"It makes you look like an asstard."Best-selling sci-fi author John Scalzi weighs in on the recent El Kay Haich blogsplosion, and says, in part:
"Here's the thing. Some people won't like your books. If these people also have access to the Internet, the chances are good that they might tell other people how they don't like your books. Sometimes, they'll tell people they don't like your books, even if they haven't read your books, because some people are crazy screechy monkeys.
[...]
Eventually you'll have to retreat; declare moral victory if you like, but the fact is, the colony of monkeys is still screeching crazily at you, people are pointing and laughing at your asstardery, and you're covered in monkey shit."As they say in blogtopia (y! sctp!),
you really should read the whole thing.Teresa Nielsen Hayden who is one of my most favorite writers, online or off, has some real zingers, pretty much saying exactly what I felt, only more eloquently. Here, check out her first comment:
"Oh lord. Hamilton's screed is worse than I'd imagined. For instance:
...someone stood in line for hours at a signing, smiled at me, and had me sign the book, then said to my face, "I hated this book. I hate what you've done with the series." I blinked at them, and said something like, "Sorry to hear that." When I ask, "Why do you read the books then?" Answer, "I keep hoping they'll get good again." ... I don't get it guys. I'm not going to get it. I finally realized that I'm not going to understand this noisy, unpleasant minority of my fans. Because you are fans. Only fans would spend this much time and energy on anything. ... And if you don't think you are the minority, well, sorry, guys but you are. I have the sales figures to prove it. Each book’s sales are more than the last.
If fans really loved the earlier books in a series, they'll often stick with it for exactly the reasons she quotes. It's an act of faith. But when their patience finally snaps, not only is it going to be damned hard to get them back -- your starting position is not neutral -- but they may stop reading all books by that author, whether they're part of the series or not. Sometimes they'll stop reading all books of that sort, no matter who wrote them.
Laurel Hamilton is dissing the fans who've stuck with her Anita Blake series. The specific people she's singling out were willing to buy her books, stand in line for two hours to get them signed, and publicly identify themselves as her fans, even though the later series hasn't been paying off for them. I don't think "affronted incomprehension" is her ideal response to this situation.
Worse, she's telling people they're wrong when they say they haven't enjoyed the later books. That's always an error. You can't argue with someone's experience of a book. If they enjoyed it, they enjoyed it. If they didn't, they didn't.
And to cap it all off, how does she prove she's right about the series, and they're wrong? Because her sales figures keep going up. Way to go, lady. Get right out there and tell your fans that the reason you don't have to listen to them is that they keep buying your books. They'll have that paradox sorted out for you in nothing flat."
The Notorious T.N.H. pegs exactly why, though my wife may still buy the Anita series, as Danse Macbre, she has the next book (which promised Edward) to keep me as a fan or that's it, I'm through. I'm already staying far, far away from the Merry Gentry series because of my annoyance, but eternal optimist that I am, I keep hoping that, hey, Edward will help make the book readable again (because the character is all that, a bag of chips, and a tub of organic Awesomesauce).
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