Ten Things That Get On My Tits In RomLand…
Monday, September 7, 2009Posted in: Adventures with Blog people
There seems to be something funny happening in Romland, do you feel it too?
You know when you’ve fallen out with a friend, but there wasn’t an actual ‘official’ falling out moment, and all you’re left with is this uncomfortable feeling that things have changed, and you’re not quite sure how to get back to the way they were?
I believe that we here in Romland are currently undergoing a falling out of sorts. I don’t mean the lovefests and blazing blog rows that have been happening for years, and will continue to happen long after I decide that this blogging lark is no longer for me, no, I mean the kind of where one party kinda feels betrayed by another, but they can’t actually pin-point where and how the betrayal occurred.
When I read Wendy’s rather super rant., I was all fired up to post a response, and I started writing, but I then got bored, so I stopped and thought fuck it, I’ll just write about the things that’s been pissing me off instead.
What can I say, I’m a happy-go-lucky type of girl.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s my very important list of RomLand pet peeves:
1. Contests and promos on reader blogs. Hate them with a passion. I understand them being on author blogs, but there are loads of Rom Blogs that I avoid, because there seems to be a contest every three seconds. If you happen to be a blogger who likes posting contests and promotional stuff, don’t take it personally, it’s me, not you.
2. Author interviews on reader blogs. I’ve slowly grown to hate them with a passion, which is ironic, because I used to post an interview each week back in late 2005. Sometimes I look back at those interviews, and wonder what the fuck I was smoking. Some of the questions were beyond dull, and most of the answers were even duller. If you happen to be a blogger who loves posting author interviews, don’t take it personally, it’s me, not you.
3. Memes. I hate them with a grand passion. They fuck me off way more than anything else in RomLand. If you happen to be a blogger who loves posting memes, don’t take it personally, it’s me, not you.
4. E-book technology talk – Yeah I know, these are generally found at DA, and once upon a time I used to find them interesting, but I believe I’m now bored by all digital publishing talk. I think if the digital publishing discussions had stayed in one venue, I probably would have stayed interested, but I find that I no longer want to be educated about new innovations within e-publishing, so I avoid posts that contain acronyms like DRM, these days. I find that I’m not even that interested in posts about Sony Readers, and I have one of those. If you happen to be a blogger who loves posting digital news, don’t take it personally, it’s me, not you.
5. Passive-aggressive posters. I’d rather have the Ann Somervilles of this world than the commenters who find it impossible to be direct with their insults and disagreements. No disclaimer for this pet hate I’m afraid.
6. BWWTBUL aka Bloggers Who Want To Be Universally Loved – I can just see you guys wracking your brain trying to work out if I’m talking about you, heh. The characteristics of BWWTBUL are hard to describe, but I usually know when I’ve crossed paths with one of them. If you happen to be a blogger who is genuinely nice, and would rather die than say anything mean to anybody, don’t take it personally, it’s me, not you.
7. The whinging that goes on about the constant blogfests and flamefests in RomLand. Suck it up, they are really easy to avoid if you don’t want to see them.
8. Newish bloggers who say that they don’t care about stats and stuff. It’s simply not true. There’s an evolutionary cycle to blogging, and eventually you end up really not giving a crap about how many people visit your blog each day, but when you’re new to RomLand, I think it almost becomes an obsession.
9. Flash advertising on both author and reader sites. Static advertising isn’t too bad, but the flashy stuff gets on my tits. If you happen to be a blogger who has flash advertising on your site, don’t take it personally, it’s me, not you.
10. Bloggers who make lists of things they hate/love about RomLand. Man they suck Great Big Hairy Donkey Balls.
Feel free to add your own pet peeves.
Off-topic, let me leave you with a delicious quote of the day from A.N Other:
“I can be a bitch, I know it, I’m pretty sure you know it too, but at least I’m comfortable in my Bitch-Wear.”
Diana Castilleja
September 7
1:34 pm
I can agree with a couple of those, especially the memes–hate ’em. IF I do one, I don’t pass it on. I don’t visit a lot of blogs personally because I have them on RSS so I don’t see the advertising. The Tech talk? Yeah, that’s getting old too. Something new on an almost daily basis, but nothing better yet. I follow one blog for updates but they all say the same thing when you get down to it. No one can agree and the longer they are disfunctional, the longer I’m without a quality product. I have a reader, so I’m not hard-up for a new one. I haven’t had any coffee yet, so getting more in depth is beyond me at the moment.
Don’t worry Karen. Your honest bitching is actually refreshing most of the time (not everything is relative so I can’t say ALL the time. LOL)
Shiloh Walker
September 7
1:39 pm
Oooohhhh… I like this. I try to limit my bitch-impulses online because it doesn’t serve the ‘author’ me. But I’ll take an honest bitch over a nice conniver anyday.
Shiloh Walker
September 7
1:40 pm
Oh… a pet peeve of mine? Most flash websites. Abhor them.
And anybody who uses day-glo colors on their websites.
Myra Willingham
September 7
2:09 pm
Authors who post pictures of themselves on the front page of their websites. That’s what a bio or photos section is for.
Christine Rimmer
September 7
2:27 pm
People who pick on authors. Especially authors whose first names begin with C and last names with R. You are all so mean! ‘Kay. Must go now. Have to check my stats.
katiebabs
September 7
2:51 pm
Why is it lately that blogs have to announce their stats, why they get advertising, why they get books, how they review them and why they do it.
So what? Do what makes you happy. And if you get money for your blog with advertising, good for you!
If you want to post hot men pictures and cute animals, do it!
Everyone is just too serious lately. 🙁
Throwmearope
September 7
3:01 pm
Newbie authors who have sold a single short story to EC making comments about how the big name NY authors in RomLand* is a talentless ‘ho. And the corollary, these newbie authors have 10 or 100 times the talent, natch.
*or whatever we call ourselves these days–wait, that’s another pet peeve of mine–changing the handle every 10 minutes. Romancelandia, etc, etc.
anny cook
September 7
3:12 pm
Music that can’t be turned off. If I wanted to listen to music, I would have a CD playing.
Anything that blinks or scrolls or flashes.
Janet W
September 7
3:37 pm
Katiebabs — altho I am a gal who loves to know how sausage is made (I know, it’s a flaw!), maybe the reason we’re getting a surfeit of stats and how I get books and why lately is a defense against the King Rat essay (hope I have the right person). The guy who implied that a reviewer couldn’t be objective if he or she (strongly though implying she because didn’t he say he got free books? DON’T skin me alive — I just sort of recall that :D) … off to check all my recent comments to see if I fit any criteria on the 10 part list!!
Diana Castilleja
September 7
3:44 pm
Oh good one Anny! I hate music on websites. I stream music so to have something suddenly blare over it–Major turn off.
I skip flash intros, if at all possible. They do nothing but eat time as far as I’m concerned. Time I could be reading blurbs before I’m bored of waiting out the flash.
maddie
September 7
3:46 pm
@ #8 Anny Cook
Couldn’t agree with you more one of my favorite authors has music on their website, that’s on as soon as you hit the site and you have to go looking for it to turn it off.
Because of that I only hit their website when a book is coming out, plus the colors are just jarring on the site too.
Also authors who do not update their site, if I go to Amazon and see that you have a book coming out, get all excited and go to your website for more info and nothing is there, not happy over (said in a Joe Pesci voice)
AztecLady
September 7
3:58 pm
You mean we are not getting your commentary on SuperWendy’s rant? 🙁
but… but… but…
🙁
Rosie
September 7
5:22 pm
Loathe it.
I also have to chime in with Shiloh Walker on the day-glo colored font. I will add pages that take forever to load.
rebyj
September 7
5:40 pm
What about author’s official websites having their twitter feeds on the front page? Book covers, exciting blurbs, release dates and then over on the side “my cat pooped in my shoe” or some inane thing like that. Cracks me up since I have that kind of sense of humor but it makes me cringe thinking about how it may look to site viewers who aren’t familiar with twitter and how the conversations can go to the toilet quickly. It just doesn’t belong on author pages.
And as for bloggers who post stats. I had THREE visitors yesterday and I only viewed my blog TWICE! LMAO
Stephani Hecht
September 7
5:40 pm
The music is a big turnoff for me too, especially if it sounds like a cheesy porn soundtrack. I visited a new publisher’s site the other day and as soon as the music kicked in I kept expecting Ron Jeremy to show up and start stripping.
Michelle(mlg)
September 7
6:20 pm
Ooh, I agree about the passive aggressive posts. Kind of like the two faced who are all kissy face in front of you and then stab you in the back. I hope you don’t get burned out and stop blogging. I also dislike authors who haven’t published much that take potshots at popular/successful authors.
alisha rai
September 7
6:22 pm
Music, argh. It’s gotten to the point where I keep my volume turned off.
I hate cutesy websites. You know, where the first page that loads, is like a desk? And then you have to click on images to get to different sections…like a book, for a booklist. I’m not clever enough for that. Just spell out the links.
Ann Bruce
September 7
6:31 pm
Dude, Firefox with the Flashblock add-on will take care of #9.
Carolyn Crane
September 7
6:35 pm
Oh, no! Am I a BWWTBUL? I think I am!! So much so, that I never actually come out and say that I hate getting awards.
Also, yes, agreed!! The music. Make it stop.
Melissa Blue
September 7
6:36 pm
The music irks the hell out of me. Here’s a hint, I may not like your brand of music. Matter of fact, I’m visiting an AUTHOR’S page. I’m here for the books.
I’m also bitchy at times. I try my best not to let it show online for the simple fact it’s supposed to be a faux pas for an author.
But, I like to live vicariously. I’m sure I’m not the only one because the “mean girls” online are the most popular.
kirsten saell
September 7
6:49 pm
KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. Author websites should be designed for easy navigation, not cutesiness. Yeah, they should be easy on the eyes, but please, no flash or music, and ffs, post as much info on a book’s page as might be relevant to the reader. That means blurb, review snippets (with links to the whole review!), buy-links (OMG, how can an author not have buy-links for their books–especially ebooks? And if there’s no publisher listed, either? Do you really think I can be arsed to google the fucking book title?) and links to one or more excerpts.
More pages that load fast, as opposed to one or two big pages that take forfuckingever, please.
Here’s my piggest personal peeve: Authors who do not proofread their webpages or blog posts. I’m more forgiving with comments, but when I catch three or more glaring errors on the welcome page on your website? Booooo!
I’ve gotten used to frequent typos and the odd, hard-to-decipher sentence with Emily Veinglory–I know it doesn’t find its way into her published books. But if I don’t know you, or you don’t seem aware of the fact that you can’t tell “their” from “there” or “breathe” from “breath”? Explain to me why I should buy your book? It’s like going on a first date in a stained sweater, raging bedhead and yesterday’s makeup. Do you really think he’s not going to duck out before getting stuck with the check for dinner?
Amarinda Jones
September 7
6:49 pm
@ alisha rai – “I hate cutesy websites” – oh god yes, I agree
The blogger who has to list all their ailments – especially all the psychological ones – why do that? Who wants to read that?
kirsten saell
September 7
7:15 pm
LOL, My “piggest personal peeve”. Bwahahaha! I’m dying from the irony. But being the forgiving type when it comes to comments, I hereby forgive myself. *snrk*
Karen Scott
September 7
7:38 pm
Lol @Kirsten That always happens. Rant about grammatical errors, and one inevitably makes a spelling mistake, hahaha.
Lorraine
September 7
8:24 pm
@katiebabs,
Amen to that
I find the trend of trying to make romance main stream and intellectualized, (is that even a word?), tiresome. Can’t we just enjoy it for what it is without having the approval of the masses?
Jessica
September 7
8:49 pm
I think you are confused. Romance has the approval of the masses. The trend to which you refer is to gain the approval of the elites.
Sybil
September 7
9:06 pm
“Bloggers Who Want To Be Universally Loved”
le sigh, I am trying to work on this and come out of my shell… trying harder to say what I mean vs what I think people want to hear
baby steps…
Janet W
September 7
9:44 pm
Wow … “trying to gain the approval of the masses” for romance. Now that’s a Labour of Sisyphus! In my own personal life, it’s thumbs up Jane, Georgette, OK, here comes a highly recommended outlier like Outlander and her comes the rest. It’s one recalcitrant reader at a time: mano a mano to convert them!
SarahT
September 7
10:29 pm
I share some of your pet peeves, but not all.
I’m not wild about the constant giveaways but I enjoy reading author interviews, particularly those which ask interesting questions. Not convinced by the concept of blog tours, though, so I’ll add those to my list of trendy blog content which annoys me.
Passive-aggressive posters piss me off, particularly those who use smileys and stars to disguise bitchy comments. It rarely works.
People bitching about other people bitching – sort of like I’m doing now!
Hate flash advertising. Actually, I hate all advertising on blogs and elsewhere.
Blogs & stats: my initial reaction was to say I don’t care, but I’ll amend that to I don’t care enough to deliberately change the content on my blog just to attract more hits. The posts which have proved to be the most popular are the ones which are controversial, and I have no interest in getting involved in every online kerfuffle just to boost my stats.
AAR is currently obsessed with their bloody stats. I’ve lost count of the number of posts they’ve done over the past few months concerning their stats, advertising and Alexa ranking.
People fighting about ARCs. For fuck’s sake, life is too short to argue over something worth a few $$.
Roslyn Holcomb
September 8
12:21 pm
Precisely, and I couldn’t give a rat’s ass whether the elites approve or not. Trotting out all the authors who have letters behind their names is absurd. My question is, can she write? If she can, unless she’s writing nonfic, having doctorates and whatnot is immaterial. (And I say that as someone who has enough letters behind her own name to make a pretty impressive soup, but really who gives a rip?)
So the NYT thinks we’re worthless. And? It’s only a matter of time when the NYT will be going the way of the dodo. Most people do not get their book recommendations from newspapers, so in what way is that germane to us? All this angst really does annoy the ever living crap out of me.
Myra Willingham
September 8
1:27 pm
Newbie EC authors seem to think they have ‘arrived’ simply because they’ve been pubbed. I’ve read a couple of comments on blogs made by two of them and spewed coffee on my screen. If you’ve got only ONE BOOK to your credit…or worse yet, one SHORT STORY…you are not an expert, m’dear. You damned sure haven’t paid any dues and have no right to crit authors who have been around for years. Be careful what you say about authors like that. You may have to eat those catty words one day.
che
September 8
6:26 pm
Well, I’m going to make my own list:
1. I stopped reading a couple of reader blogs due to the overabundance of author promos and contests, and very little reviews.
2. Getting sick of all the tech talk, too. I bet if you counted the tech posts from two popular “reader” blogs, there’d be one for each day in the year. LOL.
3. What’s a meme post? I know what the word means, but can’t figure what a meme post would do.
4. I loved your author interviews from way back when. What’s the price of a gallon of milk? Love hearing who authors themselves glommed on (and you explaining what glom means, lol).
5. Why are some reader blogs, such as SBTB and you, Karen, doing hardly any reviews anymore?
Karen Scott
September 8
6:44 pm
Che, have you been reading this blog since 2005? I’m impressed.
As for me not reviewing, these days I struggle to read, period. I’m having a DNF period at the moment.
The last time I tried writing a review, I bored myself silly, and I figure if I’m boring myself, then I probably shouldn’t inflict my reviews on the readers on here.
Tumperkin
September 8
7:31 pm
11. Commentwhores who have nothing to say?
Great post, Karen!
Tuscan Capo
September 8
8:22 pm
We have music at our blog but you actually have to take the effort of moving your mouse, clicking the button and turning it on to hear the music. A real strain on the muscles, I’m sure, and even worse since we don’t have any selections of heart-stirring porn themes. Nobody tell poor Ron Jeremy.
Tuscan Capo
September 8
8:32 pm
If I have an especially strong dislike about stuff on blogs, its those Works In Progress charts some authors put up. I never know how to react to those things: stand and applaud – or just wonder what’s so sublimely fascinating about this totally useless piece of info?
kirsten saell
September 8
10:20 pm
I have them not because I have people asking me when I’m going to finish stuff because they want want want to read it (I have a few, but really, the meters aren’t for them). They’re there so I can see just how much (or how little) they’re moving. A way of guilt-tripping myself to turn off the stupid intertubes and get back to work…
Myra Willingham
September 8
10:43 pm
meme is all about me. Me did this. Me wrote that. Me got a good review. Me got rid of the crabs but now has herpes. That’s a meme.
Michelle(mlg)
September 8
11:35 pm
Sorry to hear about the reading slump. Have you tried switching genres?
Lorraine
September 8
11:44 pm
@Jessica
Good point
Actually, this comment is exactly what I was referring to
Why should we even care about trying to convert readers? Who cares if they like it or not, (obviously authors want to reach the maximum number of readers, but we’re talking about reader blogs). It seems as if we can’t be okay with what we love reading unless we can convince others of its worthiness.
Ann Bruce
September 8
11:55 pm
@ Myra Willingham – So, only authors with say…10 years of publishing history are allowed to review and critique books? Not readers? (Remember, authors are readers, too. For the most part, authors are readers first and writers second.) What about professional editors who have no desire to be published? What about English/literary professors or teachers with no history of publishing? Are they qualified?
About the WIPs…ditto what Kirsten Saell said. It’s for authors, not readers.
Janet W
September 9
12:31 am
Lorraine, perhaps I was murky … that’s definitely a possibility! I would just like to convert a few friends who live in my neighbourhood so I can talk books during hikes.
Myra Willingham
September 9
12:32 am
I didn’t say anything about authors reviewing books. I was talking ‘authors’ who make snide remarks about authors with years of experience. These women weren’t reviewing anything. They were running their mouths.
DS
September 9
6:13 pm
Late to comment– but I have to agree about the twitter feeds. DA and SBTB both have them and I try to ignore them because most of the statements mean nothing to me.
And blog tours– what are blog tours? And why?
Lorraine
September 10
3:03 am
@Janet, ain’t that the truth. I don’t have anybody in RL who appreciates the awesomeness of a good romance novel. Tasteless people. *sigh*
Ann Bruce
September 10
4:08 am
@ Myra Willingham –
You used the word critique (or the short form of it) and while some do not consider it synonymous with review, it is defined as to evaluate or analyse. Critiquing a work is not the same as “mak[ing] snide remarks.”
Myra Willingham
September 11
10:05 am
They weren’t critiquing the authors’ works. They were making verbal assaults on the authors’ reputation and professionalism.
And critique also means: A serious examination and judgment of something.
Ann Bruce
September 11
1:38 pm
@ Myra Willingham – I guess I need to spell out my point: Your word choice needs more consideration. You used “crit,” which I took to mean critique, while you meant “make snide remarks.”
Myra Willingham
September 12
4:17 pm
Criticize, sweetie. Not critique.
Anna/ocelott
September 13
8:52 pm
I dunno, Karen, I went about a year before I even started tracking my stats and traffic because I cared so little it hadn’t even occurred to me to track ’em. And even then I only started because I had a couple of people ask what my traffic was like and I realized I had no freaking clue. And now I pretty well only check when the question comes up again.