Comments on: Anonymous Bitchery: Get Your Engines Started

By: Jaci Burton

Jaci Burton — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 17:41:07 +0000

Agreed. I do all my bitching and venting privately. No one wants to listen to me bitch and moan, except my friends (okay, they probably don’t want to hear it either, but they’re my friends and therefore must suffer..lol). I have very few friends I trust implicity with my bitchery, and they’re worth their weight in gold to me. They keep me from posting crap I should never ever post publicly.

By: Alison Kent

Alison Kent — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 19:05:34 +0000

Oh, definitely friends outside the business, yes. But those friends don’t always want to hear the behind the scenes machinations, LOL! Friends in the industry are vital for advice and venting!

By: Janine

Janine — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:13:17 +0000

I’m not involved in the publishing business but I can say from past experience that when someone you trust knifes you in the back, it’s an awful feeling. I hope you find at least one or two trustworthy friends. Maybe outside of the publishing industry?

By: Alison Kent

Alison Kent — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:14:18 +0000

Shiloh – Not to take over the topic, heh, but it really is a wake-up call, isn’t it, as to who truly turns out to be trustworthy.

By: Shiloh Walker

Shiloh Walker — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:39:28 +0000

“

Except in a whole lot of cases friends turn out to not be friends and burn you. I’ve had it happen. I talk to almost no one any longer. The business can ruin friendships so quickly .

”

unfortunately, Alison, you’re right on that one. I’ve got a couple of really good friends that I know I can trust, thank God.

But I’ve gotten that knife in the back several times from people who claimed to be friends. One of those knives could have done some serious damage to my career… IF people had believed the…. okay, yeah, I’m not going back there either.

Point being though, sometimes even friends aren’t the avenue one would hope, not in this business.

By: Alison Kent

Alison Kent — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:50:25 +0000

[quote comment="21260"]The best way to handle these things in my opinion is to have one or two good, honest, close friends that you know you can trust. But hey…like I said, that may not be an option open to everybody.[/quote]

Except in a whole lot of cases friends turn out to not be friends and burn you. I’ve had it happen. I talk to almost no one any longer. The business can ruin friendships so quickly . . . but then, were they ever true friendships, ya know? (Must go away now before I revisit the past and get all pissed off again!)

By: Shiloh Walker

Shiloh Walker — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:57:26 +0000

Dunno that the writer loops are necessarily the answer. Word travels. You say it, you link your name to it, especially in something like a group, it can get back to you. And sadly, word gets distorted or the circumstances that led to whatever aren’t made clear.

The best way to handle these things in my opinion is to have one or two good, honest, close friends that you know you can trust. But hey…like I said, that may not be an option open to everybody.

Me, I’m not going to post one opinion anon and then another, nicer opinion that I’ll sign my name to. It’s hypocritical. But posting anon doesn’t necessarily mean the person is a hypocrite. Now if they go back and argue with the anon post that they posted… (did that make sense?) that’s different.

Can’t really comment about advertising because … well… lol… I couldn’t care less.

By: Sybil

Sybil — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:45:43 +0000

Oh I can see the appeal but that is what your friends are for… your writer loops your whatever…

A blog – most importantly one saying don’t worry you are anon – don’t worry this isn’t for profit – THEN turning around and saying I will ban you if you try and guess and has ads up.

Well doesn’t scream like someone anyone should trust. And the ones that will. That are that trusting are normally the ones with most to lose.

AND I still say it is wrong to be posting as an anon saying one thing then as ‘yourself’ and saying another. lol but I can see the appeal

By: Shiloh Walker

Shiloh Walker — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:38:24 +0000

I dunno. I can maybe see the appeal of this.

I had a friend who had a minor issue. She tried to address it and handled it a lot better than I would have in her position. The person she went to turned it into a major issue.

Worked out okay in the long run but it was an eye opening event. There can be reprisals in the publishing business. Serious ones. If screaming anonymously will alleviate some of that stress without damaging or ruining your career?

I personally do all my screaming via email with my agent, but not everybody has that option.

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:44:43 +0000

I noticed he said that this is not about advertising but has his name and flash pictures of his books on the blog. I wonder if that will go down once the vents start coming in.

And who’s to stop a faker? i.e., I am an editor with a new york publishing house and it really torques me off to see authors from the house talk about the lack of support. Anyone and their cousin could write that from an anonymous email address.