than not, it feels like they pay more attention to bloggers than simply reader. So, honestly, I don’t bother to start some type of relationship with authors. I do make a comment here and there on GR, Twitter or FB, but nothing much.
I’m mostly on GR, and a few times on Twitter and FB, so the only times I know of an author’s bad behavior is because I heard of it there. If the author is a real asshole, I might be discouraged from reading their books. And if the author is a real sweetheart overall, I usually DO go and try on their books.
But most of the time, I simply read what appeals to me, whether the author is super nice or a major ass. Why? Because 99% of the time, I have no idea if the author is nice or not.