Comments on: Book Labels: Good, Bad or Ugly? http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/ Life and Random Madness Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:35:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kelly Jameson http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/comment-page-1/#comment-60 Kelly Jameson Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:52:20 +0000 http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-60 Hi, Another excellent blog. My writing is multi-genre and I find in the US, some are squeamish about book labels and 'erotica'. I consider my book DEAD ON a suspense thriller with an erotica edge, and somehow it's ended up on the amazon.com horror/erotica list. :) In this day and age, women authors should feel empowered by what they write. We have freedom of speech and never know when our words might empower someone else or break down some of those labels and barriers... always keep 'em guessing... Hi,

Another excellent blog. My writing is multi-genre and I find in the US, some are squeamish about book labels and ‘erotica’. I consider my book DEAD ON a suspense thriller with an erotica edge, and somehow it’s ended up on the amazon.com horror/erotica list. :)

In this day and age, women authors should feel empowered by what they write. We have freedom of speech and never know when our words might empower someone else or break down some of those labels and barriers…

always keep ‘em guessing…

]]> By: mitziszereto http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/comment-page-1/#comment-59 mitziszereto Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:38:50 +0000 http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-59 Local interest???? That really takes the biscuit! Local interest???? That really takes the biscuit!

]]> By: geoffnelder http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/comment-page-1/#comment-58 geoffnelder Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:10:44 +0000 http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-58 I have a ditto problem to yours with my Escaping Reality. It is a humorous thriller and so cross-genre. I shouldn't have written it cos the bookshops have no idea where to put it. My local Borders have no thriller section anyway but place it in Local Interest! I sneak in now and then to relocate them to Crime, Fiction, Humour and when no one is looking, on to the Staff Recommended Reads display. Hah. Besides labelling problem, my publisher used a hard-nosed crime cover art. OK it has a near-naked man but the book is more humour than noir crime, especially the naughty bits. Oh well. I have a ditto problem to yours with my Escaping Reality. It is a humorous thriller and so cross-genre. I shouldn’t have written it cos the bookshops have no idea where to put it. My local Borders have no thriller section anyway but place it in Local Interest! I sneak in now and then to relocate them to Crime, Fiction, Humour and when no one is looking, on to the Staff Recommended Reads display. Hah.

Besides labelling problem, my publisher used a hard-nosed crime cover art. OK it has a near-naked man but the book is more humour than noir crime, especially the naughty bits.

Oh well.

]]> By: mitziszereto http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/comment-page-1/#comment-57 mitziszereto Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:01:26 +0000 http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-57 Well, perhaps we should at least be grateful that "erotica" isn't shelved with "self-help." Or is it??? Well, perhaps we should at least be grateful that “erotica” isn’t shelved with “self-help.”

Or is it???

]]> By: Mary-Ann Tirone Smith http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/comment-page-1/#comment-56 Mary-Ann Tirone Smith Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:44:50 +0000 http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-56 I was one of the 100 writers who contributed to the book, DIRTY WORDS: A LITERARY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SEX. We were assigned a "dirty word" (mine was hum-job) and invited to write up to 2000 words in any genre: short story, poem, script, personal essay, whatever wherein we demonstrate the meaning of the work. The book has been many things to many people, but no one expected that Borders would classify it as "reference." It is shelved with dictionaries and, of course, the Enyclopedia Britannica. Egad! I was one of the 100 writers who contributed to the book, DIRTY WORDS: A LITERARY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SEX. We were assigned a “dirty word” (mine was hum-job) and invited to write up to 2000 words in any genre: short story, poem, script, personal essay, whatever wherein we demonstrate the meaning of the work. The book has been many things to many people, but no one expected that Borders would classify it as “reference.” It is shelved with dictionaries and, of course, the Enyclopedia Britannica.
Egad!

]]> By: Will Entrekin http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/comment-page-1/#comment-55 Will Entrekin Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:24:46 +0000 http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-55 Stephen King <i>is</i> a shelf. Stephen King is a shelf.

]]> By: mitziszereto http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/comment-page-1/#comment-54 mitziszereto Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:44:33 +0000 http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-54 I wonder if Stephen King ever ended up on the chick-lit shelf? I wonder if Stephen King ever ended up on the chick-lit shelf?

]]> By: Jean Roberta http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/comment-page-1/#comment-53 Jean Roberta Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:31:54 +0000 http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-53 My condolences in having your anthology mislabelled, though having a book which is clearly erotica treated as "romance" or some other genre can be a problem too. "Romance" now seems to be the elephant that is threatening to swallow up erotica - defined by someone in a writers' loop as fiction about sex as an important, transformative experience as distinct from fiction about the development of a relationship, or the solving of a mystery, etc. When a book is in print, though, you never know who will pick it up - I once found the brilliant novel "Sula" by Toni Morrison shoved amongst the romances in a drug store! (I wasn't looking for romance - I happened to notice Morrison's name.) My condolences in having your anthology mislabelled, though having a book which is clearly erotica treated as “romance” or some other genre can be a problem too. “Romance” now seems to be the elephant that is threatening to swallow up erotica – defined by someone in a writers’ loop as fiction about sex as an important, transformative experience as distinct from fiction about the development of a relationship, or the solving of a mystery, etc. When a book is in print, though, you never know who will pick it up – I once found the brilliant novel “Sula” by Toni Morrison shoved amongst the romances in a drug store! (I wasn’t looking for romance – I happened to notice Morrison’s name.)

]]> By: Chaz Folkes http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/comment-page-1/#comment-52 Chaz Folkes Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:38:51 +0000 http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-52 It’s a tricky point. I went to a very interesting class where we were told that we needed to know exactly where out book would appear on the bookshelves in the library and in the local bookshop. It’s marketing, basically; the book is a product and that product needs to be in the right place for its core readership (ie, the people most likely to pony up £7.99 for a copy) will find it. We’re stuck with marketing as that’s how the publishers and agents make money, but there’s nothing to stop us plugging our books to reading groups, libraries etcetera and getting it to people who "...wouldn’t usually read that sort of thing..." How many people have read Harry Potter who hadn’t picked up a children’s book in the shop since they were children themselves? That aside, books, like any art form, or any other product to that matter, will find a wider audience than their target if they’re good or hit on the zeitgeist. It’s a tricky point. I went to a very interesting class where we were told that we needed to know exactly where out book would appear on the bookshelves in the library and in the local bookshop. It’s marketing, basically; the book is a product and that product needs to be in the right place for its core readership (ie, the people most likely to pony up £7.99 for a copy) will find it.

We’re stuck with marketing as that’s how the publishers and agents make money, but there’s nothing to stop us plugging our books to reading groups, libraries etcetera and getting it to people who “…wouldn’t usually read that sort of thing…” How many people have read Harry Potter who hadn’t picked up a children’s book in the shop since they were children themselves?

That aside, books, like any art form, or any other product to that matter, will find a wider audience than their target if they’re good or hit on the zeitgeist.

]]> By: Carol Fenlon http://mitziszereto.com/blog/book-labels-good-bad-or-ugly/comment-page-1/#comment-51 Carol Fenlon Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:26:00 +0000 http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com/?p=52#comment-51 At least yours got a label. Mine is mostly listed in Fiction A-Z under F. At least yours got a label. Mine is mostly listed in Fiction A-Z under F.

]]>