Listening to...

Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books talk about how blogs are ubiquitous, but how even locally big, loud conversations are, in the grand scheme of things, small, and why no one should fear a bad review--and how those sell books and help people match up with other book people.

She articulated what I haven't quite been able to: readers are sophisticated. They can't be fooled by falsely positive reviews, and they won't just pass books by because of a negative review.

So, if you're blogging or writing a book, what I take away is to be truthful to your core, and not to sweat the disagreements. It's been coming up over and over, this idea that dissent and critique are somehow the antithesis of community, and I don't believe that. (Sarah noted that she wishes more authors could feel like they can review, and that they would--that authors know their genres very well. She acknowledged that it sucks to get a bad review, but you do move on; you have to remember that a review is not about you, but about your book.)