A comment was made on Dear Author today that resonated with me a lot. I decided to vent about it here because I’m probably going to go off on a tangent from the discussion there and I know it so it was more appropriate to do it here. The comment that struck me was made by Janine in response to something Jane said in the original post there. Here are the two quotes:

The problem with the patronage system and the whole idea of adopting an author, buying hardcover, buying new, is that it conflicts with the very idea that the reader is to form relationships with the book and not the author.

You nailed it here, Jane. And one of the problems with that is that the more we base our buying on relationships with authors rather than relationships with their books, the more the author’s responsiblity becomes to be the readers’ buddy rather than to produce a great book.

The thing is that authors are always reminding us that they’re “readers, too” because some of us, me in particular, seem to have a tendency to draw a very distinct line between readers and authors. What most don’t recognize, or maybe acknowledge, is that we’re not the ones drawing the line in the first place.

It already exists and we’re just not ignoring it.

You see, as long as they talk like another reader we can treat them like one but when they speak like an author and writer, how can we treat them as anything other than an Author – with that capital A and all that it entails?

Oh, but they are authors, they immediately whimper. Or worse. Well, yeah. And no one should expect them turn off that side of themselves. Nor should readers have to ignore it either. Only if they can’t turn if off, then they have to accept that they’re no longer simply readers.

And that’s exactly the point. It’s always been the point. Either they can turn if off when needed or they can’t. They can’t have it both ways.

Again, it isn’t always a bad thing either way. I don’t hate authors. Readers don’t hate authors. Quite the contrary. Truth be told we have the greatest respect for them. How can we not when we love their work so much? What others see as an “us against them” tension, I see as showing respect for the work they do. Respect for the accomplishment of actually having sold a manuscript. Respect for crossing that threshold to becoming a published writer. That acknowledgement is a bad thing?

I just don’t love any of them personally and I think that’s where things get a little murky online sometimes. Sure, I don’t want to be buddies with anybody just because they’re an author. (Unless of course they already were my buddy but you know what? If they were, they rest of you would never know it. Trust me on this.) I simply respect the work they do and am happy to keep it at that.

And that’s my musing for the day. Apply at your own risk. 😀

2 Comments

  1. Well, doggone it and I thought I checked the names so carefully. I’ll change it in the post. 😉

    I probably wouldn’t have posted this little venting session if someone elsewhere hadn’t rather startled me with their jump in logic. In one paragraph they were saying that reviews were just recommendations for readers that authors shouldn’t take as writing advice and in another asking why writers should shut up if reviewers get snarky.

    Makes one’s head spin that they could see one line and not the other.

  2. It was actually me who made the comment that you quoted (I know it’s easy to confuse us, because of the similar names). If an author has written a book I think is fantastic, I look up to her and get a little thrill if she chats with me online. But now that I’m blogging, I find that that kind of fangirl reaction is problematic if I give it free reign. Because there’s always the possibility that I won’t love that author’s next book, and I’ll have to give it a low grade. I don’t want to bash any author, I respect their hard work, but in the end I may have to grade the book that resulted from it, and not their online personality.

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