If Your Favorite Author is Zane, Don’t Add Me On Goodreads

Guest Post from @sarahsosincere

Just call me the big bad book snob now. Once you’re done rolling your eyes at the title of this post, or nodding your head in agreement, hear me out. 

What’s the first thing you do when you get a request to connect with someone on a social networking site? You check out their profile page and see what you have in common, right? Friends, interests or whatever, usually there’s SOMETHING that would bring you two together on the interweb. 

Yesterday, I got a request to be friends with a lady on the social networking site for booklovers, Goodreads.  The first thing I noticed when perusing her profile was that her favorite authors were Zane and Sister Souljah.   On her “Currently Reading” shelf was “Missionary No More: Purple Panties 2.”  And this is the point when I completely closed my web browser. 

Let’s not discuss my disbelief at there being a SERIES called “Missionary No More.” Let’s not even get into the fact that someone read the first book in the “Missionary No More” series and then made the conscious decision to read the second. (Obviously, a lot of somebodies did since they published a sequel!) Let’s just talk about why anyone making these types of literary decisions shouldn’t add me on Goodreads.

  

Social networks are generally for the likeminded. I don’t like anything about Zane’s mind and neither should you. But you do. So, don’t add me on Goodreads. 

While I’m being snarky, I’m also being serious. Enjoying trashy and egregiously poorly written novels isn’t a crime but to say the author of said novels is your all-time fave? No ma’am, I will not take your book reviews seriously. I just can’t do it. 

Maybe this woman was trying to diversify her reading by following my reviews on Goodreads. That’s great but I still don’t want to see the review for “Missionary No More: Purple Panties 2” on my timeline. Purple Panties 2? Word? 

As much as I really really hate it, this isn’t about my abhorrence of Zane’s writing. This is about knowing your audience. You have the option to simply follow another Goodreads user’s reviews without asking them to subject themselves to your own. If you’re going to be reviewing Zane and other filth flarn filth, please use this option. Please.

I'm already a well-documented book snob, so you know that I agree with Sarah wholeheartedly.  Where do you stand?

I'm so over you!

Have you ever had a series that you loved or a character that you adored?  When you first started reading about them, you couldn’t get enough, right? You anxiously anticipated the next book in the series.  You wondered what the characters were doing in their down time.  And then it happened.  One day the series sucked and you wouldn’t care if your character got mowed down by the cross town bus.  So what goes wrong? Has the author run out of new ideas or has the character just outlived their usefulness?  Sometimes it’s a combination of both.

Back in 2000 when Kimberla Lawson Roby’s “Reverend Curtis Black” series first started, it was mildly entertaining. It was Christian lit with less focus on the Christian part and more focus on drama. I like to say that it was as close to secular entertainment as good Christians could come without falling from God’s grace. Anyway, fast forward to 2012 and nine books later, Rev. Black is STILL around. Given that she’s still churning out books and people are still buying them, I guess Lawson Roby plans to ride this wagon until the wheels fall off, but I see far too many negative tweets and comments about them to believe that people are still interested in the misadventures of the Rev, his wife, kids and women.

As much as I used to love James Patterson’s Alex Cross series, let my people go! Remember when the series was really good? Before some movie executive thought Morgan Freeman’s old grizzled self made a decent Alex and way before some misguided movie exec thought Tyler Perry (rather than Idris Elba) personified Alex, there were just the books. And they were good. Patterson has been off his game for awhile as far as his other books and series were concerned, but the Alex Cross series seemed to be a sure thing for the longest. I don’t know if, like with his other books, he started bringing in fledgling writers to assist (read: write for) him, but the plots and developed characters are no longer there. The last Alex Cross book I truly enjoyed wasn’t even about Alex, it was about a distant relative of his.

Has Patterson lost the magic all the way around? Looking at the Women’s Murder Club series, I have to say yes. With the exception of the first book in the series, they’ve all been co-written. I think I lost interest about book five. Beginning in 2000, he published a book about them each year, stopping in 2009 with The 9th Judgement.  Let's pause to give him a collective thank you.

Another series that used to leave me breathless was Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series. Kay was funny, she was beautiful and she was absolutely brilliant. The series about a medical examiner with both a J.D. and an M.D. who canoodled with the FBI and hung out with a cop that reminded me of NYPD Blue’s Andy Sipowitz was so much fun to read. So what happened? About nine books into the series, Cornwell changed the voice of Scarpetta from first person to third person. Honestly, I felt like I was having a conversation with Bob Dole. After poor sales and complaints from readers, Cornwell admitted that she had been “going through some things,” some of which she blamed on George W. Bush (don’t ask how she came up with that), and returned to writing Scarpetta as the way she was meant to be written. Unfortunately, most of her readership, including me, had moved on to other authors and characters.

So what series are you over? Is there a character that you wouldn’t mind seeing take a long walk off a short pier?

A Day in the Life...

of a book blogger that happens to be black...or African American, whatever floats your boat.

7:00 a.m. Rise & shine
7:30 a.m. Check to see if Blogger FINALLY worked out their kinks and posted today's post at 7:30 instead of 9:30 or 5:30
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Do the job I'm actually paid to do
5:30 p.m. Check email
5:32 p.m. Let out a loud exasperated sigh as I read the following:

Hello <---note that I don't have a name, just a generic hello, because this has already been pitched to every black book blogger on the net.
My name is Denise and I was referred to you by a friend on Goodreads. I'm an Urban lit authoress and I've recently authored a novel titled, Streets is Talking.

What's wrong with this picture you might ask. #1 I don't do urban lit & #2 even though it's a real word, certified by the dictionary and everything, I abhor the word 'authoress!'  Like what is that even about?

5:45 p.m. DM J Nic, my literary twin, about the latest shiggidy that ended up in my inbox

Me: Why did I get a pitch from XYZ publisher about rapper Blase' Blahs latest urban tale?
JNic: *crickets*
Me: Who in the hell told rappers to start writing books? Better yet, who told publishers that I'd want to read this crap? It's because I'm black, isn't it? Do you think they pitch this crap to BethFishReads or DevourerOfBooks?
JNic: Who?
Me: Exactly!

If you thought the shelves of the bookstore formerly known as Borders were segregated, the world of book blogging is really no better.  Publishers pitch books based on not only genres, but also the color of the author and the blogger.  Just because I'm brown doesn't mean I want to read every piece of lit written by another brown person.  No, I'm not interested in the garbage 50 Cent is peddling to urban youth, but I may be interested in that new Sophie Kinsella or Amy Tan so how about pitching me that instead?

A recent conversation with a good friend of mine led to a passionate monologue from me about the greatness of Algonquin Books.  I won't jump on the soap box and give you details about what I said, but here are the highlights.  Algonquin Books is hands down my favorite publisher.  There aren't black, white, brown, purple or pink books with them, just good books.  I've never gotten a pitch from them that was tailored for a specific audience.  It's more of a "we've got great books, you like great books, look at our great books and tell us what you want us to send you."

I watched with fascination as Tayari Jones toured the country this year promoting her book,  Silver Sparrow.  National reviewers, national public radio and book bloggers didn't dwell on the fact that the characters were African-American.  Silver Sparrow is the kind of story that can play out in families of any race.  In the hands of another publisher, it might have been banished to the 'Urban Lit' section of the bookstore and found itself nestled between Zane and Ice-T.  I really feel like a big reason for the book's success, other than the fact that it was amazing, was the way it was presented by Algonquin Books.

Publishers that continue to pigeonhole their authors and their audience are doing no one any favors. A good book is a good book is a good book regardless of who writes it.  If you write it, they will read it.  Publishers would do well to remember that and to stop selling everyone short.

'Fess Up Friday

I don't know why I feel like I should be playing Ursha (that's Usher for the proper folks) in the background.  Oh hell, let me drop a little leprechaun love for y'all.







Now that that's out of the way, here's the part where I confess my book blogging secrets.

1. Sometimes I don't feel like blogging.  I just want to read without worrying about whether or not I'm going to finish the book in time to have a post.
2. My feelings get hurt when no one comments on a book that I thought was really great.  I'm overly enthusiastic (and long winded) about books I really like. I want others to be overly enthusiastic about them too.  Everyone has their preference.  I'm working on not being so gushy and sensitive about what I read.
3. Some days I would rather blog about reality TV.  If you follow me on Twitter, you already know that I'm a fan of the Real Housewives series and umm...Swamp People.  Don't judge me! I'm fascinated by the Cajun accents.
4. I think the book blogging world can be just as segregated as the shelving at Borders.  Someone once told me that if I wanted to increase my readership, I should blog about more mainstream lit.  And by mainstream they meant paranormal/vampire lit, romance novels, historical fiction, books with white characters, etc.  I blog predominantly about books by and/or about people of color because I enjoy it and if I don't, who will?  I don't knock anyone that blogs about the other stuff, but it's not my cup of tea. 
5. Jodi Picoult needs to go sit down somewhere.
6. I hate authors that friend me on Goodreads just to plug their book. Stop filling my inbox up with repeated recommendations for your book.  If it's good, I'll get to it and you only need to tell me once!
7. I think it's rude as hell when someone that's never commented on the blog emails asking me to send them one of the freebies on the Giveaways page.  Yeah, they're free to you, but the postage costs me.  At least have the decency to say something in the email other than your name, address and name of the book you want.
8. I'm not a fan of street lit.  I'm sure most of you already knew that, but I have to put it out there again.  A fellow tweeter and I were discussing it last week after the whole Omar Tyree post and out of nowhere, street lit authors came for us. What the what? The Twitterverse isn't gang turf! I'm not about to fight you over what you write.  There's an audience for what you write, but I'm not picking up what you're putting down, so stop trying to bring me over to the dark side.  Know your audience and govern yourselves accordingly.
9. I think grown people that read nothing but YA lit are weird.
10. I think Kindles, Nooks, etc. are overrated.  Yeah, I said it.  I know some of you swears on the precious when it comes to those things. I still prefer paper books.  (Did you see how I threw that Lord of the Rings reference in there? I stans for Smeagol!)

Ahhh, confession is good for the soul.  So what do you need to confess this Friday?