Author Loops - Do they have value?
Ciar Cullen wrote an interesting post about author loops a while back.
Frankly, I don’t get eBook author loops. I receive several in digest and there is so much “me too” and “Good Morning” that going through the digests is tedious at best.
Are there any good loops out there? Does anyone avoid the annoying behavior that Ciar Cullen peeves about?
Here are Ciar Cullen’s peeves about author loops:
1. My pet peeve: “I want _________, you can’t have him.” Fill in name of fictional hero in the blank. This can go on for a day or more. Annoying. Adolescent. Hate it.
2. One of us hates the short phrase battle: “Did too.” “Did not.” “Uh huh.” “Hot.” If I weren’t on ‘no mail’ I’d kill over that.
3. The writers who host contests in which everyone posts a number. More than once. Bad idea. Honestly.
4. The writers congratulating each other (yes, I’ll probably continue to do this). Cassandra Kane pointed out that writers generally feel an obligation to not look like bitches to the readers, and one way they can do that is be nice. Truthfully, except for a few good friends or someone new who’s struggling with a first release or something, I’m not internalizing someone else’s review or news. Example: I really like Michelle Pillow’s books. They’re right up my alley. She’s pretty much guaranteed to get good reviews. When that happens, do I need to write “nice job!” Does she have a database in which she enters responses to her good news? Unlikely. Would she hate me if I didn’t respond? Probably not. Would she notice? Hell no. Cassandra had a good idea—if you’re really happy for someone, write them an email. What a novel idea. Probably won’t do it.
5. Someone really hated the xposting of personal sagas. That doesn’t bother me much—folks do what they need to do. When I had something going on at home, the good wishes of loopmates helped me a lot. Birthday wishes don’t bother me either. Cards and money are better of course.
6. Here’s one that really gets to me: The self-appointed expert. The moderator (who isn’t the actual moderator). You know her (there are several of hers). They know about grammar, genres, agents, print publishing, epublishing, the cure for cancer, how to achieve world peace, and where Osama Bin Laden is hiding out. They do everything right, they never do anything wrong. And they have LOTS of pet peeves. I’m sure I’m giving them fodder here.