A Matter of Taste

Reading is very subjective. While in college I was assigned to read Catcher in the Rye. During the class discussion, everyone, including the professor, kept commenting on the baseball metaphors in the story. I sat there wondering if we'd read the same book because I didn't pick up on a single baseball metaphor. Although, I guess I could say in my defense that I know next to nothing about baseball so that may explain why I didn't pick up on those references. But, I digress...

One reader may love an author's work while another reader may say, "eh, it was okay" when referring to that same author's books. I guess you could say One person's treasure is another person's meh.

I know the saying is really, "One person's trash is another person's treasure" but I would never call an author's work trash. Being author myself, I know what it's like to agonize over every word, sentence, and paragraph as we build a snippet of dialogue, a swift vision of a scene, the smell of a setting, or the voice of a yet unknown character into a fully fleshed out living and breathing story.

I always find people's differing tastes in books interesting. My one sister loves James Patterson's books. Me, not so much. My oldest sister loves Stephen King and other authors in the horror genre. Me, definitely not. I have too vivid an imagination and reading horror novels gives me nightmares. I don't watch scary movies either. I love Diane Kelly's Death, Taxes series. A friend tried reading the first book and didn't finish it. She didn't like the main character.

I often ask family and friends about the latest books they're reading or have just finished. I have two reasons - one, you never know when you're going to find that great new-to-you author whose books you can't wait to read. The second reason is I'm curious if they liked the book or not and why. I don't know if it's the writer in me trying to figure out what appeals to readers or if I love books so much that I like talking about them with others.

Do you ask family and friends about the books they read?

A Small Success Comes At A Price

A couple of years ago, I told a friend I had signed a contract to publish a historical romance titled Impetuous. She oohed and aahed over the news and offered me her congratulations. In her very next breath, she asked when was I quitting my job and if she could come work for me. She'd do research, handle email, do social media things, anything I needed done and would only need a salary of $50,000 a year.

I tried to explain that while I was lucky enough to be offered a contract, I was far from being able to leave my day job behind much less hire someone to work for me. She mentioned other writers receiving huge advances. I agreed and said most of those people already had built in audiences and/or name recognition and that I was no way on the level of someone like JK Rowling, Stephen King, or James Patterson.  Nor did I hope to have the draw that the celebrity of the day who'd written a book would have.

She asked me how did I explain Amanda Hocking getting such a great deal then because she was a nobody just like me. (Her words, not mine.) At the time, I hadn't heard of Amanda so I didn't know what to say. My friend went on to recount that Amanda had signed a seven figure contract with St. Martin's Press in early 2011. After we parted that afternoon, I went home and googled Amanda Hocking. She may have signed a contract with St. Martin's Press but she was already successful as a self-published author long before that.

Unfortunately, my friend and I are no longer as close as we once were. I can't help but feel she thinks I could have hired her but just didn't want to and resents me for leaving her in a job she hated but that paid well.  It saddens me that by sharing what I felt was great news, something that I'd been striving for, that I lost a friend in the process. And on a side note, I still have my day job, though I hope to be able to write full time within a couple of years.