The ramblings part of the journal

[reviews_and_ramblings]

I really should let not the spur of the moment drives me, but it's the second time that I slept very bad since I had a not nice conversation soon before going sleep. Since I was careless enough to start this thing online, even if then continued in private, if there are people who witnessed to that, please don't make name, I really am not writing this to bring damage to another person, but only since, if I take it inside, it will burst later in a bigger way.

More or less 2 months ago I received a nice review request, and a lot of you know that I really appreciate those. It was from a new author and new publisher, so I was even more glad. Have you notice that I give priority to new authors and publishers? It would easy enough to raise comments on famous authors, but I really think that even the newest author deserves a first chance. I'm not sure but I think that I'm quite alone in doing so, and I believe so since many authors wrote to me telling that I was their "first". And most of the time I already bought the book when they ask a review, it happened only yesterday with two requests, I already had the book.

Anyway when that request arrived I was pretty clear with that author, I said that I didn't buy the book by myself since I believed it was a menages with a woman on the side, and you all know that I don't really like them. The author assured me that it was not and so I accepted the book. I even read it as soon as possible, to give the author as much more visibility near the release date as possible. I started the post giving a warning to the content of the book, specifying that it was not a menages, and received comments, even from the author, saying that many people didn't understand it and was grateful for the warning.

Then nothing for a month; after a month another review site reviewed the same book, starting the post in the same way as me, warning the readers on the content of the book; at that point the author (or the publisher) realized that they were losing readers and took the right measures. All right, two voices are better than one, but now the author is thanking that second review site saying that all started on it. I gently made notice that it was not exactly like that and the author in different comments replied to me that:

1) maybe my review had not so much space or visibility... yes right, that month my LJ had 13.300 single visits when the average for a review site is 3.000/4.000 (those are the standard to be considered "review site"), and the review remained in the front page for a week, I always try to not let them shift on second page for a reason, you know?

2) maybe people didn't read the review since I'm not enough M/M focused (on the contrary of the other review site) and so people didn't understand that it was not a polyamour book... yes, right, if I was more M/M focused I would be a man! I reviewed 1057 books at yesterday and only 20 are M/F and only 73 are menages, and among the menages only 9 with a woman, so 29 books with a woman in 1057 means a 2% of all my reviews.

3) maybe on the other review site the post received more response from people... yes, right, my review received 22 comments from 6 different people, 4 of them not involved directly with me or the author, on the other site it received 16 comments all from reviewers of that site other than 1. 22 comments... yesterday the post in which I featured Allan Hollinghurst, winner of a booker prize, received 17 comments...

So am I taking all this wrong? Should I stick with Man Candy Posts, Gay Romance Movies, and reviews of books that will be read anyway? Should I write reviews in which I say that every book is terrific? Should I ignore a review request from an unknown author and publisher till some other review site spend its time to "taste" it in advance? I know that the answers to all these questions is NO, but authors please, when you send me a book to review could at least take a look at my LJ? NOT ENOUGH M/M FOCUSED?!?!

Comments

[jl_merrow]

*delurks to send message of support*

I really can't understand why this person acted as she did. I very much hope you will not let this affect what you do in any way. Whilst I adore your Man Candy posts, I should hate to miss out on any of your reviews! :D

[jordan-c-price.livejournal.com]

Gosh, Elisa, I'm just stunned at the sheer stupidity of the author and publisher. I think reviews mean so much more if no one is obliged to say, "Yay! I love it unconditionally!" of every single thing they read.

You are so generous with your time and talent. Please don't let one person get you down. The whole m/m community is richer for having you.

[karalarson.livejournal.com]

Just weighing in to say that it's your blog, and I think you've been running it wonderfully. You're fair and you always try to say something good about a book, even if it doesn't always appeal to you. I've always loved the reviews you've done of my work, and I hope you continue to run this review blog as you have: as a fount of knowledge on romance as an industry and genre, as a source of hot guy pictures, and as an honest and very nice place to read reviews.

[rdsolange.livejournal.com]

Elisa,

You were our very first reviewer for our very first book and I'll always adore you for how kind you were to us.

Every new writer should be so lucky with their first review. You do a huge service to the authors, publishing houses and readers out there.

♥

[ebony-silvers.livejournal.com]

Your site and your reviews are wonderful! And you know I feel you are one reason for my success - I've told you so!

Hugs

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, Elisa, please don't pay that idiot any attention. I cannot believe an author would be so...disrespectful of you. So inconsiderate, and just plain not nice. You are so sweet and kind and generous as a person, and in your support of m/m romance. And to think someone would be so ignorant as to believe your LJ did not get a lot of traffic???? That just boggles my mind.

Please, please don't change anything because of this one individual. I love your LJ and always depend on it for honest and thoughtful book and movie reviews, pictures of very handsome men ;), and I must admit, I adore the commercials you post.

And as a newer author, I was very honored that you, Elisa Rolle, a respected authority in the m/m romance community, reviewed my book. And you were the first reviewer to review it. I had a huge smile on my face the entire day. :) You are so generous to give your time in support of new authors, and I thank you for it from the bottom of my heart. And I do hope you are feeling better today.

***big hugs***

-Ava March

[mistry89.livejournal.com]

As I only read m/m, I'm wondering why I read all of your posts (and fighting with my browser, as my internet access has been awful, in order to do it)!

Please don't let this stop you from reading and reviewing - you were the first place I found almost everything was m/m, so instead of hunting back and hoping to find tags (a lot of review sites tag on genre, but not specifically for m/m, so vampire or murder-mystery books may be easy to find, but they are all lumped together). I only used the word "almost" to prevent any thoughts of exaggeration *g*.

I hope you poor sore head clears up fast and you are back to being your normal sunny self.
Cheers :)

[mauraanderson.livejournal.com]

Please don't change, Elise. I love your reviews and you're one of the few people whose opinion I trust without question.

And speaking as one of the new authors you reviewed, I wholeheartedly appreciated your willingness to even LOOK at a new m/m author and give them time and space when you have all these established (and great) authors to read!

BIG HUGS!

[4everinblujeans.livejournal.com]

I really like your site, I go to your site to read your reviews before deciding to buy books that I'm not so sure whether to buy or not...so you could say I depend on your review ^^ so please don't change. *hugs*

[leeteng.livejournal.com]

Elisa. Ignore these people. Not enough M/M focused ?! What the xxx! Do they even read your blog? You are a true supporter of the M/M genre. Carry on with your fantastic work. Chin up!

[m-barnette.livejournal.com]

Elisa, in the year I've been reading your LJ and have had you on my Friend list I can't recall seeing any review that wasn't m/m.

You go great reviews! And I've been appreciative of every one of my books you've reviewed.

I also like the man candy days.

Please put this behind you, don't let it upset you, and move forward doing what you do: writing wonderful insightful reviews.

I'm sure this isn't said often enough, but thank you for all the hard work you put into the reviews.

[pandorasvase.livejournal.com]

Mi spiace tanto per questo, Elisa.

Personalmente io adoro il tuo Lj per molti motivi ma soprattutto amo le tue recensioni. Anche se qualcosa non ti è piaciuto, non demolisci in alcun modo lo scritto, dando così la possibilità a uno scrittore intelligente di cogliere magari qualche aspetto da migliorare.
E' un po' che non ho occasione di commentare - nuovo lavoro, mi sta sfinendo :P - ma appena accendo il pc, vengo subito a vedere cosa c'è di nuovo. Molti dei libri che ho acquistato, li ho presi perché colpita dalla tua opinione. Dai quel giusto accenno di trama e di personaggi in grado di farmi capire se sarà un libro per me o meno. Se tu scrivessi sempre "Oh, meraviglioso!", ti troverei poco credibile.
Quanto sull'essere non abbastanza incentrata sul M/M, forse qualcuno ha davvero seri problemi... e non sei certo tu.
Non abbatterti e continua così. *abbraccia forte forte*

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Here's a little motto for you:

Non illigitimus carborundum.

"Don't let the bastards get you down."

It isn't good Latin, but it's good advice. You can't please everyone, you don't owe anyone a good review, you have absolutely NO way to know how people will respond... and if someone wants to pretend that you didn't review her book because some other review gained her the attention... I'd say just ignore her.

One of the things that's really frustrating about the author-promo work is that (so I'm told) it usually takes at least 3 mentions of a new book/author before the average reader will go look for the book. And a writer never knows WHEN that magic tipping point will happen, so half the time it seems we're chugging away, going "Oh, read my book, it's great!" with the mental image of how irritating it is to hear other people bragging about themselves--and not wanting to sound like that. It would be nice if there was a foolproof formula for a writer to follow for success, but there just isn't.

Please don't "fix" what isn't broken. One person who is loudly unhappy with something you've done doesn't really stack up against the dozens of us who are delighted with your gentle, thoughtful reviews.

Not to mention the eye candy.

Hang in there...

[jessewave.livejournal.com]

Apr. 1st, 2009 05:45 am (local)
Elisa
I am only now reading this post because it was brought to my attention by several readers and authors. It seems that you are referring to my review blog in your post, and while I wouldn't normally comment on something like this because I'm too busy I thought I should do so in this instance.

First, in the particular case you cited my blog did more than just point out in the review that the book was not a menage. If you were to email the writer perhaps she would inform you and maybe that would give you a different perspective on why she mentioned my blog as being helpful in bringing about the change in the book cover.

Second, I don't get into pissing matches with other review sites and compare numbers or anything else that people set such store on. We all have different demographics and different target groups and I would never dream of trying to denigrate another blog. That is not what I do. If you feel that you are not getting enough respect from readers or authors I'm sorry, but that has nothing to do with me or my blog.

I blog strictly for fun and because I love books. People stop by the blog because they have a good time and chat with each other about any subject under the sun. I never realized that that would bother anyone.

Many comments on my reviews are sent to me by email and are therefore not noted on the blog so going by blog stats is always a crapshoot. In any event I don't have to justify my blog to anyone since I have done nothing to offend you and I'm really disappointed that you saw fit to view this matter as a competition between my blog and your Livejournal.

This is a large online community and I think there is room enough for everyone. I always thought we had a cordial relationship and I'm now finding out this is not the case, which is too bad because I have a great deal of respect for you as a reviewer and a person. I know I could never write as many reviews as you do.

In closing, I'm very sorry that you felt the need to single out my blog (even though you did not name it, it's obvious which one you were referring to) for what you feel is a slight against you, perceived or otherwise. This is upsetting to me since I have never said anything derogatory about you and would not dream of doing so - that is simply not my way. You have a great reputation among this community and I have never said otherwise because I hold you in very high regard. Can't we all just get along?

[jessewave.livejournal.com]

Elisa
I don't know what happened a minute ago but my post didn't appear so I'm trying again.

I pulled the name of the book because I thought there was enough controversy on this matter already. I have said enough about this particular issue so this is my last word about it.

By the way "pissing match" is a term commonly used for stuff like this and has nothing to do with either pissing or matches. :)

Re the photos, I get many of them from about 10 - 12 sites including Beautiful, Hunk Du jour, Manpaper etc., and many other websites including yours. Since I never remember the source by the time I post - sometimes weeks later, I won't take any more from your site. There may be a few remnants appearing in the next few weeks but no new ones unless I take them from another site that originally stole them from you (complicated, isn't it? ) *g*

I was actually going to write you this week on another subject - funny how things happen. I'll be in touch.

[jessewave.livejournal.com]

I just deleted the post that just appeared. :)

If you email me a link to the post and the name of the photographer I would be happy to give him credit and write him a personal note. I will even offer to do a "special" post of his photos on the blog to make up. I have contacted photographers direct (Breyette, Rosser, etc.,) on many occasions for permission to post their photos but obviously things slip through the cracks from time to time.

I'm writing the email even as we speak. Have a good day.