Entry tags:

author entitlement, authors, writers are often pompous douches

Why fan -- er, pro authors can't have nice things.
Rob Thurman is an urban fantasy author who desperately wants to get the 6th book in her series on the NY Times bestseller list. According to a wee mousie, the way bestsellers are calculated is by applying a complex and seekrit algorithm to the first week's sales, from Tuesday (when new books, like albums and babies, "drop") to Saturday. So it's very important to rack up sales during that time period if you want to list.

Also according to the mousie, Thurman's been going nuts for the past month, posting in all caps, and topping things off with this post. Thurman berates a reader for buying the book on Monday because said reader is having surgery on Tuesday. The reader apologizes, Thurman says she'll need pictures of the surgery.

Thurman's specialness doesn't end there. Non-USA readers have to buy two copies of the book to get their reward (sneak peek at the 7th books), people who buy online are Ebil! and more CAPSlock.

Her tweets are also... yeah.

Hat tip to the mouse, for ~~stealing~~ borrowing chunks of her post.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

	lady_ganesh 2010-03-03 08:35 pm UTC (link)
	It felt more like clairvoyant territory to me, but there is something unpleasant demanding fans buy two copies of your book to enter in a 'promotion' to see...a single chapter from the next book. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

scribacious
2010-03-03 08:52 pm UTC (link)

I don't really see how that's unpleasant at all. Other than buying two copies (which one can then be given away to get other readers into her work), it's also required to buy the book within a time frame to get that chapter promo.

There's conditions for promos all the time. It doesn't appear unreasonable at all to me. All she does is appear stressed and trying to get her fans to understand the facts of her situation. Nothing overly rude at all.

If there was a sudden outrage about this, then heck yeah! But there's no wank to be seen.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sistercoyote 2010-03-04 06:19 pm UTC (link)
	I think the thing that bothers me about this is that most of the authors I follow frequently "give away" chapters of their books. And I happily pimp them out to people who I think might be interested. So having to buy two copies to get a sneak preview is somewhat troublesome. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	scribacious 2010-03-03 09:50 pm UTC (link)
	I take back the "Nothing overly rude at all." I see the rudeness in her responses. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lady_ganesh 2010-03-03 09:52 pm UTC (link)
	Especially to people who just bought the damn book. I understand wanting to get good sales, but not everyone is swimming in cash at the moment. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	scribacious 2010-03-03 10:30 pm UTC (link)
	I've been 'headdesk-ing' for not seeing that at first. Time to wake my brain up. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	eleutheria 2010-03-03 11:16 pm UTC (link)
	Or to the people who bought it online. Not everyone can leave their house to go to a bookstore-- or can afford to pay the full bookstore price. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	beccastareyes 2010-03-04 03:56 am UTC (link)
	And their bookstores might not carry it. I have been having this problem with the local Borders and new releases. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

octopedingenue
2010-03-07 07:29 pm UTC (link)

Special orders are your friend! Give a heads-up to your local Borders or indie bookstores and they can get usually get an in-print book into the store waiting for you within 2-3 days, with no shipping charges (since they'll be ordering books to replace sold stock anyway) and no commitment to buy (unless it's non-returnable/print-on-demand). Though it's appreciated if you do buy the book and don't order tons to just look at, since the store has to pay the shipping to send it back.

I work for a small indie at which it's physically and financially impossible to stock every new release or book people could possibly want, so we are only too happy to order however many random books people want if it keeps them from not getting their books / going to Amazon. Add you to the list for a book coming out next July? Okay! Need twenty copies each of Mein Kampf and How to Make Love Like a Porn Star? You betcha!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

beccastareyes
2010-03-07 07:35 pm UTC (link)

Yeah. I eventually did that, though the ordering interface at the local Borders seems to be 'have store clerk enter it at Borders.com, the same as if I did it at home'. I suppose it still sends the books to the store, sans shipping*. Been trying to track down a indie bookstore in the Ithaca area that sells new books -- I think there's one downtown, but most of the non-chain stores are used bookstores. Which are awesome, but not for new releases.

* Even if I generally buy enough books at a time that shipping is never an issue.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	amaresu 2010-03-04 08:30 pm UTC (link)
	Or hell, the bookstore I bought from only had six copies. If I bought two copies that meant only 4 other people would be able to buy it. That's a bit mean to poor 5th person who now can't get a book. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Read comments) -