[ficbot]

Does anyone else find themselves turned off of a potentially interesting book because of an over-bearing author? I found myself downloading a promoted book the other day and putting it aside to read later, only to find that the author's endless bump of their thread (often with pleading as to why we haven't read it yet and rushed back to comment) turned me off completely.

I realize it is possible I may be missing a good book by letting this affect my reading choice, but honestly, nothing says 'amateur hour' to me more than an author who begs. It takes me back to the days I was more active in the fanfic world, where people would post these cliffhangers and then threaten not to finish unless they got X many comments. I also think that authors who beg and/or expect immediate feedback and reviews show a lack of understanding as to how to be professional. They seem to me to want instant gratification of fame and fortune, and it doesn't work that way. Most of the really famous authors these days took years to build their fanbase---Nora Roberts wrote six novels before she even submitted to a publisher, Stephen King taught English classes and submitted to lad magazines on the side, Grisham was a practicing lawyer and had his first novel rejected by several publishers etc. etc. etc.

As for readers, most people here will grab the freebie if it looks remotely interesting because (at least in the case I am thinking of) it was a limited time offer. But they might not get to it right away. They might have other things they are reading (I know I try and read my purchases content first, to get my money's worth!) or they might have families and lives and jobs. Or they read like me and go through phases---I was reading nothing but non-fiction awhile back, then I was reading historical fiction and now I am into suspense novels and Star Trek (I want to get through my Fictionwise backlog!) and will probably go back to the historical stuff next. That does not mean I downloaded these books intending to never read them and leave the author hanging. It just means I downloaded them intending to get to them one of these days, and the day of me getting to them is not today.

Maybe I am being too hard-core about this. But to me, an author who endlessly bumps their thread to either beg people to try it, or to complain that they have this many downloads but no reviews or to wonder why it's been three days since the dale ended and nobody has replied etc. is instantly going into my delete pile. It says total 'amateur hour' to me and I am not going to waste my time on a book by an author who has not seemed to grasp the basics of how to conduct themselves professionally.