After I posted about the tension in book blogging last week, I was interested to see Tess Gerritsen's post at Murderati about whether or not a bad review can kill your career. If you, like me, have read Tess's blog for any length of time you already know that she's maybe more sensitive to reviews than other authors. It's never bothered me, after all, at least she's honest enough to admit it. Anyway, check out the post it's a good one and also check out Caite's response at A Lovely Shore Breeze.
Strange Culture had a recent interesting post as well about how the National Federation for the Blind were protesting the movie Blindness. I haven't yet seen this film, though I did buy the book and look forward to reading it, but the subsequent discussion amazed me. And yes I think you can find my comment in the comments section. Has anyone read this book or seen the film? I'd love to know your thoughts from that perspective.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Some Recent Fascinating Discussions
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6 comments:
I've read the book many years ago and would love to see the movie. The thing about the book is that almost everyone in the world is struck by blindness and they do not know how to cope with this sudden blindness. Of course, they need help in the beginning-anyone would if they were suddenly struck blind. I am pretty sure Jose Saragamo did not mean to offend the blind when writing his book.
How do you feel "negative reviews" killing a "career" corresponds with "negative reviews" and the unprofessional blogger?
Amy, that's sort of what I thought as well. And I suspected Blindness wasn't referring to physical blindness so much as another type of blindness...
Bookchronicle...it's not that I think those two things are exactly linked, but the post is a perfect example of an author's sensitivity to reviews. Obviously, an unprofessional book blogger doesn't hold the same sway as a published review. I just thought it was an interesting post talking about negative reviews. Now, I have heard stories of authors going after bloggers and readers for bad reviews and that stuff is clearly out of line as well.
I think you see a lot of this on Amazon, with authors getting very angry over a negative reviews. I haven't seen it on a review blog yet (thankfully). On the one hand, I understand how it might hurt the author, but I've got to say that they are producing a product that they want people to spend money on. Granted, the enjoyment of that product is subjective, but consumers have a right to research and get different opinions on it before they buy. I'm glad you brought the subject up this week - it made for some interesting opinions.
Thanks for the shout out Amy.
It may well be the accounts of authors attacking negative reviews on Amazon or contacting bloggers about reviews that I seem to have read a lot about on fellow blogs that made this discussion resonate in my brain when I first read it. As I said, I can understand that a negative comment about your 'baby' must be painful but I am not sure getting into a shouting match, even a cyber one, is the best solution.
Myself, I would just go to a small, dark hiding place and cry.
What great spotlights on how reviews can harm authors. I was always taught in workshops that when reading another writer's work, you should pick out things you liked about it and things that you thought needed improvement. It sort of softens the blow. It would be the same with reviews. Whether you just liked the initial premise or the plot, but thought the character was annoying. Sprinkling in the good with the bad can be helpful.
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