Reader Bloggers Vs Online Authors - Just A Myth? Or Is It For Real?

You know what really chaps my arse?

People (Read: some authors) who are so twisted up with bitterness, that they simply refuse to see beyond the end of their own noses. These people (read: some authors) point blank refuse to acknowledge that sometimes, their (mostly perceived) 'enemies' are right.

They consistently take the opposing view, just because, they can't bear the thought of conceding that sometimes these people, who they hate beyond measure, might actually be talking sense. It's a strange phenomenon, and one that I've only ever experienced, with very young children, until recently. (You know, the game that you play, where you say the sky is blue, and the child says it's black?) I've seen more examples of this, over the past couple of weeks, than ever before.

Every author, who's ever tangled with a Mean Reader Blogger, predictably came out with their own twisted version of events, with regards to the plagiarism lovefest. They 'gleefully' bashed the SBs and DA, whilst lamenting how terrible it was that those bitches (paraphrasing of course) had put a 71 year old through all this stress, and brought shame to the genre, (and God, can't they shut up already?) yada yada yada. My head still hurts from all the sneaky sideswipes.

I wasn't surprised by any of it, as it happens. Unfortunately, I do tend to have low expectations of romance authors in general (I love the exceptions obviously), so this was just par for the course, as far as I was concerned.

It was a shame though, especially for the absolute lovers of the genre. And whilst I admit that bloggers like myself may have played a part or two, in fostering those very negative feelings that some authors have towards Reader Bloggers, (no apologies for that I'm afraid) it seems to me that some of them (authors) seem to forget about the majority of the bloggers who simply adore the genre, and want to promote it, every chance they get.

Readers like KristieJ for instance. There are more KristieJs out there, than Karen Scotts. You guys know that, right?

And also, let me say here and now, that in my opinion (and of course I'm rarely wrong) The SBs, and the gals at Dear Author have done more for the genre, than a lot of the authors who have partaken in the Reader Blogger-bashing and the faux hand-wringing that's been taking place in Romanceland of late.

These women do a really great job, (for those people who need things explaining to them, I'm talking about the SBs and DA) in the Blogosphere, and without their presence, I think Romanceland would be a much less interesting place to visit.

By the way, if you're wondering if I'm talking about you, I probably am.

(And for every person who suggested that this whole issue has just been about blog hits, you guys really need to think about that some more.)