Should Authors Be Accessible to Their Fans?
Growing up, emailing your favorite author wasn't an option. You could send a letter to a PO box designated for fans, to which you'd receive a form letter and something like this:
Then came the internet. People could check out information about an author on his/her website and email an address listed there. It was usually understood by my generation that an author's email account was probably manned by a publicist, since publicists always handled their mail in the past.
A new generation of fans has emerged, however. It's a generation who sees Kim Kardashian on Twitter and assumes she'll read and respond to their tweets.
In the early days, you're so excited about every new review or fan email, you don't just respond--you print them all out and hang them on your wall. But there's a shift that happens at some point. For some, it happens FAR faster than most of us--especially if your book is made into a movie or TV show.
Bestselling author Shannon Hale is an example of someone whose career took off. Shannon wrote this book, among many, many others:
Shannon actually wrote this blog after she'd received a couple of angry fan emails telling her if she didn't respond they'd never read any of her books again. Shannon said she would rather put her limited work time into creating new books than responding to every email. In fact, the very reason we never saw another book from Margaret Mitchell was that she spent all her time responding to fan mail because she thought that was the polite thing to do.
I think we'd rather have had more books from Margaret Mitchell than a bunch of fan mail being sold at auction, right?
I remembered once reading a comment from Stephen King stating that his fiction is all he has to give his readers. I didn't get it at the time, but I can see how a really successful author would eventually have to draw the line. We all know Stephen King believes in that...
Do you think authors should become inaccessible at some point? Would you stop reading a book by an author who ignored your emails or requests to meet?
Then came the internet. People could check out information about an author on his/her website and email an address listed there. It was usually understood by my generation that an author's email account was probably manned by a publicist, since publicists always handled their mail in the past.
A new generation of fans has emerged, however. It's a generation who sees Kim Kardashian on Twitter and assumes she'll read and respond to their tweets.
In the early days, you're so excited about every new review or fan email, you don't just respond--you print them all out and hang them on your wall. But there's a shift that happens at some point. For some, it happens FAR faster than most of us--especially if your book is made into a movie or TV show.
Bestselling author Shannon Hale is an example of someone whose career took off. Shannon wrote this book, among many, many others:
Shannon actually wrote this blog after she'd received a couple of angry fan emails telling her if she didn't respond they'd never read any of her books again. Shannon said she would rather put her limited work time into creating new books than responding to every email. In fact, the very reason we never saw another book from Margaret Mitchell was that she spent all her time responding to fan mail because she thought that was the polite thing to do.
I think we'd rather have had more books from Margaret Mitchell than a bunch of fan mail being sold at auction, right?
I remembered once reading a comment from Stephen King stating that his fiction is all he has to give his readers. I didn't get it at the time, but I can see how a really successful author would eventually have to draw the line. We all know Stephen King believes in that...
Do you think authors should become inaccessible at some point? Would you stop reading a book by an author who ignored your emails or requests to meet?
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