*headdesk*.

[megwrites]

Unprofessional author is unprofessional. Or: there is a damn good reason that you don't respond to reviews and this is fucking well IT.

This is now the second professionally published author who has come to my journal and displayed their fail (the first being Lois McMaster Bujold who MammothFailed epically). Do I have a beacon out that says, "Welcome to the Fail Lounge. Feel free to take your pants off!"?

Let me just enumerate, for any one listening, the biggest reason that it is not a good idea to respond to reviews: you're not going to change their minds. Ms. Stein certainly did nothing to make me feel differently about her book.

Have you ever heard of an author going to a reviewer, arguing, and honestly changing someone's opinion? Has it ever helped that author look like a better person, improved their sales?

If it has, please throw me a link. Because all I can think of are the many authors (*coughcough* Alice Hoffman *coughcough*) who have done it to their detriment.

Comments

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

*nods*. Well said. Having read the Nora Roberts response, it is actually a professional thing to say. Because she doesn't say that reader was wrong or try to offer any defenses, which actually makes me respect her more.

As for Elizabeth Bear, I think that given the time lag in the reporting of sales to the author (if I remember all my publishing factoids), the sales would have mostly taken place before the RaceFail09 comments. Of course, I could be wrong. But I think it was delayed so that the sales increased pre-fail. I think.

But I suppose the "there's no such thing as bad publicity" cliche has a reason for existing, maybe.

Of course, talking about it makes me a little annoyed because I was a former fan until the fail came around and then I was just angry. 2009 has been the year for pro authors in SF/F to really fail, hasn't it?

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

Yep. For me, it was Robin McKinley (I grew up on her books; I love The Hero and the Crown to pieces) and Bujold whose fail hit hardest. It's only been recently that I've been able to think about re-reading any of their work (working on separating the author from the book), and I usually re-read A LOT. Hero is usually the book I pick up when I want a comfort read; I re-read it at least once a year anyway.

Romance genre bloggers have a tag called "Authors Behaving Badly" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Authors%20Behaving%20Badly%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8); I don't know who started it, but it seems to have caught on in some circles. It's not so much about the content of their books, as their often unsolicited and less than courteous replies to criticism. Just imagine if Romance started bringing up stuff about race and privilege. *facepalm* (Er, not to say that that genre doesn't need some major overhaul too, because it really does, but I would imagine the fail to be epic. And not to say there aren't already people discussing race issues - among other issues - in romance novels, just that it doesn't seem to have caught on with that fandom at large, or not from what I've seen.)

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

It's only been recently that I've been able to think about re-reading any of their work (working on separating the author from the book),

You're a much bigger, better person than me because I still haven't gotten there. I can't pick up things by (for example) Orson Scott Card anymore. I did, at one point, love and adore the Ender series so much that I bought all of them in hardback. Now, I can't even stand having them on my shelves. It feels like a violation of the only really safe space I have, and that's my shelf, my house, my inner thoughts.

Just imagine if Romance started bringing up stuff about race and privilege.

Oh yeah, that would be very, very epic. I think there have been some discussions of racefail in Romance on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/) but nothing consistent. They did take a few book to task for their completely ludicrous portrayals of various Native American peoples with the words "savage" or "wild" in the title as well as the absolutely laughable content inside.

Imagine if ALL genres started doing the same? I think there's a lot of racism that doesn't get spoken about in other places, not just SF/F or Romance. Frankly, I think mainstream literary books could use a good going over. Hell, all American literature could!

like santa, i have a list

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

I definitely have an Orson Scott Card (non)shelf, but that was easy for me, because I didn't like/understand Ender's Game, and so feel no qualms about not reading him. Ditto authors who racefailed and whose books I've not read; they go on the OSC [do not buy/do not read] shelf. It's when I like the work that's more of a problem (and if the problem is in the text, for some reason, if I like other parts of the story enough, I find that far easier to deal with than the author failing outside their books; possibly because the former can be attributed to ignorance? and the latter seems to happen especially when the author is informed of their cluelessness/offense).

I think there have been some discussions of racefail in Romance on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books but nothing consistent.

Yeah. It's not one of the factors they look at often when they review books or talk in general about the issues in romance tropes.

They did take a few book to task for their completely ludicrous portrayals of various Native American peoples with the words "savage" or "wild" in the title as well as the absolutely laughable content inside.

IIRC, that was more due to plagiarism (and terrible writing) than racism, though, and I seem to recall ferrets being involved...