Apr 15 2007
Excuse Our (my) Mess
So you may have noticed that the blog and the forum were down at various times since Friday. I moved DearAuthor from Bluehost to Media Temple and due to my inexperience, it was kind of a shaky move. But everything seems to be working, including our controversial pink theme (which will be changing one of these days). If it isn’t all quite working for you, let me know.
In other news, I received the grandest package from Dorchester on Friday full of RITA nominated books. I’ll be giving away books tomorrow from my package to ballots that have already been filled out and new ballots. If you haven’t yet, go and fill out a ballot. Random entries will win a book. In the meantime, you can check out Dorchester’s latest series called The Immortals.
Is it just me or does it seem like the publishers are really being awesome? I know that it is free publicity, but we aren’t giving out solely positive reviews on the blog so it would be understandable for publishers to snub us. My naive little self believes that this is very cool for publishers, like Dorchester, to give away so many books to readers on a blog such as ours.
Thanks for bearing with us.
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Apr 15, 2007 @ 18:42:08
Ho. My. God.
Heaven…
Apr 15, 2007 @ 18:57:41
WOW…a whole box of books from Dorchester…I’m impressed.
Apr 15, 2007 @ 21:34:04
Welcome back! I missed you, and you were only gone two days. Really, I’m just glad that the problem was not with me or my machines.
Kay
Apr 15, 2007 @ 22:54:55
IMO any publisher (or anyone connected to the industry) who would snub you based on a less than positive review isn’t thinking about their long-term professional interests (or acting professionally, but that’s probably a different topic). A smart publisher IMO is one that knows that any talk about a book is a positive thing, and that an honest review site is a site from which an honest *positive* review is worth having, too. And in the general scheme of things, any publisher, editor, or author will get both the good and the bad over time.
Apr 16, 2007 @ 00:38:31
I agree there will always be that first thought of yes, they get something out of it.
But really, I have found that many people in publishing are there because they love books. And book lovers are at heart people who delight in sharing a good book, as well as know not everyone will love every book.
For every writer, editor, publicist, publisher or whatever who turns their nose up at a bad review and puts you on their dead to them list there are five more who see it for what it is. Hell maybe even 10 to one…
And I still say bad reviews sell just as many if not more books than a good one.
What a purdy box. Did you open it and pet it while calling it ‘my precious’? Or is that just me?
Apr 16, 2007 @ 01:05:04
Hi Jane,
Why did you move your host from Bluehost to Media Temple? I’m curious because I’m in the process of looking for another host for my site.
Thanks!
Apr 16, 2007 @ 04:52:39
WOW, is that not a beautiful picture? I’m salivating at the sight of it. Books, books, books…and we get to give them all away! Weeeee! What could be more fun? Fill out your ballots folks.
Apr 16, 2007 @ 05:32:27
What a purdy box. Did you open it and pet it while calling it ‘my precious'? Or is that just me?
Sybil honey, that’s just you.
Apr 16, 2007 @ 06:41:17
[quote comment="26708"]What a purdy box. Did you open it and pet it while calling it ‘my precious'? Or is that just me?
Sybil honey, that’s just you.[/quote]
Ya wanna bet? :D
I mean, she is nuts, but she’s not alone . . .
(Yeah, it’s me, I’m just using a new identity temporarily. ;))
Apr 16, 2007 @ 06:41:51
Angelle – I moved from BlueHost because I was very frustrated with the down time and the way that it would run things, would be to make back end moves (i.e., server upgrades; physical moves, etc) without informing you. Plus, you are sharing a server and therefore if someone else on your “server” brings the server down, you go down too.
With MediaTemple, it costs more, but it runs on a “grid” and supposedly it means if someone else on the grid has a problem, it affects only their section of the grid. MT has pretty sucky customer service whereas I think BlueHost was better. We’ll see. . .
Apr 16, 2007 @ 07:40:25
[quote comment="26708"]What a purdy box. Did you open it and pet it while calling it ‘my precious'? Or is that just me?
Sybil honey, that’s just you.[/quote]
Oddly I am ok with it too… ;)
Apr 16, 2007 @ 10:01:51
I’d be smelling those bright, shiny books like a box of new crayons.
But first I’d straighten them out. It drives me nuts that they packed them with one Marjorie Liu and one Gemma Halliday on the wrong side of the box. I need symmetry!
Dorchester obviously knows there is no such thing as bad publicity. (For example, I bought CTC, when I’ve shunned historicals for years, just because the debate was pissing me off, and I know I’m not the only one.) As long as your reviews remain thoughtful and honest (as opposed to “this is the worst book I’ve ever read and the reason is that it just sucks”), there’s no reason for any publisher to take offense. They’re well accustomed to bad reviews, I assure you.
Writers tend to have thinner skin, but a brutal beating once in a while helps toughen them up.