I, like Robin, think of our blogs more like editorial plus (reviews, occasional news pieces). I view Teach Me Tonight as a peer reviewed journal of sorts.

I don’t know if there is any blogger, other than Kassia’s Booksquare, that serves the function that say a Publisher’s Lunch or Publishers’ Weekly does.

I do believe, though, that bloggers are part of the industry as much as Romantic Times is part of the industry. I also can see Angel’s point in that we don’t provide constant positive coverage of the romance industry and not simply because we are critical of books, tropes, covers, or anything. I view criticism as not being positive or negative. But we do highlight asshattery (or what we perceive to be asshattery) and that can put a negative light on the industry.

I also believe that bloggers like the ones Kassia mentioned and others not mentioned do put the industry in a positive light in other ways. Because we are willing to talk openly and intelligently about our likes and dislikes, our happiness and our disappointments, we show to the internet world that romance genre is read by intelligent and vibrant individuals; that we are greater than the image of the covers, the ocassional asshattery, the percentage of bad books, and so forth.

I would end with saying that if I am to be afforded gossip blog status, can I just get even a portion of the revenue that Perez Hilton is pulling in?

And I guess I don’t consider reporting or commentary on the bad and ugly of the genre cow poo. The bad and ugly need to be reported for the good to mean anything. And for writers–and readers–to know the many sides and angles of the business.

I wonder how many writers have been spared the nightmare of struggling to get their royalties or their rights back from unscrupulous publishing houses due to this kind of reporting. I, for one, find that very positive.

Sorry to break this to you, Karen, but I think now that Nora Roberts comments regularly on your blog that you’ve crossed over to the dark side, aka the mainstream

Urrgh. Are you saying that all my efforts to agitate and antagonise have all been in vain?

That’s it then, I must try harder to do more evil in Romanceland. Being mainstream is simply not acceptable, and so not cool. Next thing you know, I’ll be going to church, and humming I Want To Teach The World To Sing.

Anyway, I’ve spent enough time on here, I’m off to bed where I can dream of eating romance authors for breakfast.

Karen. I would name the site but you already know it and the threads disappear so there’s no way to give you a link.

I have no idea which site you’re talking about.

I can guarantee you that I don’t blog for the RWA, nor do any other bloggers I know. I can think of numerous articles and reviews I’ve read on blogs that I believe are outstanding and worthy of praise, regardless of what the RWA or anyone else thinks of them. As I said earlier, I’ve seen far more nastiness in the name of criticizing certain blogs and bloggers than I’ve seen on the blogs being criticized, and I’ve seen so much pent up craziness pour forth when the cap is lifted off a particular issue that I’m quite sure that the private face of Romance is not always graced with a peaches and cream complexion. So I’m not outrageously motivated to feel that if the RWA doesn’t approve of what I write that I should hang my head in shame.

I don’t know if I believe that you would accept anything submitted from certain blogs.

Robin, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t. The words dead, horse, and beating, come to mind.

All I say is thank God for such blogs, otherwise we’d be stuck with fluffy bunny review sites, where the reviewers have apparently never read a bad romance novel, and don’t have a clue what’s going on in the industry.

Until they visit blogs like DA and The SBs anyway. *g*

Several of Eric Selinger’s columns here. And Robin’s. Barbara Samuels’ on the RITA awards.

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