My recent reading slump was quickly followed by a lack of enthusiasm for blogging. This, too, shall pass. In the meantime, I’m just going to blog about whatever I feel like, and not worry unduly about the lack of reviews and op-eds.
I read, I write, and I blog. For some reason, I can only seem to do two of these activities well simultaneously. At the moment, I’m getting plenty of reading done, and I’m writing at a steady pace. I don’t seem to have enough energy left over to come up with something interesting or witty for my blog. I’m also way behind on my reviews. I’m blaming the snow. It’s as good an excuse as any other.
I’ve been avoiding too much blog hopping of late as I kept reading things which annoyed me. Here are few examples:
Amazon vs. Macmillan: I don’t care. Really. As a non-US resident, most of the traditional publishers clearly don’t want my business, so it makes absolutely no sense to switch to ebooks. I’ve reached the point where I feel like reaching for the eye bleach every time I read the terms “ebook”, “digital publishing” and “dead tree”. Wake me up in five years and maybe these fuckwits will have gotten their arses in gear.
Authors & Book Covers: Except in the case of obvious racism, whitewashing, etc., I don’t see why authors should be expected to kick up a stink with their publishers over a book cover they don’t like. If they want to, fair play to them, but I don’t see why readers would expect them to put their careers in jeopardy, especially in the case of newbie authors who don’t yet have an established record of good sales. Besides which, the whole point of going the traditional publishing route instead of the self-publishing one is that the publisher is supposed to take care of that stuff.
Apple iPad: It looks like an iPod on steroids. There’s nothing wrong with it as such, but I’m certainly not purchasing one until it’s clear which applications will be available to European customers. In order for it to make sense, it would have to offer me something more than what I can already do on my laptop and my iPod Touch.
Lost: In non-annoying news: the sixth and final season of Lost premiered in the US last night. This has absolutely nothing to do with books or blogging, but there’s a goodly chance we’ll get to see Josh Holloway minus his shirt, which is always worth mentioning. If you’ve seen it – Lost, that is, not Sawyer’s naked abs – please don’t tell me what happens! I have to wait a little longer to see it. 
What have you been up to lately?
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I heart you for the digital comment LOL – my other problem with it some Oz pubs have limited ebooks available.. they around 12-16, the price of MMPs here in Oz. So suck it up bitches on the possible 14.99 for freaking new releases that are in hardcover print! (Which mind you are 35-50$ here)
Re: the authors, it is an interesting dilemma. I don’t think it quite as cut and dried as you have it.. but I am still mulling over it. I think it is a big issue in all types of media that needs more people fighting it, but in books I think it especially important in regards to books aimed at YA market.
Ipad – I am sorry the name does it for me.. plus there is the fact that ibooks is US only, (it in the small print) plus nothing else attractive to me about it. So back to the longing for an internationally available machine…
I like the mini-rant post, it’s kinda fun you should do them more often.
Here’s my problem with the authors-with-ethical-obligations-about-the-covers problem. I think it’s all about marketing, the presumed shopping habits of readers, and common sense.
Let’s start with the common sense: If the protagonist in the book is black/brown/multi-racial/aboriginal/First Nations Peoples/anything else non-white, then the picture on the cover should not be of a white person. Ever.
Marketing, next: If the research shows — and I don’t know whether it does or it doesn’t — that books with non-white people on the cover sell predominantly to non-white people (in fact, let’s speculate they sell predominantly to the group that is pictured on the cover), which dramatically reduces the sales, then there could be a reason ($$) for publishers to whitewash covers. But still — see Common Sense, above.
The answer is to leave the protagonist(s) off the cover, but then you run into the problem of a cover that has no particular connection to the story, and we’ve seen recently that authors may be expected to contact their publishers about that.
And all of this drama is going on against a publishing paradigm that does not give the author much, if any, say about the covers.
I think the dialogue about cover art is a good one, but to suggest that the author has a moral imperative to “do something” about a whitewashed cover is like accusing a gun manufacturer of murder when one of its guns is used to kill someone. Once the author signs that contract to have Big Pub publish the book — a deal that is made, obviously, before there is any art work to consider — virtually all leverage the author has ceases. So maybe we admire the moral virtue of an author willing to jump up & down yelling about racism, but a) it’s not necessarily going to help, and b) we don’t always know when it’s happening and when it isn’t, and c) there’s a much more obvious target: Big Pub itself.
It’s makes perfect sense that it was Delamore that took all the heat for the two racially-misleading YA covers. They deserved it.
Lost pissed me off because I have no clue WTF was going on. Nice to see Boone again and a laid back Sawyer at the alternate universe airport. Jack makes losing luggage to an all new level.
As for the whitewashing of covers, I believe if authors had more input on their covers, this wouldn’t be a big problem.
I’m looking to buy a house. So I made an appt. with the realtor to make an offer. But then my cousin Jeanine called in a panic and told me that her friend told her that neighborhood is not safe for a woman living on her own. I then cancelled the meeting with the realtor.
Today Jeanine sent me a map from her friend of the acceptable streets I can live on. The street my house is on is one street north of the acceptable area. So I emailed my realtor an hour ago that I was ready make an offer.
Meanwhile, a coworker emailed a friend in that area that said the area has really gone downhill in the last 5-10 years with a lot of section 8 housing (I guess welfare – so people that don’t care of the state of the neighborhood).
I’m exhausted and it’s only 10 a.m.. And too embarassed to call the realtor and tell her to hold off again.
That’s what I’ve been up to. Thanks for asking.
What continues to annoy me about the Amazon vs. Macmillan thing is that Amazon threw temper tantrum and yanked the buy links off all formats – not just the Kindle version. Fine, so they’re in a pissing contest over ebook pricing – but yanking buy links off all formats punishes ALL consumers – not just those who got roped into buying the propriety Kindle. That means, no availability of PRINT copies, audio books on CD – anything at all published under the MacMillan banner(s).
Yet all anyone seems to be focusing on is the ebook pricing aspect of this throw-down. It’s not JUST about ebook pricing. Macmillan has their head up their asses (I will concede that) but Amazon is hardly squeaky clean in this whole drama by throwing their weight around and bullying at the expense of their customers.
Yeah – which means the St. Martin’s Minotaur title I just reviewed on my blog has links over to B&N – so, you know, readers can buy the book should they want to. Novel idea that.
Oh, as bloggers we’re supposed to be interesting or witty? Dammit. I’ll go work on that.
@Edie: Expect more mini rants in the future!
@Magdalen: “And all of this drama is going on against a publishing paradigm that does not give the author much, if any, say about the covers.”
Word.
@katiebabs: If only authors did have more input! But it makes no sense for readers to blame authors for something over which they have no control. In the case of whitewashing, authors should certainly speak up, but not over every little thing.
@Andrea: Oh, no! The house looks really nice in the photos you sent. I hope it all works out for the best.
@Wendy: Neither Amazon nor Macmillan came across well in this incident. I’m curious to see what other publishers will do now that Amazon has conceded defeat.
@Fiction Vixen: LOL! I try to write something which interests me at the very least, and hope it appeals to others. I think that’s all a blogger can do.
I only wish I could be behind in reviews–as soon as I manage to read a book, I post a review of it.
There is no difference between the iPad and the iPod Touch, other than the fact that the iPad is bigger! To be honest, I think that’s a nice benefit–I liked reading books on my iPod Touch, but they were soooo small.
Great post. You’ve hit on everything that has been eating away at me too. LOL
@Sarah:
(emphasis mine)
That’s what friends are for. Provided that they’re discreet.
@heidenkind: My main objection to the iPad is that iBooks won’t be available in Europe, at least initially. As that’s what interested me in the iPad in the first place, I’m pretty disappointed.
@~ames~: There’s nothing like a group rant, eh?
@Nadia Lee:
“That’s what friends are for. Provided that they’re discreet.”
Excellent point.