It seems like there is always some controversy or another happening within the book community. And most of the time it’s the same controversies rearing their heads over and over again. And I really don’t get it, why do some people feel the need to police what or how other people read. And I’m not talking about book bans right now, that will be a whole separate post later. I’m talking about all of the ridiculous takes that many readers (and some authors) seem to come up with.

The dramas that show up time and again are:

• Whether audiobooks count as reading.
  • They do, and any other take is ableist.
• Whether or not a book requires a HEA (Happily Ever After) to be considered a Romance.
  • YES! HEA is vital to being designated a Romance. Books with love stories without HEA are valid, but cannot be considered Romance as the genre, they are General Fiction or some other classification.
• Claiming one genre, usually Literary Fiction, to be “better” than other genres.
  • All genres are equally valid. You are 100% entitled to prefer one genre over another, but that does not make any genre better than another.
• Reading is an escape, stop making it political
  • Reading has always been, and always will be political. Not just the content and themes of the stories themselves, but who is allowed to read and what books are being published. It’s all political.
• Providing unsolicited feedback to authors, usually in their DMs.
  • Unless you have an editorial relationship with an author, do not send them critiques of their work, it’s not your place. As a reader you are 100% entitled to your opinion, and you can provide a public review of the book, but you should never be reaching out to them in their DMs or emails to “help them” by providing your editorial opinions, they have their own professional editors for that.
• Tagging authors in negative reviews
  • This goes with the above, but also, reviews are for the readers. Many authors prefer to not read reviews at all, good or bad. If you didn’t like the book, that’s fine, you just don’t need to tag them in it.
• Authors calling out reviewers for reviews they don’t agree with (this has happened for everything from 1* reviews to 4 * reviews, or even recently, a typo in the title).
  • Again, reviews are for readers and authors need to not respond, even if they feel hurt by the review. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of a book.
• Review bombing books by marginalized authors (this is especially noticeable when the book hasn’t even been released yet)
  • This is racist, homophobic, unethical, and just plain nasty behavior. An author’s identity plays no bearing on the quality of the book. Plus, you should never rate a book you haven’t read.
• Pirating books
  • This is illegal, don’t do it! It doesn’t matter that you really want to read a book and can’t afford it, that’s what libraries are for. Pirating books directly hurts authors.
• Selling ARCs
  • Also illegal. Don’t sell them and don’t buy them.

There are so many more, but these are the ones I continue to see over and over again. And the ones that make me the most angry.