Now, we all know that Elizabeth Bevarly is uncomfortable writing smut, so I bet it’s pissed her off no end that she’s due to have a new Blaze book released in September.
Oh Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie, what on earth happened to your principles? Did those bad people at HQN make you keep to your contract? Bastards aren’t they? *g*
Oh well, at least you can be certain that your Blaze will be more ’emotionally fulfilling’ than any of those that have come before. And just think of the money you’ll make from those readers who are willing to embrace their inner slut. *g*
Jane
June 1
6:39 pm
Is the cover child approved? Because I intend to go to the bookstore tonight and by Lynn Viehl’s latest (not bragging or anything) and I don’t want to be in the romance aisle and have a non EB approve cover staring at my little girl, particularly since all of the other romance covers are so pure and innocent. *cough*
sybil
June 1
8:16 pm
Oh this amuses me muchly. Guess money made more sense than her moral values
azteclady
June 1
8:34 pm
I am tickled pink! I so love watching self-important people and self-righteous moralists having to eat their words…
(Yes, I’m mean–I have already reserved my very own spot in hell)
MaryJanice Davidson
June 1
9:04 pm
That’s so…odd. Wow, you guys thought *I* was a jerk! (“Oh,” Karen says cheerfully, “you still are.”) UNDEAD AND UNWED was originally an EC book. Not erotica. Not even close. I’m just…I guess I’m not smart enough to get this, because I’m so befuddled.
Karen Scott
June 1
9:26 pm
I have to say MJD, there are at least 2 other writers who are way higher up the jerk scale than you are, you’ll be glad to know. Look see, you have a place in my “authors behaving badly” hall of fame, don’t that just fill you with the fuzzies? *g*
I didn’t know that UAU was an EC book, how uncanny.
By the way, you still owe me a freebie book, I haven’t forgotten about that ya know!
Avid Reader
June 1
10:30 pm
LOVED sybil’s answer:
Oh this amuses me muchly. Guess money made more sense than her moral values
Keishon
Anne
June 1
11:46 pm
You crack me up Karen! Seriously.. you find out the scoop on EVERYTHING!!
I’m wondering if she found that she sells smut better than her other boring ass shit and that’s why she’s got another one coming out. Hmmm…
Stacy~
June 2
2:01 am
Karen, you are too funny. You know everything – that’s why I come here – to find out what’s going on.
To be honest, I’ve never read anything by EB, and I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.
I do love MJD’s Betsy…and Jessica….and Sinclair (yum!)…but I had no idea it was an EC. Where’d that come from?
Lori
June 2
5:22 am
Dang, Karen, how do you find out all this stuff? I swear, it’s just like at work. I’m always the last to know. Sheesh!
Very, very interesting. I wonder how it will read…
Bam
June 2
6:31 am
Wow, you guys thought *I* was a jerk!
Oh man, MJD, she totally out-jerked your ass. 😛
Hmm… I have an Elizabeth Bevarly book in my pile somewhere. I’ll have to… umm… burn it.
Carly
June 2
10:43 am
-Erotica doesn’t belong in RWA, and RWA never should have approved Ellora’s Cave as an RWA-recognized publisher. The reason? Ellora’s Cave doesn’t publish Romance any more than Playboy Books publishes Romance.-
I can’t believe she actually put this statement out in a public forum.
Dawn
June 2
10:55 am
Oh boy, Carly.
I can unequivocally say, as an avid reader of romance, that EC DOES publish romance.
Do you say that the likes of Lori Foster, who does write quite graphic sex scenes, is not a romance author.
Is it just because there is more explicit sex and language that you feel this way?
Some of the most emotionally satisfying books I’ve read come from the EC stable. I close the book and sigh, thinking happy thoughts about the characters, exactly the same as when I read a Mills and Boon.
But hey, I’m only a reader, so what do I know, eh?
***I’ve not said this as eloquently as I’d like, because my initial thought is spew a load of vitriol at such a STUPID statement.***
Carly
June 2
11:28 am
Oh gosh Dawn, this certainly isn’t the way I feel, this is one of Elizabeth Bevarly’s statements! I was just in awe that she could blithely put that statement out in public, where everyone could see what an idiot she is!
Valeen
June 2
11:58 am
LIke Anne – I’d be interested to know how the sales of the Blaze compare to her mainstream stories.
I’ve never read an Elizabeth Beverly and now I’m more than glad I haven’t.
Dawn
June 2
1:23 pm
Oops, sorry Carly! I can put my hand up and admit when I’ve made a twat of myself. 🙂
MaryJanice Davidson
June 2
4:28 pm
Karen, doll, I haven’t forgotten about your books, I promise. I saved your snail mail address and I’ve actually got a stack of books with your name on them. Just need to get my big old butt to the post office.
I plan to blog (along with several others) on the Authors Behaving Badly syndrom because, as a reader and an author, I find the situation pretty fascinating. Can authors (like all of us) be real jerks sometimes? You bet! Heck, just look at all the dirt Karen’s dug up in, what? Two months?
But are we held to higher standards than readers? Sometimes it seems so. And why should that be? (I’m not arguing that it’s okay to be an ass, just that it’s weird that people seem more offended when an author does it as opposed to, say, when an Ops Manager does it.) And readers often hold their credit cards over an author’s head like a club: “You posted something I didn’t agree with, so I’ll NEVER EVER buy your books again.”
I think, for every Author Behaving Badly, you can find a Fangirl Behaving Badly. I guess my point is that, deep down inside us all, the beast wants to get out, and sometmes it slips the leash.
My two cents!
Karen Scott
June 2
5:43 pm
MJD wrote “But are we held to higher standards than readers? Sometimes it seems so. And why should that be?”
I think the difference is though that rabid fangirly types don’t really have much to lose, whereas published authors do. The worst thing that can happen to a reader is that nobody online will engage her in ‘conversation’, whereas the worst thing that can happen to an author is that people may stop reading her books altogether.
It’s a horrible double standard, but them’s the breaks I’m afraid.
MaryJanice Davidson
June 2
6:46 pm
I didn’t think about it that way, Karen. Good point. Though in my case, I’m not sure there’s a lot to lose. I’m not sure about other ABB (Authors Behaving Badly) so I’m only speaking for myself. But for every person who gets annoyed when I shoot my mouth off, ten others gleefully write me and tell me they thought whatever I said was hilarious and plan to buy my books forever. So, in my case at least, it’s hard to worry when someone pulls out the credit card club.
Is that an excuse to keep being an ass? No way. But do readers have the influence they thik they do over making authors behave? I couldn’t really say. I do know authors who are slaves to readers’ opinions and who literally lose sleep when a reader is annoyed. I also know authors who seem to get off on irritating entire Yahoo groups. Both extremes are a little mystifying to me.
Anonymous
June 2
7:19 pm
Hello Karen, new to your blog. Love it!
Never read any of EB but I have gone over to read over at the squawk. I’m surprised EB is so prudish after reading her comments about EC. Her squawk buddy Lisa Kleypas can write some pretty steamy sex. I think she is deluding herself, most people, incuding myself love great sex in their books.
Lena Matthews
June 3
6:17 pm
MJD,
I have to admit, I’m one of the readers who went out and bought your book after reading the posts here in Karen’s ABB. Why you might ask? Because I admired the balls it took for you to keep coming back here after people tried to flay you alive time after time. I like that in woman. Someone who’s not afraid to speak her mind and stick to your guns, whenever one else around is trying to beat you down.
So you now have an admirer for life.
Lena
Avid Reader
June 4
12:22 am
MJD said:
“I’m not sure about other ABB (Authors Behaving Badly) so I’m only speaking for myself. But for every person who gets annoyed when I shoot my mouth off, ten others gleefully write me and tell me they thought whatever I said was hilarious and plan to buy my books forever.”
I agree, for every ten that buy your books, another ten will quit you. I don’t think readers using the “I won’t buy your books” is a way to make authors behave, more of a reminder that your selling a product to people and people usually will associate you with your product.
Just my two cents, carry on.
Keishon
Karen Scott
June 4
12:44 am
I have to agree Keishon. MJD, you know, being humble goes a heck of a long way when it comes to keeping fans, as well as gaining new ones. I’m just saying.
Bam
June 4
2:32 am
::standing in the sidelines with a bag of popcorn in hand, waiting to see if more drama will unfold:::
MaryJanice Davidson
June 4
8:16 pm
Sorry, Bam, but as far as web posts go, this one’s staying pretty civilized. (It’s the weekend, and we’re all too tired to really pick on each other. Hee!)
I’m of one opinion and Karen (and many others) are of another. And so we post. Nobody’s being bullied. Nobody’s being a jerk. It’s really quite dull! 🙂
Karen’s 100% right when she says humility goes a long way. You all know she’s right. I know she’s right. But…I can’t do it. It’s just not in me. I’m a recovering Miss Congeniality (I’m not joking and, yes, let the mocking commence, and no, I no longer have the sash or crown) and I live in a state where the residents are nicknamed “Minnesota Nice”. I’m constantly surrounded by people who, literally, wouldn’t say shit if they had a mouthful. “Everybody get along. Nobody make waves. Why can’t everybody be nice? Let’s all be nice. Look, whatever he/she said, they probably didn’t mean it. Or they’re having a bad day. Just let it go and be nice. Have some more ice cream.”
So I overcompensate at times. It usually comes out in my work, and that’s my main outlet. But not always.
Getting back to ABB, I have to say I’ve never read a bitchy author post and said to myself, “Well! I can assure you, Author Behaving Badly, that I will NEVER buy one of your books! That’ll learn ya!” Sometimes I’ll buy a book purely to see what the fuss is all about. But 99% of the time, I buy a book because of the flap copy, or because it’s an author whose work I consistently like. I could care less how the author comports herself on the web, or in her personal life, or whatever. I don’t equate the creator’s behavior with the characters she created.
Take Laurell K. Hamilton…she *does* have readers who think she’s Anita Blake (which is why she goes everywhere with an armed escort, and no, I’m not joking). And she’s taken a turn in her series that many fans don’t like. REALLY don’t like. And they’ve let her know. And she’s defended herself on the web, her blog, and in interviews in ways that have irritated the hell out of readers, many of whom swore never to buy another of her books.
Her last book? Went to #1 on the NYT list, the USA list, Booklist, and the PW list.
The lesson was not lost on me.
Avid Reader
June 5
12:32 am
MJD:
“Take Laurell K. Hamilton…she *does* have readers who think she’s Anita Blake (which is why she goes everywhere with an armed escort, and no, I’m not joking). And she’s taken a turn in her series that many fans don’t like. REALLY don’t like. And they’ve let her know. And she’s defended herself on the web, her blog, and in interviews in ways that have irritated the hell out of readers, many of whom swore never to buy another of her books.
Her last book? Went to #1 on the NYT list, the USA list, Booklist, and the PW list.
The lesson was not lost on me. “
Nor lost on me either. What a disappointment and what a bunch of liars! Some readers just can’t help themselves, I guess. Le Sigh. Anyway, LKH can afford to lose a few readers, while some authors can’t even afford to lose one. Go figure.
Keishon
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April 22
12:17 pm
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