A Higher Standard?

[Tea]

I just realised that I've recently been holding IRR to a much higher standard than I have been holding books that don't reflect my real life in that way. It came as something of a shock, but I know it's true.

In fact, I realised that when I start reading any book that features a non-White person as a main character, I more easily disappointed than I am with books that don't have MCoCs.

I think that it's not that I'm not as invested in those other books; it's that I'm invested in a different way. When the characters aren't White Black, I want the book to be good in every way so that readers don't attribute mistakes and missteps to the genre or, if the author is a PoC, to people of colour in general.

And while I know that sort of thinking stems to one of the biggest hurdles minorities face in the U.S. — trying (and often failing) to convince the general population that individuals don't represent an entire group — I still wish the thought didn't cross my mind. Ever. Regardless of whether that's something I need to worry about from a lot of readers, I don't want it something I consider when rating other people's writing.

So, I wonder, by not buying from these writers, not commenting on their works, or only commenting on the stuff I don't like about their works, am I helping keep the stereotype in place?

Conversely, if I were to buy their works, gush about the good without mentioning the bad*, would I damaging individual writers' potential by sending a message that I don't need or even expect better?

I mean, I'm not sharing my stuff anymore because I'm too chickenshit right now to chance your opinions, so I don't know what it's like out there these days.

tl;dr: Even while hoping and wishing for the day when I don't have worry about being seen as a "Writer of Colour", I'm looking at other writers who happen to be non-White or who write about non-White characters and expecting them to be better than writers who are or who write about White people because I know that day hasn't come yet. And I worry that my worry is helping to hold that day back.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

*I don't think I could ever bring myself to do that.

[Tea]

For me it's comparable to being told, "You're pretty for a [insert limiting adjective here[ girl."

I don't ever want to be known as "good for a Black writer", and I don't want the equivalent to be said of any other writer who is a member of a marginalised group. Yet I know their business is not my business. And yet I also know that if I want more books with characters that look like me, I need to share mine or stand up and ask others to write them.

And I need to be vocal about why something doesn't work for me — without worrying that someone else is going to think or say, Well, what did you expect for a [Blank] writer?

[Connie]

I think you are perfectly acceptable in writing a review on how you feel about a book. All you can do is give both sides of the coin, if there are any and represent honestly how the book made you feel. That's what a review is anyway. Your thoughts, your feelings. Those make the best reviews to me.

You could even say that the description of the character didn't suit you or your tastes, but if the story was good, it should also be reflected in your review.

Just my first thought.

[Melissa]

The unfortunate thing is that a lot people feel that way. It's like I'm going out of my way to read a non-white character this better be better than good. I have pretty high standards across the board. So if a book doesn't measure up it simply doesn't.

But I will admit I'm uncomfortable with the idea that a book will lose points just for the simple fact either the author is non-white or the characters are non-white. As it's been said on Scandal more than once, you have to be twice as good to even be equal.

[Tea]

Melissa, I've never watched Scandal, but I agree with that sentiment. It's been a truism passed around various minority groups in the U.S. for (at least) as long as I've been alive.

However, it's not that "I'm going out of my way to read a non-white character", nor do the books "lose points" from me because of the characters' or authors' races. I'm saying that, while I'll dislike the books just as much as I'll dislike books featuring White characters and/or books by White authors that have the same mistakes, I'll feel an extra level of disappointment.

Because, no matter how often I tell myself it's wrong — that's it's unrealistic and unfair — I want each and every book I read by a non-White author or that features non-White character to be better crafted than books about White characters and by White authors writing exclusively about White characters.

I want them to shove their greatness in the faces of all naysayers, so that the naysayers will be forced to recognise that they aren't lesser just because of who they are about or who wrote them. It's a ridiculous desire, and I recognise that. I realise that it's even more ridiculous to be disappointed when they don't meet my hopes.

But I still feel that disappointment.

And while I can easily dismiss "mainstream" books as crap and scream it from the rooftops, I hate doing the same thing for these books. Instead, I want to beg the writers to get better. Actually, I want them to magically get better without my input.

As I admitted, it's completely, ridiculously irrational. So I wondered if anyone else behaves in a similarly irrational way.

[Paganalexandria]

I routinely review self-published things on a curve anyway. Since IR mostly falls in that category they get my usual grace about some small things (ugly cover, bad title fonts, small editing issues, etc.). Traditionally published books are judged much more harshly because of the access to editors, and professional cover artists. There is one part of IR that totally gets hard scrutiny from me. Unlike Tea, my laser focus tends to go toward the ones I think aren't created by PoC. If an author of color writes black people as bad caricatures, I am more prone to chalk it up to a low skill set. On the flipside, if I suspect the author is not a person of color, the same characterization issues get classified differently, and raises my blood pressure. It might not be fair, but I think the offense was intentional because of the fetishism that so many are filled with. Those are the IR that I try to avoid, or red pen review.

[Tea]

Pagan, I'm never sure what to make of badly portrayed CoC written by non-PoC writers. Sometimes, it's obvious from the context that there's fetishism at play; other times, it's clear that they're writing from a place of ignorance. Most times, for me at least, it's just not clear.

But I should have made myself clearer: I get almost as emotionally attached to the success of White writers who feature CoC as I get for all writing by PoC writers. That one, at least, I can explain, I think. (It's still an irrational reaction, but at least I can explain it better.) Lots of readers are going to assume those writers are people of colour, anyway, so there's a strong chance that any missteps on their parts are going to strengthen stereotypes.

So, even while I'm trying to work out why they went wrong, I'm also wishing that they hadn't... just as hard as I'd wish a writer of colour hadn't made mistakes.

[Melissa]

Tea, I got what you meant. It's the same result. CoC and PoC have to be better. I get that feeling. It's kind of like when I see the news, a crime is committed and a part of me is like please don't let them be black. But I've come to the conclusion every single race has that please don't let them be X feeling. lol It's the feeling of you're going to set us back 100 years. We were making progress god$@mmit.

The thing is with books 90 percent of them are going to be crap. For various reasons. A lot of it simply comes down to the author didn't have the skill set to write. Good and bad is subjective. I try to give everyone a fair shake. It's a level playing field. But that's me. I don't think it's wrong to want better. I don't think it's wrong to want folks who are POC or characters who are CoC to break stereotypes. I just feel that expectation should be for everyone.

But I'm ornery. YMMV.

[Tea]

Melissa, LOL! You're far less cynical than I am. I don't think that all races have that "please don't let it be one of us" moments. (I'm only going on U.S. people here, btw.) Many of my friends were shocked that 1) such a thing existed and 2) that it was prevalent enough that almost all of the people of colour in our circles said that they recognised it whether or not they'd experienced it.

The usual reaction was, "You say that no individual represents all of you, so why do you care what one individual did?"

I was never comfortable answering, "Because so many people our there do believe that individuals represent all of us" since it felt like an opportunity to segue into discussions I didn't feel prepared to have.

[Justine]

I judge all books the same. If I am spending money for a book, I expect it to be of a certain level of quality.
I am reading it for enjoyment ...to be carried away by the tale. I am not reading it to be annoyed.
The story must be plausible and not stupid.
Characters must be true to who they are supposed to be. I.e. I do not expect a white billionaire to be speaking ebonics if he did not grow up around black people.
I do expect professional, well educated people who are champions of industry and leading their companies to demonstrate some sophistication in their speech.
Spelling and punctuation must be on point. I do give some leeway for punctuation as long as the bad punctuation is not egregious.
What I cannot take: having to stop and reconstruct sentences.

[Paganalexandria]

Justine wrote: "I judge all books the same. If I am spending money for a book, I expect it to be of a certain level of quality.
I am reading it for enjoyment ...to be carried away by the tale. I am not reading it..."

Justine that's the one problem I'm finding in IR that does drive me bonkers. Like I said, sometimes spot you a star for it being free, favorite theme, or overlook a couple of editing issues on self pub. If a book is able to pull a powerful emotional response from me, I can overlook small things. Yet even with that grace given to all self-pub, so many of my beloved IR can't get a 3 star review from me. I am stickler about my Goodreads matrix falling in order of least to greatest in regards to my reading pleasure. My frustration level with the genre had my reviews taking a caustic tone, and like Tea mentioned maybe turning potential readers away. Which is why I hardly read any IR in 2014, needed a serious break. I'm back to it now, with a fresh perspective, and an honest thirst for the love stories only available in this theme.

[TinaNoir]

I admit, I do not judge all books the same.

Going in, I have a certain expectation of a traditionally pubbed book. They have the advantage of being professionally polished by a team that has at it's disposal a lot of money and expertise in the area of editing, copy, art direction, marketing etc. I expect that book will at least be well edited for both typos and story content.

So for Trad pubbed books my ratings tend to be on a more stringent scale. I will hold somebody like Nora Roberts to a very high standard and my rating will reflect that.

For self pub, I also have certain expectations, but they tend to be lower than the ones that I have for trad pubbed. This wasn't always the case. When ebooks first started taking off and ppl starting self publishing, i think the quality was higher. But now years later we have seen the result of the lack of quality control on self pubbed books so a couple of things have happened:

1) I am more reluctant to buy a self pub unless it has been praised by people whose tastes I liked

2) If I do buy one, I am braced for disappointment, reading for things like typos and length instead of just trusting that these things have been taken care of already.

As a result if the book is relatively 'clean' of typos etc, and the writing is decent (not juvenile or grammatically incorrect) and the story is interesting, then my rating may be a bit higher than it may really deserve just because it exceeded expectation. Like Pagan, I find I unconsciously grade on a curve.

That said, with a self pub -- which let's face it most IR's are -- my initial discoverability standard is much higher because I am less likely to take a chance on an unknown even at a very low price point. I am more willing to try a new-to-me trad pubbed author because I am at least reasonably sure the quality will be there. I am a harsher judge at first sight of a self-pubbed IR (cover/title/blurb) than I am of a trad pub.

But beyond my own rating system, there is an objective truth that unfortunately a lot of these writers have allowed the genre to become synonymous with poor quality. As we have detailed exhaustively in the Turnoffs thread -- the errors, the bad covers, the short length, the poor writing, lack of story originality, and the over emphasis on sex and erotica have really done a number on the genre so that, imo, a reader can be excused for developing a higher standard. It is almost a defense mechanism at this point.

And to be fair to me it feels to be true across all self pub, but since a huge percentage of IR is self pubbed & produced by WOC it feels like it strongly affects IR more

[Tea]

Melissa, Pagan, and Tina all made points that I hadn't really considered as being part of the equation when I first posted about struggling with my feelings about the subject.

1. I'd not really taken into consideration how significant to my issues were the facts that most of the IRR out there is self-published and that the final product of trad-published efforts really can be (I hesitate to write "is" because reality has given us contradictory evidence) better all around. And I think that lack of consideration is equally a problem when I'm choosing books.

2. I'd also not equated my feelings eith the I-Hope-It's-Not-One-of-Us Syndrome. At first glance, the two seemed so different to me. They appeared to be completely separate issues. But, in truth, they probably stem from the same source.

Don't know why these things didn't immediately come to mind as I was feeling shame and guilt for rejecting a book because of a wrong-word usage in a blurb. But I'm grateful that laying it out before you women is helping me to better understand my own reactions.

Thanks for keeping the conversation going!

[Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva]

I was guilty of the opposite for a long time. Lowering my standards for IR and letting my excitement at just HAVING the option of reading a book about a black heroine affect my judgement. I stopped that shit a while back, as most of y'all know LOL. I'm no harder on IR than any other genre, but I definitely don't let details slide.

Mistakes in blurbs are counted as double flaws for me. This is supposed to be the one instance of putting your best foot forward. Snagging a reader's imagination enough to make them click that button. Its like going for a job interview in dirty clothes when you have a perfectly clean options in your closet. Even if you don't have access to a professional proofer, there are options out there and common sense. If you lack the common sense to NOT over tag your title, capitalize common words and know common turns of phrase, then you shouldn't be releasing anything for public consumption because you aren't ready. People think writing being so personal allows for silly mistakes. It does-when you're writing for yourself. The minute you claim the title "author" and release something to the masses, it becomes eligible for scrutiny and a basic level of expectation. So ya, if someone says something that makes no sense in a blurb, I'm not buying it- even for free.

I can't remember who it is, but there is a popular IR author that did a series where she constantly uses the term "no shrinking violet" in a way that makes it clear she believes it means the woman is larger sized. DROVE ME $#@!*+&*^!!! Ridiculous. Not only that it was a miss, but that she leaned on the one phrase so heavily as to repeat the same mistake in multiple publications.

If anything, I'm easier on FREEBIES than books I pay for lol. That should probably stop too.

[Justine]

Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva wrote: "I was guilty of the opposite for a long time. Lowering my standards for IR and letting my excitement at just HAVING the option of reading a book about a black heroine affect my judgement. I stopped..."

LOL- OMG . HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You kill me with the "no shrinking violet:. I can so imagine that.

[Justine]

Tina wrote: "I admit, I do not judge all books the same.

Going in, I have a certain expectation of a traditionally pubbed book. They have the advantage of being professionally polished by a team that has at i..."

So why can't we reach out to them to offer our services with editing? I would be happy to assist freely.

[Tea]

Justine, it's been done. Some people are receptive; some aren't. I'd say give it a go, but with the warning that, even under the best of circumstances, writer-editor relationships can be trying — at times even traumatic — for one or both.

[The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears]

I hold IR to a higher standard because I have that emotional investment in its success, which isn't quite there with mainstream books. I already knew the genre has one huge strike against it--the heroine not being flaxen haired and blue-eyed. I also knew that there were/are those wanting to see this genre fail, to prove that no one wants to read about a Black woman being the positive object of desire and affection, especially of a White male. I also knew that IR authors were out to prove the naysayers wrong by putting out amazing stories with all the i's dotted and t's crossed. And for awhile that was indeed the case.

I sometimes feel we as readers are stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. If we buy the books, no matter how substandard they may be, we're supporting the genre and authors. If we don't, the genre may never grow or be taken seriously. Self-publishing is no excuse. If an author cares about "self", then shouldn't it behoove them to put out the best reflection of "self" possible? Maybe some of the worst of the offenders are being churned out by opportunistic non-Black writers, but I'm certain that some of us are churning out the foolishness as well.

For myself, I've only read less than six IR's this year (one of them being a M/M romance and the others are comics featuring interracial relationship), which is pretty unusual. I just haven't felt the love, lol. Not to mention fed up hugely with the endless colorism.

[Tea]

FPD wrote: I hold IR to a higher standard because I have that emotional investment in its success, which isn't quite there with mainstream books. I already knew the genre has one huge strike against it--the heroine not being flaxen haired and blue-eyed. I also knew that there were/are those wanting to see this genre fail, to prove that no one wants to read about a Black woman being the positive object of desire and affection, especially of a White male.

Yes. This pretty much sums up how I've been feeling.

I sometimes feel we as readers are stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. If we buy the books, no matter how substandard they may be, we're supporting the genre and authors. If we don't, the genre may never grow or be taken seriously.

And, yes! This is my current dilemma. I don't want the genre to disappear or get buried under a shadow of negativity.

This morning I downloaded the second book for my experiment in ignoring obvious flaws. This time, I did it without even reading a single review or the excerpt. And I'm getting burned as I read. Big time.

The story actually seems like it might be compelling, but the book is so lacking in the mechanics of writing (in addition to the usual suspects, an error that I've never encountered before has so far been made consistently throughout the book), I found myself Googling the author to search for evidence of the sort of fetishism Pagan mentioned upthread. So far, I haven't found any, but that might mean that the author is simply that untrained.

This might end up being the first time I ever delete a book from my Kindle. (And I've held on to books that have far worse problems: e.g. poor mechanics and poor storytelling.)

On a happier note, what comics are you reading?

[Justine]

I want all IR books to be well received. I want all of them to be written well, with good plots and characters. A few authors do this, but they are pretty much the exception. I suspect that some writers simply do not do any research to flesh out their stories. Perhaps they don't know they should or they can or perhaps they just don't care to... I find this lends to the very lack of substance and bad writing and this becomes very glaring whenever a story is written based in my hometown. I live in a major city and except for Central Park, none of it is ever mentioned. Heck, one writer even had a couple taking an international flight out of La Guardia. NO NO! NO! La Guardia is a bloody domestic airport. Am I being picky? Perhaps, but when I have such incorrect details in books that are based in real live cities, it just ticks me off and I lose interest fast. I expect such details to be correct.

[Tea]

Justine, I just started writing a new IRR yesterday. It'll be set in our area, most likely. (However, place won't really be all that important to the story itself.)

Before I finish, maybe you'd like to be my first set of extra eyes?

Fair warning, this is another experiment: it's not my preferred BWAM (I'm gunning for increased commercial viability by making the H a White man; that all means this isn't exactly a "story written from the heart".), it's a blatant re-design of the "getting married for a contrived reason" trope and a more subtle re-work of the "Cinderella" trope.

For all its flaws, I hope to make it a decent read, but reckoned I should be upfront about my motives and about some aspects of the story before you make a decision.

[The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears]

@Tea:

I'm reading and , along with .

[TinaNoir]

Justine wrote: "I want all IR books to be well received. I want all of them to be written well, with good plots and characters. A few authors do this, but they are pretty much the exception. I suspect that some wr..."

Justine I just want to co-sign your entire post! And no, you are not being picky. I can't tell now many times I have put the 'Google is your friend' line in a review. The most basic of facts that are so easy to find is just a click away.

I was having another conversation about old skool historical romance novels and the author Rebecca Brandewyne. She used to write an author's note at the back of her romance novels discussing the research she did on her books and she gave a biliography of the books she used. And this was waaay before the internet and google.

I was so pissed at a book because a character was afraid to use her health insurance to go the doctor because she didn't want HR to find out why she was going to the doctor. Wha....? No!

I mean if Rebecca Brandewyne can research in a library about what life was like during the reign of Richard the III and refute persistent & popular myths using historical texts to back it up, then a self pub author can put in a google search to see if some secretary in your HR dept. can find out what procedures you get when you go to the Doctor. (hint: no she can't).

[Tea]

@FPD

Yay, new-to-me comics!

[R.A.]

Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva wrote: "I was guilty of the opposite for a long time. Lowering my standards for IR and letting my excitement at just HAVING the option of reading a book about a black heroine affect my judgement. I stopped..."

I laughed out loud at the shrinking violet, and I shouldn't because everyone else is sleeping. How about this one, 'We'll play it by year.'

[Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva]

R.A. oh that's a good one!

How 'bout, "within a hair breath"?!

[Paganalexandria]

Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva wrote: "R.A. oh that's a good one!

How 'bout, "within a hair breath"?!"

My favorite will always be "prime madonna".

[Taida]

@ Tina
I often wonder if some authors think reading other romance novels constitutes "research". Or if others think because they write contemporary novels, that researching the town/city/region about which they are writing is unnecessary. For me it boils down to world building no matter if you are writing fantasy or a contemporary romance. In order for me to believe in your characters, you have to make them, and the world they inhabit, believable. It simply has to make sense. I think people believe because they are "only" writing romance they get a pass. Not so much.

Shoddy research and glaring errors in the age of the internet signifies to me that you don't care enough about your characters, your story, or perhaps even your readers, to get it right. Frankly, if you don't care then why should I?

[Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva]

Prime....Madonna......
*lights out*


That's it for me.

[Justine]

Tea wrote: "Justine, I just started writing a new IRR yesterday. It'll be set in our area, most likely. (However, place won't really be all that important to the story itself.)

Before I finish, maybe you'd li..."

Tea- I would be happy to be another pair of eyes. I'll be happy to provide you feedback.
I can understand if the location is not central to the story line. It doesn't have to be. I would just argue that if places in the city are mentioned - let the details be correct.

[Tea]

Thanks, Justine. Hopefully, this one won't take as long since my emotional investment is fairly low.

[Justine]

Taida wrote: "@ Tina
I often wonder if some authors think reading other romance novels constitutes "research". Or if others think because they write contemporary novels, that researching the town/city/region abo..."

One of the reasons I enjoy a good sci-fi is the incredible details that the writers of this genre provide. They use their imagination to create entire worlds, universes and technologies. One of my favorite authors for doing this is Peter F. Hamilton. If he can do it, why can't an IR writer just take a 20 minute walk around his or her location and observe things around him or her?

[R.A.]

Paganalexandria **wicked juices bubbling over** wrote: "Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva wrote: "R.A. oh that's a good one!

How 'bout, "within a hair breath"?!"

My favorite will always be "prime madonna"."

Ha! That's fantastic.

[Robin]

I don't necessarily hold it to a higher standard. I DO think that reviews of it should be honest and state what's wrong with it. Because just because an author is a POC doesn't mean their books won't be problematic, and contain the EXACT same stereotypes that are constantly perpetuated. And there have been authors that I've read that I LOVE but their books still had problematic moments, whether it was sexism, racism, or any other form of oppression, basically stuff that just made me CRINGE.

And there have been some books that are so problematic that I had to walk away. There's nothing wrong with that.

I don't think it's fair to say that if you don't point out problematic stuff in a book that you must automatically not want to support black authors/writers of color. But that's just my opinion.

ETA: Mostly because one, people can fall into more than one oppressed group, and assuming that just because you fall into one that must negate all of the offense one can fall into the other is wrong. (i.e., WOC can be oppressed due race and sex, and both at the same time, being queer and Black, you can face oppression due to race and to gender/sexuality, and/or both at the same time, and etc.)

[Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva]

wordsanddaffodils wrote: "I don't necessarily hold it to a higher standard. I DO think that reviews of it should be honest and state what's wrong with it. Because just because an author is a POC doesn't mean their books won..."

Word.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

I used to think I had to read all IRR and support all of it. I have come to the conclusion that it's impossible for me to read and like all the books in a genre that I do appreciate. And I realize that all writers don't write for me. I'm happy when I find the ones that do and do it consistently, and I certainly don't confine myself to a certain genre or type of writer to get that.

[Robin]

Danielle The Book Huntress (Self-Proclaimed Book Ninja) wrote: "I used to think I had to read all IRR and support all of it. I have come to the conclusion that it's impossible for me to read and like all the books in a genre that I do appreciate. And I realiz..."

^^^^

[Anika]

I would be careful reading all IRR books, there are a lot of "authors" who have jumped on the bandwagon because they see it as the next big niche to make money. They cobble the books together and don't really care about what they are writing.

The multi-cultural IR category on Amazon is a quagmire of rubbish, you've got to dig really deep to find anyone decent. I don't think I'm holding IR writers to a higher standard. I think I'm holding them to the same standard I would hold a Mills & Boon author to. I grew up reading M&B's which for the most part were well written and error free. I don't think I (who is bad at grammar etc) should want to take a red pen out when I'm reading a novel. I read fiction to escape. I want to get lost in the fantasy. God help you if I read your book and you've taken me out of the fantasy more than once with your poor writing.

[Anino]

Danielle The Book Huntress (Self-Proclaimed Book Ninja) wrote: "I used to think I had to read all IRR and support all of it. I have come to the conclusion that it's impossible for me to read and like all the books in a genre that I do appreciate. And I realiz..."

Danielle, I totally agree with you.. As someone who is no longer 21, I like reading about seasoned women who are either getting their groove back, or for that matter, actually discovering that they have a groove...

Overall, I want quality, and not merely quantity. And as someone who becomes seriously annoyed with stupid insta-luv, insta-sex storylines, I have no qualms about getting a refund on something that exhibits low quality.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons why I am so thankful for the Kindle Unlimited Subscription program. Because if I hate it, I can have the title deleted, with zero guilt.

[Pygmy]

Hi, I don't think I hold a special standard for IR authors. It's possible I have a blind spot, but I like to think that I am uniformly disgusted if a story is poorly written or doesn't suit my tastes, regardless whether it contains PoC or not, or whether the author is a PoC or not. However, I may be different from other readers here where I am not as emotionally invested in the IR genre....not because the issue of diversity in literature isn't an important issue, because it definitely is. I want to eventually do my part in writing some of that diversity....but in terms of reading as a consumer, romance is not my favorite genre and I don't read as widely as other people here, which I suspect shields me from some of the terrible writing out there.

But what I did read made me want to start writing to make it better. I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I feel the quality issue is because there isn't a critical mass...quality isn't a PoC author problem; there will always be bad authors. It's just that there aren't enough PoC authors visible to fill out the rest of the ranks of mediocre/good/great.

In terms of commenting, I think it's adding too much of a burden on yourself to hold yourself/your comments responsible for supporting all the IR books out there. I curtailed my own reviews now because I came down too harshly on a book I found through here that so many people loved, but I found extremely frustrating and disappointed by (but still so close to being my type of book). I got blinded by my own hubris and thought I was being "constructive", but the overall net effect was very demoralizing to the author. That doesn't mean I don't think people should comment truthfully--- I think that's still important as a reader-consumer tool, and as feedback to authors/to the genre as a whole. But I'll leave it to someone who is more tactful than myself...

I'll second Danielle's comment that most authors don't write for me, and that I should read as widely as possible to find the ones that do. It gives me a lot less grief overall!

[Joanne]

Even within the sub genre of IR/MC there are plenty of sub sub genres. I found myself most attracted to erotic romance and within that field paranormal fantasy the most. Anyway yeah some folks are fledgling writers without good editors some are more experienced yet without the benefit of good editors. I am not talking about proofreaders...which many could certainly benefit from for sure!

I am pointing to editors that could help them better shape their work by asking cogent questions about plot, characters and themes. Most independents just starting out probably never consider the important contribution of a good editor, and many might not be able to afford that assistance.

Sort of like when you handed in that paper the night after you wrote it, and yes it was a first draft and yes you got that C and knew you could have done a hella lot better. If you were smart, you started the next assignment in time to go through several drafts--beyond simple proofing.

So yeah there is a lot of crap in the sub genre. And there are also folks who could become better with the right help, folks who are already good who could become exceptional with help and a few...more than we might think, who are already slaying.

Keep Reading Sisters and Brothers!

[Michaela]

I agree thanks.