Okay, so first up, I’m doing something I rarely do-turning off comments. Why? Because I’ve seen how some of the threads that never die have lit up and sometimes, particularly in a few instances, the comments become less than…well, civil. I try to keep things civil here-as this is a blog for my readers to hang out and they aren’t always going to hang out in a place where things get nasty. Since I dunno if I can rely on people to remain civil, and since I’m not inclined to play babysitter with it, I’m just shutting off comments. If that bothers somebody, please (and I’m not being snarky, I’m being serious), feel free to leave, feel free to discuss it on your own blog, whatever.
If you’re still hanging around, bear in mind, this is a long post and it’s not just looking at things from an author point of view-I’m kind of cursed with seeing two sides to just about everything, and sometimes three or four sides.
Here’s the deal. People make mistakes.
Authors are not perfect.
Authors are people.
Ergo…authors make mistakes.
Sadly, sometimes we do it a way that’s very public and because we kind of live in a public venue, those mistakes get trotted out in the public eye. It sucks, but there you go. It’s one of the reasons I’m careful about how I say things and if it’s something I think I shouldn’t…well, often, I just don’t.
Sometimes these mistakes are huge. Sometimes they are stupid and they can pass in the blink of an eye. Sometimes they aren’t so big. Regardless, they are mistakes and very often, they get trotted out, and talked out, and dragged out.
One of the reasons I rarely get involved in the author screw-ups? Well…unless it’s just huge and blatant ones, it’s hard for me to get involved because I can just about always see two sides to the story. It’s worse when I know the author personally and I know some of the crap they’ve got going on, and I understand part of why they are so determined to see something in particular happen. But even when I don’t, I often find myself thinking, Yeah, they screwed up, and hell, there is no way I would have done that. But… shit, I don’t know what they’ve got going on. I don’t know what caused them to do that.
Now. Should that matter? In an ideal world? Nah. In an ideal world, we could all leave all personal stuff at home and maintain the perfect biz demeanor on the job.
Except for two things:
- we don’t live in a perfect world and we’ve all had days where we take that bad day to work and it’s then come back to bite us on the tail.
- when you’re a writer? it can get hard sometimes to separate the job from the person. because the person can be the job-we work at home, we live at home, etc, etc…not always as easy to leave the bad day at home, so to speak.
Since I’ve had my days when I’ve done things, reacted in ways I shouldn’t have, it’s harder for me to judge anybody, especially when I don’t know the entire story.
And that’s case here.
The mess going on know-how many people really know the entire story? Many of the comments were in fact in regards to a contest. If people wanted to enter the contest, they needed to adhere to the rules.
Comments not related to the contest?
For me, this falls into one of those situations where I don’t share that point of view, at all, and I also don’t think some of the info that was discussed is entirely right. I’m all for people buying my books wherever, however. Now if they wait until release date, I would love that-really. I would. I’m still chugging along trying to hit the lists and my best shot is going to be either just a hell of a lot of good word of mouth (gee, anybody want to do an online viral campaign for me), fluke, I get a hard lay down date, I learn the secret handshake, the moons align… I dunno.
Release date/week sales are important for an author-it’s a job security thing-it’s not an ego trip, it’s job security. In this tight economy, hitting the lists is a way of proving to your pubs that your books sell and you’re a safe investment-which means they’ll be more than likely to go back to contract. But that’s an author worry. It’s not a reader worry. Now when readers want to support the author by buying during release week, that is wonderful, but IMO, it’s not a concern a reader should be forced to bear.
So I get the importance of release week sales…writes have huge financial expenses that readers aren’t aware of, and they shouldn’t be. That’s not their job. But authors do not make the kind of money people would expect-the reason I juggle 3-4 pubs because I need to-financially. Most authors have to pay for promo on their own dime, they have to shell out hundreds a month for insurance, and they do it on money that’s a lot less than you would think-some of them…well, the figures are sad to the point of scary. Again, the reason I juggle multiple pubs. Hitting lists is a way to ensure the books continue and it can help ensure more a little more money with the next contract, which gives the writer some breathing room. This is important… to the writer.
I also understand the fact that it’s not a reader’s concern.
I’m just happy when a reader buys my books, hell-when they get them from the library. Even the UBS, because that may well lead them to buying my backlist. Getting them through legal channels all adds up to supporting my career and for that, I’m grateful…and this is where my flipside comes into play and I can see reader view points. I am a reader.
Readers don’t want to be told when/where/how to buy books. It’s not fair…to them. Readers can’t be dictated to on how to buy…not in format, not when, etc, etc. If they want to enter a contest, they’ll have to adhere to the rules of the contest, but that’s kind of just…well, life. If I want to buy E, I’m going to buy E. It’s not always as easy or conveninent for me to make to a bookstore, even though I’ve got several nearby-going during the day is the only time to go alone and that’s work time. Taking three kids? That’s often nighmarish…and expensive. So if it’s just a book or two and I know exactly which ones? I often order online and nobody really has the right to dictate to me otherwise. I’m buying the book… and I often buy right at release time, and I really do think online sales count toward the lists and I buy new, so the writer is definitely getting paid for my purchase.
Yeah, doing good on the lists means the books are more than likely to continue which is good for the readers in the long run, but still…readers shouldn’t be made to bear the burden of the author’s troubles-we’re all responsible for ourselves in this world.
So there’s my two cents on what led to the mess.
Here’s my two cents on how things are now.
People make mistakes…all of us, including writers. There isn’t a soul reading this who hasn’t made a mistake-not a one. There isn’t a soul reading this who doesn’t have a few mistakes they kind of cringe over when they look back at them. One of those mistakes, how would it feel to have all drawn out in public? Granted, this one kind of took place in public, but having it hashed and rehashed and rehashed-it sucks.
And very often, with this sort of thing, there is nothing that could be said that would do any good. A public apology? Too many people would take it as… “Well, now she’s just saying it because there’s a shit storm going on.” Perhaps it could even be considered there was a private apology-offered between the parties directly involved in the initial incident.
Mistakes happen. People do screw up. None of us ever know what all is going on in a person’s life and often those circumstances drive our actions. Sometimes when a person does screw up…I don’t know, does it really do any good to keep hashing and rehashing?
People got in hurt in this. It’s really, really easy to forget in the anonymous internet that the people we’re talking about, to, around really are people. All around.
There were people hurt on all sides.
A reader was unintentionally hurt-and yes, I firmly believe it was unintentional. I’m a smart-ass, sarcastic and I can often be rude, but I also hate it when people get hurt.
A blogger stood up for a friend and caught hell for it-I admire people who have the guts to stand for somebody-on the principal alone-not for the snark of it, the hell of it, but standing up for a friend just because that friend was hurt. It’s admireable-it’s not always easy and it’s not something everybody can do.
An author was trying to do a push for her career and whether she did it in a way I would have or not, she wasn’t intentionally trying to hurt anybody. Intent does mean something, or at least, it should.
Real people, on all sides, got hurt and it’s turning into one of those unending things.
Most of us don’t personally know the people directly involved. Most of us don’t know who they are, what they think, what they were doing or what drives them. Ripping one of them, both, all into shreds for a couple of mistakes?
This is blogland… it’s not like puppies got kicked, children were attacked and liberty is stake. It really isn’t. And again, it is entirely likely, in fact very likely that those directly involved have been in communication and apologies have been offered. Whether that means anything, I dunno.
Now, people can take this post as they will. I often feel the need to fix things, I can’t help it. It’s a flaw.
People can decide I’m either trying to defend an author friend I know, or they can decide I’m trying to stand up for a blogger who did something perceived as evil and vile…people can decide I’m just trying to make nice and look pretty for…hell, whatever purpose…
Frankly, don’t take this as rude, but I don’t really care. I know who I am, and I know why I’m posting it. I’m doing it because I have talked to those involved, and I’m doing it because I do care, and because I know that people make mistakes…and they really shouldn’t be dragged naked across the coals for it. It’s blogland, twitterland, and in a few days, a few weeks something else will happen. Mistakes were made. Hopefully something was learned. But mistakes were made and feelings were hurt-people are involved in this and people are important than snark, humor, or whatever.