(Update) Just yesterday, I read this post by Kristi over at The Story Siren, which she wrote in response to an author criticizing In My Mailbox. If you're a book blogger, you're probably familiar with IMM, in which people "brag" about the books they got in the mail for review, checked out of the library, received as gifts or bought for themselves. Even though I don't participate in it, I love seeing "the loot" other bloggers receive. And I don't agree at all with the author's statement that "those 'in my mailbox'" posts represent everything that's wrong with the whole scene. It's all about status and swag.” Huh? Actually, it's all about celebrating and idolizing authors (not rock stars or celebrities, but writers). I'm not even going to tell you how many books I've read, let alone purchased, just from seeing them mentioned on IMM posts.

Both Massara's and Kristi's posts made me proud of book bloggers, ready to defend my "people" at all costs. Then, I read this post, in which MG/YA author Lindsey Leavitt talks about an incident she observed with a book blogger at ALA. Can you say embarrassing? Yikes! Talk about giving book bloggers a bad name.

So, given this love/hate relationship that some authors apparently have for us bloggers (which is sometimes deserved, many times not), I'm just going to say this: I love getting free books from authors/publishers. I love having contacts in the publishing world who so generously offer me books and/or happily send me books I have requested. I love reading the books, reviewing them, recommending them to friends, donating them, discussing them, analyzing them, studying them, and, occasionally, drooling over them. I love hearing from authors who say a review of mine made them so happy they smiled or laughed or cried or, once, printed it out and stuck it on their refrigerator. Book blogging excites me, I'm not going to lie. Do I sometimes feel entitled to the hottest ARC? Yes, I do. I also work hard to earn these privileges by reading as much as I can as fast as I can and writing reviews that are (hopefully) thoughtful, honest, and as eloquent as I can make them.

Part of that honesty, of course, is telling the world exactly what I think of a book. I've certainly dissed some authors in my time, some of whom I've actually run into later at conferences and signings.* And while it's created some uncomfortable situations, I'm not about to back down from anything I've said. My opinions are just that - opinions. When I review a book, I'm evaluating a product, a product into which people are going to invest both their money and their time. I'm simply letting them know if - in my opinion - that product is worth the trouble. It's not a personal attack, it's a critique of one particular product. My readers count on me to tell it like it is, to give them my honest thoughts on whether or not they should read a certain book. They know it's only my opinion. They can take it, they can leave it. Whatever.

You might, by now, be wondering what is the point of this long-winded post of mine. I'm not sure exactly what I'm trying to say either. I guess it's this: The relationship between us book bloggers and authors/publishers is a fragile one, even more so than I realized. We can't exist without them. While they can exist without us, they'd be foolish to ignore us since we pour our hearts and souls into promoting books and reading. I propose mutual respect, seeing as we're all after the same thing: we all want people to buy and read books. That being said, I don't think book bloggers should stop expressing honest opinions or resort to publishing only glowing reviews. Everybody knows that not every reader is going to love every book and I don't trust anyone who says otherwise. So, never fear, I won't be taking any hiatuses or backing down or deleting negative reviews, even if it might hurt my chances at topping the NYT Bestseller list. You can rest assured that if it ever comes to a choice between book blogging and publishing a novel (Dream on!), I will choose the former because it's what I love. Besides, at a chapter a year, the latter ain't never gonna happen nohow.