I read some of the transcript then stopped. Not my cuppa. It has nothing to do with mean-girl phenomena. I'm also very much in the camp of "put on your big girl panties" and accept the fact that people will love, hate, praise and mock the product you create. That transcript though just had a circus feel to me with a couple of ringmasters controlling it. Others may enjoy it. More power to 'em.
I started reading DA for the very balanced, straightforward reviews. They were no-nonsense and presented in a tone that was very objective, intelligent and thoughtful. I may not have always agreed with the assessment, but I respected the delivery.
Unfortunately, it feels to me (and YMMV), as if the site has lost a lot of that objective tone. It seems as if some of the Ja(y)nes now have a different goal, and that's entertaining the audience in ways that have more of the "train wreck" feel to them. If that's their current intent, fine. Their playground, and I can enjoy a good train wreck with the best of them. However, those kinds of blogs are a dime a dozen these days, and I'll miss the uniqueness of DA as it was when I first started reading there.
I now go to Karen Knows Best for book reviews (never thought I'd say that about KKB). I love AztecLady's very measured, forthright reviewing style and hope she sets up her own review site in the near futre.
As a reader, I don't have a lot of sympathy for an author or his/her editor whose product gets knocked around by the public. Comes with the territory. I've never thought of books as children. They're merchandise. However, as an author myself, I'm sympathetic because no matter how logical you try to be, stuff like that always stings, and like you, I winced at some of the stuff I read in the transcript.
It's sort of like getting a bad annual review from your boss, but instead of just you and the boss in a conference room, it's you, the boss, your coworkers and the employees of six other departments who get to hear how your work sucks.
Don't know if it helps, but because of the stir this has caused, the author's book is now on a lot of radars, so hopefully that will translate to a respectable number of sales. Good luck to her on that score.
no subject
I started reading DA for the very balanced, straightforward reviews. They were no-nonsense and presented in a tone that was very objective, intelligent and thoughtful. I may not have always agreed with the assessment, but I respected the delivery.
Unfortunately, it feels to me (and YMMV), as if the site has lost a lot of that objective tone. It seems as if some of the Ja(y)nes now have a different goal, and that's entertaining the audience in ways that have more of the "train wreck" feel to them. If that's their current intent, fine. Their playground, and I can enjoy a good train wreck with the best of them. However, those kinds of blogs are a dime a dozen these days, and I'll miss the uniqueness of DA as it was when I first started reading there.
I now go to Karen Knows Best for book reviews (never thought I'd say that about KKB). I love AztecLady's very measured, forthright reviewing style and hope she sets up her own review site in the near futre.
As a reader, I don't have a lot of sympathy for an author or his/her editor whose product gets knocked around by the public. Comes with the territory. I've never thought of books as children. They're merchandise. However, as an author myself, I'm sympathetic because no matter how logical you try to be, stuff like that always stings, and like you, I winced at some of the stuff I read in the transcript.
It's sort of like getting a bad annual review from your boss, but instead of just you and the boss in a conference room, it's you, the boss, your coworkers and the employees of six other departments who get to hear how your work sucks.
Don't know if it helps, but because of the stir this has caused, the author's book is now on a lot of radars, so hopefully that will translate to a respectable number of sales. Good luck to her on that score.