The Readventurer
  • Home
  • YA Reviews
  • Adult Reviews
  • Contests and Giveaways
  • Policies
  • About Us
    • Flannery's Challenges
    • Catie's Challenges
  • Contact Us

Odds & Ends On the Web: July 14th Edition

7/14/2012

15 Comments

 
odds&ends logo
First thing first, we are not going to link to the site that created the most drama this week. This site has a very, how do we say it, deranged (mis)understanding of what online bullying and stalking are, and we don't want to direct any more traffic there, especially seeing that for some strange reason the creators of the site think that all the people who check it out are their supporters rather than those who just want to see the infamous crazy stalker behavior with their own eyes. There have been many responses to this site already - Foz Meadows' that explains for the unknowing what bullying exactly means, Rachel Vincent's who, sadly, is forced to make it clear she has nothing to do with it (accusations are running rampant!) and Stacia Kane's very passionate one from an author's perspective. We especially sympathize with Kane's position that witnessing constant conflicts between reviewers and writers is exhausting and disheartening, to the point of not wanting to be a part of this reading community anymore. We can't wait for that time when this raging culture of publicizing and sensationalizing every tiny disagreement comes to an end. We want to see genuine debates and discussions and disagreements and negative reviews, but not when they deteriorate to petty screen-capped examinations of everyone's online indiscretions, airing of personal dirty laundry and baseless accusations of any crime under the sun (stalking, sock-puppetting, you name it) that spread out via Twitter like wildfire and then result in hate mail, abuses on all sides, anonymous emails to the "offenders'"' work places and general atmosphere of hostility. It seems no disagreement is allowed to die down, get resolved or is ignored any more, instead there is a trend to expose, humiliate and destroy. And it applies to both sides - the reviewers (some) and authors (some). We don't know about you, but, boy, are we tired of drama and misguided screen-capped vendettas.

There are a couple of interesting posts that came out of the couple of weeks old "ARCgate" (again, a "scandal" that descended to a storm of name-calling, character assassinations and calls for war absolutely disproportionate to the nature of the questions raised in the original post). The first one is by Katiebabs, who says The Blogger with the Most ARCs Does Not Rule Bloglandia, with which we wholeheartedly agree. Although the showcasing of IMMs and Book Hauls creates an idea, especially in the minds of young bloggers, that getting the most ARCs, at all cost, is the ultimate goal of blogging, actually having your hands full of so many books is more of a burden than a blessing. Just imagine reading and reviewing the books you are mostly uninterested in and see how much fun that is. And then comes a question of the disposal of those ARCs, another tricky one, it appears. Elizabeth Fama pleads to kill her ARCs, instead of swapping or donating them. What is comes down to is that there are not many options for bloggers to dispose of paper ARCs legitimately, besides throwing them into trash (hopefully recyclable). So, there is a whole new layer to this ARC-grabbing discussion which now includes wastefulness of paper ARCs as a promotional material. Distribution of egalleys to the reviewers who are actually interested in certain books seems like a better way to go. Definitely will save on postage and let some trees live.

In other news, if you wondered why new books are not as well edited as the old ones, The Changing Face of Publishing Relationships might have some answers (via YA Highway). It is evident that editors are viewed more and more as business people who should be able to identify and sell big money-makers rather than, you know, edit. The article also says that if before editors had a luxury of editing a book for months, now they have days if not hours to spend on each book.

Bookshelves of Doom alerted us that there is an emerging site which is like Rotten Tomatoes, for books - www.idreambooks.com - which is supposed to present a mix of professional and amateur (blogger) reviews. If your blog satisfies certain requirements, you reviews can be featured on that site as well. It will be  interesting to see if this site catches on.

dance of shadows cover
There's a been a very curious blurb circulating this past week - of Yelena Black's Dance of Shadows. The blurb goes like this:

"Curtains up on a deliciously dark new YA trilogy from the creators of Lauren Kate’s Fallen."

Some readers legitimately asked - Isn't the creator of Lauren Kate's Fallen... Lauren Kate? Well, as we wrote before, there is an interesting artistic process in publishing that is called "packaging," when books are created by an agency and then an author is hired to write out the prepared plot. There is nothing new about this, but this is the first time when the fact that a book is packaged is used as a promotional point. Normally, this information stays concealed and the hired author gets all the credit.

And, to wrap things up for this week, a couple of links to podcasts (we haven't mentioned those in awhile). Kelly of Stacked and Liz of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy talk (at length) about library work, blogging, and everything book-related (and even mention our blog, thank you!). Sara Zarr's latest podcast features Sara's several local writer friends and is dedicated to discussing the value of being a part of a writing community.

15 Comments
Jo [Wear the Old Coat] link
7/14/2012 03:32:57 am

Yes. Your first paragraph.. you practically read my mind. When did YA fiction/reading/blogging/writing get so.... political? Why can't we just read books we love and discuss them? Or read books we dislike and discuss them? Why does it all have to turn into madness?

That Dance of Shadows is really odd. I'm not naive enough to think that the publishers don't have A LOT to deal with a book... but surely, it's the authors work?

I love the cover though.

Great post, ladies!

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
7/14/2012 09:54:41 am

From what I heard, an agency comes together, puts together a plot, characters, etc, and then "auditions" writers to write everything out. They look for "voices" that they like. It's weird. IMO.

Reply
Tori link
7/14/2012 04:11:45 am

Your link to Stacy Cane's article is wrong (it goes to Foz's piece again).

I totally agree with your first paragraph. I don't want to be a part of the book community with this crap going on. And it's only a small number of people ruining it for everyone.

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
7/14/2012 09:56:57 am

Thanks for letting us know about the link. Fixed.

One eventually gets tired of negativity and hostility. Disagreements can exist without the extremes we've all been seeing.

Reply
Kailia @ Reading the Best of the Best link
7/14/2012 01:22:56 pm

Your first paragraph is really great. Obviously, not the subject but the way you wrote it. I checked out this site out of sheer curiosity and I was so appalled by it! I read some of the comments and my goodness, so much hate! After reading this post, I even wrote <a href="http://readingthebestofthebest.blogspot.com/2012/07/evolution-of-goodreads-and-blogosphere.html">my feelings towards this</a> because it's all so sad and disheartening. Rachel Vincent is super nice and it's truly horrible that she had to go through that.

As for this agency writing together this, I agree with you, it's weird!

Reply
Kailia @ Reading the Best of the Best link
7/14/2012 01:23:54 pm

Ok, html doesn't work. Sorry.

Reply
Kate C. link
7/14/2012 04:15:12 pm

Ghost writers are strange entities, like music artists who don't sing the music that they wrote. They still have the ability to sing a pretty song, but they don't get any street cred for it. :)
I can't imagine doing that myself. I don't know if I could do anything if I was just handed the idea for it. Where is the fire of inspiration to spur you along in a project like that?

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
7/15/2012 03:39:24 am

I've always wondered how detailed those outlines are and how there can be any room for creativity in such an arrangement.

Reply
Jasprit link
7/14/2012 09:50:55 pm

I totally agree with what Jo has to say, I think this year in particular there's been so much madness happening all over the place, with someone exposing someone or the other! I'd started blogging because of my love for books.

I was also a little confused about the tag line associated with Dance of Shadows I thought that Lauren Kate had written it and had to do a double take!

Thanks for sharing all this info ladies, I would have totally have been out of the loop without it! :)

Reply
Liza link
7/15/2012 02:23:23 am

I won't comment on the first thing. I think enough has been said. I'm so tired of all the drama and do my best to stay out of it. I'll only say it's really creepy as a blogger to think that if a review you write is disliked there are people out there waiting to reveal all your personal details to the public.

On to the next, I think the whole idea behind "packaging" is fascinating in a morbid kind of sense. I've always known there to be ghost writers and things of that nature, but for editors to actually use that as a selling points makes me wonder in Lauren Kate's situation if she was given the material to work with for the first book and given leeway to take the story where she wanted or if the plot was defined for her for all four books.

If that's the case, I wonder what she could do on her own without those restrictions. It's interesting to think about.

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
7/15/2012 03:43:01 am

I am also curious how hired authors like that feel about later giving interviews about their inspirations. You will probably agree that it's a very odd position for an author to be in, when officially all credit is given to her.

Reply
Kyle
7/15/2012 03:24:10 am

I agree, like many others have, with your first paragraph. I do think there is fault on both sides, and nobody is willing to let any reviewer-author dissagreements die down, and it becomes very childish with screen-capping absolutely everything that is said and done, although that website is a completely inappropriate response.

I was also a little confused at first Dance of Shadows. Very odd choice of words. Probably would've been best to say, "From the people who brought you Lauren Kate's Fallen series" or whatever.

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
7/15/2012 03:51:02 am

If just a year ago I was firmly on the side of readers/reviewers, at this point I've seen enough to see the faults of both and just want to stay away from it all.

I don't think this odd blurb will stay like that for long. It raises too many questions.

Reply
Kyle
7/15/2012 04:46:21 am

It's unfortunate since it evolved from negative reviews/free speech to something a lot more that's difficult to take sides on since both sides are guilty of what they're fighting about, but neither side wants to take ownership.

At this point I just have my fingers crossed that both sides can come to some kind of tentative understanding, if not agreement to just not interact with one another, so it can get back to being about reading and reviewing, and not paranoia and harassment.

VeganYANerds link
7/21/2012 08:45:06 am

Yes, I agree that this drama has to stop, but it only seems to be getting worse :/

And thanks for the info on that Dance of Shadows, I now know to avoid it ;)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Follow Us On:

    Facebook Twitter Feed

    Subscribe:

    Subscribe
    Follow on Bloglovin

    Subscribe via email:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    What We're Reading:

    Blood of my Blood cover

    Flannery

    Goodreads
    Monstrous Affections cover

     Tatiana

    Goodreads
    Rules of Civility cover

      Catie

    Goodreads

    Archives 

    March 2014
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Categories

    All
    Author Spotlight
    Book Events
    Book Vs. Movie
    Catie's Adult Reviews
    Catie's Y.A. Reviews
    Contest Or Giveaway
    Flannery's Adult Reviews
    Flannery's Y.A. Reviews
    If You Like This Maybe That
    Library Quest
    Odds & Ends On The Web
    Randomness
    Readalong Recaps
    She Made Me Do It
    Tatiana's Adult Reviews
    Tatiana's Y.A. Reviews
    Three Heads Are Better Than One Or Two
    Year Of The Classics


    Blogs We Follow

    Angieville
    Anna Scott Jots
    Badass Book Reviews
    The Book Geek
    The Book Smugglers
    Book Harbinger
    Books Take You Places
    Bunbury in the Stacks
    Chachic's Book Nook
    Clear Eyes, Full Shelves
    Collections
    Cuddlebuggery
    For the Love of Words
    The Galavanting Girl Books
    Inkcrush
    Intergalactic Academy
    Ivy Book Bindings
    The Nocturnal Library
    Rainy Day Ramblings
    The Readers Den
    The Reading Date
    Realm of Fiction
    Sash and Em
    Stacked
    The Unread Reader
    Vegan YA Nerds
    Wear The Old Coat
    Wordchasing
    Wrapped Up In Books
    Young Adult Anonymous 

    Grab A Button

    The Readventurer
    <div align="center"><a href="http://www.thereadventurer.com" title="The Readventurer"><img src="http://www.weebly.com/uploads/7/8/9/9/7899923/custom_themes/149267861480723643/files/TheReadventurer.png?1321429794244" alt="The Readventurer" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

    Parajunkee Design
    SiteLock
    Since 2/4/2012

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
Photos used under Creative Commons from savillent, vue3d, vue3d, ljcybergal