First, I have got to apologize to the “Powers that RTB” for the tardiness of this post. Life got in the way bigtime in recent days. And second, I’ll apologize to the readers in advance for the hastiness with which I wrote it. I thought being less late and less polished was better than being more late and more polished. Some days I feel like my entire life is a series of choices between lesser evils, and today is one of those days.

Ok, so what do I mean by the title of this post? Well, by “bad”, I mean morally bad, and by “good” I mean artistically good.

I don’t care all that much, to be honest, whether writers are good or bad people in real life, and that extends to their behavior on the internet. My issue is not that I am reluctant to judge someone’s behavior immoral: I have no problem doing that. Rather, it’s that I think there is a difference between a writer and her books. If I am going to rely on that difference to write negative — even snarky — reviews (“I’m criticizing her book, not her personally.”), then I have to be consistent and acknowledge it when it comes to author behavior.

I’ll go further. I actually think it is a bad idea, in general, to reject books by immoral authors. Think of all the biographies and biopics you may have read or seen. Visual artists, musicians, film directors, and writers throughout history have been some of our most wretched human beings: liars, cheats, egomaniacs, thieves, heartbreakers, sellouts, and all purpose scumbags. A favorite example among philosophers is the painter Gauguin, who left his wife and family destitute so he could go to Tahiti and paint nudes. To use a very recent case, I agree with our President’s assessment of Kanye West (“He’s a jackass.”) but Kanye’s music is still on constant rotation on my ipod.

In other words, I think I would miss out on a lot if I restricted my intake of creative products to morally good creators, and I might even be contributing in some way to a move towards censorship.

In that sense, I think it’s a shame that the internet and the 24/7 news cycle has (further) opened up private lives of artists to public consumption. Many readers enjoy personal contact with their favorite romance authors online, but does such contact really enhance the book itself for the reader or the creative process for the writer? And at what cost, if it also opens the door to enjoyment-sabotaging judgments of the author?

I do, however, think about the business practices of companies from which I purchase products, and I do try to avoid companies with business practices I abhor (sweatshops, union breaking, race based or sex based discrimination, for example). The difference, I think, is that art is a special category. I can visit Target instead of Wal-Mart and buy the same product, but I can’t swap one author for another in the same way. I also think art has a special place in our society which paper towels and cat litter do not.

Admittedly, there are those who present tougher cases than most romance authors’ foibles. Charles Manson would be one. It’s true that he isn’t legally allowed to profit from his music, but he still produces it and people still listen to it. I’ve never listened to it, personally, so Perhaps there is some limit beyond which even I can’t go.

I don’t mean to imply some insurmountable gap between an artist and her work. For sure, a good biography of an artist can shed light on some aspects of her work. And I don’t mean to imply that we can’t make moral judgments of the work itself. But how bad can a good writer be? Pretty darn bad, I say.

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Part of putting out a product for consumption and expecting consumers to pay for it is the need to accept criticism for said product. Once someone pays for something, they own it and have a right to proclaim dissatisfaction with it.

Authors must build a “thick skin” to prevent wounds from negative reviews. I remember my first bad review stinging like particularly nasty paper cut, but since then I’ve had far less trouble with them. I’ve come to find confidence from the knowledge that I wrote the best book I could at the time and I’m proud of the finished product, regardless of whether some find it lacking. There are two sides of the coin after all. Someone’s dislike is another person’s love. Books that a reader says they wasted their money on are the same books that are on another reader’s keeper shelf.

As a reader, I’ve found that bad reviews will sometimes goad me to buy a book. I rarely buy books based on reviews, but I’m pretty sure when I have bought a book because of a review, the review wasn’t positive. I know there are other readers like me who will buy regardless of the review, as well as readers who are wary of books with only positive reviews. We all have our quirks. However, there is a certain type of review that I have trouble being nonchalant about–the Wrong Review, reviews wherein some of the content is just plain wrong.

I’m not talking about perceived misconstructions about something I wrote. I see that as the reader’s experience and they own it; it’s theirs. It’s not my place to say, “I meant it like [insert reason] and you got it wrong,” because they didn’t get it wrong. They had a different experience with my words than I did. I’m talking about stating that something is in the book when it isn’t. Such as saying the hero is an ex-cop, when he isn’t. Or saying the heroine is widowed, when she was never married. Mistakes in relating facts, not perceptions.

It’s actually quite commonplace. I’ve had factual errors in reviews from both major publications and blogs. I’ve seen/read other authors privately bemoaning a review that’s wrong. If a reviewer thinks the heroine is stupid, that’s their right. If the reviewer states that the heroine is stupid because she used to be an FBI agent and should know better, but it was actually her sister who was the agent and the heroine teaches kindergarten… well, it grates. If the reviewer can’t remember the book well enough to know who’s who and what’s what, they really should skip reviewing the book.

Then I remind myself that I don’t think reviews influence sales overmuch, so does it matter? The reviews aren’t always bad when they’re wrong. Maybe it balances out? But no amount of reasoning stops it from mattering to me. Good or bad, I think reviews should be accurate. Despite this, I’ve only once sent a request for a mistake to be fixed (which it never was). It’s just too much stress risking the possibility that the reviewer might get defensive and in turn call me defensive and the whole thing turning into a mess. Much easier to just try and ignore it, and get back to work.

Funny enough, even knowing that there are chances I could be reading erroneous information, I don’t think about that while reading a review. Because of that, I guess it’s fortunate that reviews can lead me to buy a book, but they never make me skip a book.

A bit aside from the topic of errors, but still on topic about reviews is a blog post from the Baltimore Sun talking about reviewers taking heat for their reviews, which I guess makes sense, since posting a review is also putting something out there for public consumption.

Anyway, it’s a holiday weekend and I’m working madly on a deadline. Hopefully this wasn’t too much of a ramble and there’s something for us to chat about.

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Yesterday I happened to wander by the blog of an author whose books I have shipped to me from Australia. They’re only published in Australia and New Zealand, so I can’t buy them here in the States. The third book in her series was published there in the past week and I, of course, haven’t gotten it yet. So there I am at her blog, innocently reading a post that’s not about the book, when in the comments, I read a spoiler for book three from someone who’s already had a chance to read the book and wants to know what might happen in the next book. A major spoiler. Like…give-away-the-end-of-the-book type spoiler. For a book that I’ve been anticipating, that’s going to cost me a pretty penny to have shipped to the States (have you seen the shipping prices from Australia? Yikes!) and that I wanted to read without knowing what happens. Darn it.

Now, let’s be clear; I have been known to flip to the end of the book to read first. I do this especially when I’m not clear on who the “hero” is or if the book isn’t marketed as a romance. Sometimes I want to know what’s going to happen before I invest time and emotional energy into the book. But I make the choice when I want to do that. I don’t particularly care to have the choice made/taken from me. (as a side note, I do, however, want to know the end when an author sends a synopsis with a query. Don’t try for the cliffhanger to tempt me to read the book. Tell me. But that’s a whole different conversation).

There’s been a lot of talk about spoilers during the release of the last Harry Potter book. People going on media blackouts to avoid spoilers, wearing ear plugs into the store when they attended the release event (because one year someone apparently drove by and yelled out the ending to all gathered). On the Samhain Café yahoo group, we instituted a two week, no-spoiler rule for discussions centering around Harry Potter, figuring that gave the die-hard fans time to finish, and across the blogosphere, reviews were often titled with “no spoilers”.

Oddly enough, I don’t get as excited about TV spoilers (maybe because I watch very little TV), though during the regular TV season, when 24 and Lost are on, my husband avoids spoiler mentions like he avoids broccoli (with absolute and dedicated focus), because he’s often a week or two behind in viewing. I feel for those people overseas who see the episodes months behind, because certainly blogs and entertainment shows alike aren’t shy about sharing spoilers for TV shows.

But books? I don’t like book spoilers. In fact, I rarely read a review for a book I haven’t read but had already planned on reading, because I don’t want to be influenced by the reviewer’s opinion and I don’t want any spoilers inadvertently slipped in. I love reviews for books I’ve already read (which I know seems to defeat the purpose, but I like to know what other people thought of the book in comparison) and for books I’ve not previously heard of or considered reading. On my own blog, I try to be very careful, especially when sharing reviews of ARCs, not to include any spoilers at all.

As an editor, I get a little aggrieved when reviewers include spoilers in the reviews, and I’ve heard from authors who feel the same. The feeling is that spoilers can potentially stop a reader from buying a book because, presented out of context, it might affect their opinion negatively, make them believe they won’t like the direction the book takes or have them saying “Well, I already know what happens, why bother?” Maybe others feel that spoilers add good information to a review, but I don’t get that.

So, am I the only one out there who reacts so strongly to book spoilers? Do you feel differently about TV spoilers? Is there “spoiler etiquette”? And, if you’re an author and get a review that includes a spoiler, what do you do?

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by Gena Showalter

Reader comments can sting. Worse, they can be posted for everyone in the world to enjoy. I mean, really. Look around review sites and you just might find such delightful gems as:

“I hated this book. Seriously, when the book ended I needed Tylenol and therapy.”

“Pure crap. I’ll never read this author again. I want my money and my time back. The author’s head on a platter would be nice, too. What an idiot!”

“This book was terrible. There isn’t one nice thing I can say about it.”

Ouch! Books are products, authors aren’t. We may wish otherwise, but feelings do become involved. And let’s be honest, some comments are so bad they can make us:

1. 1) cry
2. 2) depressed
3. 3) want to give up and never write again
4. 4) all of the above

We can’t give up, though. Writing is in our blood, it’s what we love. So here are four ways to try and beat the bad review blues:

Abstinence: Like sex, if you don’t do it you don’t have to worry about getting a disease. In our case, if you don’t read the reviews they can’t poison your mind. Truly, it’s hard to write when “you suck” and “this is crap” keep screaming through your brain. But staying away from Google requires discipline – which I do not have. For obsessive types like myself, you simply have to know what the world is saying about you. So that brings us to –

The positive spin: Taking the negative and making it encouraging. This technique
was taught to me by my critique partner and fellow author Jill Monroe. Let’s use
the above reader quotes as examples.

“I hated this book. Seriously, when the book ended I needed Tylenol and therapy” becomes “I hated. . .when the book ended.”

“Pure crap. I’ll never read this author again. I want my money and my time back. The author’s head on a platter would be nice, too. What an idiot” becomes “I’ll never. . . want my money and my time back.”

“This book was terrible. There isn’t one nice thing I can say about it” becomes “This book was. . . nice. . . “

For this technique, you have to be able to shove the negative from your mind permanently. That’s a little tough for me. So that brings us to -

The curse: This involves voodoo dolls, black magic, and fire. Not for the faint of heart.

I have never attempted this one, though I have been tempted. With the anonymity of the web, some reviews are just so mean spirited. (Bitter much, Gena?) Anyhoodles. . . that leads us to the fourth and final method –

Understanding: This is perhaps the toughest of all the methods mentioned. It involves accepting that not everyone is going to love your work. What? Not everyone will love us? Sadly, no. This was never as clear to me as the time I stumbled upon a bad review of a book by one of my all time favorite authors. I adore this book. It’s on my keeper shelf even now. I reread it at least once a year. Yet someone trashed it royally, saying it was the worst piece of garbage ever published. (Can anyone put a positive spin on that?) That’s when I realized that people simply have different tastes. They are not going to love everything you produce – much as we might wish otherwise – and that’s okay. You can only write so that you are happy.

So what methods do you use to cope with bad reviews?

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Once upon a time, authors wrote books, and reviewers reviewed them. Usually, the reviewers were professionals who worked for newspapers or magazines, were paid by same for their reviews, and possessed at least some qualifications for the job. As a result, most of these reviewers, whether their reviews were positive or negative, could be counted on to get their facts right about the books they reviewed.

But with the advent of the Internet, suddenly, anyone could review a book, and since that time, countless people have done so, posting their comments at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and elsewhere. In the process, some have made names for themselves and established themselves as respected reviewers. Others are simply readers who want to voice their opinions about the books they have read. Still others are persons with their own private agendas, who are hoping to help or to hurt specific authors.

Not surprisingly, just like everything else on the Internet, the result of all this has been a melange of reviews ranging from the professional and factually accurate to the unprofessional and factually inaccurate.

But while it’s invariably easy to recognize a purely spiteful review penned by a person who is clearly a sociopath, it’s not nearly so simple to spot sheer misinformation about a book under review, unless one has actually read that particular book — and it’s this latter case about which I’ve increasingly heard rumbles and grumbles from my colleagues.

If an author can’t even recognize his or her own book from the description provided in a review, how in the world is the public ever going to know that the information contained about the book under review is just plain wrong?

Nowadays, mix-ups like misnaming the hero and the heroine are just the tip of the iceberg. Heroes are confused with villains. Books set in one country are inexplicably transported to another. Incidents that never take place in the novel are unaccountably described in detail as though they do. Paranormals are somehow transformed into time travels. And the list goes on.

Those who actually wrote or who have actually read the book under review are left wondering: What book did this “reviewer” read? Because it sure as heck isn’t the same one the author wrote or that other reviewers and readers read.

But what if you haven’t read the book under review? Will you miss a great story because some “reviewer,” for whatever unknown reason, gave you a cartload of misinformation about it?

And just how does such misinformation about a book get posted in the first place? Is it deliberate? In some cases, yes. But I suspect the vast majority of it is merely the result of the reviewer having been somehow distracted while reading the book under review.

These days, it’s virtually impossible for most people to sit down and read a book uninterrupted from beginning to end. Instead, we have dozens of other things competing for our attention. People often read while simultaneously engaged in doing chores or watching television, for example. Commuters listen to audio books while battling rush-hour traffic. People also read when they’re tired or otherwise incapable of devoting their full attention to the story, when it’s easy for them to be compelled to reread a page two or three times or more — and still not register what they’ve actually read. It’s hard to get engrossed in any story if little Johnnie and Janie have jerked you out of it several times already, arguing over whose turn it is to play the new video game.

So, what’s the answer? Authors have two choices: either set the record straight themselves, or else hope that other reviewers and readers do — and most of us are grateful to reviewers and readers who do just that.

Have you ever read misinformation posted about a book? Did you know at the time that it was misinformation? If so, what effect did it have on you — and what, if anything, did you do about it?

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Book covers. I love them. I often joke that I write books just to get cover images. One of the boons of releasing eight books in 2007 is getting covers in rapid succession. I look forward to those emails the way I looked forward to Christmas Day as a kid. I always take a moment to collect myself after I see a subject line and Outlook paperclip symbol that tells me there’s a cover attached. A deep breath fills my lungs and hope fills my chest. In that brief minute, I prepare for something pretty major–attached to that email is something that will either help me sell my book or hinder me.

So much rides on a book’s cover. A great cover can get people to pick up a book they normally wouldn’t and a bad one can turn away a reader who might have given it a closer look. My first book–an erotic Regency-set historical anthology–released with a cartoon cover and a flippant title. This was a deliberate choice on the publisher’s part and over a dozen covers were scrapped before they decided on the one you see for sale today. The reasoning was that I was a new author and my name alone wouldn’t sell the book. But wrap it up in a familiar package and title it within a popular and well-established series, and perhaps that combination would sell it.

In the end, this didn’t work for a historical novel. Readers bought the book in spite of the cover, not because of it. Many, many reviewers and readers said, “Ignore the cover and horrible title. This is a great read.” Some readers mentioned bypassing the book a few times before purchase because they couldn’t get past the cover.

As an author, it’s heartbreaking to hear that something completely beyond your control so negatively impacts your ability to sell a book you sweat blood over.

When my next cover email arrived, I was scared to open the attachment. Scared. My heart raced, my palms grew damp. What if I got another ill-fitting cover? To my absolute delight and relief, the cover image attached was gloriously beautiful and perfectly suited to the book. I cried. Seriously. I knew it was going to sell my book for me. And it did. Reviews mentioned the great cover. A buyer for a major chain of bookstores emailed me privately and called the cover gorgeous and “a wonderful change from [the other book]“. Another book of mine had a cover so awesome it got fan mail. Fan mail for a cover.

Recently, a dear friend of mine had a cover she loved. It was later changed to a cover she didn’t love because of a sales account recommendation. The original cover was deemed a hard sell. Earlier this week, the same thing happened to me. A cover for one of my 2007 titles was scrapped when a sales account had concerns. Luckily, I didn’t love the cover and now I’m hoping for one that reflects the book better. It’s a second chance. I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed. I really want to sell all my books, of course, but I really want to sell this book and a new cover might do a much better job of helping me with that.

Earlier today I received another cover (totally different book) and it’s the best cover EVER. Like the one I cried over, this one captures my book in one image. I showed it to my friends and more than a few said, “OMG, Syl. You’re going to sell a lot of that book!” A great cover can do that.

Here are some books I’m going to buy because *I* think they have great covers: Retrieval, Dipped in Chocolate, and Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind.

So, let’s talk about a new trend that’s driving me batty — the recycled cover. Those of you who frequent my blog (which has been dead lately due to my brain being overloaded) have seen my posts where I’ll put books side-by-side that have the same cover. Some of these books are releasing in the same month. Some of these images are being used three or four times. I’ve had some friends who’ve successfully had cover changes when the duplicate image was pointed out, and others where they found out too late and had to live with sharing their cover. Have you seen the same covers sitting next to each other on the store shelf? What do you think when you see a cover that you know is on another book? I wonder if this impacts sales. Authors fear that it does.

(Care to post some examples? It’s the wee hours of the morning for me now, but I’ll be back with coffee and I’ll post the ones I’ve seen in the comments section.)

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Did you ever have one of those days where you felt like no one was listening? I have so often heard writers talk about working in a vacuum. And I sympathize. There are days when I sit in my office, tapping away at email, reviewing manuscripts, getting projects ready to go to editors, deciphering royalty statements, packing up submissions for overseas, etc. where I can feel as if I am doing it alone. And, yet, networking is one of the biggest parts of my job. Knowing editors and being known by them is the key to my trade. Naturally, this aspect is true for writers as well, even if they only communicate via the text itself.

But when a writer is just starting out it can be so easy to focus on that goal of publication without seeing past it. And for those who have already been published, that goal may shift to simply getting the next contract. One might not recall that while it only takes one person to create the story, it takes a network of people to bring it to its full potential….

Family and Friends: Perhaps this is needlessly said. Everyone always appreciates their family and friends, right? For instance, the husband who goes without your gourmet home-cooked meals because of a deadline, or the children who make their own PBJ so mom can spend another hour at the computer. Or the friend who believes you can still do it even when you’re fast losing hope after the latest rejection. This is not an issue of guilt, but of appreciation. Never forget to show the latter.

Personal Critique Group: Not everyone has one. Those who have good, supportive, actively critical ones are lucky. Sometimes, they sound like cheerleading groups. Not that there’s anything wrong with a pick-me-up when facing the impenetrable wall of publication. It can be what you most need at the moment. They are also often the people who challenge a writer to improve the craft level of their work. This could so easily mean the difference between an acceptance and a rejection.

Writers Groups: Like the RWA, Novelists Inc., SFWA, etc. — these can be invaluable. They have networking opportunities with other writers and usually provide the conference venue for interacting with publishing professionals, as well. Sponsored newsletters educate and inform. Providing writers with a sense of community when so many work individually should not be an element that is ever overlooked.

Agent: This is the person who is always on your side. Not long ago, a list circulated on the internet of the 20 Worst Literary Agents. It raised quite a furor. I was struck by this particular post: What a Literary Agent can and should be. I could so easily write an entire entry about how agents do more than simply place the book with a publisher. It would also not be difficult for me to explain that they are the truest advocate and the staunchest ally. If you get a good agent, that is. Be on the lookout and when you nab one, hang on for all you’re worth and be sure to positively build that relationship. It may be one of the most valuable and long-lasting connections of your writing career. (See, I said it was easy for me to go on about this one….)

Editor: Though the editor owes their ultimate allegiance to the CEO that signs their paycheck, make no mistake: they are the in-house advocate for your work. They discover it. They love it. They convince their company to take the risk to publish it, and then they nurture it every step of the way from acquisition to publication.

Editorial Assistant: If your editor doesn’t have one, then they do everything themselves. Appreciate that editor all the more. But, just in case there is one of these handy, all-purpose people on staff, please be aware that they are involved in many aspects of the book. They may liaise with the production department, or get ARCs sent out for reviews, or any number of other things. Plus, it’s entirely likely that they may someday be acquiring their own list.

Production: This is a vast aspect that I am oversimplifying. This includes the design of the book, both inside and out. The line editing to make sure the text is as perfect as humanly possible. It’s far more than simply the cover and copy that will attract someone to pick up the book in the first place. And most people who work in these positions are assigned to several books at once. It’s challenging and detail-oriented.

Sales: These people present the book on behalf of the publisher to the companies who will decide how many copies get into which stores. On a regional level, they meet with those who run independent stores and convince them to place a number of copies on their shelves, or with regional directors of chains with the same agenda. The relationships that they have built are crucial to the placement of the book.

Distributors: This part of my ever-lengthening essay should be called “how to get physical copies from the warehouse to the reader.” If this road does not run smoothly, a book may never have the chance to impact the reading market. This is an essential connection as well. If individual bookstores dealt directly with each and every publisher, their overhead would increase exponentially, particularly when evaluating new publishers who wish to have their titles carried. A central distributor is key to keeping the material flowing.

Booksellers: Once upon a time, my first official position in publishing was exactly this one. I took books out of the box and put them on the shelves. Can’t buy them if they aren’t there. I knew the frequent buyers and what they favored. I scavenged ARCs or read novels that caught my interest during shelving and if I fell in love with them, I recommended them to anyone I thought I could convince to buy a copy.

Reviewers: A friend of mine who reads quite a lot maintains that they have never purchased a book based on a review. However, it’s entirely likely that the book may have been placed in the store because of a review it received. Booksellers read publications such as Publishers Weekly in order to maximize their coverage of the books that look to break out. Publishers place quotes from well-regarded reviewers or other authors on the covers to attract more sales.

Readers: Let us not forget those who may, perhaps, be the most important segment on your team. It’s entirely likely that this group also spans the others. Without them, your book will not succeed. Without them, the work of all the rest will lie dormant.

An editor recently remarked that 95% of the time when a book fails to get published, they hear the writer point a finger in the direction of the agent or editor. Around the blogosphere, one occasionally also sees someone decide that their cover is at fault for the sales. There are a number of other reasons that have also been put forth. While in some cases these may not be inaccurate observations, voicing these objections so negatively can impact the writing community as a whole, promoting an adversarial environment. It sometimes seems far too simple to focus on the business of publishing and measurements of personal success, instead of the people. While the list above is only a (very) brief (and somewhat dry) overview, and may not include everyone, I hope it invites us all to remember that everyone who participates in the launch of a book wishes it to succeed. And sometimes it is the “littlest person” who may cause it to do so.

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I’ve been watching “American Idol,” as hooked on that show as the rest of America. However, I’ve about had it with Simon Cowell. Not that I want every judge to be as nice as Paula or as “dog” down sorta honest as Randy, but I would like to see a bit more niceness, particularly from the King of Mean.

Perhaps it’s because I work in an industry where my work is constantly open to criticism. Yes, I’ve had a couple Simons, usually the kind who believe in posting a scathing review in a public forum. They don’t subscribe to that “if you have nothng nice to say, don’t say anything at all” philosophy. I wonder sometimes where that went, if it went out of fashion with chinos and purple swoosh Nikes.

I think there’s a growing tendency among people to be a little more Simon. It’s too bad, really. Being nice can go a long way. Not the fake nice where you encourage people who have two left feet and no natural rhythm to pursue a career in dance, but the kind where you couch criticism with a compliment or two. Where you aren’t setting out to degrade someone and their hard work just because you can. If your neighbor’s dancing ability is in the negative digits, then congratulate her on her bravery for getting on the dance floor and refrain from the “it was a nightmare” Simon review.

There’s too much “Simonizing” in the world lately. Too many people tearing each other down, in everything from Fashion Police ambushing shows to opinion columns. It is totally fine to have an opinion, but it would be nice if more people expressed those thoughts with a bit of tact.

I used to review books. If I read a book that I truly didn’t like, for one reason or another, I didn’t review it. I figured that author got to where they were for a reason and what I didn’t like someone else would. Plus, I knew how hard that author had worked to first get published, then stay published. I was honest in my reviews, but skipped writing reviews of “wallbanger” books. I figured it was my way of staying honest, but not becoming Simon.

I remember my first novel attempts. They were hideous. I look back at them now and cringe at every sentence. However, the editors who rejected me were always encouraging, more Randy than Simon, and that was what inspired me to keep writing, hone my craft and eventually get published. As I look at my tenth book on shelves (and celebrate its local bestseller ranking , I know that if those editors had come back with a Simon letter, I would have given up before I’d cultivated the skills that eventually led to me being published. I thank them for their constructive honesty, for remembering to add in a kind word or two even as they were passing on my “baby.”

There is, I believe, a middle ground where you can be honest, but with kindness. What do you think? Do people like Simon go too far or are they a necessary voice of honesty?

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By Tara Gelsomino, originally posted 06/16/05

There are a lot of folks, both online and off, lamenting the problem with romances today. Kassia Kroszer, of whom I’m a fan, posted days ago on this site that Romantic Times BOOKclub magazine is part of that problem.

I’ve been at RT for six years, and now as the managing editor, I get to personally decide what fills most of the magazine’s pages. My first instinct was to post a long explanation of RT’s purposes and practices, talk about the amazing evolution of the magazine’s design and content throughout the last few years, and defend our editorial choices. Then I realized there was no need.

Kassia’s complaint was, “It looks like a fanzine.” Well, RT BOOKclub is exactly that, a magazine for fans of romance and other women’s fiction. We promote and support the genre, as we have since Kathryn Falk founded RT in 1981. That being said: we can be critical of the genre and often are. Our reviewers, who are by design avid readers and not professional writers, give many favorable reviews but also many mediocre or negative reviews. Our feature articles often serve to pinpoint and alert publishers to readers’ concerns. I believe we successfully introduce readers to a wide range of interesting authors and books every month. (If you disagree and aren’t satisfied with your RT reading experience, I really do want to know. E-mail me to discuss specific criticisms and suggestions or even just to vent at Tara@romantictimes.com)

But enough about RT. What I really wanted to address was this comment Kassia made: “They think romance novels are fluffy and silly because the leading magazine for the industry is fluffy and silly.” Well, friends, we can only work with what we gots.

IMO, many traditional romances ARE fluffy and silly. I rarely read straight romance anymore because of the attack of the Cutesy Factor. I can’t stand faux-angry bantering designed to propel the leads into bed. I think all precocious kids who make gruff heroes melt and turn every heroine into the perfect nanny should be banished. And if your book stars a modern successful businesswoman, don’t turn her into a clumsy, disheveled, Lucille Ball clone and expect me to find it cute.

Kassia says romances suffer from an amateur, unsophisticated image, but I think they suffer from a lack of honesty. How can we “treat romance novels as grown-up fiction” when authors are writing characters who behave like addle-brained, hormone-fueled teenagers? Don’t tell me your modern heroine is a 35-year-old virgin who’s never even masturbated so she’s completely shocked by her first orgasm. Don’t tell me your “feisty” heroine is happy to put up with chauvinistic behavior and sexist comments from her alpha hero because, “While it would irritate her from anyone else, somehow it just seemed cute when Brock did it.”

And as far as the window dressing goes, the honest truth is that an overwhelming number of readers out there DO like clinches and cover models and purple prose. (RT’s got the letters to prove it.)

So before you blame RWA or RT or clinches for tarnishing the genre, perhaps you should take a real honest look at why we’re so ashamed of our reading choices. Romance is about love, and sexy men and women, and yes, even passionate clinches. And what’s wrong with that? Maybe a little honesty amongst ourselves is the first step to “fixing” romance’s image.

*Revisit previous comments on this post here.

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I have long held a skepticism of reviews and review sites. My cynicism about the veracity of many reviews is a combination of comments made to me by reviewers, things read on blogs, and my own observations. In other words, I readily admit my opinion is based on a liberal mix of truth, fiction, and gossip (as most opinions probably are).

On the one hand, I am honestly pleased when an author I know, who has written a book I love, gets a glowing review. It gives me a feeling of satisfaction, knowing someone else recognized the strength in writing, well-developed characters and compelling storyline. There is a validation of not only my own brilliance in recognizing the book’s greatness but also the authors (admittedly greater) brilliance in writing it. But it’s easy for me to comb through the reviews on the books I’ve read, and find the reviews that I believe to be critical, fair and well-written.

The more difficult part, and where my cynicism rears its ugly head, is the books I haven’t read. I often wonder if the review site is writing the review for the author and the publisher, unwilling to give an honest review, but instead searching for the reviewer who will give the book a glowing review. I will acknowledge that there are times a second reviewer should be sought—for instance, the reviewer thought they were going to be reading an inspirational book and instead got an erotic romance, a genre they find not to their taste. That can happen. We all have genre, POV, and storyline preferences. It’s hard—some would argue impossible—to move beyond those and review a book without the color of our own biases. After all, what is the enjoyment of anything, if not subjective?

Why am I cynical of reviews for books I haven’t read? Because I’ve read so many glowing reviews of books that I thought sucked. Poor writing, muddy point-of-view (three in one sentence is too many, don’t you think?), wandering body parts (she has a hand growing from between her legs? Huh), bad editing and inconsistent storyline. In my mind, those things equal a bad book. But as one person said to me “…but the story was different and it was good.” For me, that doesn’t compensate for lazy writing and bad editing, but mine is only one opinion. And boy, when I look at review sites, that’s the way I feel! That mine was the only poor opinion of the book. The reviews glow, they gush, they praise and raise the author to deity level. In short, they aren’t for me. They’re for the author.

There are other things that lead to my inability to trust in a review on a site dedicated to that purpose: past and present reviewers who have reported being told not to write a negative review, seeing, as I skim a list of reviews, no rating lower than a three has EVER been given (why bother having the 1 and the 2 available?), reviewers reviewing books of authors they chat with daily and are, if not friends, than friendly with (it’s more difficult to say honest, not so lovely things about a book than it is to gush far and wide about it, especially when you “know” the author).

But lest I sound biased, let me say that it’s not only formal review sites, but also reviews on places like Amazon I mistrust for a variety of reasons: Authors, editors and publishers posting glowing reviews of their own works under pseudonyms and campaigning for family members and friends to do the same. The aforementioned people as well as others with an axe to grind posting deliberately rude and ugly reviews for specific authors. Reviews being posted by people who have never even read the book (Rainbow Party comes immediately to mind). And sometimes, negative reviews disappearing from listing. As an example; recently, Keishon reported disliking a book and stated on her blog she had given it a negative review on Amazon. Several days later it was mentioned elsewhere that the author had asked Amazon to remove the review—and succeeded in getting it taken down. In its place, 16 glowing reviews appeared, giving the book 5 stars—at least several written by the author’s peers and colleagues. Having not seen the review in question, except as re-written on Keishon’s blog, I can’t speak to whether it should have been removed or not. The author, on a joint blog she contributes to, reported it as a “nasty and mean spirited review” and one which “took the facets of my book that make the romance work and wrote about them as if they were filth.” Again, let me re-state: I did not see the review in question. But, as a visitor to Keishon’s blog commented, sometimes it’s the negative reviews that can drive a person to buy a book. Only 5 star reviews look suspicious. Many readers look for the books that have a balance of reviews.

I doubt I’m the only one who finds themselves turning more and more to other readers’ blogs for reviews and re-caps of books. I think there are a number of reasons for this but I’ll cite two: Bloggers rarely have anything to lose by posting an honest review and they have no one to tell them they can’t say something or have to re-write the review in more positive terms. Although the same can be said of bloggers, it’s even more difficult to know which review site, which reviewer, is giving an honest opinion every time. Is it possible their honest opinion is a glowing recommendation for every book they’ve read? Well…does the name Harriet Klausner ring any bells? Need I say more?

All of this leads me to ask, how do you…as an author, reader, or even a reviewer feel about reviews? What sites and magazines do you trust and which do you avoid? Do you find yourself depending more on blogs or do you still turn to review sites? And for places like Amazon, do you look at the reviews on a book? And in what circumstances do you think an author or someone else should get a review removed?

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