Wishes II

Things I wish my fellow authors knew--or believed.

Every person has something (or even more than one something!) that annoys them. Since most of my interactions happen to be with other authors and those in the publishing field, I suppose it's natural that my annoyances relate to them. I expect everyone has a list and it probably is different from mine. That's usually the way these things work.

1) Squeeeeee!!! There are many ways to indicate your joy and excitement over a fabulous review or a new contract. This shouldn't be one of them. It makes the author look like he/she is a pre-teen. And not a real bright one at that. It also does nothing to demonstrate his or her command of the English language. Really.

2) The internet is forever. Discussing your sex life in public forums is something you may regret someday. And by then it will be too late. Ditto airing your marriage/relationship laundry (dirty or clean). We all have arguments with our significant others. If you want to rant, do it with your best friend--via private e-mail.

3) I'm willing to support almost any author in their promo efforts. Really. But that doesn't include when they flood my e-mail inbox/facebook/twitter/etc. with demands to buy their book/vote for their book/review their book/etc. See #1. Spamming fellow authors is a sign of desperation and/or newbie-ism. I'm pretty sure that's not what they're going for.

4) Begging for votes. For anything. It reminds me of sweaty-faced guys on telethons. Again, with the desperation. While I would never tell someone to NOT vote for my book or cover or whatever...isn't the actual honor related to having your name on the list? Begging all your fans/family/friends to vote for you proves nothing--except that you're an excellent begger. Hmmmm. Maybe there should be a poll for that?

5) Finally, I just have a deep urge to cringe when an author demonstrates their wholehearted lack of common sense. In this day of the wide open information highway, there's no reason to jump into the public arena with questions that reveal your lack of experience. When an author "wonders" on facebook why they don't have a review for their brand new book, that's a sign they're pretty new. Most of us are thrilled when a review sight gets around to reviewing our book. That's because there are a bazillion books out there and...half a dozen reviewers. When you have questions like that, check it out with one of your mentors. There are no dumb questions--just unfortunate places to voice them.

So there are my hot buttons. What are some of yours?

anny