It’s funny when I think about how things used to be with authors, back before the days of the internet–writers were mysterious, secreted away as they worked on their manuscripts. They weren’t on Facebook or Twitter. They didn’t have websites or Tumblr or anything like that. Back then, my only real way to express my love of a book was to gush about it with other readers.
Nowadays, I think it’s mostly great that we’re able to reach out to our favorite authors now. Let them know how much we loved their books, that we’re excited about what they’re doing. And I think most days, authors are happy about that too.
But I’ll be honest…there’s a small part of me that kind of misses the way it used to be.
I’ve had authors I used to LOVE but now can’t read anymore. Why? Because of the way they behave online. Things they’ve said that are so offensive/rude/etc, I couldn’t get past it. Now I can’t look at a story by them without it being tainted by their online personas.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that some readers make it a point to contact authors about every single problem they had with the book. I know of authors who got scathing messages blasting their newest releases. Authors who were tagged on Twitter by book reviewers–and when clicking on that review link, found out the book was shredded to pieces.
For me, when I was a kid, authors were my superstars. There was always something magical about the way a book was produced, the way a person could pull words out of the soul and create a book from nothing. Now we can see authors posting on Twitter every day about writing. Struggling with scenes. Issues with covers. Stress over money. Yes, transparency is awesome for authors in many ways, but some of that magic, that mystery is gone now. Since authors need to be online, need to keep promoting, I wonder if this has removed a little bit of what used to make them superstars for me.
What do you think? I’d love to know!
I miss the old days too. Some authors look better through their books than when they air their laundry.
Authors are people too. Good, bad or ugly. I like being able to know authors a little more because of my admiration for their creativity and perseverance.
Of course I have yet to stop reading an author’s work because of their online activities. Then again I have yet to search out most of my favorite authors. Sometimes I getting to know an author online has motivated me to read their works. At the very least it has increased their name recognition.
I think it is great to have access to them online. I love exchanging tweets and the like. I’ve met so many new great authors that way too.
The only downside is when an author challenges why you gave their book a lower rating than someone else’s. This here makes me want to never read the author again.
I love being able to reach out to authors and let them know how much I liked their books. It’s a big disappointment now if I read an author and discover there’s no way to follow/like/send her a fan letter. But yes, sometimes there’s also way too much information! I’ve fallen out of love with an author or two on Twitter.
As a reader, you authors are still superstars to me! I have found that by getting to know authors via twitter, etc, I am more fond of their books and the hard work they put into their books. I have learned about so many other books and authors because author-friends promote each other, too. I, too, have been put off by authors acting a certain way. It is tricky like you guys have to walk and I think most of you do it very well!
I think it’s great to be able to access basic information about authors and their books online, but more mystery — and therefore magic — would be a welcome change. Familiarity breeds contempt.
I have stopped buying one of my favorites because she is so rude and negative on line. But I have found many more that I have come to love because of FB and blogs.
Authors used to always be the mysterious creator behind the books I read. Now that I can reach out and chat with them, they seem more real and more like ordinary people. I like the new connectedness, but there are some authors I don’t want to look for because I want them to remain the awesome mystery force that they are in my mind.
I prefer the mystique of the old days but I know social networking can be a very useful tool for a writer when they’re trying to build a career. In fact I think social networking could be used much more creatively than it currently is by most writers.
For anyone who’s been turned off by an author’s online persona, I would encourage you to contact the author, let them know how they’ve come across to you, and give them a chance to defend themselves. (Not that they always will, but give them a chance.) Not only do people sometimes not understand how they’re perceived online but there also might be a very logical explanation for what you’re seeing, and that explanation might not be, “This author is an argumentative, petty, hateful bitch.” (Then again, it might be exactly what they are, but then at least you know, right? LOL)
I know I’ve personally come across as that very thing a time or two but it’s not because that’s what I am. It’s because I’ve had a very – and I mean VERY – negative experience online (a decade of fighting a ridiculously pathetic cyberstalker) and now everyone who tries to interact with me online catches hell for it. I’ll probably never be able to interact with people online without a wall of hostility around me because everyone I see online is the loser who disrupted my life for so long. I am completely incapable of trusting anyone I can’t look in the eye, but with good reason. Still, that doesn’t mean I’m a hateful person. I’m really not hateful at all. I’m just hateful to losers who repeatedly threaten to kill my family/husband/dog.
But who wouldn’t be?
Cris
AKA Blayne Edwards
I also have noticed my tastes in authors changing based on their public fan accounts and posts. Authors that use their fan pages or twitter accounts to blast their religious/political/rants-about-anything-nonbook-related make me less interested in buying their work. I also really dislike getting notifications from authors begging ME to market their books with/without rewards. I have dropped a few authors for just this reason. On the other side of this, authors that totally rock as story tellers AND interact with their fans in a positive way have been bumped up into auto-buy territory. As always, it is about perception.
As a blogger, I’m glad to see so many authors online because when you’re writing about a book it often really improves your knowledge and what you can write when the author is accessible in that way. And although an author doesn’t necessarily have to be on social media, I do tend to reject review requests if I can’t find anything about the author online. It’s nice to be able to put a location, educational history, and yes a face, to a book and does give it more authority. I suppose a blog or just simply some kind of online presence shows that they feel their book is important. Maybe it’s not the way it should be, but the world has changed.
Regarding drama, if an author is rude it’s surely their issue. If you find you can’t read their work because they’ve been rude then I don’t think the reader should feel bad in any way. There may be this whole separation idea, where authors “should” be viewed apart from their book, but it’s pretty impossible to truly do so because a book is a reflection of a person, you don’t write about things you don’t support, whether it be a subject you love or a subject you wish to criticise.
There’s a whole discussion surrounding sending reviews to authors. It’s difficult to say one way or the other because some do appreciate reading them, but sending a negative review no matter how objective isn’t particularly professional. Sending them to the publisher if it was requested is okay, but otherwise there’s nothing to gain in purposefully causing an author to know about your negative criticism unless asked for.
There are a lot of authors I’ve started reading BECAUSE of their presence online. If they can make me crack up reading their tweets and blogs, I’m thinking it will transfer to their writing.
I kinda miss the old days too
. I miss the mysterious air that seemed to surround an author, especially one whose writing I’d fallen in love with. I really enjoyed imagining what they must be like, what their lives were like, how they wrote and why. You know…who they really were as people. For me, it added to the reading experience, added an additional layer of richness. Now, I know way too much about way too many authors LOL. I’ve honestly been shocked by what some people post online, either about themselves or others. I have to think they forget everyone can see it 
.
Of course, technological advances and the internet in particular, have changed our lives and added so much positive aspects to it. I do like the fact that I can go to an author’s social networking sites and find out about their backlist or what’s coming, perhaps learn a little about them. And the ability for a reader these days to actually reach out and interract with an author? I think that’s incredible. It’s a tool like anything else and depends on how it’s used.
I’ve been fortunate in that the authors I admire have been uniformally friendly and helpful, online. Same goes for the editors too (hi, Rhonda!).
It’s pretty amazing to me when these people take time out to actually reply to a message, tweet or comment.
Perhaps the only thing that bothers me about this new-fangled access to authors is this: people sometimes ask me for writing advice which I feel unable to give. I might be a published author but that doesn’t make me an expert. I feel that, ideally, readers and would-be writers should seek-out *really* experienced authors & editors for their counsel.