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Reader Entitlement; A Counterpoint to Complaints About Authors

8/9/2014

16 Comments

 
Good morning, Readers!

Alright, so I'm about to wade into some pretty heavy stuff regarding the complicated author-reader relationship.  And I'm going to do so in a way that will probably irritate readers no end, because I am firmly on the side of authors when it comes to this issue.

I suppose I am, therefore, quite lucky I'm an unknown at this juncture.  If I was better known, I'm sure I would garner a great deal of vitriol from readers who feel entitled; entitled to an author's time, entitled to an author's story, entitled to an author's most polite consideration (no matter how poorly the reader is behaving) ... or god help that author.  Their name and works will be slathered all over the internet in the least flattering light possible with the potential of ruining their careers.

Readers, I love you, but you are not entitled to any of it.

I've already discussed the issue of readers feeling entitled to an author's story in another blog post.  I think I will find it and post it as this month's Throwback Thursday, because it is well worth mentioning again.

Anyway, before I begin, I want you all to know that I am also a reader.  All writers are.  Or at least, they should be.  The difference here, I suppose, is that I've always been grateful to authors.

Reading was how I survived most of my young life.  People were awful.  My family was slowly falling apart.  I felt so alone, and so unloved, and so desperate.  Reading gave me a way to escape the fear, and the anger, and the pain.  It gave me the role models that my world was lacking.  It gave me insight into how to cope with all the hurt.  Reading taught me about the best in humanity at a time when I could only see the worst.

I am alive today because of books.

And I am so, so, so grateful that those books existed.  I am so grateful to the authors of those books for shining their light into my very dark world.

Perhaps it's because I am coming from a place of such deep gratitude that I feel very differently about the author-reader relationship.

Becoming an author has not changed how I feel about this relationship.  It has only served to confirm those feelings.  And those feelings are thus:

Readers, I love you, but you are not entitled to an author's time, an author's story, or an author's polite consideration.  You're not.  You're just not.

Let's examine the case of Chelsea Cain.  I am specifically rebutting this article, as it smacks of the entitlement that the author is trying chastise Ms. Cain for.

The issue is this, Ms. Cain took to social media to inform some readers in no uncertain terms that she was not their personal lackey, that Google is a thing that exists that readers can use, and that pestering her with inane questions where answers can easily be found elsewhere is inconsiderate and a waste of everyone's time.  This is the offending post:
Picture
Image courtesy of Tez Miller. Click for link.
Could this particular post do without the expletive?  Yes, I suppose.  But I swear so damned much that I'm really not affronted by a single appearance of any variant of the word 'fuck.'  And, to be sure, she's right.  Ms. Cain is an author, not your personal customer service representative.  If you are a fan of her work, wouldn't you rather she spend her time writing her next novel for you to enjoy, instead of reading inane questions the answers to which can literally be found by lifting one's own fingers?

Or shall you bombard her with these inane questions and then scream from the top of your lungs when it takes her a really long time to finish her next book?  Even though, you, and others like you, who feel entitled to ask this author all these silly questions, are the reason she is taking so damned long to finish her next book.

And yes, as the author of the article I'm referencing said themselves that she was right, though her delivery of this fact could have been worded better.  The author of the article still chastised Ms. Cain, noting that she did not have to reply to any of the inane questions.

No.  She needn't reply to these questions.  And I'll stake money on the fact that she didn't.  But even reading these questions, having to sift through this rubbish in order to find and respond to readers who do ask the good questions, the readers who deserve an answer takes a lot of time.  It's time consuming.  It's time better spent elsewhere.

An author's work is to write.  That's not all, these days.  Now, it's also to reach out to fans; plan and organise launches, tours and appearances.  It's being on social media, and answering letters, and selling yourself as if your work wasn't enough, when your work really ought to be enough.

What really, really, really ground my gears, though, was this particular gem of a quote from the article:
"Ms. Cain’s tone, whilst understandably frustrated, ultimately comes across as being ungrateful for the privilege of being an author of books that people actually would like to read and purchase."
Fuck. Off.

Fuck right off.  And I'm saying this as a reader.

The privilege here belongs not to the author, but to the reader.  It is they who are privileged to be able to fall into a world of someone else's creation, a world that they love, a world which makes their lives that much richer.  It is they who are able to benefit from the extremely hard work of the author of the book they are currently privileged enough to be reading.

Writing a book, getting it out into the world, building a readership, planning, and making appearances, touring etc, is hard work.  It's exhausting work.  For most authors it is doubly so because they tend to be introverted, and any social engagement for an introvert is sometimes a monumental task.  Being a widely read author is a culmination of many, many years of often fruitless effort and no small amount of tears.  The fact that the author is widely read now is a testament not nearly so much to talent as it is to dedication and work ethic.

That is the very opposite of privilege.

Further, Ms. Cain works really hard for her readership.  She's dedicated time and effort to reach out to those who ask her (good) questions.  Not a lot of authors do that, and her readership is really fucking lucky that she does.  I admire her so much for this as I once had an author whose work I greatly admired write me back after I sent him a letter.  It made me deliriously happy.  For about a week, I was floating around with a dumb-arse grin on my face.  In fact, it made me feel so good that I credit that reply with my desire to be an author that reaches out her readership as much as possible.

I was incredibly fucking privileged to get a letter from my favourite author.  And Ms. Cain's readers are incredibly fucking privileged to follow an author who cares so damned much about them.

In short, it is not the author who is behaving like an entitled brat.

The publisher thought it best that Ms. Cain take down the offending post - which she did.  The author of the article noted that perhaps it was because they found the post rude and misplaced.  That's quite a leap in logic.  She was asked to take down the post after the idiotic backlash that followed, not before.  Further, they did not ask her to submit an apology for it.  From this, it would be far more logical to surmise that, despite them finding nothing wrong with the post, they asked her to remove it to avoid dealing with the idiotic reader backlash.

And it is an idiotic backlash because, readers, you are not entitled to an author's time.  You're just not.

The author of this article, however, is not satisfied with trying to crucify Ms. Cain for something he admits was justified.  No, he must also attack her for expressing her frustration when the high hopes she had for her latest release were not realised.   Despite having the best of everything, and despite her working her arse off, her latest release did not make the New York Times Bestseller List.

I'm not sure why this is even an issue.  Disappointment is a perfectly reasonable thing to feel when you think you have gold and it doesn't reach its potential as expected.  Frustration is absolutely justified when something you've worked so hard for fails to meet expectations.

The author of the article felt that this "entitled", "privileged" author was blaming her readership for the failure.  This is the post that brought him to his bizarre conclusion:
Picture
Image courtesy of Tez Miller. Click for link.
Umm.... alright?

So the blaming is where, precisely?  Because what I see is an exhausted author who put her heart and soul into a release expressing her disappointment that it didn't do as well as other books she has released.  She really thought she had gold with this one.  She's upset.  She's tired.  She just wants to write.

Why is this a point of contention?

Well, the fact of the matter is that it's not.  There is no contention here.  People are looking for demons where there are only shadows.

The author of the article then had the gall to give Ms. Cain this simple piece of advice:
"P.S. All of this could have been avoided if Ms. Cain had hired a virtual assistant to manage her social media for her. A virtual assistant doesn’t guarantee a place on the NYT list, but at least it could prevent an author publicly complaining that people actually want to read and buy her books. Could YOU benefit from hiring a virtual assistant? Consider Tez Assists…"
Nice plug there, dude.  Was this whole article sparking outrage about nothing even remotely deserving of it just one giant advertisement for your services?

I kind of want to punch her right now.

Because of course, simply hiring someone to help you with your workload is the simplest, easiest thing to do.  As we all know, authors are simply rolling in money, laughing maniacally from our towers made of illegally obtained ivory and gold that we can all afford such assistants, with money left over to buy our butlers something nice for Christmas.

In case you didn't catch the sarcasm, we're not.  Unless you're an established big name, you're left out in the cold.  Mid-list authors must pay their own way the majority of the time.  Set up and interview with a television station in the next city over?  That's on you.  You pay your own hotel, your own petrol, your own everything.  The idea that publishers take care of all this for you is a giant fucking farce.  Going on a book tour?  Hope you can afford the plane ticket, bee-otch!

Writers are generally quite poor (most of us work another job in addition to writing, just to keep a roof over our heads) and quite stretched for time, which makes Ms. Cain's desire to personally reach out to her fans all the more impressive.

Before I became a writer, I never once assumed that being a writer was easy, that being a writer was a position of privilege, that writers should be so damned grateful that anyone cares about their work that they ought to give up any hope for the basic respects all human beings ought to expect.  Now that I am a writer, I know it's not easy.  I know that it is not a position of privilege, and while I am grateful for the incredibly supportive community I have currently surrounding me, I know that I am still worthy of basic respect, and I intend to enforce that throughout my career.

Don't come crying to me about 'privileged' writers.  All I will do is hold up a mirror so that you will know the true face of entitlement.

Well, that was far longer than I had planned.  I have to go write a story now.

Ciao!

(Editied, as I was informed that Tez Miller was, in fact, of the feminine persuasion.  Oops!  Thanks, Naomi for pointing that out!)
16 Comments
April Laramey link
8/9/2014 05:53:53 am

I have to disagree on a couple points. While I agree that as readers we are privileged to get any of the author's time, I don't think I would necessarily say it's a "privilege" to be let into their story or their worlds. We buy/borrow/read the book. That is effort too. I'm definitely splitting hairs though, because I know there are some books that I definitely consider gifts to the world. I don't know. Maybe I just have a problem with the word privilege itself, as it seems to put authors on a pedestal and I don't like to do that with anyone.

I definitely agree that she is allowed to be frustrated and disappointed, but the language she uses in that first tweet...well...I don't know. Maybe it is warranted, I don't know what messages she's getting. But it would put me off reading her books, that's for sure.

Finally, I 100% agree with you that it seems like the whole article was written as a sales pitch for buddy guy's virtual assistant service. It was not even remotely subtle. So now I'm put off reading his stuff too.

Reply
S.M. Carrière link
8/9/2014 07:06:28 am

I can totally see where you're coming from re: the putting of authors on a pedestal. I agree that it shouldn't happen. Neither, however, should we lower them so that they must grovel for approval.

Buying a book entitles one to that book. It entitles the buyer the act of reading that book. The joy of slipping into the world, of discovering a new favourite adventure or character etc. is not something that a reader is entitled to by purchasing said book. If they find that this is the case, it's an added bonus; a privilege that many people are denied.

Though, I see where you're coming from.

Could Ms. Cain have been more delicate in getting her point across? Yes. Still, I understand her frustrations (if only because I worked such menial jobs where everyone thought they were entitled to my time no matter what) and I don't find her setting her boundaries off-putting.

Also, perhaps because I am so passionate myself, I easily forgive those passionate outbursts in others... and foul language doesn't offend me either.

That's because I swear like a sailor myself.

Different strokes, I suppose.

Reply
April Laramey link
8/9/2014 08:30:34 am

The funny thing is, it's not even the swearing that bugs me. I swear much much more than most people. I don't know, maybe because I were in her position I would just ignore annoying messages. Or like Eric suggests, post a FAQ.

I think there's a happy medium between pedestal and grovelling for certain. I think it's just me getting stuck on the semantics. Hell, it's why I'm not religious, I don't even like putting deities on a pedestal.

Yeah, I definitely have trouble thinking of a reading of any book, hearing a song or seeing a painting as a privilege. I do get, as eric says, that it's something intimate the author is sharing....

Bah. I'm writing myself in circles just to say I dislike the word privilege. That is all :)

Eric link
8/9/2014 08:04:33 am

I think it's easy to forget that an author isn't just "playing around" with words. Even people who write blogs have no idea how time and energy intensive it is to write a novel. Also how personal it is.

Reading someone's novel is like being told an important story about someone's life. You should appreciate it and feel privileged to be let into something that is so intimate.

The author in question, from what I could tell, writes adult thrillers. Throwing an F word in there shouldn't signify her lack of respect but the extent of her frustration.

All that being said, if the author has control or input into their website and they find they get the same questions over and over, they should create an FAQ.

In the end Neil Gaiman was right when he said, "George R.R. Martin isn't your bitch"

Reply
April Laramey link
8/9/2014 08:24:59 am

Good point about the fact that she writes adult thrillers so saying fuck shouldn't shock anyone. And it's not so much that it shocks me....

I just think that if Neil Gaiman (my favourite author as a matter of coincidence) were to take to twitter and say "Look it the Fuck up on Google" or "Stop asking me about my wife Amanda fucking Palmer", I mean he'd certainly have a point but I would definitely wonder what the hell was doing.

Of course he's married to Amanda Palmer so I wonder that anyway.

Reply
S.M. Carrière link
8/9/2014 12:19:16 pm

I'm replying here, because it won't let me reply to your previous comment.

You do bring up some excellent points, though. There is a fine line. And I do think Ms. Cain could certainly express her frustrations better (and as Éric said, get an FAQ for her site), but I don't think she deserves to be crucified for it, either.

If Neil Gaiman ever said either of those things, I would wonder what took him so damned long to snap. The man is incredible to his fans!

Naomi
8/9/2014 10:20:21 pm

Not going to comment on the article/situation, but I feel I should point out that Tez Miller is a woman, not a man!

Reply
S.M. Carrière link
9/9/2014 02:21:15 am

Oops! Thanks for that! I've corrected the article.

Reply
Chloe
9/9/2014 02:11:24 am

I read the issue of "privilege" differently, I think. I agree with Ms. Miller on this point. There are *millions* of books available to readers right now at Amazon and Cain is asking readers to set the others aside and reach for hers. Even if you find someone who reads nothing but mysteries, thrillers and suspense (her Archie and Gretchen series), we're still talking nearly 300,000 books. How many other authors would consider it a *privilege* to have a reader decide to take a risk on their new book and spend their hard-earned money on it? How many authors would consider it a privilege to be introduced to a new audience of readers by this one person who took a chance on them and then told her friends all about it.

So yeah, I think in this context Cain has forgotten that there's an aspect of her job that she's forgetting and that's that it's a privilege to have someone want to take a chance and buy her new book as well as those who've been loyally buying her books for years. The invention of the ereader and the age of self-publishing means the author pool is getting pretty crowded and it's up to Cain to adapt if she wants to stay in. That means making herself stand out and not in a negative way.

Her website is a disaster. For anyone not used to digging around links, it's hard to navigate and she still doesn't have anyplace that has a chronological list of her Archie & Gretchen books which is what started this whole kerfuffle in the first place (there was a released-by-date list I found via a teeny tiny link hidden on the right under the Press Kit tag, labeled fast facts). She's got a "blog" that consists of two entries that are nothing but editorial praise. I could go on, but if Cain wants to complain that people are contacting her for info that they could find on their own, she might want to make that info more easily found. She should never assume just because readers were able to buy a book that they have access to the internet 24/7 or that they're familiar enough to play around with Google.

I don't care about profanity. I care that Cain thought it was fine (or worse, that she didn't even think it was just a tad reckless) to rant about how terrible some of her readers were. Her publisher apparently agreed since they asked her to take down not one but a few of her posts on not one but a couple of subsequent days.

Finally, I'm not interested in an argument but saying you want to punch Ms. Miller says not one good thing about you.

Reply
S.M. Carrière link
9/9/2014 02:33:02 am

No, you're right. I concede. Wanting to punch people, no matter how annoying they're being, isn't really nice.

Still the sentiment that it was all an unnecessary crucifixion to advertise services remains, and I think that's really not cool.

And yes, certainly making the information more readily available would probably alleviate a lot of the questions, and would probably be a good idea (I haven't checked Ms. Cain's site, so I shall take your word for it that it's a disaster). I also generally don't read mysteries.

However, I feel we must agree to disagree about privilege. I suppose it's because every reader an author has was usually hard fought for. New readership is usually a result of stepping outside of one's own boundaries. It's the reward one gets for hard, hard work; for the learning of the craft, for the gift of imagination, for the discipline required for long hours in front of a computer/note pad, for slogging to conventions and readings and book tours, for the long, lonely hours away from family and friends.

I suppose I see a readership as earned... and it's something I'm yet to earn, honestly, because I'm a TERRIBLE marketer. Le sigh.

Anyway, thanks for commenting. Discussion is good.

Reply
April Laramey link
9/9/2014 04:48:22 am

Chloe stated my issue with the word privilege much better than I did. I think authors are equally privileged to have someone choose their book. I don't care how hard you worked, you are not *entitled* to an audience. And just because you have an audience doesn't actually mean you worked hard. Some people just get lucky. Some people are undeservedly overlooked.

Yes, no one knows better than I that writing is hard, hard work. But it's also a choice. As it is a choice to try and get published or self-publish. Just because you do All the Hard Things doesn't mean you have earned your audience and therefore they should elevate you above themselves in the reader-writer relationship. It's a symbiotic relationship.

I don't know, to be extreme with an example, "I've chosen to do all this hard, hard work in order to win you over. You should consider the end result a privilege!" comes across to me as not so different from "I took you out to a fancy restaurant for dinner and drinks, was super nice to you, all in order to get you to sleep with me. If you do, you should know it's a privilege."

I could rant on forever but I will stop here.

To end with an ironic anecdote, yesterday evening I posted something on facebook with a particular, somewhat obscure, hashtag. My sister commented asking "What does that mean?" And then I posted in frustration that she should "google it". So my hypocrisy abounds!


S.M. Carrière link
9/9/2014 06:02:08 am

Gah! Again I can't reply to you directly, April, so I'm doing it this way.

You make a great point. The relationship is extremely symbiotic, and authors do need to be congizant of that fact.

Which reminds me, LOVE YOU READERS!

And yes, electing to become a writer means we chose it. Writers are not entitled to a readership, but they do work for it.

For me, that's like saying you are not entitled to a pay cheque just because you spent the last eight hours today at your desk at work. After all, you choice to work there.... When, in fact, that pay cheque was earned. Readership is earned - even if a writer gets lucky and their books take off. There's a whole lot of work and heartbreak behind that supposed "immediate" success/luck.

Winning someone over only means that they may buy a book,, just like paying for dinner entitles one only to spend a meal with another person. Whatever comes after is a privilege (did you buy dinner and she slept with you? That was a privilege). The thrilling embrace of a story one can just fall into still feels like a privilege to me; though that may stem from my extreme gratitude towards those stories that swept me away from reality when I was younger.

I am, and always will be, a very grateful reader.

Karen
9/9/2014 04:55:05 pm

Some great comments. I agree with April's description of the symbiotic relationship of author and readers. Perhaps "respect" and "appreciation" could be used instead of "privilege" or "entitlement" to better describe it.
Just one thing I'd like to mention. I prefer to use the author website instead of whatever else google would find me, unless I'm specifically looking for an independent review. The author knows his or her world, and can best serve that introduction to a new reader. Diana Gabaldon has very graciously provided a detailed book list with a recommended reading order, if one is so inclined. I'll take her word on that to anyone else any day. I'll accept that some authors do not have their own website, for whatever reason, but, if so, then there are some good basics to have there, such as a book list and order, next release date, and tour information if applicable.
If I understand this post and the comments right, it's such a request that caused the author you mention to spew such a vehement response. I don't care about the swear, especially considering the genre and hence the general audience, but there are much more professional and respectful ways to have responded, and even still display passion in that response.
And for readers thinking to chastise an author for not responding to their every whim, no matter how flagrant or unrelated, really do need a reality check of their own.

Reply
S.M. Carrière link
10/9/2014 02:10:37 am

Thanks for commenting, Karen.

And yes, I agree. An author really ought to respect and appreciate their readership. I know I do! There aren't many of them, but goodness they're awesome folk!

(And I'd like to add that the readers of this particular blog post are equally as awesome. Thank you all for being so civilised in this discussion)

That said, I and every author I know, work really hard to get noticed. From the outside looking in, it's easy to dismiss success as luck, when in fact success is the result of extremely hard work. Even for the people who made it big on a single franchise (like J.K. Rowling), there was a lot of work that went into producing the work that resulted in the 'luck.'

Also, yes, I do think that Ms. Cain should probably fix her website... or get whomever is designing her website to fix it up. It would help her in reducing the number of these inane questions.

But the outburst that earned her an unnecessary crucifixion was her stating (perhaps harshly) that the information people were asking from her directly could be found by other means, and that asking her probably was not the best way to get the answers they were looking for (like, for example, how does one turn on one's kindle. How is asking her that a good idea?).

But yes, in all, a better website would be a fine idea. And definitely, she could have worded her response far better.

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Lauren Platt
9/9/2014 08:29:31 pm

Writers write because they have a voice in their head telling them to do so, or they have a story to tell, or they hope to be famous/rich. Readers read to be informed and entertained.

It seems odd that readers may feel the need to make demands of an author, but surely from a writer's perspective it's better than silence? One weird fan letter wanting to know the ins and outs of this character, or when you're next going to have something out...well, ain't that attention such a horrible thing?

Chelsea Cain could be a little more gracious. She's only successful because of her readers. Without them, she'd still be stuck in PR. (Also, you'd think someone who did PR would know the damage of her words).

Reply
S.M. Carrière link
10/9/2014 02:20:02 am

"...they hope to be famous/rich."

HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! Sorry. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at the poor fools who think that writing of all things will get them there.

But I digress.

Yes, asking about characters is something most authors love to answer (I say most, because some, like George R.R. Martin have flatout stated they'd rather talk to fans about the football than their books). And that's part of the problem. The barrage of inane questions is crowding out the good, reasonable, deserving questions of other readers.

And she cares about those questions and those readers, and is frustrated by the others. Silence is sometimes preferable to silly questions about the operation of a kindle, for example.

From personal experience, dealing with people can be horrifically exhausting (it's an introvert thing), and there's nothing I'd rather do sometimes than crawl into a small, dark hole in the earth and hide.

It's not that I think people are terrible. It's that sometimes I cannot cope well near or around them.

Certainly, yes, Ms. Cain could have been more gracious. And yes, she is successful; but I would contend that it's not because of her readers, but because she has readers.

And one doesn't get readers by uploading an eBook and hoping for the best. Building a readership is hard, hard work.

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    S.M. Carrière, a Celtic Studies enthusiast, writes fiction.  And this blog.

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