Are Book Bloggers Becoming Like the Radio DJs of the 50s and 60s?

Once again I pose a question that links my two worlds: music and books.

I was reading in The Indie Band Survival Guide (yes, I am eating this book for breakfast) that radio DJs used to be paid by recording companies to place new music from their recording artists into their daily rotation (or playlist). Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. You’ve heard of payola. Artists became overnight sensations and their songs instant hits just because their record company had the clout and money to pay enough major-media-market DJs to play their singles. This scenario was portrayed in the Tom Hanks' movie That Thing You Do. Supposedly there were laws passed once the practice got way out of hand, and paying DJs to play certain music was outlawed. According to the book, paying DJs still goes on but through third party promoters, advertisements, and gifting stations with things like vans and concert tickets. Rules are made to be…bent, I guess.

Of course I would never accuse my industry of doing any sort of behavior that would bring its integrity into question. I am only acknowledging the growing influence of book bloggers. I am beginning to see sprinkles of comments on Twitter about publishers needing to send chocolate with their ARCs to “encourage” bloggers to do reviews—and even to do them on a timely basis that coincides with the book’s release. I don't know that they ever get chocolate, but how is that much different than editors being sent sweet treats and being taken out for lunch or dinner? However, I am sure that most publishers are like mine in that they have strict policies about receiving or accepting gifts from clients. I wonder if those kinds of boundaries will need to be in place for book reviewers.

With the Net taking over every form of communication, book bloggers wield some hard-to-match marketing power—for little or nothing. Their opinions and recommendations are revered for their straightforwardness and honesty, and readers buy based on their recs. Many of them have their reviews set up to be automatically posted to Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon.com. So if they say a book is good, then a book is good. If not, well… Hundreds and thousands of potential readers are all at once able to be influenced by what they have to say.

Publishers and authors are becoming more aware of what book review bloggers can do for the sales of their books. My own publishing house has started a book blogger club, Thomas Nelson has BookSneeze, and I’m sure other publishers have them as well.

I wonder if any of them have gone beyond offering free books to get book bloggers to feature their books on their sites. On a side note: I wonder if publishers ever use comments from the more popular book bloggers on back cover copy.

What do you think? What have you heard?

The Ethical Editor: Can We Disagree Yet Be Agreeable?

Some things have happened lately in my tiny editor world that have caused me to question my own sphere of editorial tolerance. In my day-to-day editing activities, I am mostly engrossed in Christian topics that include anything from health, economics, and politics to family life, personal growth, social issues, spiritual matters, and eschatology. But my own personal reading appetite extends past this to African American topics, secular and religious fiction (not necessarily Christian), career, and personal finance.

Now I admit that I wouldn’t edit books on how to beat your wife, twenty ways to worship the devil, or where to find the best pornography, but I’d like to think I have a strong ability to objectively and effectively edit books that differ somewhat from my own personal beliefs. For instance, editing a book that is very conservative politically while I myself am more independent. Or, editing books that prove and push the traditional family model (man works outside the home, woman doesn’t work, stays home, and cares for children) as the right way for a family to be organized, while what I believe and live differs from that paradigm. I feel that I have been able to understand and effectively edit their point of view.

There is an editor friend of mine who will not edit religious and inspirational titles. Why? I don’t really know the details but I am sure this editor has discovered where their tolerance ends. I guess, in so many ways, and if I really think about it, I have too.

I am appreciating more and more what this little bit of networking I’ve begun to do outside of my company has brought me. Branching out like this is causing me to really think, to be introspective about what I do every day. I expect that this will only strengthen me as an editor, right? I mean, once you know what your strengths are, where you stand, and what you’ll tolerate, your craft is even more honed and focused, right?

I've always taken the position of being the gatekeeper of what my company endorses and stands for and not my own personal beliefs. I am proud to do that, 'cause really editing is not about the editor in the first place. For the most part, I try to put my feet in the author's shoes. Then once I've done that, I consider what the whole team (sales, marketing, and acquisitions) wants from the book. And even further, if I were a reader with the same or differing beliefs, how would the author's position affect me? Would my expectations be met? Did the author fulfill his or her promise? This is how I've always approached a new project, and I know that in some degree my beliefs affect the whole process, but lately I've been wondering if they should be more at play.

So this is where my poll comes in, and I would like professional honesty from those who choose to comment. I believe that there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors, and I expect that what you have learned in your career will help me in mine.

1. When choosing or accepting a project is your decision based on your belief system, literary strengths, or work experience? Or is it a combination of all three?
2. Is it possible to effectively edit a book with concepts or ideology you don’t necessarily agree with?
3. Should you edit books that differ from your personal beliefs and moral compass? How different is different?
4. What role does your editorial director or publisher play in what projects are assigned to you? How much should they know about your personal beliefs? Should you speak up when you are editing something that you don't agree with?
5. Here’s an experience question: If you only have experience within a certain genre, topic, or belief system and you want to expand that or even change it, how do you navigate your skills into that new area?
6. Where do you draw the line when deciding which projects you will accept?