BTW, does anyone here know Sherrilyn Kenyon? Sherri is delightfully unfettered by most of society’s constraints on the ridiculous side of fun. The first time I signed at an RWA Literacy Signing, she was seated across the aisle from me, with a full set of Dark-Hunter character dolls on hand. She’s the very first person I would expect to appear wearing such an outfit.

I’ve seen you enough, Nora, to know that you are always professional, polished and damned near perfect. (I’m not stalking you, honest, no matter how that sounds.) You are one of the last people I’d expect to see in a costume. Included in that category are SEP and Catherine Coulter. It’s a matter of personality and personal presentation.

Alas, I have to confess that being much closer to Sherri than Nora in my attitudes. I would say I’m close to M&M as well, but should I attempt that type of garb at my present age and weight, men and women would scream in terror and small children be sentenced to lifetimes of post-traumatic therapy. That’s a bit much to have on my conscience. Ah, but in my youth…

Angela, that’s a point that cuts through these other debates. There’s a lot of diversity of subgenres, but within each subgenre there are tons of near-identical books. It’s the “Wall of Books” effect in the NYTimes article I quoted above: every trend is represented by such high volume. On top of the fact that not every book can be fantastic, even if it is unique.

Given how jaded I get as a reader, I understand the wish to make the Shomi books (all books) stand out as something different. Honestly though, I’m SO sick of hype. It seems like every book has won some award, and has amazing quotes from other romance authors (which I’ve learned not to trust). And the cover copy too often either sounds just like 40 other books, or gives a false impression of the book. (I find chick lit cover copy especially deceptive.) And then if I buy a hyped-up book and find an unedited mess… I get even more jaded.

It makes it hard to impulse buy. I do more and more research online, reading samples before I buy. (I squint to not read the hype on authors’ websites.) I also use the library when in doubt.

I think the hype has crescendoed (or become more obtrusive) in the last few years. I presume there’s market research saying most readers like the hype, but I’ve hit saturation point.

The way I see it? It isn’t enough to write a great book, but from what I see on the shelves these days, the majority of them aren’t great books and from blog-hopping on author blogs, a lot of unpublished authors are writing copies(whether consciously or not) of what’s on the shelves or what an editor/agent says may be the next trend–not exactly conducive to writing great and unique books or a positive and creative atmosphere. (Makes me wonder how many unpublished authors leave Nationals not worried about what the next author(pubbed and unpubbed) is writing, or what Editor X said is selling.)

That is what is killing the genre and why it will not get the respect a majority seems to crave. Even though Nora Roberts novels haven’t hit my g-spot (*g*), I respect her because she apparently is able to hit the mark every time one of her novels is released–no piggy-backing on trends or fretting over what Susie Q. Author is writing, but setting her own trends while respecting her readers and the genre.

How is using the term ‘pedophile-luring school girls’ even remotely funny?

I’ve always figured that mentioning pedophilia and presenting it as a joke is generally considered bad form.

My bad.

***

Anyone who reads the thread of that discussion will note that what I said was a joking comment in very general terms, responding to a slew of comments on the authors in question and the state of author publicity in general, unlike posters who called the authors “tarts” and also “creepy.” Please do link to THOSE posters’ comments, as well, so your readers can see what preceded my note. I will be the first to say that I misspoke — in jest — but at least I used an honest term to coin the discussion that was, to that point, being cased in very subtle but no less hurtful “nice” terms that women often use when they’re politely eviscerating other women. Those posters were making specific comments directly aimed at the authors, while I was not.

Just sayin’.