Tuesday, September 11, 2012
So, these twitter posts are getting long. I don't know if it's because we've doubled the people we follow or y'all are just hysterical, inspirational, and gifted with the gab (been kissing Blarney stones?). But we're endeavoring to keep it edited down. Here goes nothing...
Today's one of those days that we don't like to think about...but we must:
The Writing Life:
Readers Make the World Go Round:
Agents Sounding Off:
Best Tweets of the Week...and only because they reminded us of the brilliant and indomitable Empire Records:
Thursday, September 6, 2012
A few weeks ago, I came across this very interesting article: "Against Enthusiasm: The epidemic of niceness in online book culture" by Jacob Silverman. The whole piece is well worth a read, if you haven't done that already, but just in case, let me share a few highlights here:
"if you spend time in the literary … blogospheres, you'll be positively besieged by amiability, by a relentless enthusiasm that might have you believing that all new books are wonderful and that every writer is every other writer's biggest fan. It's not only shallow, it's untrue, and it's having a chilling effect on literary culture"
"social media's centrifugal forces of approbation — retweets, likes, favorites, and the self-consciousness that accompanies each public utterance — make any critique stick out sorely"
"biting criticism has become synonymous with offense; everything is personal — one’s affection for a book is interchangeable with one’s feelings about its author as a person. Critics gush in anticipation for books they haven’t yet read; they <3 so-and-so writer, tagging the author’s Twitter handle so that he or she knows it, too; they exhaust themselves with outbursts of all-caps praise, because that’s how you boost your follower count and affirm your place in the back-slapping community that is the literary web"So. Basically the writer's "thesis" is that everyone in the book blogosphere feels pressured to be nice -- i.e., to heap praise and give positive reviews -- and that means we don't know who's being genuine, nor whether a book is truly worth our time and money.
I have my own opinions, but I'm curious: What do you guys think?
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More food for thought...
Ashley at Book Labyrinth had a great post about feeling like a "mean" blogger:
"I’m sure most authors would hope people rate their book as four or five stars... But what people seem to forget is that 3 stars is still a good rating. On Goodreads it means you like the book, and in my review policy I label 3 star reads as 'Fun reads which I enjoyed, but are not particularly groundbreaking or dynamic.'"We really admire Ashley and other bloggers who are honest in their reviews, regardless of whether it's "nice" or not. Because of this, we trust their opinions more (even if our tastes differ) and we always read what they have to say, even when our Google Reader is overflowing.
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In discussing this topic at a recent We Heart YA meeting, more thoughts and questions arose:
- Older books seem "safer" / more acceptable to criticize. Ones whose authors have passed away, or who have such loyal and established followings that saying something "mean" doesn't matter anymore. (Ex. LORD OF THE RINGS or THE GIVER.)
- Younger teens seem more authentic, more willing to voice negative impressions. (Like the wonderful "spies" over at YA Confidential.) Maybe it's because they're not as entrenched in the blogosphere and/or don't know the "etiquette" yet; or their limited participation shields them from the pressure; or they don't have writing/publishing aspirations so they're not worried about making enemies or burning bridges.
- Is this "positivity at all costs" related to the reviews-for-hire business? Is it okay to get paid for reviews? Is it okay to get paid specifically to write a POSITIVE review? (Note: This topic could be a whole separate post...)
- What about the flipside: snarky reviewers? Are they cool, funny, helpful?
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Sorry folks, this is getting long. Let me close with some of my own opinions, and a re-statement of We Heart YA's policy on reviewing.
My thoughts:
Honestly? Yes, I think there is a lot of pressure to follow the "if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all" rule. I mean, there is even a site (which I refuse to link to) dedicated to finding negative reviews and bullying the people who wrote them.
And yes, I think this attitude (which is borderline censorship) does a disservice to readers. Writers too, for that matter. However...
Our policy:
As aspiring authors ourselves, the 4 of us recognize how much hard work goes into making a book -- even one that we may not personally like. Furthermore, the 4 of us do not always agree. We have been passionately divided on many books over the years. (One example: CHIME by Franny Billingsley.)
So as we developed this blog, we decided that we were going to DISCUSS books, not review them. We don't give ratings, but we do try to "talk up" books that we enjoy, usually in the context of a larger topic.
We also want to stress that just because we didn't like a book doesn't mean that (a) it's "bad," or (b) it didn't make us think or we didn't get anything out of it. ALSO, just because we mention or give away a book doesn't mean we loved it.
In other words, we don't give an opinion on every book we mention, but if we DO give an opinion, it's truthful.
This is the way we've found that works for us. Others will find other ways that are comfortable for them.
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Silverman ends his article with this declaration, this vision of a more useful way of interacting:
"A better literary culture would be one that's not so dependent on personal esteem and mutual reinforcement. It would not treat offense or disagreement as toxic. We wouldn't want so badly to be liked above all. We'd tolerate barbed reviews, some quarrels, and blistering critiques, because they make our culture more interesting and because they are often more sincere reflections of our passions."
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Your turn:
Do you feel pressure to be nice? Do you think it's "mean" to give books bad reviews? What's your average rating?
KH
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Last Giveaway For the Summer!! (until October/Halloween and then we have a couple of creeeepy books to giveaway...go here for a hint) Erin, you won the ARC of REUNITED! Email us: weheartya(at)gmail(dot)com so we can post it out to you!
Wow, feels like there's so much space in this post now...space for lots of tweets. Okay, let's just decide to be amused straight away:
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| sorry if the language offends, but you better skip the next tweet too |
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| this Mark dude was king of the funny last week, sheesh, save some room for others |
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| sorry, Dahlia, had to include it, though you are well-represented elsewhere (not just a pretty face) |
Literary Agent Michelle started an interesting discussion about writers blogging about...writing:
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| There was SO much more to this, but the point Michelle is making is a challenge for all writers: Create Fresh Content |
There's also this thing happening called #PitchMadness (and we're hoping Ingrid's entry will be picked up out of the slush):
Writing Life:
Okay, that was a bit long, but it gets harder and harder to whittle these down...and this is pretty whittled already. Have a great week at school, work, prancing around the woods (what? who said that?)
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Stephanie, Ingrid, Sarah & Kristan — we read, write, discuss and celebrate Young Adult lit.
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