Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Be Positive Today

Something great happened in the last few weeks. An honest to goodness crime thriller, GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn, hit the number 1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. You may have heard. I believe it was number 1 two weeks in a row.

People were excited. Well, two or three people (the way I gauge the excitement of the publishing world) were really excited. By all accounts, GONE GIRL is a really, really good book. I can't say yet, I just started it last night. But yeah, it seemed like a big deal.

I mean, this book was one of the books that finally outsold FIFTY SHADES for a week. And, if you follow Twitter, a few publishing people were excited. But the Tweets weren't overwhelming. There wasn't a groundswell of support.

No, instead you kept seeing people bash FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. Trash. Mention it, hate on it, mention it again. Now, other than an excerpt here or there, I haven't read FIFTY SHADES either. But FIFTY SHADES was the book to hate on. Something borne out of fan fiction and TWILIGHT.

Not to mention it was a monster of a seller.

But, when it was dethroned by GONE GIRL, the conversation didn't switch. There wasn't a party. There weren't high fives. There were a few "That's great."

Which once again supports my theory: It's much easier to be negative.

People don't like to be positive. People don't like to enjoy something. Odds are there'll be some pushback against GONE GIRL if it keeps selling like it does. People will start hating on that.

But, again, by all accounts, it is a well written, smart, twisty thriller. We in publishing/writing/book blogs should be happy. It was like when INCEPTION ruled the box office. A smart, original, not re-boot. People wanted to see it.

So, let's be positive today. Let's celebrate something good.

Celebrate GONE GIRL.

Forget the snark.

Use the comment section to say something good about publishing, please.

Give us good news!

Enjoy reading and writing today!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Come on. You can't be setting me up THIS easily? Okay. Well I've got to do it.

The most positive thing in publishing right now is that there are no more Jackson Donne novels coming out.

Thomas Pluck said...

Ouch.

I'm with Dave. Maybe it's because we're both alcoholics- I mean "craft beer aficionados," but I'm tired of the 50 Shades of Gray nonsense. Want to do something more useful? Go picket McDonald's. It's also crap, and people LOVE IT. How can you even breathe knowing this?

I paid $13 for an e-book of Gone Girl. (So y'all better be correct about it kicking ass) I'll read it as soon as I finish Feast Day of Fools, which didn't get half the praise it deserves.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I liked it very much indeed.

Nick said...

I think most of the people who gripe about Fifty Shades didn't read it. They complain because they think, "Oh, I could write this."
Well, why didn't you?
Instead, you sit around bitching about what other people do.
Fact is, you're probably a shitty writer who writes shit that no one gives a shit about, you shit.
People care about Fifty Shades. They love it.
Do they love Gone Girl? Yes.
That's good, too. Good for Flynn. Good for James.

But people need to stop bitching about other people's success.
You want success? You're not going to get it from bitching about someone else's book.
Write your own. And make it something people want to read, you dumb fucks.

Dave White said...

Well, that was nice and positive. Not snarky at all.

Dave White said...

Crap. Now I just did it. See how easy it is to e negative?

Dave White said...

*be

Steve Weddle said...

We have GONE GIRL on audio for a trip later this summer. Looking forward to it.

I've never heard of the 50 Shades book you mentioned, but I'll check it out.

Alison said...

A good occasion to sing this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI

(Thank you for encouraging positivity, Dave.)

Linda Rodriguez said...

What I thought was interesting was that, while the general reading bloggers were bashing 50 SHADES, the literati were once again going after Stephen King. Same thing. "All the great writers that weren't published or publicized because this crap took it all."

Although I won't say it with his panache, I agree with Nick. Instead of hating, write your own thing and infuse it with your own passion.

Anonymous said...

fuck you ill be negative if i want

Richard said...

You want positive stuff about the publishing industry? Here: There are so many books on my TBR list that I have not yet read Gone Girl, though I desperately want to get to it. I simply can't keep up with all the books that keep coming out. I don't know much about the "industry," but I do know that there is never a shortage of good stuff to read.

Incidentally, I've read about 150 pages or so of the fanfic that Fifty came from. It's not great, not even close, but it's not as terrible as the snark would have you believe.

Linda Rodriguez said...

I think there are few, if any, writers who set out to write a bad book. The vast majority of us are trying to write the best books we can.

I haven't read 50 Shades because its premise is not anything I have any interest in, but obviously the writer felt real passion for it and that passion has rung a bell with a lot of people.

Nick said...

People shit on Fifty Shades because they're jealous.

There's nothing wrong with the book. Millions of people love it. But people who THINK they can write want to shit on it. And people who got book deals but only sold some tiny amount like 20,000 are bitching, blaming reader tastes.

C. N. Nevets said...

Brilliant. Seriously. I know it's hard to say that on the Internet without being sarcastic. But seriously. Right on.