“They were actually commenting on the choices I’d made in my life.”
December 28, 2014 4:36 PM Subscribe
Amazon’s disruption of the traditional publishing model is well-documented. Self-published authors on Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited are seeing their incomes plummet by as much as 75%. Citizen-reviewers have wrested the reins of criticism from established newspaper and magazine critics, much to authors’ dismay. But one writer found online reviewing a way to reclaim her identity as a writer—even if she was reviewing a crappy mattress purchase on Amazon. How A Bad Amazon Review Totally Changed My Career.
(previously on Kathleen Hale)
(previously on Kathleen Hale)
Rare opportunities to finally set things fair are usually just periodic opportunities for a new or already powerful conglomerate to seize the reigns of oppression from their previous owners.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 5:04 PM on December 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by I-Write-Essays at 5:04 PM on December 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
I was so distressed about this injustice that I looked up the list of Amazon’s board of directors. Great good luck, I happened to know two of them, so I pestered the one who was a lawyer, feeling all this slamming by the barely literate approached tortious interference.
That's great for "Dear Margo" Howard, but for the rest of us it's not quite as easy to quell reviewers with agendas.
posted by infinitewindow at 5:06 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
That's great for "Dear Margo" Howard, but for the rest of us it's not quite as easy to quell reviewers with agendas.
posted by infinitewindow at 5:06 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
I think she might have better luck reclaiming her identity if she shortened the piece by about 1/3.
posted by McMillan's Other Wife at 5:10 PM on December 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by McMillan's Other Wife at 5:10 PM on December 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
Bit of a shaggy-dog story.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 5:12 PM on December 28, 2014
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 5:12 PM on December 28, 2014
As someone whose corpus is primarily made up of comments posted on places such as MeFi, and whose critical praise is mostly made up of favorites and upvotes, I feel her.
posted by Apocryphon at 5:15 PM on December 28, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by Apocryphon at 5:15 PM on December 28, 2014 [8 favorites]
People who rely on random Amazon reviews to help them select their reading material, rather than say James Wood, are getting what they pay for.
posted by newdaddy at 5:46 PM on December 28, 2014
posted by newdaddy at 5:46 PM on December 28, 2014
And then there's the troll reviewers who really, really want to kick off that one LOL before they retire on their pile of Internet Points.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:50 PM on December 28, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:50 PM on December 28, 2014 [4 favorites]
People who rely on random Amazon reviews to help them select their reading material, rather than say James Wood, are getting what they pay for.
That comes off as unfortunately snobbish. The variety of comments on Amazon is one of the things I actually appreciate about the company. Most are useless, granted, but I've learned a lot from many of them, and from the comments on them.
Mr. Woods, well, he has a POV (as well as a CV), but he's only one man and you may or may not find his particular approach to literature congenial. (Plus he's not reviewing the books that I may want to read. Here's his best-of list ca. 1994 of the written word since 1945.)
posted by IndigoJones at 6:05 PM on December 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
That comes off as unfortunately snobbish. The variety of comments on Amazon is one of the things I actually appreciate about the company. Most are useless, granted, but I've learned a lot from many of them, and from the comments on them.
Mr. Woods, well, he has a POV (as well as a CV), but he's only one man and you may or may not find his particular approach to literature congenial. (Plus he's not reviewing the books that I may want to read. Here's his best-of list ca. 1994 of the written word since 1945.)
posted by IndigoJones at 6:05 PM on December 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
"Self-published authors on Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited are seeing their incomes plummet by as much as 75%."
Am I missing something or why would writers actually want to have their work placed on Kindle Unlimitied?
posted by I-baLL at 6:11 PM on December 28, 2014
Am I missing something or why would writers actually want to have their work placed on Kindle Unlimitied?
posted by I-baLL at 6:11 PM on December 28, 2014
People who rely on random Amazon reviews to help them select their reading material, rather than say James Wood, are getting what they pay for.
I sometimes skim them for things like kitchen gadgets, but I never even glance at them for books, nor would I ever. I can't think of anything less useful than an uncurated set of amateur reviewers presented to me by an algorithm that probably relies primarily on marketing budgets in determining which reviews to rank higher.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:12 PM on December 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
I sometimes skim them for things like kitchen gadgets, but I never even glance at them for books, nor would I ever. I can't think of anything less useful than an uncurated set of amateur reviewers presented to me by an algorithm that probably relies primarily on marketing budgets in determining which reviews to rank higher.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:12 PM on December 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
Recently on AskMe: What are the objections against Amazon?
posted by travelwithcats at 6:27 PM on December 28, 2014
posted by travelwithcats at 6:27 PM on December 28, 2014
Am I missing something or why would writers actually want to have their work placed on Kindle Unlimitied?
Indies get a percentage of a pool of money that doesn't depend on what they set the price. So, if they couldn't have made it selling $5 books, they might get more through an Unlimited download than if they sold a book for $1-2. That's nice. The authors who can get $5 or more subsidize that.
Traditionally published books supposedly get the same royalty as if they sold the ebook the normal way.
I encourage people to use Calibre to put their books on Kindle and to buy directly from authors whenever the author provides a reasonable option.
posted by michaelh at 6:47 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
Indies get a percentage of a pool of money that doesn't depend on what they set the price. So, if they couldn't have made it selling $5 books, they might get more through an Unlimited download than if they sold a book for $1-2. That's nice. The authors who can get $5 or more subsidize that.
Traditionally published books supposedly get the same royalty as if they sold the ebook the normal way.
I encourage people to use Calibre to put their books on Kindle and to buy directly from authors whenever the author provides a reasonable option.
posted by michaelh at 6:47 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
That comes off as unfortunately snobbish. The variety of comments on Amazon is one of the things I actually appreciate about the company. Most are useless, granted, but I've learned a lot from many of them, and from the comments on them.
I'm not suggesting you necessarily need to embrace specifically Mr. Wood's views, I'm saying that there are people who get paid to think about and write reviews, and courses of study related to that, aesthetics, criticism, whole disciplines and modes of thought. Critics can provide insights, depth, context. Creation and criticism are in constant dialog. Some random dude on Amazon will tell you whether he enjoyed it or not. It makes me sad and disappointed when people don't see or acknowledge that there's any difference.
posted by newdaddy at 7:07 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
I'm not suggesting you necessarily need to embrace specifically Mr. Wood's views, I'm saying that there are people who get paid to think about and write reviews, and courses of study related to that, aesthetics, criticism, whole disciplines and modes of thought. Critics can provide insights, depth, context. Creation and criticism are in constant dialog. Some random dude on Amazon will tell you whether he enjoyed it or not. It makes me sad and disappointed when people don't see or acknowledge that there's any difference.
posted by newdaddy at 7:07 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
Except the mattress review didn't change her career, she's still not making a living by writing books, which it seems is the writing career she wanted.
posted by betweenthebars at 7:16 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by betweenthebars at 7:16 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
As someone whose corpus is primarily made up of comments posted on places such as MeFi, and whose critical praise is mostly made up of favorites and upvotes, I feel her.
posted by Apocryphon at 5:15 PM on December 28 [3 favorites -] [!]
yeah so I'll just be over here making the tina belcher noise...
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:21 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Apocryphon at 5:15 PM on December 28 [3 favorites -] [!]
yeah so I'll just be over here making the tina belcher noise...
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:21 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
Ah, "You should write for a living!" The sharpest and most painful double-edged sword one can receive on the Internet.
posted by Spatch at 7:45 PM on December 28, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by Spatch at 7:45 PM on December 28, 2014 [7 favorites]
Critics can provide insights, depth, context.
And too often they fail to say whether the book is enjoyable, and too often when they do, they're wrong.
posted by shivohum at 8:52 PM on December 28, 2014
And too often they fail to say whether the book is enjoyable, and too often when they do, they're wrong.
posted by shivohum at 8:52 PM on December 28, 2014
And too often they fail to say whether the book is enjoyable, and too often when they do, they're wrong.
Which reminds me of the joke with "...and such small portions!" as the punchline.
Enjoyability is a pretty subjective and amorphous characteristic in general, never mind applied to a particular book.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:29 PM on December 28, 2014
Which reminds me of the joke with "...and such small portions!" as the punchline.
Enjoyability is a pretty subjective and amorphous characteristic in general, never mind applied to a particular book.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:29 PM on December 28, 2014
Critics can provide insights, depth, context.
I find this pretty rare in the newspapers tho. The reviewers are similar to political journalists - they're in the system along with the writers they review and they all depend on keeping the whole show on the road for a living. That's why she thinks it's important that she got a 'seven figure' advance one time, and a 'proper' reviewer might agree, but nobody else does.
It's much safer to write that Dear Margo or whoever's book is a 'majestic, devastating, and uproariously funny tour de force' than actually get to grips with what the words are like and why she wrote them.
Amazon reviewers usually have no axe to grind and get you straight to the juicy stuff, as they pretty much did with Margo and the Kardashian reference.
posted by colie at 3:08 AM on December 29, 2014
I find this pretty rare in the newspapers tho. The reviewers are similar to political journalists - they're in the system along with the writers they review and they all depend on keeping the whole show on the road for a living. That's why she thinks it's important that she got a 'seven figure' advance one time, and a 'proper' reviewer might agree, but nobody else does.
It's much safer to write that Dear Margo or whoever's book is a 'majestic, devastating, and uproariously funny tour de force' than actually get to grips with what the words are like and why she wrote them.
Amazon reviewers usually have no axe to grind and get you straight to the juicy stuff, as they pretty much did with Margo and the Kardashian reference.
posted by colie at 3:08 AM on December 29, 2014
Funny that this is posted today. I was discussing Amazon reviews with my mom last night. I really like Amazon reviews, and I actually find them far more informative than the work of most professional reviewers. I am good at sussing out, even from a badly written review, whether I would like the book or movie under review or not. In fact, scathingly critical reviews will often convince me that a work is just my cup of tea.
For the record, I used to be a frequent book reviewer for a major city's daily newspaper in the early 1990s. Many people loved my reviews and I think I did pretty good work. But writing in that format, you are somewhat constrained in what you can say and how you can say it ... certain types of candor would not be allowed to make it into the newspaper's pages. What I like about amateur Amazon reviewers is that their reviews really are unconstrained except by rules against profanity, irrelevancy and attempts to hawk other products. And that allows a fuller, folksier look at what the book is actually like. And when you have a bunch of reviews by amateurs together in a single place ... yes, you will come away with a better idea of what the book is like and whether you will like it.
The review that occasioned my mom and my's conversation about Amazon reviews was this review of Californication Season 1. She had given me Season 7 of Californication for Christmas and was asking what I liked about the show. And I was put in mind of this reviewer's pithy summation of the show as either "a good show done badly, or a bad show done well," which is about as good a summation as possible of why this show appeals to me. You will note that this review is negative but every point the reviewer made, including the aspects he sees as negatives, helped me see that this was a show that I would love.
posted by jayder at 6:56 AM on December 29, 2014 [3 favorites]
For the record, I used to be a frequent book reviewer for a major city's daily newspaper in the early 1990s. Many people loved my reviews and I think I did pretty good work. But writing in that format, you are somewhat constrained in what you can say and how you can say it ... certain types of candor would not be allowed to make it into the newspaper's pages. What I like about amateur Amazon reviewers is that their reviews really are unconstrained except by rules against profanity, irrelevancy and attempts to hawk other products. And that allows a fuller, folksier look at what the book is actually like. And when you have a bunch of reviews by amateurs together in a single place ... yes, you will come away with a better idea of what the book is like and whether you will like it.
The review that occasioned my mom and my's conversation about Amazon reviews was this review of Californication Season 1. She had given me Season 7 of Californication for Christmas and was asking what I liked about the show. And I was put in mind of this reviewer's pithy summation of the show as either "a good show done badly, or a bad show done well," which is about as good a summation as possible of why this show appeals to me. You will note that this review is negative but every point the reviewer made, including the aspects he sees as negatives, helped me see that this was a show that I would love.
posted by jayder at 6:56 AM on December 29, 2014 [3 favorites]
With regard to Melissa Kirsch's piece, it reflects much that I dislike about personal essays of the web era. The piece seems designed to support a catchy, counterintuitive premise that probably isn't true. It was just a catchy-sounding hack article that would get hits.
This sentence caught my eye: "The mattress was the first thing in years that had inspired me to write something that wasn’t ad-related."
YOU HAVE HAD NOTHING MOVE YOU TO WRITE ANYTHING, IN YEARS, EXCEPT ADS? NOTHING AT ALL? If that's true, Melissa Kirsch, you have no identity as a writer to reclaim. You are pretty much the dictionary definition of a dumb hack.
posted by jayder at 7:04 AM on December 29, 2014
This sentence caught my eye: "The mattress was the first thing in years that had inspired me to write something that wasn’t ad-related."
YOU HAVE HAD NOTHING MOVE YOU TO WRITE ANYTHING, IN YEARS, EXCEPT ADS? NOTHING AT ALL? If that's true, Melissa Kirsch, you have no identity as a writer to reclaim. You are pretty much the dictionary definition of a dumb hack.
posted by jayder at 7:04 AM on December 29, 2014
YOU HAVE HAD NOTHING MOVE YOU TO WRITE ANYTHING, IN YEARS, EXCEPT ADS? NOTHING AT ALL? If that's true, Melissa Kirsch, you have no identity as a writer to reclaim. You are pretty much the dictionary definition of a dumb hack.
No, a dumb hack is a writer who keeps writing when they have nothing interesting to write about (Joseph Heller's abominable second novel is my go to example here). Some people have one good book in them and shouldn't try to force out more.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:44 AM on December 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
No, a dumb hack is a writer who keeps writing when they have nothing interesting to write about (Joseph Heller's abominable second novel is my go to example here). Some people have one good book in them and shouldn't try to force out more.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:44 AM on December 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
Yeah, a hack would be blogging on any old lame topic and grubbing for eyeballs. The reason I posted this is because I felt like it was precisely the opposite of dumb hack: She'd written a really big book, the kind of thing that takes years to craft. And then the demands of copywriting had so sapped her will to write her own, thoughtful stuff that she didn't write at all. I thought the irony of finding a community of supporters via a sincere, funny, Amazon review--a place advertisers regularly infiltrate with bullshit reviews--was really wonderful.
posted by pipti at 8:42 AM on December 29, 2014
posted by pipti at 8:42 AM on December 29, 2014
The New Yorker piece on Amazon (first link) was particularly depressing. I'm so tired and annoyed at this obsession with 'disruption'. I wish this vast pool of talent and capital would expend just a bit of effort at disrupting things that are screaming for it, rather than cynically accelerating the race to the bottom. Can't you guys disupt fossil fuel based electricity generation or inequality or sexism, not freaking publishing and cab driving? The answer appears to be that they can't, because that shit is hard, whereas the supposed "smartest guys in the room" are seemingly able only to make capitalisms gears grind finer.
posted by bumpkin at 9:01 AM on December 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by bumpkin at 9:01 AM on December 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
I have five books (self/indie-pubbed) up on Amazon -- four novels, one novella.
Naturally, I read all the reviews, exactly like an author shouldn't. The vast majority are positive, but of course I fixate on the few bad ones. I try to glean something from the bad reviews that will help me grow as an author. Occasionally I see something. Usually I don't. Some of those bad reviews actually make me very happy ("Not sexist enough," you say? Thank you so much!) A good portion of bad reviews often come down to "This did exactly what the label said and I'm dissatisfied," or, to be more blunt, "Star Trek is stupid because it has spaceships in it."
But as it turns out, I'm really, really lucky. I've had more than a few authors contact me to ask how I got so many reviews in the first place, because many authors have trouble getting more than a handful of reviews at all, good or bad.
As for Kindle Unlimited: Yeah, I never did figure out where the benefit was for me, either, so I didn't sign up. But I'm an author who has a readership now, so maybe it really wasn't designed with me in mind in the first place.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:27 AM on December 29, 2014
Naturally, I read all the reviews, exactly like an author shouldn't. The vast majority are positive, but of course I fixate on the few bad ones. I try to glean something from the bad reviews that will help me grow as an author. Occasionally I see something. Usually I don't. Some of those bad reviews actually make me very happy ("Not sexist enough," you say? Thank you so much!) A good portion of bad reviews often come down to "This did exactly what the label said and I'm dissatisfied," or, to be more blunt, "Star Trek is stupid because it has spaceships in it."
But as it turns out, I'm really, really lucky. I've had more than a few authors contact me to ask how I got so many reviews in the first place, because many authors have trouble getting more than a handful of reviews at all, good or bad.
As for Kindle Unlimited: Yeah, I never did figure out where the benefit was for me, either, so I didn't sign up. But I'm an author who has a readership now, so maybe it really wasn't designed with me in mind in the first place.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:27 AM on December 29, 2014
Creation and criticism are in constant dialog. Some random dude on Amazon will tell you whether he enjoyed it or not. It makes me sad and disappointed when people don't see or acknowledge that there's any difference.
Well, maybe, though plenty of writers will insist that they never read reviews; so much for dialogue. (On preview - thank you scaryblackdeath) And I did just say that not all Amazon reviews, indeed, not even the majority are worthwhile. And that random dude will often tell you why and why not he enjoyed it or not. But On the other hand, I’ve gotten at least as many recommendations from enthusiastic friends as from professional critics. Plenty of old English majors out there with intelligent and useful things to say about books; plenty of professional critics guilty of malpractice.
I’m also old enough and middle of the road enough that enjoyment is a pretty big part of my decision to read a book. Indeed, unless the publishing world's MFA darling of the moment is still going strong five years after the first book is out, I’m not likely to read it. (That said, I'm still avoiding Infinite Jest.) Plenty of old tried and true titles that I haven’t gotten to yet for me to bother with any of 2014s best of the year. (I thumb though things like the latest best of 40 under 40 when such lists come out and what I generally find is a uniform prose which I suspect comes from the writing schools. Pity, that.)
Some people have one good book in them and shouldn't try to force out more.
Exceptions include P.G.Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Simenon....
posted by IndigoJones at 9:30 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
Well, maybe, though plenty of writers will insist that they never read reviews; so much for dialogue. (On preview - thank you scaryblackdeath) And I did just say that not all Amazon reviews, indeed, not even the majority are worthwhile. And that random dude will often tell you why and why not he enjoyed it or not. But On the other hand, I’ve gotten at least as many recommendations from enthusiastic friends as from professional critics. Plenty of old English majors out there with intelligent and useful things to say about books; plenty of professional critics guilty of malpractice.
I’m also old enough and middle of the road enough that enjoyment is a pretty big part of my decision to read a book. Indeed, unless the publishing world's MFA darling of the moment is still going strong five years after the first book is out, I’m not likely to read it. (That said, I'm still avoiding Infinite Jest.) Plenty of old tried and true titles that I haven’t gotten to yet for me to bother with any of 2014s best of the year. (I thumb though things like the latest best of 40 under 40 when such lists come out and what I generally find is a uniform prose which I suspect comes from the writing schools. Pity, that.)
Some people have one good book in them and shouldn't try to force out more.
Exceptions include P.G.Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Simenon....
posted by IndigoJones at 9:30 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
I like the Amazon reviews where people give something one star because the delivery was late.
posted by colie at 9:30 AM on December 29, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by colie at 9:30 AM on December 29, 2014 [3 favorites]
When I see those I flag them (useless, I know) and leave cranky comments in reply about "you shouldn't penalize the author by giving a 1-star review for something completely out of their control; contact Kindle customer service/Amazon shipping instead."
I do find reviews on Amazon useful, but you have to learn how to read them. My orientation is similar to jayder's, I think — it's not whether the reviewer liked or disliked the book, it's what they say about it and about their tastes in reading and how they say what they say about it. I've purchased books based on the 1-star reviews because the things those reviewers said they hated are things I very much like in a book.
posted by Lexica at 10:03 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
I do find reviews on Amazon useful, but you have to learn how to read them. My orientation is similar to jayder's, I think — it's not whether the reviewer liked or disliked the book, it's what they say about it and about their tastes in reading and how they say what they say about it. I've purchased books based on the 1-star reviews because the things those reviewers said they hated are things I very much like in a book.
posted by Lexica at 10:03 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
There are people who review books just to make a name for themselves as a writer, throwing clever insults around. They clutter up space are a significant distraction for authors.
Or they are some sort of publicist wannabe, trying to earn points in how hip and cool they are and who they know or at least "get."
Similarly useless are the helping-you-to-be-hip reviewer who is instructing potential readers how to brag about knowing a book around the water cooler as in "The author has a chameleon-like ability to help you get inside the characters' heads." Yeah, you came up with that observation without a crib note, thanks.
Of course, many reviews are secretly done by a writer's friends (and mom!), so, like, what do you think they'll say? I have asked anyone who knows me never to write a review of anything I write. I know I get fewer reviews of my work, but at least you know the chances of it being genuine if they are positive are greater than average.
If I have secret enemies, I don't know them to ask not to slam my works in public just because I turned them down for a date (proving my judge of character was right all along), so the veracity of any negative reviews of my work I cannot attest to with any accuracy.
Good reviewers are a precious resource. They give a map to the work, warning where there are curves and twists and what to expect more than whether they like it or not.
As someone who has been reviewed, I have had positive reviews that really didn't say anything to a potential reader. I also had some that were helpful.
Confession: I used to read book reviews and for whatever reason, loved People magazine's the best and then when their reviews went south, I stopped going by reviews entirely. I have discovered that I am my own good judge of what I like and I know my own tastes and trust them. I had been led astray by reviews and just ditched the idea because we may now have more reviews than ever before, but they aren't as helpful.
I once had a review on Amazon that I insisted they remove and they did because the reviewer openly admitted he didn't read my book and had no intention to read it right before blasting me for writing a book critical of the music industry. The book was called Don't Believe It!: How lies become news" and I swear, I was NOT bashing Huey Lewis' band in there in any way...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 10:45 AM on December 29, 2014
Or they are some sort of publicist wannabe, trying to earn points in how hip and cool they are and who they know or at least "get."
Similarly useless are the helping-you-to-be-hip reviewer who is instructing potential readers how to brag about knowing a book around the water cooler as in "The author has a chameleon-like ability to help you get inside the characters' heads." Yeah, you came up with that observation without a crib note, thanks.
Of course, many reviews are secretly done by a writer's friends (and mom!), so, like, what do you think they'll say? I have asked anyone who knows me never to write a review of anything I write. I know I get fewer reviews of my work, but at least you know the chances of it being genuine if they are positive are greater than average.
If I have secret enemies, I don't know them to ask not to slam my works in public just because I turned them down for a date (proving my judge of character was right all along), so the veracity of any negative reviews of my work I cannot attest to with any accuracy.
Good reviewers are a precious resource. They give a map to the work, warning where there are curves and twists and what to expect more than whether they like it or not.
As someone who has been reviewed, I have had positive reviews that really didn't say anything to a potential reader. I also had some that were helpful.
Confession: I used to read book reviews and for whatever reason, loved People magazine's the best and then when their reviews went south, I stopped going by reviews entirely. I have discovered that I am my own good judge of what I like and I know my own tastes and trust them. I had been led astray by reviews and just ditched the idea because we may now have more reviews than ever before, but they aren't as helpful.
I once had a review on Amazon that I insisted they remove and they did because the reviewer openly admitted he didn't read my book and had no intention to read it right before blasting me for writing a book critical of the music industry. The book was called Don't Believe It!: How lies become news" and I swear, I was NOT bashing Huey Lewis' band in there in any way...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 10:45 AM on December 29, 2014
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Mind you, it felt the same with traditional publishing as well. Authors can't settle and they certainly cannot sit back passively. This is a rare opportunity to finally set it to be fair for creators, but with all the white noise, it's not going to be easy.
Thanks for the links...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 4:59 PM on December 28, 2014 [2 favorites]