Megan Frazer

I’ve been thinking about eBooks lately. It started with John Green’s article in School Library Journal: “The Future of Reading: Don’t Worry. It Might be Better than you Think.” As a librarian, I really like the donut analogy. Man I have some great crullers in my library. You should go and read the article because John Green is way smart and eloquent, and my summary will not in anyway capture it all. For the purposes of what I’m going to talk about here, the thing you need to know besides the crullers (oh go and read the article if you want to know), is ThisIsNotTom.com. Originally it was a site with complex riddles to solve. Then Green got involved and the riddles became keys to unlock the next part of a novella of his.

Okay, so now the iPad is here. iBook already exists. I hear an iBookstore is in the works. I thought the Kindle was interesting, the nook looked neat, but I love me some Apple products, so now I am suddenly and keenly interested in e-readers. Because the iPad integrates other applications that users want perhaps more than an e-reader (web access, music, etc.), this could be a real boost in the spread of e-reading.

There is a theory (I think it is Dr. Ruben Puetedura’s) about the use of technology in education that I believe also applies here. Basically tech can take one of four roles:

1. Substitution: the computer substitutes for another technological tool, without a significant change in the tool’s function.
2. Augmentation: the computer replaces another technological tool, with significant functionality increase.
3. Modification: the computer allows for the redesign of significant portions of a task to be executed.
4. Redefinition: the computer allows for the creation of new tasks, inconceivable without the computer.

None of these is any better than the other. They just are.

So an e-reader that just presents the text is substitution. This is, I think, what most people think of when they think of an eBook. Some people are like, “Ick, I want to hold the book.” Others are like, “Wow, shiny, new, and just think how many books I can carry with me on vacation.” And then most of us fall in between.

Augmentation would be like if you had an eBook of say Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph: you could hear the bands that Teresa plays when she DJs. Or during Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games your screen would show the seal of the capital, you’d hear the anthem, and see images of the fallen. That would be pretty neat. Or it could be distracting.

I would argue that ThisIsNotTom.com is modification. How you get to the text is the part that is significantly redesigned. But you are still getting to text and reading it. Here’s where I think some real growth could be fascinating. Choose Your Own Adventure online? Mysteries you actually have to solve (sort of like the 39 Clues, but more so). Audio mixed with video mixed with text mixed with images?

I’m even more flummoxed about what Redefinition will bring. Group reading and creating experiences of some sort seem likely as we are moving through and beyond web 2.0.

I’d be curious to hear what people think the advent of more advanced and integrated e-readers. Will it change the way we read and write? What are some examples of things that are already going on that I’m missing?

One of the cool things about being an author and a librarian is that when ALA has conventions, I get to see my library peeps and my author peeps. And my current peeps introduce me to new peeps. (All this talk of peeps and libraries reminds me of one of my favorite sites.)

On Friday, I did a workshop about standards for school library media programs that was awesome. It was led by Pam Berger, who was just fantastic. Then I went to the author panel with Eric Van Lustbader, Chuck Hogan, Tracy Chevalier, and Julie Powell. Ostensibly it was about books into movies, but they talked about all sorts of things. As a new author, I found it fascinating and reassuring when they talked about reviews. Except for Lustbader, who insisted he didn’t read his I should have taken notes and written down quotes because they were interesting. Chevalier talked about how the reviews balanced her, since most people who write to her or come to her events like the books. Both she and Hogan mentioned that they wished they could learn something from them, which is one of the fallacies of book reviewing, I think, that the author will read it, incorporate it, and somehow improve their work.

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Kody Keplinger has declare today agent appreciation day, which is an as yet unofficial holiday.

My agents is Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger, and she is just amazing. Of course I am eternally grateful to her for finding me in the slush. She gave me my first taste of someone unrelated to me loving my characters, my worlds, and my words. I’ve had a pretty smooth road, but she’s been there to work out the bumps when they arise, all while making me feel as calm as a kitten with milk. She wears yellow dresses. She sounds like Terry Gross on the phone. She’s a New Englander, which means she’s very polite with a tough interior.

That’s why I appreciate her. Here’s why you should appreciate her: A Crowe’s Nest. It’s her group blog with her clients and offers a wealth of insider information on the business. If you’re not already a follower, you should definitely become one.

Thanks, Sara!

Recently I confessed my past a reviewer. While I miss the unexpected delivery of boxes of books, some of the experiences of fellow reviewers make me glad I got out of the business when I did.

When you get a bad review, it makes sense to behave like a Wild Thing, and gnash your terrible teeth. You may rant and moan and complain. You may cry or eat pints of ice cream or otherwise self-medicate. These are all reasonable responses.

Here are some things that are not so reasonable:

1. Posting a point by point rebuttal on the reviewer’s GoodReads page (and Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. . .). Doing so on the commercial sites makes the writer look, in my opinion, petty. Doing so on their personal page is crossing a line.
2. Sending a private message to the reviewer via Facebook explaining why the reviewer was just plain wrong. Again, this would be a big line between professional personal that should not be crossed.
3. Calling the reviewer’s place of work to verify if (s)he is indeed a librarian in their employ. This is when the reviewer starts to get scared.

I have more stories, but the reviewers don’t want to reopen old wounds — or re-attract the attention of the writers. These actions led to the reviewers contacting the editors of their magazines (big magazines!). “Crazy and difficult” is not how I want to be thought of by the journals that can make or break my books.

As a writer, reviewers are scary. They read your book and then they proclaim upon its worthiness. Sometimes it feels like a roll of the dice. One review gives you a star, another slams you. In such an atmosphere of uncertainty, it’s easy to think that reviewers are the enemy. If that is the case, then I am the enemy. Or at least I was.

Like many librarians, I have reviewed for a professional journal. I believe I did so with both a librarian’s and a writer’s eye. A book might not appeal to my personal taste, but I tried to think about which of my patrons would like it, and what about the work they would find appealing. I always included these things in my review.

I also thought of what the author was trying to accomplish, and how well they did that. Here is where I may have been particularly tough. I had no patience for lazy writing or shortcuts.

I started reviewing before I sold Secrets of Truth & Beauty, and continued as I worked through the editing process. As I grew closer to my own publication date, I found myself feeling more and more torn. I could imagine what it would feel like to read the words I had written in a negative review.  Though I wanted to spare other writers the pain of reading my perceived faults in their works, I also had a professional obligation to my colleagues as a reviewer and librarian. Librarians rely on reviews not only to choose which books to buy, but also which books to recommend to which students.

I was unable to reconcile my two roles. So, first I decided to stop reviewing nonfiction, and then I decided to stop reviewing all together.

When I started to get my own reviews, I can’t say that my time on the other side made it easier to stomach any negativity. In fact, I have the ability – common to many writers – to pick out even the hint of a criticism in an otherwise positive review. It did help a little to remind myself that my reviewers were people just like me. People who struggled over the reviews, who weighed the few words they were allowed, and tried to be as honest as possible. People, too, with whole histories behind them that would of course influence how they reacted to a particular book. Nothing makes the initial sting less, but this helped with the dull ache that lingered.

Aaargh! I’m too angry to have a more nuanced response to this: Scholastic Censors Myracle’s ‘Luv Ya Bunches’ from Book Fairs.

Luckily, Myracle herself is more eloquent:

“A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’” says Myracle, adding that the book fair subsequently decided not to take on Luv Ya Bunches because they wanted to avoid letters of complaint from parents.

Here are some simple steps to get your book into local libraries.

1. Make up a fake name for yourself.
2. Send an email to libraries asking them to order your book for you (under your made up name, of course).
3. When the librarian politely replies to your email and says that you don’t seem to be one of their patrons, and asks for basic information like your address or if you want to sign up for a library card, blithely ignore them and instead reply that you will see them that weekend to pick up the books.

Okay, hopefully you have realized that this is actually a terrible idea. Evidently, though, some writers are trying this. Aside from it being deceitful and stupid, librarians talk to each other. So not only have you annoyed the ones you’ve contacted, you’ve also damaged the reputation of your book through out the library world. Don’t. Do. It.

Alexa Martin Pruit and I interviewed our editor, Emily Schultz, and it’s up on our agent’s blog. Emily has some interesting insight into the acquisitions and editorial process, so take a look!