If, like me, you gobble books and gallop around on the internet frequently, chances are you’ve stumbled across author in the wild before. It’s slightly intriguing and yet odd to behold.
I, once, deludedly imagine authors as a wondrous species, who type amazing artful words all day, consume coffee, wear fuzzy socks, rule certain planets, and have enchanted mops to clean their floors.
Unfortunately (although this is a stupid failing on authors’ parts, to be honest, because when I’m a published author THAT above is an exact description of how I’m going to be living) most authors don’t live like this. They’re pretty normal humans. They have day jobs and kids and they sometimes burn the salad and get toothaches and sucky things happen to them and, all in all, they are awfully human. And humans make mouldy decisions and behave badly sometimes. And, to counteract that, sometimes humans are so freakishly nice it just leaves you speechless.
My question is…
…does an author’s actions or attitude or behaviour (good or bad!) influence your opinion of their books?
I don’t want to sit here and squint suspiciously at the mean authors. You’ve heard of them, haven’t you? If you want to google “authors behaving badly” you’ll get a ripe list that you can peruse. Um, yes, I have done this. There are some a
uthors who have said rotten things. There are authors who abuse their fans. There are authors who are preachy about their opinions or chauvinistic or against equality. There are authors who seem to have ZERO maturity and act like any slight against their work is a reader trying to stab them maliciously in the face with a spork, when in reality the reader just didn’t like their book and wanted to talk about it.
Should bad behaviour influence how I view their book?
Because sometimes their behaviour/opinions don’t actually affect their book. Like there’s an author who ranted and abused reviewers, but I’d read and loved one of their books. Now I disagree with the author’s actions and meanness, but should I never ever recommend their book? THE BOOK IS GOOD.
It’s a quandary.
And sometimes seeing authors behaving badly has made me decide to not read their books and not support them, sometimes it doesn’t! I’m not even consistent!
But let’s swing the pendulum.
Should good behaviour influence how I view their book?
When an author has been super nice to me, like given me a book or tweeted super sweet things or is a friend — I want so badly to love their books! I feel a desperate urge to review them well because I know there’s a person behind the book. (Although, just to put it out there, peoples: my reviews are always honest.) This is actually a big reason I barely ever take review-requests. I don’t want to have to work directly with a person I might have to possibly whisper, “Um, by the way, I didn’t like your book that you spend hundreds of hours creating and is the art of your soul.” Because, erm, #awkward for me.
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I tend to see the book first, and the author second if I even bother to think about them at all.
I’m here for the book. I am. I believe authors’ actions don’t have to affect their art. Although, weirdly, I don’t think books belong to readers. (I mean, when someone bakes you a pie you don’t say “I ATE THIS PIE AND IT WAS DELICIOUS SO I MADE IT!” No. You enjoy the pie, you didn’t create the pie. But that’s a topic for another time.) Authors have given us their art and now it’s between us and the art to figure out if we like each other.
Gosh, it’s not an easy topic, is it? Easy topics are for the weak, mwahhaha ha. I’m not even entirely sure what I believe either. I’ve seen authors be cruel. I’ve seen them harass and chase reviewers off the internet. It’s hard to want to read their books when I’ve seen that first-hand. And I’ve seen authors be so nice I’ve been terrified to read their books, in case I don’t like it and hurt their feelings.
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Becoming a book blogger has meant I have become MORE aware of how authors behave. And, yeah, I guess I view John Green more favourably because I hugely admire his charity work and also his vlogs, so I get defensive when people attack him (but hey, that’s another post entirely as well…which I may or may not write). BUT YES OMG it’s so hard reviewing a book when you’ve got to know the author – I for one am terrified that I won’t like Stray, for instance.
I get defensive of my favourite authors too, eheh, and omg, I got SO MAD over the recent John Green hate-fest. It just felt so random and unfounded. blahhhh. I was terrified of Spark! BUT I LIKED IT. So I’m pretty confident I’ll be okay about Stray, but omg, Rachael Craw is just so so so oooo nice I never want to hate her books. xD
Basically in most of my reading life I didn’t even care about the author. Like seriously, I rarely owned more than one non-series book from the same author, and I liked to sample widely, so I didn’t care much. And then I joined the book blogosphere, and I started to keep track of soooo many authors. Also I had Twitter and followed authors, that’s probably a more significant factor, at least my percentage of time spent.
Back to the topic at hand, I always try to put the book first. Most of the time I won’t even go hunting down the author unless I’ve finished and enjoyed the book, so that’s something. But I guess for book bloggers you’ll interact with authors on tour invites and such before you even receive the book. I did once buy a book simply because the author’s enthusiasm was so infectious and I didn’t look at the blurb, which is ADSOM by V.E. Schwab, also known as Alyssa’s Favourite Book of 2015 and possibly ever. So that worked out for me in the end.
P.S.: I dunno about owning small planets, because it’s pretty useless to own some numbered planet in a star system however many light years away. However it would be fabulous to name planets after authors or their characters instead of what looks like a keyboard smash on the number pad.
until I started blogging most of the authors I read from were, um, DEAD. So that helped with this. 😉 But I don’t hunt for drama particularly, and I try to stay out of it and haven’t had any tOO bad experiences, so yeah. I hope it stays that way for me. But seriously 99% of the reason I want to read Wither is because Lauren deStephano is FREAKISHLY HILARIOUS on twitter! That sells a book to me, it totally does.
Pfft, I’ll build colonies my planets and have minions and subjects and I’ll rule magnanimously.
This is such an interesting discussion, and I have to say that I am pretty inconsistent also! For example, I find that if I have heard tales of bad behaviours from authors that I have not read yet, I tend to avoid their books depending on whether that behaviour really annoys/upsets me (stalking, abuse, whining about bad reviews, etc.) If these accusations are merely rumours, I will probably overlook them because I like to see evidence of bad behaviour before making my decision on whether to forgo their works. Just as I would not buy an album from a singer that I had seen do horrible things, or buy artwork from an artist that has strong opinions that I completely disagree with.
Sometimes though, it’s the book that becomes controversial before the author. A good example I guess is the recent twitter explosion when E.L. James did a Q & A to celebrate the release of ‘Grey’. Now I for one have never and will never read those books because I believe the message that they send out is horrifyingly wrong and I worry that people will believe abusive relationships like that are what Sub/Dom culture is all about. Also, having read ‘Twilight’, I don’t like the links between the two because the relationship between Bella & Edward made me feel uncomfortable. HOWEVER, despite feeling a small sense of triumph reading all of the tweets that highlighted this awful message that I think the books send, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the author in question. Perhaps it went a little bit too far?
I think the thing to remember is that readers are just as human as authors are, and both sides can do terrible things. As a result, I tend to go with my gut. If an author promotes an idea that I feel uncomfortable with or that is ethically wrong in my opinion, I won’t read a book by them. If they become too defensive, or abuse haters of their books then I might not try those either because I’d be worried about potential backlash should I not have a good reading experience. There are of course exceptions to any rule, but at the end of the day I know what makes me feel uncomfortable and I think everyone is entitled to choose whether or not to read a book based on whatever logic they like.
Also: I completely agree about being scared to read super nice author’s books just in case I don’t like them, because as a blogger I feel I have a duty to be honest! It’s so tough!
Yes yes! I definitely want to see evidence before I commit to disregarding an author because of their work. And even when my friends have had bad experiences, I try not to let it really affect me TOO much. But, I mean, some things are pretty unforgivable. I saw an author hate on one of my blogging friends before and haven’t wanted to read any of his books since. 🙁
Agh, I didn’t really see what went down with the EL James Q&A. I did see some website do a small round up and I was pretty horrified at how malicious the tweets were. BUT THEN. Erk, from what I’ve heard of her book it sounds absolutely wrong/horrifying to me too, so yeah. >_< I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK ABOUT THAT. I rarely think there's an excuse to be rude or bully though.
Aww . . . this is, like, really hard. O_o XD Personally, I’m reading a book for the story, not the author (half the time I can’t even remember the author’s name when someone asks me what book I’m reading. >.< ), so whether the author's behaviour is good or not doesn't really effect me . . . as I usually don't even know. XD
But, ya, when I *do* know what the author is like (or, at least, have a perception from what I've read), and they don't seem to have an approachable attitude, it really does cast a shadow over the book when I read it, you know? So, after all that, I guess the author's behaviour *does* effect me, when that's the case (rare, though). XD It's so hard to say; there's so much to consider. 😛
And as for the small planets, why not small galaxies instead? I mean – yes?! 😉
Also, I forgot to add to my comment, if the author seems to be really nice and sweet and good and all that — WELL. XD That effects the book also; I find myself expecting more of the book than I would normally. 😛 Does anyone else do that too? XD
YES IT IS. I ASK THE TOUGHIE QUESTIONS AROUND HERE. hehe, maybe I should ask more “hardback vs soft cover” questions? Or “cookies vs cake”? INSTEAD, HERE, LET’S ALL HAVE AN EXISTENTIAL CRISES.
Ahem.
Some people are really unapproachable, or their manner seems really cut off and snipy and it does put me off. But I try to remember that not all people are “people persons” and that’s okay! IT’S JUST HARD TO KEEP THAT IN MIND WHEN SOMEONE’S BEING DISMISSIVE OF YOU.
I want a galaxy now. I DO.
HMM, I like this discussion because i’m in the same quandry as you. Usually, an author’s negative behaviour does influence my opinion over their books: if they’ve done something particularly bad, I will not buy their books, however if I do want to READ their books, I will get them from the library and read them without any pre-judgements. If that makes sense?
Similarly to you, I tend not to take review-requests from authors because of the predicament I may then be in that you explained so eloquently using #AWKWARD 😉
However I follow a few authors on twitter/instagram that I LOVE TO PIECES because they seem so awesome aka Tahereh Mafi, but this doesn’t necessarily influence how hard I try to enjoy their book even if I clearly don’t. it just makes me want to try out their books in the first place. 😀
P.S I FORGOT TO TAG YOU ON INSTAGRAM/TELL YOU: i tagged you to do the #essentialsforbiblio tag but as a blog post (I’m trying to get it to go around the blogging world as well as the instagram world). I don’t know if you do tags but if you do, GET ON IT DUDE. 🙂
TAG, YOU’RE IT.
That does make sense! I DO THAT TOO. Okay, well, I get like 60% of my books from the library anyway, but whatever. I feel like I’m doubly okay to do that for author’s I haven’t had (or have just seen) bad things happen around. AGhhh, I just CAN’T talk to authors one-on-one about their books though. I just can’t. It’s too scary. >_< TAHEREH FREAKING BEAUTIFUL MAFI. OMG SHE IS SO AMAZING AND FABULOUS. I follow her on instagram and just feel like maybe she's a supermodel as well as an author?!! Plus she and Ransom Riggs are entirely too adorable for this universe. XD Also Maggie Stiefvater is freakishly awesome on instgram. :')
Wait, they DON’T have enchanted mops? *runs off to sulk* And the salad–how dare they burn the salad!
Um, yes, authors should get their own small planets. How is that even a question?
I agree, it’s tough to draw the line, and I don’t think it works to make an arbitrary rule like–“I will not read books by snotbags.” Because then you would miss out on some really great stuff. Honestly, sometimes I get tired of seeing readers boycott books like Ender’s Game, because, Orson Scott Card may hold some unpopular beliefs, but it’s not really our business using his art to force him to change his mind or at least the way he behaves. Know what I mean? And, as good as people’s intentions are, and as beneficial as it can be, boycotting is a form of control–and it’s rarely right to try to control what other people believe just because they disagree with us.
However, if it’s not a matter of belief–if the author is just a royal pain, then I might not feel like reading their book just because arrogance disgusts me (well, I mean, I’M allowed to be arrogant–but that’s totally different). But I would also hate to miss out on good art, so there’s that.
If the author made it a habit of eating children for breakfast and beating his illegal slaves and stealing small countries for his profit, then yeah, I’d probably not read his books.
WELL I WANT AN ENCHNATED MOP. I DO. Burning salad is pretty bad too, totally is. *nods* I want to own a galaxy now, though. Someone else pointed out that I’m aiming too low and it is true.
And, particularly with Ender’s Game, I mean ID on’t think you could ever even TELL the author has such horrific opinions/ideals from the book. It’s a solidly wonderful book. *nods* But still, ever since I found out I haven’t felt motivated to read more by him, which is sadness.
I think I would 100% boycott authors who ate children too. Cannibalism is rude.
I hate sending reviews to authors and I didn’t enjoy their book, it makes me feel so terrible 🙁 Especially when you have requested the book and they spend time and money etc and you don’t enjoy it, it’s just GAH, so awwkwwaarrddd. Whether an authors behavior effects whether I want to read it or not, I don’t know, I’ve never really come across it first hand and even when I do hear about it I don’t know it’s not normally an author that I’m interested in reading their books. Arrgghh I honestly have no clue, hard topic Cait! haha 😀
SO SO SOOOO AWWKARD. I mostly never have to interact directly with an author, so phewf, that’s good, but I still feel bad sending negative reviews to publicists. *gulps* I JUST HATE BEING NEGATIVE BUT YEAH. I can’t enjoy everything and I want to be honest too. So honesty first. Polite honesty. 😉
If a friend of mine had written a book, I would feel so constrained! How could I possibly say a bad word about it?! For the most part, I think that books should be judged on their own merits. We all know people in real life who we dislike as people, but we also recognise those people as having talents. For every flaw a person possesses, they also have a good quality. 🙂
Wait. Authors DON’T own small planets? What is this world (universe?) coming to?
THAT IS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL. OMG. My little sister had me read her book once and I was terrified that I wouldn’t like it. >_> Reading is so subjective!! (Spoiler: I did like it, heeh, few to me, or I probably would be a dead body in a ditch by now.)
I KNOW. THE WORLD IS SO DISAPPOINTING. No one has gifted me an enchanted mop either.
I honestly don’t know if it’s “wrong” of me to say this — but it really doesn’t. I tend to view books and authors as two separate entities; and I don’t believe a book should be judged by their author. Or vice versa, either. BUT HEY. That’s just me 😉
I KINDA THINK THAT’S A GOOD WAY TO BE THOUGH!! I want to be more that way, so I mostly just interact with readers and try to avoid authors. WELL MOSTLY. I think most authors are uber lovely people of course (um, I want to be one someday!!) but I think it’s probably bestest to keep the work and the person separate.
Interesting discussion Cait – I think that negative behaviour can put me off to an extent when trying an author’s work for the first time, and I do think that knowing some which I review for regularly could potentially be a cause for pressure. However, for the authors I do review for whose works I have known and loved before, they haven’t let me down yet and have been genuinely consistent in producing books which I end up loving just because they actually are that good.
Too true!! I haven’t been disappointed by any author’s I’ve avidly loved for ages…but then I guess I get biased and pretty soon they’re just ALL ROUND GOLDEN PEOPLE. :’)
Wow, a difficult topic indeed! I don’t have a clearcut answer to this question either… If an author is being a complete and total asshat to readers, or has some opinions I do not agree with in the slightest (racist or homophobic, you know) I think I’d be inclined to skip the book. After I read Gone Girl I read a review by Celine, who mentioned an author interview in which Gillian Flynn made some rather sexist remarks. That bugs me, and leaves me with a less high opinion of the book, tbh, because it shed some new light on some of the issues in the book. I wonder if if I had known about her views before starting the book, I’d have liked it less… Ah, we’ll never know!
On the other hand, I think I’m less inclined to like a book I wouldn’t have liked otherwise if I like the author (did that sentence even make sense?). For example, I adore John Green, and I love all of his books, BUT I was kind of disappointed by Will Grayson, Will Grayson because of the way it handled some issues (mostly to do with Tiny).
*sigh* I DON’T KNOW. It’s DIFFICULT. I haven’t come to any kind of conclusion after this rant. GAH. In the end, I’m mostly all about the book, I think. I’ll always try to put it first, but I can’t help but think I’m at least a little bit influenced by the author’s behaviour… Just a little bit though!
Agh, that is difficult. IT IS. And sometimes when books are unabashedly sexist I wonder what the author truly believes, but gah, I PROMISE MYSELF I won’t judge authors on their books because you can write about stuff you don’t personally believe in. *nods* Omg, that would be a good topic for another day too. XD
I wasn’t fussed with Will Grayson either, but I can’t remember the ins and outs, tbh, so I can’t compare thoughts with ya. >_< I do remember feeling like the book should've been Tny's because he was WAY more interesting than Will. IT IS DIFFICULT. HERE HAVE A COOKIE AND AN EXISTENTIAL CRISES WITH ME.
Personally I like authors to be unknown mysterious beasts like they used to be before social media. I think we (readers and authors) still haven’t adjusted to this new dynamic. There are some incidences of authors behaving badly, but also many incidences of reviewers behaving badly as well. And it’s only natural for authors to want to defend themselves. I think there are still some kinks to work out in this new crazy world where reviewers/readers and authors can actually interact with each other.
Sometimes EVERYONE just behaves badly *hyperventilates* and it gets so messy and awful so fast on the internet. I think I like that I can talk to authors…but at the same time, it’s sometimes too much. I hate it when I don’t tag an author and yet the pop up and read my review. :O It just makes me uncomfortable. >_>
I would love my own planet! And an enchanted mop.
If I’ve heard of or seen authors being mean then it makes me really leery of them and their books. Usually I’ll go see what their books are about because usually their books can tell you what sort of person they are. if the book sounds good, then I might even give it a try at some point. It probably won’t be on the top of my list though. And yeah, I consume a book and then perhaps spare a thought for the author much later, depending on if I want to stalk them to find more of their books. 😛
ME TOO. Where can we sign up to get one? Because I need one. or several. Actually, with the state of my room, I think I need about 3 enchanted mops.
Ahem.
But yes! I try to only look up authors AFTER I’ve read their book and tbh, I don’t do it as much as I used to anymore. Ignorance is bliss?!
Of course I have a small planet. It’s called my story world. And of course it is happening inside my head, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?
(I am not even sorry for that.)
YOU SHOULDN’T BE SORRY FOR THAT.
IT IS REAL.
EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE IS REAL. (I’m pretty sure I stole that from Picasso.)
My first reaction was to think–no, author behavior doesn’t influence my opinions of a book. And thinking about it, I think that’s true. . . but that doesn’t mean author behavior doesn’t influence my *attitude* towards a book. While I’m reading, I definitely don’t really ever think about author behavior–the author is dead & all that jazz–but it might influence my attitude. Like, if it’s an author who is super, super sweet on social media and I’m not liking their book, I’m still going to review it the same way, but I might give it a *longer* to convince me to finish it if I’m not enjoying it. And I don’t pay too much attention to the author behaving badly thing, but when authors do something just SO out of bounds, I can’t bring myself to pick up their books in the first place.
Sometimes, I feel, when I like the author but not the book, I’m just more careful in my wording of my negative review. I KNOW. That’s not really good! I SHOULD BE LIKE THAT FOR EVERY BOOK. But yes. *nods* I totally see your view point here.
YES, CAIT, THIS TOPIC IS EXTREMELY TOUGH.
Okay, let’s see. Typically, I try not to let an author’s behavior affect the way I ENJOY the book, but it might affect how I promote/support it. For example, if I know the author’s maybe disrespectful or something, I might opt to borrow the book from a friend or the library instead of buying it for myself.
BUT really, it depends on how huge the author’s offense is. Sometimes some issues make me really want to just go NONONO and hide (ex: the Hale incident) and some that I don’t really mind (like the Cassie Clare incident).
YOU ARE SO WELCOME FOR MY SUPER TOUGH DISCUSSION TOPICS. hehe. one day I’ll go back to “hardcover vs soft” BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY. *gives everyone existential crises*
Ahem.
I like your thoughts on this I DO. And I’ve decided not to overly promote books where I’ve felt the author hasn’t acted great. But yes, Hale, omg, I was actually going to read her book but there is NO WAY I can do it now. That review would have been mind. :O I didn’t even properly hear about what happened with Cassandra Clare, but yes, I know people get mad at her a lot and iT’S ALL SO CONFUSING AND HARD, SO LET’S JUST EAT COOKIES AND REARRANGE OUR BOOKS AND BE DONE WITH IT.
Authors’ behaviors don’t affect my opinion of their books. I just don’t think that’s fair. But they might, however, keep me from reading their books. I’d rather lend my support by reading and reviewing a book by an author I have respect for.
GOOD FOR YOU. I think this is an excellent way to view it, to be honest. A book I really loved had an author do something pretty nasty, but I read the book FIRST and figure I shouldn’t let the author’s behaviour sway my feelings.
What an excellent post. I have no idea what my opinion is. On the one hand I kinda want to get up on my high horse and cry “if they can’t behave well, they don’t deserve to have their book read!” But on the other, I’m pretty certain F Scott Fitzgerald behaved horribly to his wife … and The Great Gatsby is one of my faves. And Thomas Hardy was a chauvinistic twit, too, yet I will definitely read more of his work. IT IS A STRUGGLE.
It makes you think, though, doesn’t it? Especially in this internet age where it’s so easy to put something out, in a fit of anger, or annoyance, or just without really reading it through to check if your meaning is clear … and then it’s there forever. Indelible. It reminds me that we with authorly plans for our futures need to be VERY careful about what we say on our blogs now because if we’re ever even slightly famous, there will be fans reading these posts and comments that we published as teenagers. Scary thought.
IT IS A STRUGGLE. I don’t even know if there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to act on this SO BASICALLY LET’S JUST IGNORE MY HARD LIFE QUESTIONS AND GO EAT BROWNIES AND ICE CREAM.
PS. Omg, thanks a lot for the freakishly scary thoughts. XD I’ve fretted about this before actually…like, what if one day I get famous. Will my blog be something I cringe about?? Especially my older posts? ZOMG THE STRESS.
Sometimes the author’s behaviour influences my opinion with their book, sometimes it doesn’t. Well, that depends on what they did. Like for example, in the case of Kathleen Hale where she stalked a book blogger, I didn’t want to read her book after I found out about it. But sometimes an author commits a minor blunder (like the whole John-Green-“plagiarised”-someone-else’s-work case which, by the way, he explained the situation and I totally get his side of the story) then that’s okay.
But I try to not be as biased as I can when reading books. I don’t want my prejudices with the author to get in the way of reading a great book. 🙂
Me too. I just can’t even ever face Kathleen Hale’s books because all I can think of ” Omg, what if that was my review she went agro on?” I don’t feel like I’ll ever read her book, even though I DID want to up until that point. AND AGREED ABOUT JOHN GREEN TOO. I know he ticks a lot of people off, but I think that’s more because he’s famous, and famous people always manage to prod hornet’s nests somehow.
This is a hard topic to talk about. Usually, i don’t rate the book on the author’s behavior, but it will make me very hesitent to read it. However, usually I’m very optimistic, so behavior won’t effect me so much unless its in front of my face instead of on the inernet or something.
Good behavior affects me a lot (sorry if I’m messing up my effect and affect. I honestly don’t know the difference between the two.) One of my favorite authors is Jonathan Auxier. Not only does he have an awesome blog, I got to see him and watch him speak about a year ago and he not only signed my shirt but did a quick sketch of one of the charecters in his book onit too . This experience definetly gets me way more excited to read one of his books while books by an author who behaves badly may not give you the same feeling (of course, most of the excitement i get comes from the fact that both of his books are on my top 5 list, but i’m getting off topic).
Anyway, this is an interesting question, especially since i never really take the time to think about these topics. A few years ago, i never even took notice in the authors of books or bothered to read more of who i thought was good. And for everyone who lookes up how authors behave on the internet, you are extremely brave. I could never do that for fear that i would read something on an author that i know and love.
I don’t know the difference between affect and effect most of the time either. SO TRUST ME, I WON’T NOTICE MISTAKES LIKE THAT. XD Hehe. I’m like Queen of the Typo to boot. Ah well.
Omg, Jonathan Auxier sounds INCREDIBLE!! That is so cool though, and I totally think positive experiences with people go a long way to make you feel positively about their work, right?! I seriously feel super encouraged and excited for books when the author goes out of their way to be sweet.
Yes, >_< ergh, that's why I didn't want to name names for badly behaving authors! Because sometimes ignorance is bliss. AND THAT'S THE TRUTH.
I don’t ever really think about an author when I’m reading a book. I try to focus more on their writing than themselves as a person, unless it’s a favourite author like Rainbow Rowell, where I try and think about how they’ve come to that idea etc.
If an author I loved was reported to have done something horrific, than their books would go down in my estimation a long with them – as we would do with any public figure if they had done something awful.
There is one author though – Sally Green – who’s behaviour has put me off reading her book. I met her at a signing with David Levithan and bought her book on a whim beforehand. Upon meeting her, she came across as incredibly rude to me alone, and so I feel really put off reading Half Bad
Oh really? That is sad about Sally Green. 🙁 I really love her books, and like this won’t off-put me, but knowing little things like this always makes me feel a bit bad. I’ve had that kind of experience with people and other bloggers and just GAH. It is off-putting and makes you just want to run away from their work, right?
Exactly! I just feel frustrated about the fact that I partly bought her book because I knew it would look awkward if I just went to one author when they were sharing a table together, but also because I’m interested in witches. I went and spent money on someone who was just purely rude and had such a cold manner that didn’t come across with anyone else. Anyway – maybe someday though.
In an ideal world, I’d like to say that author behavior doesn’t influence my opinion of a book, but I don’t think that’s true, because guess what? I’m human, too, and humans can be judgemental, even if they don’t want to be. I’m not going to be that person that stalks an author and if they say something that is even the slightest mean-ish, go off on a rant and judge their books badly because of that. The Internet is already full of oversensitivity, so I don’t want to contribute to that. However, if an author continuously is making mean comments and generally does not seem like a nice person, yea, in all honesty, it will probably make me stay away from their books because a person’s art is a reflection of them. Luckily, though, most authors are fabulous people, so that’s not a problem. One the flip side, if an author’s really nice, I’ll probably feel bad if I give the book a low rating. Then again, that’s the way I feel about pretty much all authors. I think part of the problem is also that I’m a writer so I put myself into the author’s shoes and feel guilty if I didn’t like his/her book. I know I shouldn’t feel that way, but it’s just a part of me, so I can’t not feel that way. Still, I do try to be honest, as heartbreaking as it sometimes can be.
I don’t want to be the ranty-stalky kind of reader either. But YEAH. I feel like if I have a bad run in (well, with anyone, not just an author!) I find it very hard to shake the bad vibes and just usually avoid said person, or their books, thereafter. And it’s so easy for things to get blown out of proportion on the internet too right? 🙁
It really depends. Sometimes I won’t read a book because of the author, but that’s only if they do something really bad or have really bad opinions. But I don’t tend to find out about the author until after I read a book. So, for the most part, I’m like you. Book before author.
Lesson For Cait: don’t stalk authors! HAHA. Okay, but really, I don’t stalk. I just notice things from time to time and often things make me love authors more. But bad instances always turn me off. I loathe negative experiences.
This is SUCH an interesting topic, and I am pretty conflicted too. I think downright rude or impudent authors affect me to a certain degree, and I’m more likely to skip their book even though I believe the book itself deserves a chance. I just…find it harder to concentrate on the book and the author and I can’t be bothered to do all that focusing unless it’s a rather good book.
I feel bad when I don’t like a book but the author is extremely sweet and stuff, but ultimately, those two things are quite different and I guess most authors understand that as well. SO unless an author has done something intolerable that I find hard to forgive, I’ll give a book a chance and put the book first and deliver my honest thoughts just so.
Most authors should understand and respect that reading is so subjective right? BUT I GUESS WE ARE ALL EMOTIONAL CUCUMBERS AND FORGET THIS FROM TIME TO TIME. *sigh*
Usually, I’ll judge a book completely honestly. They might have been jerkish to their fans and been a horrible person altogether, but hey, if their book is good? I’ll staright out say their books is good,a nd not let the AUTHOR change my opinion of the book.
Other times, if I KNOW that the author is being not-that-nice, it’ll put me off their book. Overall, the author could be the nicest person in the universe, but their book just didn’t click. Or the author could be horribe but an extremely talented author.
GOOD FOR YOU. I APPROVE OF THIS PHILOSOPHY. I’m mostly like this, but I can’t deny that author’s badness has driven me away from their books. 🙁 I try not to know too much about author’s person lives though, and that way I fix that. 😉
I’ve actually never seen a rude author! I’ve HEARD of them, but I guess I don’t explore the author-sphere enough to find mean ones? Anyways, I DO have a problem with this! Well, did. I met Mary Lindsey at the RT Book Convention and LOVED her. When I went to read her book, I wanted to love that too, and spout my joys at what an amazing author and person she was. I five stared it. But that was when I was a wee little blogger on my first blog and I didn’t realize that I didn’t actually like the book as much as I thought. I was won over with personality and not words. Had I reviewed the book again today, it’d probably be a three-star.
I feel like I’ve rated books higher because of an author than my true feelings. >_< THIS SADDENS ME A LOT. I don't think I do it so much now? But yes! Little wee baby bloggers do strange things, don't we?
For a hyped book, I always have to tell myself “what would you think of this book if no one’s ever heard of it before? Do you want to start the hype or was it meh?” Just finished “The Girl With All The Gifts” and am feeling a meh moment.
Very interesting post! I think it’s important to try and separate the art from the artist, not only if the author’s not very nice but also if, like you said, you happen to come across a very nice author whose work you’re not a fan of. That happened to me quite recently, actually, and ultimately I had to give an honest review because I would hope authors know I’m criticising the book, and not them. Having said that, a friend of mine who I went to uni with – I lived with her for 3 years – is now a published author, something she’s worked very hard towards, but I still haven’t read any of her work because I’m afraid I won’t love it, especially as it’s not usually the kind of fiction I read, and I don’t want to hurt her feelings.
On the other side of the scale, if it’s a book I like but an author I don’t, I think it depends entirely on what the author has done. For example (and I know he’s a very common example), as much as I’ve heard wonderful things about Ender’s Game and know that none of Orson Scott Card’s beliefs are in the book itself, I still can’t bring myself to read it, and especially not buy it and give him money, because he’s literally a terrible human being and his anti-gay stance makes me incredibly uncomfortable, not only because I have many LGBT* friends, but also because I’m fairly certain I fall into that category myself.
If an author said a few bad things, I could forgive them that; like you said, all authors are just human beings like the rest of us, and they have a right to make mistake just as much as we do. We’ve all said something dumb or hurtful before, even if we didn’t mean to or our words have been misinterpreted, but, as much as I’m aware I probably shouldn’t, I can’t help but let my judgement of a book be clouded when it’s written by someone like Orson Scott Card who is not shy at all about his homophobia.
Great post!
I have a few authorly friends and have avoided reading their books AT ALL COSTS. >_< I feel so bad about it though!! But if it was me, I would rather not know if my friends liked my books then know that they don’t. If that makes sense?
Agh, yes, the Orson Scott Card debacle is one of the worst, I feel. I loved Ender’s Game SO SO MUCH but I read it before I knew anything about the author…and now? I have zero motivation to finish the series despite being so in love with the first book. It’s so sad. A reader should NEVER read a book and feel like the author personally hates them. That’s terrifying and just plain rude/cruel on the author’s behalf.
I can appreciate the way you view the author/book relationship, because I’m kind of the same way. At least for me, I think that a book is written by the authors but then it is owned by the readers—and that can be difficult because the author has control, but the readers like the art. And so even if an author has some positive or negative traits acknowledged, the book is really nothing more than the copy you hold in your hands as the reader.
I mean, I suppose there would be exceptions for a writer with really bad behavior, because there are some people you don’t want to support or acknowledge with where you spend your money, but I don’t think you should buy books as a reward, either. The transaction should really be about the book, not the person who wrote it. (Although, you should make transactions for books. It’s not good to steal books.) So, I do think about authors sometimes, but still, my focus tends to be on the book.
True, true…I like to think of a book as a WHOLE THING. Like sure it can have fan art and the author might have a pinterest, or there might be a movie, or the author blogs…but it isn’t part of the book. You know?
*hides stolen books*
HAHAHAH I JUST KID. I DON’T STEAL BOOKS. UNLESS I STEAL FROM MY SISTER AND THAT’S DIFFERENT.
Yes! I get really stressed if an author has been lovely or if I get on really well with an author because what if I then really don’t like the book?! Luckily that hasn’t happened very often, only a couple of occasions. The flip side of authors being terrible though really puts me off reading. Small things I can sometimes brush off and just see the work as an individual thing, but authors like Kathleen Hale really just no. I did a video for Bookish Brits about authors reacting badly a few weeks ago and some of the things some authors feel it is ok to do in defence of their writing is terrifying. It’s those ones I tend to then steer clear of partly because of their behaviour, but partly as a protection mechanism because I don’t particularly want them tracking me down to my place of work or house and attacking me. Then there’s the flip side of fans behaving terribly towards authors and I just want to curl up in a corner and howl at humanity and the awful things some people do/say when they feel protected because the person isn’t ‘real’ through celebrity-ness or because they’re just communicating through the internet.
It’s something I’ve become much more aware of since starting book blogging, and I love that authors are so willing to talk to and communicate and befriend people who love their work, but it does then put a lot of pressure when you build a relationship with an author. Basically ALL THE STRESS. But then whilst I love chatting to authors, there’s a whole lot of books where I have no idea about whether the author is a lovely person or kicks puppies in their spare time when I pick up the book. Really an author’s behaviour will have little to no impact on whether I’ll enjoy the book or not, but it can impact whether I pick up their books in the first place.
I STRESS ABOUT THAT TOOOO!! It’s happened to me a lot, actually, hehe, and is one reason I really don’t make contact with authors very often. >_> I feel like authors who go out of their way (to the creepy extent of Hale too, omg) to “defend” their work are immature. Because writing is SUBJECTIVE. And hello! A few negative reviews isn’t going to kill you or your book. And I think authors who can’t handle that are clearly living in a fantasy. It’s sadness. IT IS.
Personally, I don’t think authors should be planetary overlords. Sure, some of us create actual planets, but that doesn’t mean we want the responsibility of governing them day in and day out. I mean, you’d have no time for writing if you were busy trying to keep a whole planet full of people happy.
Author behaviour does affect me. Take Orson Scott Card as an example. I read some of his books years ago and really enjoyed them. Then I found out he was a disgusting bigot. Does that change my enjoyment of those books? No. Will it make me avoid his books in the future? Yes. Will I recommend his books to others? Maybe… but with a disclaimer.
Positive author behaviour, on the other hand, doesn’t really affect me. If I don’t like a book, I don’t like a book; I’m not going to reward someone with an undeserved good review simply because they acted the way we should all be acting in the first place (i.e., not smashing wine bottles over reviewers’ heads or going on rants about how your evil readers are bringing down the consciousness of humanity — two real-life examples that I wish I was kidding about).
I do try to be conscious of the author when I’m writing more negative reviews, but sometimes it’s hard. When there’s nothing good to say, how do you warn people away from a book without your review sounding like it came from a sock puppet account? “It’s awful. Don’t read it” is hardly a comprehensive review.
BUT I WOULD HAVE MINIONS TO ORGANISE THINGS. And who said I wanted to keep my subjects happy? *cackles evilly*
AGH. I’m still absolutely torn about Orson Scott Card, because (like you) I had no idea what kind of person he was when I first read Ender’s Game. And it just kinda ruined the whole thing for me because I LOVED Ender’s Game, yet I don’t want to support him as an author. >_> I probably will try to read more of his books, but library all the way.
Wait wait wait…you heard of someone smashing a wine bottle over a reviwers head?! WHAT IS THIS MAD PLANET WE LIVE ON???
Erk, and I totally agree with that, too, because sometimes there IS nothing good to say about a book. And I know people say “well just don’t review it!” but I either a) have been contracted for said review, or b) I want to share my opinion. SO THAT IS A HARD ONE. I try to be respectful in my mega-negative reviews, but I don’t deny I get ranty. :/
Ooooo Cait this is such an interesting topic!
I think first off, I should say that I avoid drama at all costs. I don’t like personal drama, I don’t like celebrity drama, etc. So, in theory, I don’t keep up with author drama. Of course, because I’m part of the book blogging and book world as a whole, there is some news that just can’t be avoided. Usually, I tend to not make an opinion because I often feel uninvolved. In real life I respect peoples opinions even if they differ from mine, so I try and keep that in mind when thinking about authors.
There are situations, however, when things get a little more personal. I’m not going to name names but we all know that there was a situation between an author and a book blogger, and while the book blogger was not completely innocent, the escalation was dangerous and the author did some serious damage. And now, I probably won’t read their book. I may not avoid it outright, but with all the reading material I have already its not hard to ignore something. It’s a shame, because I probably would have sought it out based on the blurb, but sometimes author actions DO affect my reading experience.
But, on the flip side, there is the whole ‘good actions=good reading experience?’ For me, it depends, because no matter how much I like an author that doesn’t mean that I’m going to like their books. Take John Green, for example. I LOVE his Youtube videos, not just the vlogbrothers but also all the involved and related channels. He also does a lot of charity work and yes, may have said things he regrets but overall is such a great guy. However, out of all of Green’s books, I only loved Looking For Alaska. And you know what, that’s fine. Or Ally Condie. Her books just aren’t my taste, but after seeing her speak at a panel I love her personality. She said once something like ‘I’ll never be ashamed of my previous work, because it represented my best at the time’. And I LOVE that, and its a good message that can be applied to life tbh.
Anyways, in general, author actions are pretty much ignored by myself, but I think depending on the hype and their popularity, their actions can affect reading experiences in negative and positive ways.
Do you mean the instance where the author stalked the book blogger? Agh, that one scared me SO MUCH. I was pretty furious at the author and still, mostly, feel like the blogger wasn’t to blame at all. BUT YEAH. That was just all round disturbing. But I’m with you! DOWN WITH DRAMA. I mostly view it from the sidelines but if I do get caught up in it, agh, I get really emotionally involved which is not good. So far I haven’t had any hugely bad experiences personally WHICH IS GOODNESS.
I totally understand that! And I think it’s GREAT that you can love John Green as a person and be not fussed with his books and be totally cool with that. I wish that could be more of the way, to be honest. 😐 Like instead of ranting/raging from the rooftops we could just shrug off the books that we don’t like and focus on what we do. BUT YEAH. Middle ground is usually the place. Omg, I love that line from Ally Condie. I LOVE IT. :O
It’s hard. So far since I’ve been back in the blogging world and started encountering “authors in the wild” as you say just about everyone has been very lovely and nice. Maybe I’ve been lucky/blind/deluded but I like it that way.
I think it would influence me somewhat though. Being polite doesn’t cost anything and I am generally of the opinion that if you haven’t got anything nice to say at all, best to say nothing. I know that being cynical is all the rage these days but yeah.. not a fan.
OH THAT IS MARVELLOUS FOR YOU. I was mostly that way until, omg, about 6 months ago?? So I don’t know if I’ve crossed over into “seasoned reviewer” territory or I’m just hanging out in the wrong circles. XD HEHE. I love that though and I grew up with the whole “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”. SO YEAH. 90% of the time I think that’s a good rule to live by. (Although it’s hard when you’ve been contracted for a review and you haven’t got anything nice to say…although you can review negatively but still be calm and polite, right?!)
Euhhh, do you mean it literally? Or did I miss something 0_o ? (why is that the first thing you manage to comment, Melody??) I DO know that craters on Mercury are named after artists and authors! There’s one called Tolkien! Maybe one day when you become a great author, a Mercury crater will be named after you!
-end of geek out session-
I haven’t really encountered these kind of problems before (due to a bigger problem–not having time to read. yeah. ) But in my ideal world I think I’ll try to put the book before the author when reviewing the book and try to not be biased, which is super hard when the author is awesome. Harder to deal with are those bad behaviours: I wouldn’t want to support people who do those kinds of things…but good books. I’ll try to discuss the book and the author separately. It also depends on what they actually do, I think. If it’s something outrageous like stalking or shaming people, then NO, but then there are also things that I don’t really mind, like complaining about negative reviews once in a while, because hey, nobody likes their baby being critisised, right?
Excuse me. They’ll be changing Mercury’s name to my name by the time I through with owning the world. I WILL STOP AT NOTHING. *cackles*
Ahem.
True true! I get all of this. And it must be super hard to have hundreds of people “critiquing” your work, and like acting like they’re all knowledgeable but tbh, most of us aren’t! >_< So that would be hard. I DO GET THAT. But at the same time is there ever an excuse for rudeness?? I HOPE NOT. And this goes for reviewers too!!
I talked about this with my friends a while ago, and to steal her words, I would say that I don’t put authors up on a pedestal. Whenever I’m writing a review, I’m talking about the book only, and the author comes second. Especially with all the drama that’s come up recently, I tend to not even think or talk about the author when I voice my thoughts. Once you publish and put it out there in the world, it’s going to be subject to criticism. There’s really no way to avoid that, and I think authors should definitely be aware of it.
On the topic of boycotting and such, I do know a few authors that have opinions that don’t match mine. And that is fine, though to be honest I read most books from the library, so I’m not really supporting them in any way. However, I do actively go out and not read the books by authors that have caused unnecessary drama in the blogger world.
Well, I hope that answers nothing for you hahahha. I don’t know. Bleh.
Yess, I really try to keep the author out of my review. I don’t even want to MENTION them. (Like none of those “well I didn’t like how the author handled”…I’ll just say “I didn’t like how the book handled”. I don’t know if it makes a difference? ?? It does to me?? XD) I think sometimes authors could have thicker skins about all this? BUT YEAH. I get it! It’s hard to be tough around something you’ve poured your soul into. *sigh*
I’m googling ‘authors behaving badly’ right now. I’ve heard of a couple of instances of authors being a bit naughty, but it doesn’t affect my opinion of a book. I tend to stalk the author on social media after I’ve read a book, so it’s unlikely I’ll see anything before I read a book. It frustrates me when I see authors act like jerks because someone didn’t like their work, that’s not on.
It kinda works the other way too though, I get very frustrated when I see people making horrible comments at authors, and people in general, on the internet. I’ve seen a couple of authors be on the end of rants, from their own supposed fans as well. I’m not ok with people being mean, especially when they feel they can get away with it because they’re hidden behind a computer.
I KNEW SOMEONE WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO RESIST. XD Some time earlier this year (or maybe later last year?) some author tweeted some mean stuff about reviewers and how cruel they are and a LOT of authors were laughing/retweeting joining in the “Joke”. I saw a few of my favourite authors supporting the reviewer-bashing. I mean, I guess it was lighthearted? But it was VERY hard to just brush it off as a joke when we reviewer, mostly, for no pay and promote their books in our free time. Like, what??! So yeah, I haven’t been able to see those authors the same way again. >_>
AND YES I’M NOT OKAY WITH AUTHOR BASHING EITHER!! IT IS NEVER OKAY. And I don’t think reviewers should behave badly either.
First of all, yes, authors deserve their own planet. Or at least a star named after them or something. I don’t know.
Really thinking about this, it’s true that sometimes author behavior influences my opinion on a book. Or vice versa, book awesomeness influences my opinion of the author. Like you said, if I like an author as a person, I want SO badly to like their books. I *hate* disliking a book written by a person I like. I probably won’t want to share my review at all.
This is why I rate books in three different categories and try to show the pros and cons to everything, but it’s hard. Honesty is first priority and sometimes I really don’t want to be honest.
Thankfully when it comes to authors doing not-so-nice things. . .thankfully I generally see that AFTER I read the book and have posted the review, but it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I had a particularly awkward situation with an independent writer once who was upset that I had given her book a negative review–even though I stated in said review that I would try her work again after she had honed her craft a bit more. Things got weird and sadly her behavior pushed me away from touching any of her books since sadly. . . I need to separate personal feelings from reading books, though.
PFFT, I’M NOT STOPPING AT STAR. I want an entire galaxy named after me. Perhaps a small planet dedicated to me. No, hang on, I’ll just own the entire galaxy and rule it. *nods* I’ll be the Literary Loki.
Anyhow. And it’s super awkward, like even betaing or critique-partnering and not liking a book because books are SO subjective!! And yet it’s very easy for writers to forget that and think negativity is an attack. *sigh* I know I feel criticism is an attack sometimes and I’ve been taking it for years, so, gah, I don’t think it gets entirely easy.
Errrk. Bad experiences always last sooo much longer than good ones, right? I haven’t had too many catastrophic collisions with authors. I’ve had a TON of people hate on my reviews, and I’ve had an author comment about their book on my blog spammily for a while. >_>
I hadn’t thought about this before until an author (I won’t name names) kept messaging me late into the night wanting to fix every tiny detail of my review right down to the proper shade of gray to black out the spoilers and how I should format the warning that the blacked out part was a spoiler. It was terribly frustrating for me and I felt pretty bad by the end of it. The author wasn’t mean, in fact they were very polite in how they said everything, but the whole ordeal was really ridiculous and a bit unfair to me. By the end of it I was so upset and felt so terrible that I didn’t blog for over a week after it and even considered stopping all together. It was a terrible experience and made me look at things a bit different. I will always be reminded of that when I see their books, but that doesn’t change the fact that I did really really enjoy those books. So now, even though it is hard for me to be reminded of that, I still enjoy the books. I wouldn’t go as far to say I support them or fangirl about them, but I also will never bash them or complain about the books themselves. I try to maintain a relatively neutral standpoint.
I can’t imagine reviewing more of their books now, so I’m glad that I had done the reviews before I had contact with them. Partly because I think I’d be so scared to do or say anything “wrong” and have my hard work and opinions critiqued and tweaked by a complete stranger in such a nit-picky way. And also just because knowing the author on any level would make it very very hard for me to review the book objectively and would even impact how I read it. I’d be terrified to not like it and any critiques I had I would probably end up sugar coating a bit because I was so scared of hurting or offending them.
Omg, yes that is NOT okay. That’s like an extreme case of control, isn’t it? Plus they’re telling you how to run your blog?? I would’ve just cancelled the review I think, but I can be a bit too callous. Agh, but I’m glad you didn’t stop blogging!! And SO AWFUL that the books totally have mixed feelings for you now…*sigh* Humans.
“Burn the salad” hahahaha. Okay, moving on to the great topic you’ve raised… At rare instances I’ll avoid reading someone’s book if the author behaved out of line. I don’t want to spend my time on someone’s work if that someone is actually a miserable human being. If they disrespect their readers, then I’m leaving (stalking, confronting negative reviews, etc.). That’s really what bothers me the most, when an author acts out on other people. The person might have written something amazing, but there are so many other amazing books out there by sweet, kind, genuine, likable authors that I’d much rather read good stuff by good people.
I also prefer to avoid the feeling of “should I even like this book if the person who wrote it is/did ___?” One example is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. In that case, I just separated the book from the author as best as I could. (I always put the book first and judge it by itself.) In the end, I thought Ender’s Game was a good book, but I didn’t love it enough to pick up more books by the author. Which I’m totally fine with. Gah, this got long, am I making any sense? Basically, it’s a toss-up for me — I’m inconsistent, too. And when authors approach me for review, I get stressed out because sometimes I won’t like their book and I have to be honest and tell it to them. It so awkward.
BUT THE GOOD PEOPLE DON’T ALWAYS WRITE THE GOOD BOOKS. OMG. IT IS SO HARD. *cries because life is so complicated* I didn’t even know about Orson Scott Card before I read Ender’s Game. Afterwards, I found it all out and I don’t really want to read more of his books..yeeeet, I loved Ender’s Game SO SO MUCH. It’s a real quandary.
I know several people have already talked about Orson Scott Card, and he’s honestly the only author I feel any real hesitation about supporting. That said, Ender’s Game and Enchantment are two of my most favorite books ever, so this really is a quandry. I will probably always recommend them with reservations, since Card himself is not the type of person I’m comfortable recommending. While I am a fan of the Ender Quintet and Enchantment, I don’t see myself reading or recommending anything else he has written.
Erk, yes, I hear ya. I DO. I’ve only read Ender’s Game and I read it before I knew about the author…and now, since I know, I haven’t picked up anything else by him, but I LOVED Ender’s Game. It’s a quandary and I don’t even know what I think myself. 🙁 WHyyyy do humans have to be so disappointing???
This is definitely a touchy subject. I agree that a writer can be an awful person, which is separate from an awful book. If I had already read and loved books by that author, I would probably continue to read them and try to avoid any of the bad press. If I found out about an author’s behavior BEFORE ever reading the books, I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to read them. Also, I think that in either case, if the author is an awful person, I would be extra sure not to BUY their books. I know the library still supports authors, but it’s *less* supportive than buying the books. (Who am I kidding, I get all my books from the library, anyway.)
It is definitely weird how the Internet, especially Twitter, has changed how I view authors. I also always tended to think of them as super-humans who could do no wrong. I never felt guilty for not liking a book as a kid, because I had no way of knowing that the author was the sweetest person ever on Twitter.
The only time I read a book by someone I know in real life, it was an unpleasant experience. It was about rape culture in college, and the entire time I kept thinking, “WHAT WOULD YOUR GRANDMA SAY?” and “OH MY GOD I KNOW THIS GUY, AND HE’S ACTUALLY HAD THESE THOUGHTS BECAUSE HE’S WRITING THEM EWWW CREEEEPPY.” Yeah, basically I just felt super uncomfortable the entire time, and I had no idea what to say to him. I did NOT like being inside his head.
Libraries are GREAT for getting books from when you don’t want to support authors. Or even when you do what to support authors but are just too poor to. Which is me. IT IS ME ME ME 100% OF THE TIME. OMG. But then I’m also a scrooge. but i’m totally getting off topic here. Okay, okay. BUT YES. I Feel like if I read the book first, that influences me too. Like I didn’t know about the Orson Scott Card debacle until after I read Ender’s Game. I’m still tossing up whether to read more from him now, despite loving Ender’s Game. :O
Twitter is like a blessing and a curse in that respect FOR SURE. I’ve talked to so many authors and it’s absolutely petrifyingly fantastic. But at the same time, it’s really hard? Like I no longer tag authors in my reviews. None of them. I just don’t think authors should be reading reviews! I DO NOT.
HAHAH. Okay. I would probably not be okay reading that kind of book by someone I knew either. 😉 TOo MUCH INFORMATION. YES.
Exactly. Of course I would LOVE to buy and own all my favorite books, but the day I can afford to do that seems a long way off, haha. I don’t even know what the Orson Scott Card debacle is, but I’ve also never read his books.
“Absolutely petrifyingly fantastic” is 100% accurate. Do you let authors know that you loved their books in non-review tweets, or do you feel uncomfortable doing that as well? I’ve only recently started doing that, but the response from authors seems to be that they really, really appreciate when readers take the time to tell them how amazing their book is.
My #1 plan for life is to be rich and famous and buy all the books. TOTALLY GONNA HAPPEN. I’m going to live in a library with those really tall spinny ladders. #goals
Agh, basically I don’t tweet authors at all! I AM A WUSS. I used to…I used to just tweet if I loved a book or tweet 4-5 star reviews to authors. But this makes me realise that just tweeting appreciation, sans review, is a good idea. OMG, but that reminds me!! Once I tweeted a small-time Aussie author how much I loved her book and, zomg, she tweeted back that she was having such a crappy day but my tweet really helped. SO I FELT SO SPECIAL AND AFSJDLKFFJJJJ. SO YEAH. I totally forgot that happened.
Sounds good to me! 😀 I’ve always wanted a huge library with a rolling ladder.
Awwww, see, that’s why I love doing it. You made HER day, and she made YOUR day. It’s wonderful.
This is a really awesome topic!
Though I don’t know how much to actually add. Because I know next to zero about many authors. I mean, I know John Green is quite hilarious. But I’ve only read one of his books and didn’t particularly like it (I’m considering trying another one of his, but I don’t know which).
I really don’t think about the authors much at all actually.
I don’t think I’ve seen any of them be acutely mean. I have seen them be hilarious and others being kind though. But really, none of their actions affect my opinion of the book. It definitely affects my opinion of them as a human being. But the book is a whole other species. Let’s say I had an arch enemy (just to be dramatic and wholly unrealistic, because people don’t have arch enemies in real life). But my arch enemy was a really good writer. I would totally give him/her credit for being an awesome storyteller, but, yeah, that probably wouldn’t change our arch enemy status.
Also, I guess in a way, I’ve sort of been through this. I was once a part of two clogging groups. One had I started clogging in, the latter I had joined later. Now the latter one and I had some disagreements, so I left. These two groups though are very different in their style and what they perform and where they perform. To be honest, I not angry with them (a little disappointed), and I hold nothing against them. They’re good at what they do. If someone came to me asking about a clogging group, but wanted one that was more like this latter group whom I left, I would recommend them. I would say, “Yeah, there’s this other group also and they do events and performance like that.” I mean, I’d tell them about my group too. But everybody has their preferences and they may not have the same problem with the latter group that I did. It might work out for them.
I don’t know. Maybe that is not the same at all. 😛
WHAT DO YOU MEAN PEOPLE DON’T HAVE ARCH ENEMIES IN REAL LIFE? *hides list* Mwahha and btw, I understand this reference. I will still hide my list though. Ahem. But yes. YES. It is so hard, particularly if you start to get more engaged with authors online and things. I mostly don’t. But then I’m mostly an antisocial pineapple, so there’s that not helping me. I think you sound like a very forgiving person though, which is nice. 😉 I can hold a grudge for 20 years.
If authors are rude and mean to their readers, and I find out I’m probably not really going to like them very much. But I’ll probably still try their books, just in case they are amazing. And if they are the nicest person ever and they give cake to people then I’m definitely going to try their books.
With all that being said, I don’t normally know much about authors before I read the books so I don’t normally know if the author is nice or mean. Maybe I should find out more about authors?
I DON’T EVEN KNOW. SHOULD YOU FIND OUT MORE? hehe. I sometimes wish I didn’t take interest in author’s lives and therefore spare myself the agony. Buuuut, it’s so fun to read author blogs and twitters and things. >_>
I’m not a stalker I swear. but yes, rudeness is nearly unforgivable. I have such a hard time with that.This is a difficult topic. I do believe that an author is not theit art and they shoudl be seperately. On the other hand when I know an author and like them or even am friends with them and then I read their book and not like it, it’s hard. I also might sometimes be mroe likely to read someone’s book because they seem like a nice person. This most often hapepns with my tour business. I meet so many awesome authors who’s book I tour and I wish i could read all of their books. Sometimes I know the book isn’t for me, but lots of times their books do sound interesting. Then there is the other side of author behaving badly and while they still might write good books I can understand why it makes people more hesistant to read their books. I try to stay away from negatively and don’t have much experience with authors who’s books I want to read behaving badly online. I do vaguely remember some scandals aroudn authors which happened years ago before I read their book and by now I mostly forgot about it and did enjoy her book. So yes I think it’s important to see the book and author seperate, but I can understand why the line get’s a bit muddly sometimes. Great topic!
I almost avoid books written by nice people because GAH I DON’T WANT TO SAY SOMETHING MEAN AND DULL THEIR SUNSHINE, YOU KNOW? I’m such a wuss at confrontation. I haven’t had any too bad run ins with authors, but I’ve seen too much of the debacles that go down to be fully comfortable. It totally gets muddly. *heavy sigh*
Love your job description of an author, and the gifs.
🙂 I don’t pay much attention to the author for me, it’s the book.
So I guess the answer to your question at least for me is, no. The Author can do what they want, it’s kind of like movies I guess. I have never not liked a show because of something the director did.
hehe, we should totally petition that be an author job description right? I WANT A PLANET AND A MOP.
And true! True! A movie can be great but the actor in real life can be really awful. 😐 Humans separate from their art I say.
I could not agree more! Every tiny fiber of my being (except for Ralf, he’s the rebel) agrees with exuberance! Okay, it sucks if the author sucks, but it DOESN’T suck if their book doesn’t, because then I have read a good book, and I will NEVER forgo myself a good book. For example, Hitler, right? Sucky dude. Not a half bad painter (yes, I always use this example). Of course, when the painting thing didn’t work out, he turned to world domination, but that’s another thing. And I say NO, authors shall NOT own small planets because THEY ARE ALL MINE MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
SOMEONE SHOULD JUST HAVE TOLD HITLER TO STICK TO PAINTING. OMG. IT WOULD’VE SAVED A LOT.
But seriously. I don’t think I can talk to you if you’re gonna be like this. THE PLANETS ARE ALL MINE. HANDS OFF OR I’LL SET MY FLUFFY PUPPY ON YOU.
I KNOW RIGHT. How does a person go from painting landscapes to painting plans to conquer the world???
Okay, how about we timeshare the planets? I could use a break from overlording, anyway. BUT MY fluffy UNICORN will fluff the fluff out of your fluffy puppy–just saying.
I guess he got tired of pretend scenery and decided he needed to own it all?! AGH. Hitler terrifies me. Have you read that YA book Prisoner of Night and Fog?? IT WAS SO CHILLING. Hitler seemed, like, human in it…gah.
PFft. There will be no time sharing. AND DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE FLUFFINESS OF MY PUPPY.
First of all, I love the blue/gray/white color combination in the bookish photo at the top. ^_^
Anyway… yesssss, an author’s behavior definitely influences my opinion of their books. Like, consider Orson Scott Card. I read Ender’s Game, but I refuse to read any more of his books, let alone BUY them. He worked on Prop 8 (which banned marriage equality in California), wanted to make queer sex illegal once again, and has repeatedly said that being LGBTQ+ is “self-destroying behavior” and “pedophilia.” I don’t want to buy his books or support him in any way.
On a happier note, there are authors like Maggie Stiefvater and Derek Landy and Rick Riordan! They are GREAT when it comes to interacting with fans, blogging, answering questions about writing, and just generally being awesome. 😀
AJFLKDSA THANK YOU ENGIE. I remade that graphic like #95380 times because it was all going badly. hehe.
I didn’t even know about Orson Scott Card when I read Ender’s Game. 0_0 It was only after and since then I’ve really not wanted to read more of his books but I DID so love Ender’s Game. IT’S SUCH A PROBLEM.
AFLKSDJ AUTHORS WHO ARE KIND AND FABULOUS IN THE INTERNET ARE MY HEROES. Have you followed Lauren deStephano on twitter? She is freakishly hilarious.
An author’s behaviour definitely influences whether or not I’ll pick up a memoir or autobiography. If I don’t like you as a person or can’t stomach the idea of reading about your inner thoughts, I won’t be picking up your novel. Unless I am truly, truly curious about something or why you think a certain way–then perhaps I will pick it up.
When it comes to fiction, I’ve never really considered it. Then again, I don’t really follow any authors closely. I just joined Twitter (late to the bandwagon I know) and I’ve followed a lot of my favourite authors. So I guess we will see if I still have the same nonchalant view in a couple of weeks 😉
Ooh, welcome to twitter and GOOD LUCK. I find that most people are uber friendly, so don’t worry too much. 😉 But it is interesting… and potentially scary, to know too much about someone. >_<
TMI is never a good thing 😉
Thanks for the tips!
And now I will
stalkfollow you on twitter. 😉Haha thanks…I will return the favor 😉
Nice topic! A lot of times when I hear about an author behaving badly, I haven’t read their work yet, so I tend to just avoid them because there are so many books to read in this world and I’d rather support nicer authors. At the same time, I know what you mean about working with authors. I don’t work one-on-one with THAT many authors, which is good, because if I didn’t like their work – that would be a bit odd to tell them that.
-Lauren
I used to talk to authors a lot but now…aghh, I’m such a wuss, but I just avoid it altogether because a) I’m in awe of authors and b) I’m too terrified I’ll hate their work…or alternately it’s super embarrassing when one cannot say anything intelligent just “fajklsd I LOVED YOUR BOOK SO MUCH I JUST NEED TO HUG IT”. Like, omg, Cait, use your words. -_-
I know that I probably SHOULD be able to separate the author and their book, but I can’t. I mean, at least in the extreme cases. And it does work both ways for me.
So, if an author has made a few mistakes, but seems like a decent human being overall, I can totally overlook stuff. I don’t need him or her to be canonized for me to enjoy their books. BUT I also don’t want to be throwing my support behind some evil douche canoe either. If an author feels the need to go on some kind of vitriolic rampage of hate and assholery, I feel the need to never read their book. In my mind, I don’t WANT to like the book, because how could I even justify it to myself? So I don’t ever read it.
I kind of equate it to shopping in a store that won’t let certain groups of people in or something- if a store owner says they don’t support X group of people, I am NEVER shopping there again. To this day, I refuse to go to Hobby Lobby because of their ridiculously offensive views toward women and the LGBT community. And for me, a book is even MORE personal- because like you said, a person is pouring their SOUL into it. SO if their soul is filled with hate… yeah, passing on the book!
As for the supremely nice authors… well, same. It’s incredibly hard because I want to LOVE their book. If I am extra friendly with an author I would NEVER want a review copy of their book. That way, if I read it and hated it, I could simply never mention it again. I am sure the author would know that I didn’t like it by my non-mention of it, but at least feelings would be spared. But in general, if I see an author being awesome, I AM more likely to pick up their book, no question.
Basically, I find this topic incredibly interesting and shall now spend hours scrolling through your responses, because I want to know what other people think!
YES OMG YES I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THIS. I’ve seen too many authors do such mean things…and worse, I’ve seen author’s tweet reviewer-hate and then seen authors I love like/retweet. It totally terrified me. :O But I decided it wouldn’t affect my enjoyment of their books because, gah, life is short and I just want to read BOOKS. BUT IT DOESN’T ALWAYS SIT THAT WAY FOR ME. Like the author-who-stalked? I can’t ever read her book. I just can’t.
Agreed, though. :O I would much rather buy a book from an author I know personally and that way I’m not beholden to talk about it and potentially hate. And these days I’m uber picky so IT’S JUST GETTING HARDER. FJADSKL SAVE ME, SHANNON. I’M HAVING A GRUMP.
Aw Cait. Why the difficult questions? What happened to “WHO LOVES CAKE?”
I know which author you’re talking about and which authors agreed with this author and while it made me angry and sad the first time I saw it, it didn’t interfere with my reading experience of one of the authors who agreed’s work (that was convoluted). I’m here to talk about the books and not about authors. It’s cold to say but I can’t care about the authors because it’s going to make me neglect my responsibility as a reviewer. This is along the lines of some authors thinking that when reviewers have negative things to say about their work, they think that reviewers are attacking themselves. IT’S NOT TRUE. Yes, it’s their babies and you are criticizing their writing and characters but you’re not critiquing who they are as a person. It’s just like when aspiring authors submit work to publishers and get rejected (hello, that’s me right here): publishers aren’t rejecting YOU as an author, they’re just rejecting THIS work.
NEXT DISCUSSION TOPIC WILL BE WHAT KIND OF CAKE IS BEST. BECAUSE I AM KIND. I AM. (Actually, what am I even saying? That’s NOT an easy/kind question.)
Omg, but I agree. I almost don’t want to have anything to do with authors at times…just so I can keep the human vs the art separate. NOT that I want to disengage myself so much I feel like I can rant without consequences. *shakes head fiercely* I NEVER want to be that kind of reviewer. I just want to read the book for being a book, you know?
I will usually not read a book in the first place if I’m leery of the author, but I won’t dislike a book because of the author, if that makes sense? It influences my buying decisions, but not my enjoyment of books. And it’s so awkward when an author is awesome to me and I don’t like their book that much, but I still make myself be honest about it, because what’s the point otherwise? But gaaah, I just wanna be nice back.
Oh oh I love the “influences my buying decisions, but not my enjoyment of books” that is a GREAT way to look at it. And super-nice-authors are almost worse. >_< IT'S NOT FUN TO BREAK HEARTS AND SOULS.
Oh this is such a great topic!
Oh boy oh boy.
I agree with a lot of what you said, I mean where is this magic mop that’s going around cleaning floors and does it do dishes to? Can I get one? Just kidding!
Anyway, I have heard of many authors behaving badly and sometimes that makes me a bit weary to post my reviews because I don’t want them to harass me or anything like that. I’ve read some scary articles about authors stalking reviewers now that freaks me out and makes me cautious. Would I pick up their book? Maybe because a] I just want to know what the hell the fuss is about (I’m a bit nosy like that.) b] maybe I just want to read the book. I think you have to sometimes separate the author from the book because it could be a really good book but the author could be a shitty person and vice versa.
I guess it depends on how you view it? Like the book is like you said a work of art and the author is just the person then maybe it doesn’t affect you as much? I have no idea but this is a really good topic!
WE DEMAND OUR MAGIC MOPS, GOSH. WHY AREN’T THEY HERE YET?? IT’S 2015 ALREADY. SOMEONE FIX THIS MOPLESS-NESS IN OUR LIVES.
Agh, yes, I get scared about posting negative reviews for that exact reason. I basically don’t initiate contact with authors…um, ever. >_< I once had an author comment on my review (I hadn't tagged her!) and try to explain the "faults" I'd found. Which was just awkward, because I felt she was trying to convince me she was right/my opinion was wrong. And, agh, I didn't even know what to say. I think I ended up shamefully not replying. :'( CONFRONTATION IS NOT MY FRIEND.
This is such a horribly difficult subject to discuss! Like most people have commented before me, before joining the book blogging community I didn’t have any interactions with authors and well, I kind of didn’t even consider them before honestly. Now my opinion is a little muddle, like yours. I’ve come to a – somewhat – conclusion that most of the time an author’s work is separate from their work though and I try to stick to that.
There are some cases that I refuse to read a book because of author behavior though like Orson Scott Card. I refuse to read his books because he financially supports anti-LGBT campaigns. Now if he was homophobic and that was all, I’d overlook that unless he bought those themes into his books – but because MY money that I use to buy that book may be used in those campaigns, I refuse to buy his books or read them. I don’t want to support him or any stuff so I refuse to.
It’s a hard topic to approach and form a satisfying belief to follow. Fantastic discussion post though, Cait. I think you’ll get a lot of great answers to help you sort out for opinion.
OMG, YOU AND ME BOTH, MY FRIEND. I feel like becoming a book blogger has opened up a whole WORLD…where authors are somewhat accessible and also scary, too. I just want to keep the work vs the person separate. But, pfft, of course it doesn’t always end that way. I do understand the complete anger at Orson Scott Card…but, gah, Ender’s Game was so good and the book didn’t come off as homophobic, you know? So I have SUCH trouble deciding what I think about him. 😐 Although, tbh, I didn’t buy his book, I borrowed it!
It’s incredible that this entire community just existed and before I stumbled into Goodreads – which led to book blogging – I didn’t realise they’re were sooo many people out there that read like I did. Let alone people that wanted to talk about it and spread the word and fangirl together.. and then AUTHORS talked to me too. It was such a dream come true!
The struggle is REAL. I’ve heard soo many good things about Ender’s Game and I WANT to read it but… yeah. I don’t want to support that and it’s just too complicated. I might borrow it from the library one day. In the future. Not sure.
Omg, it is a dream come true! I had no idea one could, like, get review-copies and talk to authors and even chat with publishers before I started book blogging. AFJDSLK IT IS AMAZING. I still find it kind of surreal now…eeeven though I mostly skip talking to authors because I’m half scared/half in awe of them. 😉 Art and writing can just be so personal right?
Yes, yes, and yes. 100% agreement. *nodding head to everything* If my nerves weren’t such an issue – and I could strike up the courage to talk to some more ‘popular’ authors – than I could die of happiness with the world – at least MY world – at peace.
For a very certain over-hyped author, his behavior just turned me off from all his books. If I’ve never read the books before or didn’t really love the books, I go fully judgmental. I won’t support someone whose behavior I don’t like.
But if I’m already a fan, it’s definitely book before author. I came for the book, not the author, and I won’t mind supporting something I love, even though I don’t really approve of the someone.
I can understand this *nods* Sometimes I wish I didn’t know ANYTHING about the authors though so I didn’t have to worry about disagreeing/agreeing with them. >_<
Oooh, this is a really interesting post! I find if I hear an author has behaved badly, I won’t go near their books. There was an author who recently said some not great things about LGBTQ people. I didn’t fancy their books anyway, but I wouldn’t even give them a chance now. However, there’s another author whose books I fancied, but then I someone told me that author’s opinions on LGBTQ people weren’t great either, and I felt like 1) I should therefore steer clear, and 2) I was being told to boycott their books, and if I don’t, then what does that say about it? That made me uncomfortable. I don’t like being made to feel like I have to one one thing or another. I should be allowed to make my own choices about what I read. I’m steering clear for myself for the moment, but I don’t like feeling the community might gang up on me if I decided otherwise.
I do not like giving negative reviews for nice people, either. Especially if I “know”. I have met authors before they were published before, and this leaves me feeling uncomfortable, not just with the possibility of not liking their books, but whether my review would be trusted if it’s postive because I happened to meet them. And other authors who’ve been supportive or are really accessible on Twitter, for example, and have chatted with. It makes me squirm.
WHICH LEADS ME TO SOMETHING ELSE! It makes me uncomfy when authors respond to reviews. Whether it be commenting on my blog to thank me for reviewing (whether positive or negative), or replying to a tweet linking to a negative review/comments while reading about not enjoying the book. It makes me feel watched or judged for my opinion, one way or another. I really don’t know if it’s appropriate or not. It just makes me feel uncomfortable. That’s kind of off topic though.
Really interesting conversation, though! 🙂
AGH. I DON’T TALK TO AUTHORS BECAUSE OF THAT. I never link them to reviews, not even if it’s a positive review. I used to…but I dreaded replies. >_< I think authors are great, I really do, but I feel like (sometimes?) things like book blogging need not involve authors. *heavy sigh* So in total agreement there. Ah, I fall apart with stuff like the author's views. Because if it doesn't enter the book and I wouldn't have otherwise known...it makes me feel weird for dismissing a (potentially good) book based off unrelated views. AGHHHH BUT IT'S SO COMPLICATED.
I’ve gotta admit, sometimes, I will avoid a book based on the author, I mean, sometimes the actions are SO bad, you know, (like stalking) and you wouldn’t fund for any other stalker to do their bidding, why an author, you know? BUT, for opinions, and thoughts and just general drama, I will probably ignore it all and just got on with things, read whatever I want, because books. You raise a good point though Cait, great post! 😀
Omg, yes. I don’t feel like I can ever read that specific author’s books now, tbh.
I actually do the same thing, I look at the book first and the author second. It’s why the question “who is your favorite author” can sometimes be hard for me to answer since it’s the book that leaves an impact rather than the author.
I think you make an interesting point when you said you think you don’t believe the books belong to the readers. I actually think in some ways they do because when a book is out in the wild, readers will all react differently. Some will love it and say its the best thing they’ve read and others will hate it and it all just depends on what that book did for them. There isn’t a right or wrong way to interpret the book (even if the author says there is) because books will impact different readers in different ways and these differences cannot really be accounted for. OKAY I STOP NOW because this is such a long and complicated discussion and I think what you said is also right but I am done.
But getting back to your actual question of whether an author’s bad behaviour influences my opinion of their books… There are some authors who will behave so atrociously that I simply cannot read their books and it kind of does make me sad. In one of the more recent cases, I actually thought I would enjoy the author’s books but what they had done was so horrible that I had absolutely no desire to support them. In another case, I adored book 1 in a series but the author said some inappropriate things and now I don’t know if I want to pick up book 2 even though I REALLY want to.
GAH. Life is so complicated. We should just eat chocolate and read books foreverrr.
Fantastic discussion post, Cait <3
That is ME exactly…unless it comes to Maggie Stiefvater because, let’s face it, I have to rave about 100% of her books so I might as well just say “I read A Maggie Stiefvater and loved it” and just cover all bases. hehe
Ahhh, but yes, I feel like I could do a whole post on “if books belong to readers or not” because I see SO many people (and authors) agree to it, and I think I should grab everyone’s opinions on that too. *nods* But I just feel like, saying readers own the books now is almost taking away the author’s work? And I DO think you can interpret a book however you like, but I think, at the end of the day, the author’s meaning behind it is the “right” one, you know? BUT YEAH. Books should be interpreted differently by different people because WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT ADN THAT IS GOOD. *collapses in a heap*
NEXT TIME I’LL DO A SIMPLE DISCUSSION LIKE “HARDCOVERS VS SOFT COVERS” AND NOT GIVE US ALL EXISTENTIAL CRISES.
Like you, I’m “Book First, Author Second”. I mean their behavior will influence a bit if I want to pick up (or put off) their book, but I try not to let that be my only basis. Authors are not wisdom-filled (although we tend to see them that way), all powerful, mighty gods, so they DO make mistakes. We’ve all been in that situation where we’ve said or done something that we shouldn’t have, but that doesn’t mean we’re bad people, right? I think sometimes we just expect too much from authors, who at the end of the day, are just as human as we are.
I think it’s a 50/50 for me. Like, if author X wrote a book called Y and turns out author X did something negatively, I don’t think I’ll have the energy and motivation to read his / her book anymore. But if I already read their book and I find out they did something horrible or whatever, their behavior won’t impact my review / thoughts on the book. I hope I made sense!
I really like your pie analogy. I think authors OWN their books and even though that is the case, the authors’ books should be looked at separately than the authors’ actions.
Not a fan of doing background research on the author. I like to consider novels as independent works of art. Since I’ve stumbled upon a rather terrible human being (that wrote one of my favorite books) I decided to pretend authors don’t exist. I don’t check their twitter accounts, I don’t read read the headlines, I just ignore them. I think it’s better that way.
This is a difficult topic to talk about! If I know an author is horrible, do I really want to support them? And if they’re horrible to reviewers who don’t like their books, well, what if I don’t like their book either? I don’t want to be stalked! (though they must be really psycho if they come all the way to The Netherlands to hunt me haha!)
The author’s behavior tends to affect me more if I haven’t read the book yet, because as is the nature of writing, aspects of the author will be in the book. If I read a book, then find out later the author isn’t a good person it isn’t as big of a deal to me though I may be less likely to support said person. If the writing of the book is awful and the author is a nice person then I won’t have anything against the author, but I won’t be reading and/or buying any of their books.
storitorigrace.blogspot.com
Bad behaviour or good behaviour won’t affect how I feel about a book if I have already read it. But if I haven’t then good behaviour could encourage me to try their books, but it wouldn’t change my opinion of it. If I didn’t like it then I’d feel bad but I wouldn’t write a lovely glowing 5/5 review just because the author is lovely. I’m reviewing the book and not the person. The same would be said if it was a book by an author who had acted like a jackass! But the difference is that bad behaviour can make me NEVER want to read a book. I will literally NEVER touch a Kathleen Hale book because I really don’t want to support that kind of crazy.
I dont even know O_O! If I see an author being rude then uh, I probably will not read their book but if I already read their book then I can’t take it back XD If I liked it, I liked it even if the author wasn’t super cool 😛
But then again, I haven’t seen any authors being rude or anything like that… I have only meet really kind authors who I love and adore and wish I could give hugs (or cookies, because ya know, who doesn’t love cookies?!)?!?! Maybe I would feel differently if I did see them acting rude, but who knows ^_^?
Sometimes I can easily differentiate the author from their book, because they aren’t the same thing. But sometimes, I can only see a book and think of the author.
Example: I know that Scott Orson Card (or whatever his name is) is apparently quite an awful homphobic human being. That disgusts me, straight up. I did not know this about him when I went and saw the film for Ender’s Game. Which I adore. And have watched numerous times. I also didn’t know it when I went and bought the book that it was based off (written by this awful homphobic human). Now I do. I still haven’t read the book, but I’m like 99% sure that’s because I am just really bad at reading books I own because once I own them they get shoved down my priority reading list (so much sense, yeah?). I can quite consistently say that I differentiate the creator from their work in this case, because I loved the movie so much. And what an author is does not make that their work (if that makes sense). I can strongly dislike that author as a person, and perhaps enjoy his writing as a separate entity. If I actually ever get around to reading it.
Another example: Kathleen Hale. I’ll never read a book by her because she stalked a reviewer. Literally. Stalked. Them. That’s all kinds of wrong and creepy and just downright unacceptable. I had no interest in reading her book BEFORE that went down, and now I never will.
I don’t know if that’s double standard-y of me. Because this discussion is quite hard. I know that I’ve read books by authors who have behaved badly BEFORE I knew they had. I don’t know if that would have changed my decision to read their books, or not.
So all in all, I don’t even know how I feel/what I do when it comes to authors behaving badly, except in one case. And I don’t know if that defines all my future decisions on the subject, either. Because whilst we are not synonymous with our work, I also don’t really want to support a horrible person, either.
While I completely know what you mean about judging the book first without worrying about the author — personally, I don’t like monetarily supporting crappy people. There are too many good, kind people out there producing good work who I would rather support. I don’t care how great a badly behaving author’s work is — I don’t think someone’s crappy behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, violence, rudeness, things that are seriously BAD) should be swept under the rug and excused just because they produced a good bit of entertainment.
I guess I don’t really hold books as sacred as a lot of other readers, even though I’m a writer! They’re entertainment, and they’re AWESOME, but if I find out an author is a rapist, or says awful sexist things, or is against gay marriage, all those kinds of personal deal-breakers for me, I’m not reading their books, no matter how popular or how technically good they are. :\
Authorly behavior doesn’t affect me, nor does actor behavior. I think authors fly under the media radar more than actors. If they were “caught” doing what Paula Dean, Mel Gibson, etc. were up to tons of people would stop reading them and some bookstores would refuse to carry them. Not that I care either way, I’m all about the story.
I want so badly to love books by authors I like. Sometimes I just like the book ok. Sometimes I love it. I have yet to be in the awkward position of not liking it at all. But yes, if I like the author I am predisposed to like the book at least a little bit more.
If I don’t like an author, I’m more likely to not read their books in the first place rather than like the book less. I think I would also try to pretend that the author doesn’t exist – ignore them on social media, not read their blog, just let them live over there in their corner and I’ll stay over here in mine with the book, thank you very much.
The only time this could possibly apply to me would be for the positive. I wrote to Matthew Christian Harding, the author of The Peleg Chronicles (best series ever, btw), after polishing my fan letter for days on end, I sent it off, hoping that someday he’d read it and deign to smile. And he casually responded within the week, nicely thanking me, answering all my questions and asking to see my drawings of his characters so he could put them on his website.
I WAS GRINNING LIKE AN IDIOT FOR DAYS.
So, yeah. Now I like his books even more. 🙂
God, this is SUCH a blurry line. Before I blogged, authors were like these mystical creatures that would never know if I read their book or not (because I never talked about them on the internet). But when I started blogging, and putting my reviews out there, I became all too aware of how EASY it was reaching out to an author, and how very human and normal they are. They make mistakes, like I do. They say things in haste or anger, and regret them deeply (or not, for some), like I do. Should I treat them any differently for that than I would for myself, than I would for a friend? Sure, there are a *few* authors whose books I will NEVER read because of how badly they behaved toward bloggers and their READERS. The people that they create art FOR. But it has to be something really awful to make me put their book on my no-thank-you shelf on Goodreads (which yes I know is kinda passive-aggressive, but sometimes I don’t care…). And then, on the other side of the spectrum, it is so HARD to keep yourself honest when you’re negatively reviewing a book by an author who has become a friend. It’s difficult, and it sucks. And it makes you not want to say anything at all. I am unfailingly honest in my reviews, but I try to be really careful when that happens (which is rare, so that’s good). But it all makes you painfully aware of how thin the barriers are between the artist and the consumer, thanks to social media.
It’s just, just a really blurred line here. I think readers need to remember that authors are people too. There is a person behind the product, the art. They need to remember that authors make mistakes, too. But, on the other hand, some authors have done and said terrible things. So, I suppose this just depends on how YOU think it should be handled, and where you think the line is. Great discussion, Cait!
Most sane Authors are looking for an honest review so that they can improve on their future books, I don’t think that it’s right for them to expect you to give them a good review because you are friends.
However, having said that if I knew about a bad behaviour by an Author I probably won’t bother wasting my time. There are so many other books out there with polite Authors to waste my time on an Author that doesn’t respect Reviewers, which for many are their source of publicity.
Love, love, love this topic!
It’s such a tricky one, and I think everyone has their own take on it, none of which are “wrong”, just personal preferences. So, here we go:
1. Bad author behaviour will usually result in me avoiding their work – this includes author-stalking/physically attacking a reader (it did happen once that I know of), homophobia, and other such personal opinions that are polar opposite to mine. I know some people say art is separate from artist, but I’m a business person, the way I look at it, an author is their brand. When businesses do things we don’t agree with societally – unfair dismissal, homophobia, using non-free-range eggs (you get my drift), what do we do? We avoid the business and don’t give it our money unless they change their ways. I feel the same way about authors, they are their own brand, their own business, their product makes them money.
2. This doesn’t include incidents of “bad behaviour” – authors unlike corporate entities are human. They make mistakes, they have bad days. Incidents of bad behaviour, like an ill-thought-out tweet, won’t make me not read or support their work. Will it cloud my overall judgement? Of them, possibly, but not the book.
3. Author good behaviour makes it more likely that I will TRY their book, it doesn’t make it more likely that I will give it a positive review. As lovely and sweet as a person is, if their book is mediocre I would be doing them, and their art, a massive disservice by pretending it’s the best thing since Harry Potter (and I feel I know of some BookTubers/Bloggers, a very small number – maybe 3?, who become friends with authors and then scream from the rooftops about their “ok” books). I try not to write scathing reviews, I try to be constructive, so I would likely still review it, but I wouldn’t link the author to it. And if I know them well enough to know they might check out my blog, then I might not put the review up on it and put it up on Goodreads only, or email them my review so we can chat about it (I did this once, it was a fabulous conversation!).
Such a tricky subject that I think each individual has their own response to. R x
AND I THINK ALL THE INDIVIDUAL RESPONSES HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY GREAT SO FAR. I love your reasons and am nodding like a crazy thing right now. I pretty much agree that authors are, basically, their brand. And it’s really hard to like a “good” book if the human behind it is rather horrible. *shudders* And I also think it’s changing SO MUCH since the internet makes authors so much more accessible to their audience. When I was a wee marshmallow, like, authors were strange creatures you NEVER talked to. Now I can tweet them. 0_0 SO WEIRD. And yet awesome. So yes, I definitely think (particularly these days) author’s internet presence is a brand on their work.