http://www.authorgaymwalker.com/Welcome.html

Simply because an author, especially a beginning author, who probably can’t afford the experience of someone who can build the site if they don’t know HTML themselves or even afford the webspace to begin with, doesn’t have a large, beautifully done website that isn’t from one of the free hosting sites does NOT mean they aren’t serious.

There are many of us out here who are struggling with school, careers, children, etc. Some of us barely make ends meet each month- that extra $100 a year for hosting simply isn’t there at this point in time. Most of us, as we manage to achieve the first rung on the publishing ladder WILL purchase webspace and build ourselves beautiful sites. If right now all we can handle is a free bog or site, and hosting our graphics and such off site- at least we’re making the best of what we have access to right now.

I realize I have probably jumped right up on the soapbox here, and I truly didn’t mean to. I simply wanted to say that I thought it was rather shallow to dismiss authors who haven’t managed to achieve a level of status that you would consider noteworthy yet.

Respectfully:

RB

Whether they do it themselves or have a friend or family member do it -" they are online.

I hadn’t considered family or friends looking something up as presence, but absolutely. Even if those people wouldn’t report themselves as being on-line if asked, they are. Thanks for bringing that up.

I’m lukewarm to the MySpace idea, but I set up a page last weekend. Alison Kent was one of the authors who motivated me to do so — Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler were my primary motivators. After a week, I’m still leery, but I’m beginning to find numerous viable authors there striving to create community. I’ve set the page up. I think it’s readable, and I hope I can take my time doing something with it.

My primary presence is my blog, but I’ve been thinking about reserving several domain names for an eventual professional presence. Clearly, based upon the suggestions here, that’s something I should do.

How about actually telling readers who the frell is publishing your damn book?

I was reading posts on my blog reader earlier today and came across a post on a shared blog with the cover of the author’s forthcoming novel, along with a link to her website. Curious, I went to check it out… this author apparently has four books forthcoming in 2007 and doesn’t mention the publisher for any of them.

WTF?

Robin is articulate and opinionated-”two pluses in my opinion. However, Robin, it strikes me that you voice this same complaint again and again, in many, many discussions. So that the complaint, even its validity, begins to lose its impact and simply becomes repetitious.

I have a ton of opinions on a myriad of subjects, many of which I share here and elsewhere at the drop of a hat. That people might recognize this particular point from me more readily doesn’t bother me, actually, even at the risk of the repetition. I guess I could rant on about enemy combatants and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus like I am in RL as I’m working on a legal article right now on those issues. Although I don’t want to make this Romance topic seem more important than it is or to belittle more important issues, I’m sure that advocates for practically everything from women’s equality to the need for tort law reform to a desire for non-greasy hand lotion have been so pegged. I get frustrated, I vent, people do or don’t pay attention or care or resonate or whatever. Primarily it’s about my frustration and secondarily about my sense that certain issues tend to get swept under the rug kind of easily, and I think this is one of them. Bottom line, though: if it stirs conversation, IMO it’s a good thing. If not, whatever –I always feel better after I vent.

Robin is articulate and opinionated–two pluses in my opinion. However, Robin, it strikes me that you voice this same complaint again and again, in many, many discussions. So that the complaint, even its validity, begins to lose its impact and simply becomes repetitious.

I don’t mean to offend you, or to imply that you have no right to make this same complaint as often as you like. I’m just giving my reaction to it.

I have no doubt that Romance–like any heavily published genre of fiction–could well benefit from better editing, copyediting, production values. Could benefit from more new, fresh, talented voices, or known voices who try a new twist. Who would disagree with that?

I just don’t think hammering the same notes on this particular keyboard is going to bring you what you’re looking for.

And as to how to find what you’re looking for, it circles back to the topic–as one element. Websites which give a clear idea of the author’s style, the backlist or upcoming books. Excerpts that are easy to access for a sample–that cost you nothing. Add reviews at sites you come to trust, word of mouth. Message boards where readers discuss what they liked or didn’t about a book or body of work. Authors whose books you’ve enjoyed previously–and booksellers who know their stuff and can steer you to the kinds of books that may suit your taste, or your mood at the time.

Libraries, used bookstores. There are options that, at least, cut the cost of wading through to find what books sing for you.

How much responsibility do we have as readers for directing the genre. We do tend toward the glom and thus when we receive a bunch of books in the same genre regardless of quality, is it our fault? I suppose I could put up the article today and not wait until Monday but then what would I have to post on Monday? LOL.

What I am saying is that telling readers to stop reading in the romance genre isn’t such a good thing. A variety of different readers with a variety of different tastes are what keeps the genre diverse. And more readers mean more sales which means more authors can stay in print and the genre can survive and thrive.

All that I really objected to was the suggestion that a reader should stop reading in the genre altogether merely because she is dissatisfied with many of the romances she reads. If she loves those few books she loves enough to be willing to make the effort to wade through others that she thinks are poorly crafted or copyedited, that’s her prerogative. Chasing readers away isn’t the way to make sure we have a variety of different kinds of authors writing, if you ask me.

Hey, if any of you haven't figured it out by now, I've never had a problem with being part of the least common denominator or wanting mindless entertainment so that's not an argument that's ever going to sway me in the first place.

The irony for me, Bev, is that I am the most mindlessly entertained when I’m not tripping over the wrong word (elude instead of allude, for example), confusing punctuation, incoherent sentences, and glaring discontinuities in plotting. Then my mind can really turn off and just enjoy the ride.

Stalker or no stalker, if her books stopped selling, I bet she’d soon get a website.

She can afford the luxury of not having a web presence because she’s one of the Queen Bees of Romance, and has been for many a year, and most romance readers know her books, but I still think it sucks great big fat donkey balls that she can’t be arsed letting her fans know what she’s up to.

It's not that I don't see your point, Robin (and everyone else agreeing with her), but that I don't see why you're talking to us instead of talking directly to the publishers. What exactly does it accomplish to insult other readers?

I actually DO write letters to publishers, and for the most part, I try to write them about books that stand out well to me, books about which I can praise the writing, the
risks, the craftsmanship and production. But that isn’t going to stop me from venting on reader boards, either. I’m not sure where the insult to readers is, though. I’m not knocking fun entertainment (I loved the Kresley Cole book for exactly that reason); I’m knocking poor craftsmanship, which, IMO, is a separate issue. While there is, IMO, a loss suffered by the genre when books are poorly copy-edited, there isn’t any harm, when a book — no matter how light the entertainment intent might be — is well-crafted.

Seems to me you already know you're beating your head against a lost cause but still trying to make the rest of us feel guilty for not agreeing. Or maybe for creating the -problem- ? in the first place by being less demanding and discriminating?

I’m sory, Bev, but I really feel like you’re projecting a lot here. How, exactly, am I inducing guilt? By rocking that old status quo boat? By refusing to accept your “solution” of reading elsewhere? If you don’t find my point persuasive, disagree. But I reserve the right to disagree with your characterization of my complaints as illegitimate somehow. I’m not asking for volunteers to write publishers; I’m not demanding you jump on some “bandwagon” — I’m not actually ASKING for anything of you as a reader. I’m not suggesting that readers are unaware of these mediocre production values and are too stupid to see the mistakes. On the contrary — I’m suggesting that we’re all worth more and we deserve books that have been crafted and produced with care. You can step easily around the crap — great. You’ve stated numerous times that you feel no obligation to purchase new or to do anything else to support an author or to make any grand statement. As a reader who wants more, I do feel some responsibility to go out of my way to send whatever positive feedback I can, whether that means buying a book new to support an author or writing a letter of praise to an author and/or publisher. In our own ways, we’re each putting our own money where our own mouth is.

You know what’s truly unfair? Complaining endlessly to other readers over things that we have absolutely no control over as if we’re immediately supposed to jump on the bandwagon, too. ‘Cause you know what? It ain’t gonna happen.

[quote comment="5444"]To tell demanding and discriminating readers that they should stop reading in the genre is a bad idea to my mind, because if they do so, eventually the only readers the genre will have left will be those who don’t want more than mindless entertainment from it, and then the diversity of the books and their sales figures will plummet even more than they already have. [/quote]

Whew, talk about an unfair statement all around. Part of me is not even sure where to start.

Okay, deep breaths. ;p

Um, do any of you so fed up with “bad craftsmanship” within the genre honestly believe that the rest of us, i.e. those who apparently want little more than mindless entertainment, never also get fed up? We do. I do. When I do, I pull back and reassess. If I don’t want to take chances on unknown authors, I buy used. After all the discussions I’ve seen online where authors are griping about lost sales to used books stores, I’m pretty sure that won’t count as voting for bad writing in any shaper or form.

If I find an author’s writing doesn’t quite meet my standards, but I’m still curious about their books I buy them used until I’ve decided one way or another. And to tie this back into the main discussion here, nowadays I also do a lot of online research finding books by that author that might appeal more to my tastes. Of course, if the author doesn’t have a website listing all of their backlist that can become extra problematical.

It’s not that I don’t see your point, Robin (and everyone else agreeing with her), but that I don’t see why you’re talking to us instead of talking directly to the publishers. What exactly does it accomplish to insult other readers?

Seems to me you already know you’re beating your head against a lost cause but still trying to make the rest of us feel guilty for not agreeing. Or maybe for creating the “problem” in the first place by being less demanding and discriminating?

Well, that last is an interesting thought to chew on.

Hey, if any of you haven’t figured it out by now, I’ve never had a problem with being part of the least common denominator or wanting mindless entertainment so that’s not an argument that’s ever going to sway me in the first place. What would sway me but only to try different books and authors is pointing out on a regular basis those books that rise above the rest. The only thing is that you’d have to be willing to do it without insulting my intelligence at the same time or I probably won’t listen very well.

I’m funny that way. ;)

‘Course, if the books pointed out bore me to tears . . . I guess I’ll just get back online and look for some more mindless entertainment. :D