So much good stuff in this! I realized recently that well-written, well-argued negative reviews are far more likely to make me seek something out to see what it's all about than the fawning that seems omnipresent these days. I know in music as well, we often talk about fear of the stans, but positive reviews are often co-related with "access" as well -- I know there's been historical records of managers responding to poor coverage with subtle threats such as sending black roses to the writers (also reminded of the artist that shouted out the RS reviewer at his show, am I supposed to take anything they publish at face value?)
The fanfiction-ing of publishing is something I've kind of touched on, I blame Wattpad/Movella and industry adopting those works, and always, always the *worst* ones, of course. It's not just "proven" concepts but also free marketing. I think the explosion of YA is part of the problem too, and Booktok... god the dumbing down of the reading public seems so tied to the embrace of the booktok audience (but maybe I'm just bitter...)
A friend of mine is on Royal Road (novel, Gods of Ghost River) and has had 10k reads and counting. I'm probably going to go that route for my next book. Having a paper book I wrote in my hands is amazing, but business-wise it doesn't matter anymore
So much good stuff in this! I realized recently that well-written, well-argued negative reviews are far more likely to make me seek something out to see what it's all about than the fawning that seems omnipresent these days. I know in music as well, we often talk about fear of the stans, but positive reviews are often co-related with "access" as well -- I know there's been historical records of managers responding to poor coverage with subtle threats such as sending black roses to the writers (also reminded of the artist that shouted out the RS reviewer at his show, am I supposed to take anything they publish at face value?)
The fanfiction-ing of publishing is something I've kind of touched on, I blame Wattpad/Movella and industry adopting those works, and always, always the *worst* ones, of course. It's not just "proven" concepts but also free marketing. I think the explosion of YA is part of the problem too, and Booktok... god the dumbing down of the reading public seems so tied to the embrace of the booktok audience (but maybe I'm just bitter...)
Great one as always!
A friend of mine is on Royal Road (novel, Gods of Ghost River) and has had 10k reads and counting. I'm probably going to go that route for my next book. Having a paper book I wrote in my hands is amazing, but business-wise it doesn't matter anymore