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Mistakes Were Made [Or, in which I respond to a preposterous "critique" of bloggers]

2011 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky

I don’t usually publish new posts on Fridays in the summer because, well, nobody is on the internet on Fridays in the summer, but I’m making an exception today to respond here, in my own sandbox (as Raych would say), to mistakes that were made elsewhere, on a site I won’t link to because it doesn’t deserve any more traffic (and because I, unlike the writer, trust that you are intelligent enough to find it on your own should you want to), by a writer who denigrated Book Expo, publishers, the state of literature, and book bloggers in an impressive feat of unfounded ridiculousness. When my comment finally appeared on the offending post some 24 hours after I left it, they’d excluded all of the formatting. So here it is as I intended it.

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[To the writer],

The truly disappointing thing is not the turn BEA has taken but the fact that you managed to attend and, instead of focusing on the myriad interesting and exciting developments, air what appear to be your personal grievances about the changes the industry is experiencing and the fact that your status as a writer no longer automatically entitles you to more cultural authority than anyone else.

I’ll allow the publishers and Book Expo organizers to respond to your problems with them, as I know they are more than capable of doing so. Because I am a critic (one accepted by the National Book Critics Circle, at that), I’ll opt for a close reading and critique of the points you attempt to make about my community: book bloggers.

First, you state that the attendees of Book Blogger Con were “mostly women between 20 and 50 years old, often known as “mommy bloggers” because they are housewives who blog about romance novels, horror/vampire stories and paranormal novels.” As my colleague Ron Hogan has pointed out, mommy bloggers blog about motherhood. Are some book bloggers mothers? Yes. Are some of them even stay-at-home mothers? Yes. (By the way, the 1950s are calling and they want the term “housewives” back.) But most book bloggers work full-time jobs outside of their homes and maintain their blogs in addition to developing their careers and nurturing their personal and family relationships. And many of them are damn good at it.

You also state that many bloggers have hundreds of followers on Twitter (I invite you to investigate this number, as many us actually have thousands. Imagine that. People talk about books on the internet and THOUSANDS of people listen!) and that because we have these followings we also “have the power to establish new trends…the publishing industry has started to take [us] seriously.” Yep, we do have that power. Why? Because people are reading our blogs and buying the books we discuss, and publishers are wise to pay attention and devote resources to putting books into the hands of people who sell them.

Now can we talk for a moment about how condescending the language you’ve chosen is? As a 28-year-old woman (childless, I work from home doing jobs I was offered because, wait for it, I am good at the internet), I find it ridiculous and disrespectful that you reduce the entire community of book bloggers to a bunch of “twenty-year-old girls.” As if being young, female, or both is inherently problematic. These are the kinds of things people write when they do not have concrete criticism to offer, just in case you’re wondering.

As for the statement that book blogging “is even more limited in its interests than the mainstream media,” I can only say that you must not be paying much attention to mainstream media. It’s been a good long while since the mainstream media made any sort of concerted effort to promote literacy and literary culture. Book bloggers do it daily, and there are as many kinds of book blogs as there are books.

And bloggers as “children of pop culture and the mass media?” Riiight. You can hide behind that because you’re totally not using the internet to build a platform for your opinions (wrongheaded though they may be).

If book bloggers’ “chatter” (again with the condescending language) eventually exceeds traditional forms of book reviewing in popularity, it will be because PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ BOOK BLOGS. No one is tying people to their desk chairs and forcing them to choose between old-school reviews and blogs. People are doing that for themselves (if they are, indeed, making that choice).

The next time you don’t understand a cultural phenomenon, might I suggest that you skip the “get off my grass” rant and the sweeping generalizations and actually invest some time in doing, oh, I don’t know, research?

BTW (that’s internet speak for “by the way”) “I don’t tweet” is not the charming modern-day equivalent of “Oh, I don’t watch TV,” and it’s not an excuse for cultural illiteracy.

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And here’s a special ending I’ve saved just for you, dear readers:

Filed Under Blogging

27 Comments

Comments

27 Responses to “Mistakes Were Made [Or, in which I respond to a preposterous "critique" of bloggers]”

Connie Jensen on June 24th, 2011 5:13 am

Well said! I bet you feel better now. S/he sounds a total plonker as we Brits sometimes say.
Alex on June 24th, 2011 5:28 am

AMEN!
Alex´s last [type] ..Master &amp Commander Aubrey-Maturin 1 by Patrick O’Brian
Sandy on June 24th, 2011 5:34 am

Oh, look what I’ve missed while I was gone! Pretty well-put, I must say, for a chattery-young-mommy-blogger-airhead-writer wannabe. Hey, this guy is an out-dated, insecure asshole. Some of us actually do have a brain and have things to say that many want to hear. I applaud you.
Sandy´s last [type] ..The Girl Who Stopped Swimming – Joshilyn Jackson Audio
Serena on June 24th, 2011 5:52 am

I did see your comment. I was “surprised” *wink* that the comments took so long to show up after I posted the link on Twitter.
Serena´s last [type] ..An Interview With Poet Casey Thayer
Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness) on June 24th, 2011 8:49 am

Well said Rebecca. That article was just so full of ridiculousness it’s hard to even know where to begin. And I love the xkcd comic — that’s one of my favorites, and one I’ve been reminding myself about every time I start thinking about the article and find myself in a huff
Rebecca Joines Schinsky on June 24th, 2011 9:08 am

The writer is a woman! Makes it even worse.
Beth Hoffman on June 24th, 2011 10:04 am

You go, girl … *applause*

Anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size knows that good book bloggers have become a vital vertabra in the spine of the publishing world, and for good reason.

p.s. Thanks for linking my Literary Foxes blog post.
S.Leighanne on June 24th, 2011 10:21 am

I think your response is fantastic and it makes her look like even more of an idiot that she already did. Very well said ma’am, very well said!
April Books&Wine on June 24th, 2011 10:31 am

What an eloquent response!
April Books&Wine´s last [type] ..Retro Friday Audiobook Review- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Christine @ BB on June 24th, 2011 10:57 am

Booyah. In yo face. Fingers crossed someone prints her out a copy and she can dictate a rebuttal.
Christine @ BB´s last [type] ..Interesting- but Flawed- Concept
Lizz Daley on June 24th, 2011 11:01 am

I’m not sure which article you’re speaking of, but what a complete wanker! I work full time and am a mother. I started a Book Club at my work and am constantly looking for great book blogs because I love finding treasures in more independent books. Just this week I searched for Book Blogs because I’ve found that this is one of the best resources. I came upon your blog and I absolutely love it! While I am open to all forms of book reviews; magazine, newspaper and online, it is convenient and wonderful that I have online bloggers as an all encompassing resource. I guess I’m trying to say thanks for doing a great job, and you have a loyal reader in me!!!
miss ash tuesday on June 24th, 2011 11:19 am

Here’s your standing O.

*applause*
miss ash tuesday´s last [type] ..Haunted by Joy Preble
Ellen on June 24th, 2011 12:20 pm

I haven’t read the article you’re responding to and I’m not going to bother to – just another example of the uninformed flaunting that, well, they’re uninformed. Fantastic response, though. I’m still startled that anyone would make such broad and derogatory comments about a group of people. Sure, I may blog about books and be 25 years old and female, but that isn’t all I am and isn’t a reason to dismiss my blog (or anyone else’s) as culturally or critically worthless. I don’t really care WHAT this writer’s opinion of book bloggers is, but I am disturbed by the thinly-disguised sexism of that opinion.
Ellen´s last [type] ..Review: Alex Garland’s The Beach
Kaye on June 24th, 2011 1:06 pm

I was going to say “he” must be a real “Tool” but a woman!!! I think ignorant is all that needs to be said for her.
David on June 24th, 2011 1:42 pm

Well stated, Rebecca.
David´s last [type] ..2011 Online Summer Reading Lists
Books are my Boyfriends on June 24th, 2011 2:31 pm

So, you’re definitely the coolest girl in school, Becks, if it wasn’t official before, it is now.
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Carina (Reading Through Life) on June 24th, 2011 2:37 pm

This. Stated much better than I could’ve done.
Carina (Reading Through Life)´s last [type] ..Jerusalem Maiden (TLC Tour Review)
Tamara on June 24th, 2011 2:54 pm

I think the use of the term “housewives” says alot about her. She is definitely stuck in a previous decade. One without technology. Well said, Rebecca. Applause.
Laura on June 24th, 2011 10:10 pm

The whole thing just makes me tired. Here is my advice for the writer of the piece: If you feel so threatened by a “hoard of twenty year old mommies” (seriously??), why don’t you just on the 21st century bandwagon, start up your own blog, create a Twitter account, and start promoting the books that you think people should be reading.
Laura´s last [type] ..Two Literary Things: The Literary Blog Hop and the Literary Giveaway Hop
Indigenous Writes on June 25th, 2011 3:54 pm

Wow, I’d love to see the original post, but understand why you aren’t linking to or naming it. I’m so new to blogging about writing that I’m not sure where to look, but I probably don’t need to anyway.

Even without knowing the original content you’re replying to, I absolutely love, love, love your response!
Indigenous Writes´s last [type] ..Friday, it’s a wrap…
Becky @ One Literature Nut on June 25th, 2011 4:28 pm

Wow, if I could hug you right now, I would. So consider yourself hugged for this great post. Even if bloggers were “mommies” *gasp*, why does this person speak of them as if they are uneducated and reprehensible? I am in my 30′s, unmarried, work full time, and have no children. Yes, I also blog because I love books and how they transform people’s lives through escape and message. Having said that, I defend women who are SAHM who want to blog. I find this connection and sweeping stereotype, as you mentioned, a hideous slap in the face.

Thanks for your well-stated comment and post! I missed all of this when it happened, but love what I’m hearing from great book bloggers like you.
Becky @ One Literature Nut´s last [type] ..Review: Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning
Jennifer O on June 25th, 2011 9:58 pm

Can’t believe the writer is a woman. I assumed it was just another sexist pig. Well, as Ariel Levy said, there is such as thing as a Female Chauvinist Pig. And that lady is one.
Jennifer O´s last [type] ..The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop
MichelleKCanada on June 25th, 2011 10:09 pm

Great response. Seeing as I am a 42 yr old professional that works full time at a bank in the project management field AND I have 3 kids AND I have a book review blog I kinda almost kinda fit the “mommy book blogging” label.

I can’t remember when I last looked to a magazine or newspaper for a book review. I 100% look to my book blogger community for their reviews on books whether I purchase or not. There is more trust and more honesty and no political gain. The article kind of made me feel ‘so if I was still a mom but wrote reviews for a news agency it wouldnt be consider a “mommy article” No?’

I read the article and I dont know if it is me or not but I felt like the writer was almost jealous and lashing out.
BTW – great graphic at the end.

MichelleKCanada
Another Look Book Reviews
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Bex on June 26th, 2011 3:59 pm

That was basically everything I wanted to say about this, but was too angry to put together in coherent sentences at the time! Great post, very well articulated, and I so agree.
Lorren on June 28th, 2011 12:04 am

Well said! I would add that just because a mother DOESN’T work full time doesn’t mean she is a brainless suck on society’s resources. Women who choose to stay at home and raise children don’t necessarily do it because they are lazy or too stupid to do anything else – they do it because they want to dedicate time to raising their kids. Culturally, Americans value careers very highly, but it isn’t the only valid option. (And I will throw in that while I am in my twenties and female, I’m not a mother and I’m attending graduate school. I know I am preaching to the choir, but reading things like that bring out the ranter in me.)
Lorren´s last [type] ..A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear by Atiq Rahimi
Jennifer on June 30th, 2011 3:44 pm

Your reply was brilliant! Way to go!
Dad on July 7th, 2011 10:07 pm

HELL YEA!!!!!!! That’s my girl. ( In this case “girl” is not a derogatory description, oh no! )