Author blogs?
May. 20th, 2006 05:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmc_bksBookSeller Chick has a post up asking how authors can reach readers who don't monitor websites, blogs, message boards, etc., since they are appreciably different from those who do. So how do authors market to reach them? That post, in conjunction with an earlier post titled "Authors Behaving Badly" has me thinking about how I decide what I'm going to buy.
I check out reader and reviewer blogs, lurk on several message board and am a member of several chat groups, so I hear about new releases and old favorites across a variety of genres and subgenres. And I check out Amazon.com and bn.com regularly, getting recommendations there based on previous purchases. There is no question at all but that my TBR book stack (formerly 10 or less) has transformed into a TBR mountain (100+) since I began paying attention to reviews and recommendations on line.
As for my offline book reconnaisance, I wander around the library, checking book displays and using the "If You Like" lists the library compiles. A trip to the library is not complete without a perusal of the booksale shelf. Same for bookstores.
It occurred to me as I considered how I decide what to buy or look for at the library that although I check out author websites for excerpts and release information, I seldom read author weblogs. I've checked out Nalini Singh's blog, after reading two of her books. I read Kate Rothwell's blog regularly (found via either Beth or Doug), and I have two of her books on my TBB list. But for the most part, I try to stay away from author blogs. Why? Because blogs are more personal than an author's professional website; it is a glimpse into another person's life, no matter how separate one may try to keep the personal life and blog. It gives the impression, however false, that I know the blog-author. Which influences how I approach a book. I would rather come to a book with a blank slate. If I have a preconceived idea about the book, I would rather it be based on other books I've read by that author, and not based on knowing where the author went on her last vacation or what problems she had when she received the galleys of the book.
Call it girly or inhibited or overly polite, but it's easier for me to say, "That book sucked monkey balls!" if I don't know the author or feel like I know her (which would be the blog influence). It's also easier for me to squee over a book and not feel like a total FanGirl if I don't stalk that author online. I like to keep a little bit of separation there. Foolish? I don't know. But however personal my experience is as a reader, I want it to be between me and the book, uninfluenced by the author's persona or online behavior.
I check out reader and reviewer blogs, lurk on several message board and am a member of several chat groups, so I hear about new releases and old favorites across a variety of genres and subgenres. And I check out Amazon.com and bn.com regularly, getting recommendations there based on previous purchases. There is no question at all but that my TBR book stack (formerly 10 or less) has transformed into a TBR mountain (100+) since I began paying attention to reviews and recommendations on line.
As for my offline book reconnaisance, I wander around the library, checking book displays and using the "If You Like" lists the library compiles. A trip to the library is not complete without a perusal of the booksale shelf. Same for bookstores.
It occurred to me as I considered how I decide what to buy or look for at the library that although I check out author websites for excerpts and release information, I seldom read author weblogs. I've checked out Nalini Singh's blog, after reading two of her books. I read Kate Rothwell's blog regularly (found via either Beth or Doug), and I have two of her books on my TBB list. But for the most part, I try to stay away from author blogs. Why? Because blogs are more personal than an author's professional website; it is a glimpse into another person's life, no matter how separate one may try to keep the personal life and blog. It gives the impression, however false, that I know the blog-author. Which influences how I approach a book. I would rather come to a book with a blank slate. If I have a preconceived idea about the book, I would rather it be based on other books I've read by that author, and not based on knowing where the author went on her last vacation or what problems she had when she received the galleys of the book.
Call it girly or inhibited or overly polite, but it's easier for me to say, "That book sucked monkey balls!" if I don't know the author or feel like I know her (which would be the blog influence). It's also easier for me to squee over a book and not feel like a total FanGirl if I don't stalk that author online. I like to keep a little bit of separation there. Foolish? I don't know. But however personal my experience is as a reader, I want it to be between me and the book, uninfluenced by the author's persona or online behavior.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-05-21 03:42 am (UTC)It's also an amazing way to learn more about a person -- by reading their books. Kind of an intimate experience, really, since an author's novel provides a limited glimpse of her inner life.
I've had the experience of not liking an author's book, too. It doesn't harm the relationship.
Doug
no subject
Date: 2006-05-21 06:27 am (UTC)If I don't like the book, it shows in my reviews, whether or not I stalk the author online.
But then, I tend to stalk authors because I love their books, not the other way around.
www.karenscottworld.blogspot.com
Date: 2006-05-21 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-22 06:47 am (UTC)Most authors I 'talk' with only about books and blog things. I guess I will be talking more with them while working on the author days and line weeks on my blog. So I could change my mind later.
I like, love, hate, feel meh, or want to throw a book not an author. So I don't look at it like I am trashing anyone. And even when I hate a book, I generally don't go all karen on it. *eg*
But I will say I was disappointed in Share the Darkness because I really WANTED to like the book because the author is such a nice person. Or at least seems to be. But if I even got to the point I felt I had to lie in a review, I would stop doing it.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-22 11:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-22 05:08 pm (UTC)These days almost all my reading is from people I've met in person or in blogs. The only big change that's made for me is that I rarely comment on books any more. That's because even if I love them (the books, not the people) because then I'll worry that I'll insult someone whose book I didn't comment on or I'll hate the next book the person writes or I'll get something wrong and she'll see it.
[insert Jewish mother joke: What? you didn't like the other tie?]
Usually I don't have that awareness of the author while I'm reading. If the book is any good, I get sucked into its world and forget who wrote it.
Kate R
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