Umm... Wow

I find myself a bit unhappy about a bookseller I've been buying from ever since they first came to Michigan back in the Late Pleistocene or some junk. It appears that Barnes and Noble has laid off all of the freelance writers that work on their blogs. I'm a bit unhappy here since I am, personally, a freelance book blogger.

Now listen: I don't write for Barnes and Noble. I never have.The economic cost of this to me personally is going to be zero dollars and zero cents over the next infinity years. That's not what this is about. I mean, I know other people got paid to write for them. I don't know how much they made or how this is going to effect their bottom line. I wish them well and I hope they do well in their post Barnes and Noble career, but that's not what this is about, either.

No, this is a post about something that I'm a big believer in. This is a post about the voice of the fans. Yes, I'm a fan. Yes, I have a voice and I express it right here on this website. Thank you Blogspot for the opportunity. I'll admit that right off rip. The fact remains that if you think I have as big a voice on Jimbo's as I would have on Barnes and Noble, you're fooling yourself. And yes, I said yourself because you're not fooling me. I know better.

I have had authors (David Guenther comes to mind.) contact me after I've published a review and tell me that they experienced a sales bump. I'm pretty proud of that, because I've reviewed some really awesome authors and I've helped some fans get the SF/F fix. That's what I'm all about. But a site like bn.com gets millions of hits a day and that I can't compete with. I hope I'm not disillusioning anyone by saying that.

I don't read Barnes and Noble blogs as much as I probably should given the fact that I have a blog myself, but I have read them in the past and they're uniformly well written and informative. There are times when I may not agree with some of the opinions of the person who wrote the piece, but so what? If I find myself disagreeing, I'm more than capable of firing off a response right here at Jimbo's. I do feel bad that they've lost their jobs though, and here's something else to consider:

The last line or so of the piece states that, " The company will continue to have blogs, but “they will be blogs that express opinions of booksellers.”" I respect that. Booksellers have a right to voice their opinions too. I have no problem with them having a blog or nine million putting out what they want us to hear. (And make no mistake about it, whatever your affiliation, if someone is putting out content they're telling you what they think you should know. Yes, that includes li'l ol' me.) So you know what, whether it's Barnes and Noble as an institution or individual publishers or authors giving their point of view (and all of the above sell books) I think that's awesome. Seriously. Do your thing. Market your product. Let us know what we should buy and why we should buy it. I'm good with that.

Now, before I make my next point, I want to be careful. I'm friend with some publishers and authors on Facebook. Some of them I consider to be just as much friends as the people I see and talk to in real life. I have a lot of respect for both the art and craft of both publishing and writing and I want to make that clear. What I'm about to say should be common sense on one hand and on the other hand, it's easy to misinterpret. So straight up guys, you get much love from Jimbo.

But...

I'm not really all that interested in what a publisher thinks when I'm deciding whether or not to buy a book. Authors, I love you, but I know you're not going to call your own baby ugly. I'm not stupid.  Seriously. When I'm considering trying a new author (and I don't really need a blog to tell me I should read a book written by an author I'm already a fan of) I want to hear another fan's opinion. Why? Because they'll tell me what they really think. A bookselling company, or a publisher, or an author is going to tell me to buy their book. It's natural. They're trying to promote their product.

*SIGH*

Yes I see you with your hand raised in the back of the class. What's up? Yes, I do get free copies of books so that I will review them. Yup, that sure is a form of marketing. Here's the difference:

I'm going to give you my personal opinion. I'm not going to sugar coat a book that sucks. I'm not going to hold back on a book that kicks ass either. I'll give you the straight goods and I'm proud to do so.

So, while Barnes and Noble Certainly does have the right to make this move, it's going to cost them some trust I think. I know I won't trust their content as much as I used to. I would think that most thinking people won't either.

Ultimately though, who you trust is your decision to make and not mine. As my father would say though, "When evaluating information, always consider the source." When the source of your information is someone who wants to sell you something, remember that. They're not giving you an unvarnished opinion. They're pushing you to give them your money.

I'm not hating. I've worked in sales and it's a tough job. Monthly goals, high pressure and long days were the result of having to get people to buy things so that I could make my living. I'm just urging you that, before your take what you read on Barnes and Noble seriously, you seek a separate opinion. Find someone who has read what you were thinking about buying and see what they think.

Oh, and click one of the links below and go buy stuff so that I can get paid. (See what I did there?):