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Jim C. Hines blogged a bit about it here and I have to agree with him - there's no reason why this sort of hate literature needs to be put out and eagerly jumped on by those who know nothing but what they read - and assume that since Card says it, it MUST be true.
This sort of stuff has been really steaming my clams (to quote the Middleman) for some time now. WHY do we think that our celebrities, our authors and our moviemakers have any more a valid opinion about anything than the person next toyou? Does Paris Hilton REALLY have some major insight that you can't find in the bottom of a Tim Horton's box of Timbits? Do I really need to see some sort of political allegory in EVERY film out this year because it's the Thing To Do? Do I really need to read one more diatribe about how homosexuality is destroying America (and if it is, it's taking it's own sweet time...) and have it gain some sort of acceptance because of the Grand Masters of Science Fiction wrote it?
All this does is make me eye Card's entire body of work with a jaded eye. As it does anyone who proclaims their personal views and assumes that I give a tinker's damn about it. Write well, write often and I'll enjoy it. But start spewing hate and you'll find your books gone from my shelves; I don't care how famous you think you are.
Guess Card doesn't believe in Canada either. We're doing just fine with same-sex marriages; have been for years. And somehow we keep on going...
bah.
Dear Author starts the revelation train here - which takes in a post from Lee Goldberg here and is mentioned as well at Karen Knows Best, a faboo blog.
In a nutshell, there are some magazines that sell you a review if you buy advertising space. Now, this isn't that big a revelation for some but for the poor readers of said magazine it may be a bit of a sour taste. After all, why should I believe a review that's basically been bought for the cost of an ad?
Now, having said that - I purchased an ad for my novel in RT. At the time I asked if there was a chance of getting a review, since my book was not only coming out late but the publisher doesn't/didn't believe in sending out ARC copies, or review copies before the book was published. The woman I dealt with (NOT an employee, just the one organizing the group ad) said to send it along and see what happened. Well, I did get a review. Three stars. Of course I got pretty well NO sales thanks to the review but it was nice to see some acknowledgment of my book in print. Did I buy that review? Sure as heck I did... I may not have bought the RATING but I bought the space for it to go to the reviewer out of the stacks and stacks of self-pub/POD/vanity/micropress copies that no doubt fill up rooms and rooms on a daily basis at RT. Did I know this from the start? Nope... I just assumed that I was buying the ad and tossing my book upon the heap in the back room with hopes of getting it reviewed. Now that I know that buying an ad pretty well guarantees the space for a review, well...
While I agree with Goldberg that it's a major lapse in honesty for the reviewers not to say that there's some payoff going on here I also sympathise with Carol Stacy of RT who states that it's one of the ways for them to sift through the chaos above. But maybe it's not the best and maybe RT should have a disclaimer somewhere in the magazine that states that the reviews of smaller companies are basically being bought by the advertising. Perhaps not the rating but the space for the review itself.
As for Affaire de Coeur, where this all started, it's obvious that they're just not as good as hiding it as others. Which is both a shame and a blessing, when you think about it.
So next time you pick up a review for your fav book you may want to consider the source. And then wonder how the system still works with all this silliness going on.
Interesting commentary here about the free ebooks that Tor has been giving away.
Me, I'm still in the neutral spot. I've become a fan of the Julia Spencer-Fleming series because of the free ebooks from St. Martin's Press, but I'm not sure if I'm the norm or not when it comes to boosting sales of the sequels or paper versions of the freebies. I guess it's still coming back around to the problem of an affordable ebook reader that'll be user-friendly.
Did Tor’s free ebooks affect sales?
I've yet to receive the sales listings on my own book for the ebook sales at Fictionwise, but I don't think there'll be much there. I just don't see ebooks as the real future of publishing until a cheap, user-friendly ebook reader is available to the public. And NO, I don't mean the Kindle for over three hundred bucks or the Sony ebook reader for just under three hundred. If I can watch movies and television eps on a screen definitely meant to give me a rush into the trifocal stage of my life and that costs less than three hundred dollars, why can't they come up with a reader for less?
Come on, folks - get a format for everyone to agree on and crank out those readers! I can bet that university students will be thrilled not to mention all of us who just want to read, not spend hours transferring formats and trying to break through security formats.
I received an offer not too long ago from St. Martin's Press for two free ebooks - the first two in the Claire Ferguson/Russ Van Alyne series by Julia Spencer-Fleming. They were giving them away to celebrate the sixth in the series coming out in hardcover.
I totally devoured the first two. And swapped for the third, using my PaperbookSwap account. Which I highly recommend if you're into trading books and looking for older titles.
Just purchased the fifth in the series with a Borders coupon which we get for being such excellent customers and having a Borders Card. Now looking for the fourth by hook or by crook, since it's been out for a bit and harder to find.
I CANNOT recommend this mystery series enough. It's from a first-time author who hit the ball right outta the park with her first novel (putting yet more nails in the naysayers who claim that no one gets published without contacts) and won a slew of awards right out of the gate. It's an excellent read involving a Priest and a Police Chief with a touch of romance and more than enough twists and turns to make the trip well worth it for every volume to date. If you're looking for a good series with a tough ex-army broad kicking butt while wearing a clerical collar and an ex-'Nam vet dealing with his own demons, go search this series out.
'nuff said.
p.s. Our computer has totally died, so we're going to have to go shopping tonight for a new one. Oh, joy.
p.p.s. D-Man - nothing here. At least I blogged about a good book, eh? And you can find it in stores!
:D
