Respect Your Readers

Writers will read the title of this post, and a zillion translations will zip through a zillion minds.

- But I change my story with every critique!

- But I hold contests and give them lots of freebies!

- But I throw parties at all the readers events I attend!

And so on . . .

That's not what I'm talking about. I mean when a single reader approaches you and says, "Oh, my gosh! I loved Galactic Sluts!"

Your writer group has put you down for that book. Or a critic gave you zero stars and called the worst piece of trash of the century. Or your parents sniff and say you had a nervous breakdown when people ask what you're doing these days.

So, the defensiveness you've built up over the time you've been writing spills out of you, and you say something like, "Uh, that's the worst thing I ever wrote."

Seriously, folks. I've seen best selling authors do exactly that. To me. As a reader.

And guess what? We've screwed up the courage to approach you, and what you just said makes us readers feel like shit. You've told us we have piss-poor taste. You've told us we're idiots for liking your work.

Look, I know that defensiveness, that self-deprecation comes from the insecurities deep inside all of us writers. Art of any kind is not respected in our society.

But that's no reason to piss on someone else. Especially since you have no idea what's going on in someone's life. Let me give you a couple of personal examples.

In February of 1998, I was living in a new city 1200 miles from my hometown where I knew very few people. I was going to law school full-time. And DH was literally half a world away for the entire month. Needless to say, I was stressed out and sad despite our dogs' best efforts to cheer me up. This was back when Harlequin novels were sold in the check-out lanes of grocery stores.

So, yeah, I'm in Gerland's, and Harlequin has recently launched their Love & Laughter line. I picked up Irresistible? by Stephanie Bond. Thank goodness it was Friday. I was up most of the night, laughing so hard I cried. And I did something I'd never done with a writer before. I sent her a fan letter. And to my surprise, I received a lovely thank you note from her.

A few years later, I attended a book signing by Sherrilyn McQueen (nee' Kenyon). Once again, I was in a rough place. I'd learned I wouldn't be able to have anymore kids after GK. I'd lost my law practice thanks to 9/11 and the two stock crashes of 2001. Frankly, I was struggling to keep my shit together.

I honestly can't remember the exact conversation I had with her when it was my turn to get my book signed. The thing that sticks in my mind was how she made me feel at the time. She's one of those people who really listens to you. She thanked me for buying her books, and she hoped I enjoyed the signed one she handed back to me.

And that's what I say to any reader who tells me they liked my book. Any one of my books.

To all my readers, thank you for buying my books. I really do hope they give you a chuckle and some hope in this crazy world.