Be Careful What You Stand For

For the last several weeks, an online book club I am a part of has been harassing me to read a particular series.  I have had more than one SHOUTY CAPITALS message sent my direction in hopes of getting me to pick them up.  I haven't been avoiding them or anything.  I'm just busy like everyone else.

Finally, one of my book nerd friends took matters into her own hands and gifted me the first one in the series.  (Side note:  Thanks babe!  That was really super sweet of you)  She then started a thread just for me so when I finished I could simply request the next one and whoever had it would loan it to me immediately.

So here I am, all excited that I'm about to read this series of books that all my friends rave about and they're all so kind and generous and I open up my gifted ebook and see the author's name...

And my heart sinks.

You see, some really nasty drama has been running around the online world of indie authors lately and this particular author was the catalyst of some serious accusations towards someone else.

Now, I try to stay out of the drama.  But that doesn't mean I don't watch it happen.  And I watched this particular drama go down and it was nasty.  The accusations of stealing someone else's idea were nasty.  The comments to the accused as she tried to defend herself were nasty.  The entire thing was just...nasty.

And quite frankly...it was all pretty unnecessary.

The reality is, no ideas are really all that unique anymore.  I have two favorite authors that write about hockey studs.  I've read multiple books about student/teacher romances.  And don't get me started on how many billionaire alpha males fall in lust with an inexperienced virgin.  Frankly, unless it's flat out plagiarism, I don't really care if someone's idea is inspired by someone else.  A good book is a good book.

Don't misunderstand, actual plagiarism is serious and needs to be addressed.  But there are is a proper way to do that and proper channels to go through.  

Back to the books my friends so generously gave me...

I decided to put all this nastiness out of my mind and take advantage of all these books being thrown my direction.  I mean, my friends have been raving about them for weeks so they must be good!  So I started reading, and while I am thoroughly entertained, I can't seem to love them as much as everyone else.  Sure, they're well written.  Sure, they're hot.  But just the author's name on the cover completely changed the feeling I get when I read them.  

And that pisses me off.

I should be in love with this series like my friends.  I WANT to be in love with this series like my friends.  We agree on books 99% of the time.  But instead, this particular author put a nasty taste in my mouth about who she is and in the process she tainted her own work.  

No, don't ask who it is.  I'm not here to tear anyone down.  Just trying to make a point.  And the point is...how many other people had this same series on their TBR and changed their minds like I did?

I read an old study once about customer complaints.  One of the reasons businesses go above and beyond to fix things for a complaining customer is because that ONE person represents the way FIFTY other people feel.  Let's translate that into book terms.

I am ONE small reader/blogger.  I only have about 400 followers (maybe fewer after today).  I have no desire to read or review this author's books partially because I know my view is flawed.  My opinion isn't solely based on the work anymore, however much that grieves me.  

Now if I represent FIFTY small bloggers who all feel the same way, that would be a total of 20,000 potential readers that will never have this series recommended to them.  That doesn't even include the several other people, each of whom represent 50 more, who commented on all this nastiness, outraged at the person who started it all.

That is a hell of a lot of 1-clicks to lose because of some online catty nastiness.

My point is this...authors, bloggers, publishers, editors, formatters.....be careful what you stand for publicly.  Yes, there are issues we all need to be enraged about.  And if you want to use your public platform to stand up against human trafficking or child pornography or world hunger DO IT.  Those issues need to be addressed.

But think long and hard about what issues you want to stand up for.  A good question to ask before posting anything is, "Am I willing to give up my career for this?"  Because the internet sees everything.  Readers see everything.  And they are not always forgiving.  And if the readers won't forgive you, that could end up being the kiss of death for your career.