A Hat Dilemma

Last week (I’m still catching up from vacation) the fabulous and lovely Ann Aguirre guest posted at the equally fabulous and lovely Stacie Kane’s blog about her choice between reviewing and writing. Aguirre says:

However, as my career took off, I decided I was an author first. And part of that means not slagging off my colleagues because honesty aside, there is always the “competition” factor. People read your nasty review and think, damn, she’s just jealous that X is doing so much better than she is. It makes you come across as petty, even if you just genuinely didn’t like the book.

I understand this so well, and guys n’ gals, it totally sucks. There is no way around it. As a straight reviewer there is some “They’re just jealous” reaction when it comes to bad reviews (and to make things more complicated sometimes it’s true), but it’s a much bigger reaction when the reviewer is a writer too. That little accusation comes out so much quicker.

I suspect someday I’ll have to hang up my reviewing hat in the name of good business sense and keeping the peace with colleagues. Already I’ve bought books so that even if I don’t like the books the author friend still gets the royalties, I’ve turned down books, refused to review books, and left my ability to be neutral up to other editors (who have so far had faith in my ability to be honest).

There are a few points I have as to why I’m still reviewing:

1. I don’t think publishing is a competition, and certainly not a competition between people.

There are so many tastes, and opinions, voracious readers, trends, paths a career can take… you name it. Authors like Ann and Stacia aren’t my competition, not just because I’m not at their publishing level, or because it’s our books that (will) share space on the shelves, but because their success means good things for my success. Not just because I might, someday get them to recommend me to their audience or blurb my book, or even because they are readers who just might buy my book too, but because their books being published now keep readers engaged and interested to potentially read my books later. They are continuing to foster the audience and the love of reading that I’ll need to foster once I sell my books. they’re keeping publishing alive today so that I can publish tomorrow. Careers take different paths, work on different time lines and spike through different mediums all the time. If I look at the current books on the shelf, or at the other authors or writers around me as competition I’m already failing, discounting the value of the reader and the audience.

2. I believe friends can, and should be honest with each other. Even about the bad stuff.

It’s not easy, but the strength of a true friendship comes from loving each other not just despite your flaws, but because of them. I don’t adore my writer friends because they write great stories, I adore them because of who they are.

I do understand that sometimes pressure is too much (on both sides), and some people do get upset that their friends don’t love their work. I understand that I disappoint people with my reviews. In fact, more negativity has come to me from people upset that my “Liked it, didn’t love it” reviews weren’t “I totally <3 this” reviews than from my outright negative reviews. Which leads into:

3. I don’t know like writing negative reviews, but negative reviews are my opinion and no review/refusing to review is apathy and is a genre-fan sin.

This is why I try to be very specific when something disappoints me or outright upsets me in  book. Because talking about it is still talking about it (and some readers adore the very things I hate), it’s still getting that attention and dialog out there, and refusing to review it is refusing to add it to my scope of the genre at all. Plus, combined with the experience I mentioned previously, more people have been upset at me about the equivalent of three star reviews than for genuinely bad reviews. So I really can’t win. Even if I did refuse to write bad reviews someone would get upset because I didn’t recommend it highly enough, or because I didn’t lather the book with glowing praise.

4. Reviews aren’t just my opinion, they are my dialog with other readers.

This overlaps with my other points, but I feel I need to bring it up. I review for different sites, each one with a different target audience. Dark Scribe is a critical site that puts a lot of importance on a book’s value to the genre, the current mindset of readers and the long view of things. Monster Librarian is tightly focused on educating librarians on the horror genre and one the books that will give them the best bang for their buck. On my own I think about being a broke, but passionate reader with likes and dislikes like everyone else. I think about the wide variety of tastes in readers and who the books would appeal to, even if they don’t appeal to me.

A perfect example is A Rush of Wings by Adrian Phoenix. I’m a hundred pages into this book, and not really liking it. I find the characters boring and the plot cliche and over dramatic at times. But the writing is actually good, the setting descriptions are flavorful and I know EXACTLY who I’ll be giving my copy to when I finish it. I know who will love this kind of book. It’s not me, but there is an audience. What I try to do with my BookLove reviews is connect the right readers with the right books.

5. Right now reviewing pays more than writing.

Actually, I had a hard time with this one, because it seems like everyone wants me to read, review, endorse or help promote their book, but so very few readers and editors want to buy my books. In those dark moments it feels like the publishing industry wants to just take from me (money, time, effort, sanity).

But the rule of making it as a freelance writer is you have to focus on the things that pay your bills. Right now that’s reviewing. Reviewing has gotten me more contacts, more money, a larger audience and a firmer reputation in the genre world than writing alone has. If that changes, I’ll consider hanging up my reviewer hat. But until then, even if I upset other writers, I feel I’m doing what’s right for my career at this point, which is the best any author/writer/whatever can do.