Thank God I’m not a book reviewer
The Federal Trade Commission is instating new guidelines: book bloggers are going to be required to state if they are keeping the review copy. You can’t link to online stores. You must mention these books on your taxes.
Why? Because the FTC believes that these books are compensation for endorsements.
I don’t know the ins-and-outs. Since I’m not a reviewer, I haven’t actually read the guidelines. This (originally, I had “Yhis”, and I saw the red squiggle underneath, but my cursor was on the “Y”, so I kept thinking, “What the heck is wrong with it?” And then I moved the cursor and went, “Oh”) is just stuff that I picked up from reputable online sources.
Anyway.
This. Is. Stupid.
Why?
Because book bloggers (the good ones, anyway) are people who like to read. They’re not blogging for the books; they’re blogging because they want to share their opinion about books. Book review blogs are private.
Has the FTC ever read any book review blog “about” pages? There are reviewers who may or may not get around to reviewing your book. There are reviewers who state that if you want a guaranteed positive review, don’t ask them because they will give negative reviews. There are reviewers who will only review books that they like because those are the only books they want to share.
Publishers and authors are after publicity. Sure, they want positive reviews, but most serious readers know that not everyone is going to like one book. Serious readers know that books will find their niches, despite reviews. Book bloggers just get the word out there about books. They are only posting their opinion. There are book reviewers whose tastes seem to be similar to my own, so these are the ones that I tend to trust. I’m sure others agree with different book review bloggers.
Besides, didn’t the FTC know that there are plenty of others who appreciate negative reviews? Dude, authors appreciate people just reading their book.
Also, does this say anything about ARCs? I’m curious. Since ARCs are not books; they can’t be sold and they’re not finished products, I wonder if the guidelines mention them.
(Oh wait. The FTC thinks that bloggers are ADVERTISING. Well, there in lies the problem. They’re really not. Reviewing books isn’t job for these bloggers; they are devoting a lot of their free time to this, besides working or attending school.)
Also, the even worse thing? This is for bloggers; other industries will not have to follow these guidelines.
This is definitely a “wtf?” post if there ever was one.
Bookish-related things
Firstly, it’s October. Can you believe it? I had my first midterm yesterday. Philosophy. Western Lit midterm (on The Iliad and The Odyssey) on Monday. Calc on Wednesday.
Secondly, they have freaking pages for their profiles on the homeschool board?! wtf? Why didn’t they do this when we were writing novels for our bios? It would have been so much more convenient. Why were we denied? We like lived on that board, you know?
Okay. Onto more important things.
It’s Banned Books Week and I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t say something about it. Even if I’m repeating myself.
I am against censorship and book removal.
I believe in discretion, but if a librarian purchases Twilight for the elementary-school collection, then I must live with it. If the middle-school librarian purchases TTYL for the collection, that book should damn well be staying. Don’t let your kid read the book if you don’t feel it’s appropriate. But you have absolutely no right to take that book away from anyone else’s child. Counsel the parent against letting their ten-year-old read teen books, but that’s ALL THAT YOU CAN DO.
Suck it up and DEAL WITH IT.
Also, don’t criticise teen books for containing sex, drugs, and swearing. Because guess what?! THAT’S REALITY. I know this because I’m at college.
And I am fundamentally opposed to one-star teen book reviews from “concerned” adults. Really, such things make me want to rip the head off my stuffed bunny or throw my computer against the wall.
But I think that’s the problem with giving out ratings rather than just reviewing. I really wish that Amazon would get rid of the star rating. I know how it’s useful, but seriously. Not when you’ve got idiotic adults who miss all the good in a book because “Oh my goodness! They’re juniors in high school and talking about sex! Save the children!”
Here’s the thing: If you’ve raised your kids right, they’ll either A) not read the book because they’re not comfortable with it or B) they’ll read the book and not engage in such behaviour because they don’t think it’s appropriate behaviour.
See? No banning involved.
So if the book just sits on the library shelf…well, then it sits there. And no one reads it. But it’s still there. But you take the book away…guess who now wants to read it? Oh, yeah. That’s right. Just about everyone.
Moving on.
Time for less rants.
After I read Shannon Hale’s blog post about the rejection letters for The Goose Girl, I started wondering if I could actually be an editor. Like I know that it’s all subjective and everything, but if my opinion of the final draft matches their opinions on the first (submitted) draft…well, now I’m worried. It’s a never-ending process, writing is, or it can be, you know. You have to decide when it’s good enough. I guess it’s all about finding the potential and knowing if it’s something you’re in love with enough to work on it, to improve it. So maybe I’d be okay as an editor. But it just made me think about that.
Also, I really hope I’m not going to be one of those “You write fanfiction about my books, I send my lawyers after you,” kind of authors. But I discovered that I really don’t like when people mess with inside jokes that aren’t their own, so it makes me wonder how protective I’d be of my own writing. Not that I’d be reading fanfiction (unless Jess wrote it, but that’s different, because Jess is a friend, and chances are, she’d be killing off my characters in such funny ways that it would be awesome), but still. I’m not sure if I’d like the thought of what people could be doing with my characters.
Hmm.
So there’s a blog post for you.
And about comments…okay. So here’s the (ironic) thing. I am not in the mood to argue. So if you disagree with me about anything (actually, it’s mostly the censorship thing), please don’t say anything, okay? Because I’d really hate to rip the head off my bunny. (I’m in a mood today.)
♥madison
“Book.”
On LRRH, during the Top-Middle-Bottom game, someone asked “v is writing a book?” I replied with, “No.”
But, Madison! What do you call Ill-Fated? “Arianna”? Everything else that’s tucked away in your Documents?
I call them what they are: stories (or novels). Not books.
A book is something tangible. You can hold books. You cannot hold Ill-Fated. Maybe someday you will be able to, but for now, it is only a bunch of data stored on my computer hard drive (and okay, the first draft is printed out and sitting in a binder next to my bed at home). But it’s not a book.
“I’m writing a book.”
“Read my book.”
Book.
Do you know…I think book is a pretentious-sounding word?
I never want to write books. Never ever ever. Why? Because if I’m writing a book, then I’m writing for publication. I’m writing for that final product. And that is not why I write. I write because I love to write. I write because I have nothing better to do.
Yes, I want to be published someday, but that’s not why I write. Not really. Yes, it can be motivation, but it’s not really why I write.
(For the record, I never want to be an author either. That’s another pretentious-sounding word imho.)
A confession
Guys…
People change. Sometimes there’s a reason, but other times, they just…change. No reason, really. They’re just not who they were before. (And if you’ve known me for any length of time, you’ll know how quickly my moods, tastes, opinions, etc can change.)
A few of you already know this. Others of you may have guessed, but for those of you who don’t know, I feel like I have this responsibility to inform you of something so you just don’t go around thinking I’m someone I’m not. Especially since one of my pet peeves is when people assume I’m something I’m not.
Enna Burning is still one of my all-time favorite books, but otherwise? I don’t much care for Shannon Hale’s books. It’s not like there’s really anything all that wrong with them; they’re just not my thing. For a while, I’ve been preferring more-to-the-point writing; Forest Born, for me, has a bit of the Twilight thing going; it’s long and it’s not necessarily filled with plot. Granted, Forest Born is much better than Twilight because Rin is a much more interesting character than Bella (Rin is my favorite of Shannon’s protagonists). I’m not saying that Shannon ISN’T a good writer; I totally think that she is. With the exception of The Goose Girl, The Actor and the Housewife, and Austenland (it’s the ending, people), I don’t have negative things to say about Shannon’s books, and I still enjoyed the three that I listed above (to some extent, anyway).
And for me, Shannon’s books are best read in a particular way. Not quickly because that spoils the writing. But I need the time to devote to reading one of her novels so that I can appreciate the beauty of the writing. (I mean, Shannon has used diffferent voices for each of the Books of Bayern, yet all four books have a similar feel to them. But her writing helps to create the character, and it’s fantastic.) Reading a book (or less) a week…reading a bit here and maybe a lot there…that doesn’t work for me with Shannon’s books.
And I like more irony/sarcasm/something to the writing of a book. Just me.
But. I still consider myself a Shannon Hale fan. Shannon is such an amazing person, and I still do like her books. Just not as much as I used to. Except Enna Burning. Which as far as I’m concerned, has an awesome title. (I’m not a huge fan of the titles of Shannon’s books; they don’t necessarily grab my attention the way other titles have.)
Also, I have to say this:
For all those Shannon Hale fans who want Twilight to move over to let “better” books into the limelight, such as the Books of Bayern…do you really realize what that would mean? Think of the Twilight fans and all their craziness. Now translate that craziness to Shannon’s books…Yeah. Not pretty, right? (I know Shannon Hale fans are crazy, but we have a particular kind of craziness.) That’s what it means. And people refusing to read the books based on their popularity. And people reading the books only because of their popularity. And people bashing the books to a much greater extent. And people mindlessly gushing about the books. (I’m not a fan of extreme fans or extreme haters. Balance, people. Think like the ancient Greeks, s.v.p.)
Just something I thought needed to be thrown out there. (I’ve never wanted Shannon’s books to be really famous and popular. The small, tightly-knit LRRH was like a second home to me. Plus, I’m overprotective of things that I love and that mean something to me. Shannon’s books are special; I want them to be special to the people who read them. Which means that I don’t want them to be overwhelming popular.)
Anyway…
Yes, I did wake up at 4:30. Our air conditioner was making this horrible noise (it was not rattling; it’s clicking); it’s kind of slowed, but just now, it made that noise again. But it makes it very hard for me to fall asleep (apparently, that’s one thing I can’t fall asleep to, but I can fall asleep when people are talking or when the lights are on). I also had a headache, so it just seemed like a good idea to wake up and take Excedrin (and removing the safety seal while you DON’T have a headache? Brilliant idea) and drink some Pepsi.
So yeah. 6:30ish I’ll go take a shower and get ready for French. Then I’ll come back and finish up the rest of my Calc homework (checking this graph I drew of a function that has to meet certain limit requirements–and I understand limits, I do, but graphing something? From my mind? Not such a good idea–and finishing up this lab/lab write-up on local linearity) and finish my essay for Lit (at least it’s not a graded essay).
Also, I’m wondering why I didn’t bring Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen with me. Because I feel like reading them.
♥madison
This is the problem with America.
I don’t like “You Belong With Me”. It’s completely overplayed, and yes, it’s a cute song, but really. Taylor Swift has written and co-written better material (imho). And yep, the music video is adorable, but is it really the best music video? Um…doubtful.
But that still does not excuse Kanye West from going up onstage, taking the microphone from Taylor Swift, and saying that although he was happy for Taylor, Beyonce had one of the best music videos of all times, then shrugging and handing the microphone back to a stunned Taylor.
Thank goodness Beyonce (who won plenty of other awards, so really, Kanye, people did recognize that Beyonce had a heck of a music video–she won “Best Music Video,” among others, right?; I think you can let Taylor have “Best Female Video”, okay?) had enough class to bring Taylor back up so Taylor could finish her acceptance speech.
And kudos to Taylor for handling the situation rather maturely.
Although, it would have been funny had she done what one of my floormates suggested, which was to bash him over the head with the award.
And the New Moon trailor made me laugh; I had no idea the storyline really was on that epic a level. (My floormates might forbid me from seeing the movie with them; I told them that I’d probably be laughing at it. But seriously. How can you take that movie seriously?)
What I’m compulsively listening to:
I like this more than the “Love Story meets Viva La Vida”.
Why do I like it more? I love how the chorus and verse melodies are intertwined. And I love how it has a similar feel to the “Viva La Vida” version yet is still “Love Story”, so the two parts are more unified.
I think this is brilliant:
via daphneemarie
I could have just reblogged it on Tumblr, but raise of hands, how many of you follow my tumblr at all? Thought so.
Also, this is pretty epic too:
I have yet to read Maggie Stiefvater’s novels, but both Shiver and Lament are in my giant box o’ books. Who knows when I’ll get around to them, but. After watching Maggie’s vlog, I decided she rocks; this only makes me more certain that she’s awesome.
♥madison
To Disney-Hyperion’s headquarters!
Right now, I really want to read The Van Alen Legacy. Like, if I could have any book in the world, at the moment, that is the book I would pick. Because I’m just in the mood for something really trashy. And I’m not even a big fan of Blue Bloods. I just really want The Van Alen Legacy right now.
♥madison
