What Happens When Everybody's a Critic?

Porter Anderson, PorterAnderson.com, Writing on the Ether, Ether for Authors, London on the Ether, JaneFriedman.com, Ed Nawotka, Philip Jones, PublishingPerspectives.com, The Bookseller.com, books, ebooks, author, agent, Amazon, publishing, The FutureBook, CONTEC Conference, Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt Buchmesse, Bowker, WriterUnboxed.com

Porter Anderson, PorterAnderson.com, Writing on the Ether, Ether for Authors, London on the Ether, JaneFriedman.com, Ed Nawotka, Philip Jones, PublishingPerspectives.com, The Bookseller.com, books, ebooks, author, agent, Amazon, publishing, The FutureBook, CONTEC Conference, Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt Buchmesse, Jonny Geller, Kristin Nelson, Michael Tamblyn, Jon Fine, Hugh Howey, Amanda Barbara, Peter Armstrong, Florian Geuppert, Matthias Matting
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By Porter Ander­son | @Porter_Anderson

Ether for Authors: What Happens When Everybody’s a Critic?

[dropcap style=”flat” size=”5″]A[/dropcap]s Goodreads makes its seemingly logical moves—a clear delineation of “reviewing” a book vs. a person seems an utterly correct start—we have a larger question to think about, and that’s anger, per se. Bitterness. Rancor.

At times, it would seem laudable to say, “Books are forms of expression that elicit great emotional response.” We’d want to be proud of this.

And yet, throughout the publishing world’s busy online exchanges, instances of something darker seem painfully common, whether they involve authors from one mode of publishing discussing another mode of publishing, “gatekeepers” discussing the formerly “gatekept” (I’ve made up that word), or, in Goodreads’ case, readers and writers trying to discover and enjoy each other.

Read the full article at PublishingPerspectives.com
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