I want to be honest and transparent, since this issue has been raised.I do work for Tor.com - they are connected with Tor the publishers, but are a separate website and entity, with the aim of trying to build a SF/F community and connect with fans. I get paid by Tor for my Malazan re-read work. I spend approximately three hours a week doing the Malazan work and am paid a small amount for this.
I would like to state that I remain impartial in terms of reviewing, but I know me saying and you believing will be two different things. I like to think that my reviews til now have shown impartiality and honesty.
But I want to say right here and now that if you find you cannot read my blog any longer or trust my reviews, then I do understand and I wish you well. There are some tremendous book blogs out there with no links to any specific organisations, and I invite you to check out Speculative Horizons, My Favourite Books, OF Blog of the Fallen and The Speculative Scotsman for excellent examples of entirely impartial blogs. If you want to stick around and still see what I have to say, then that's cool too. Entirely up to you!
I don't think your impartiality is affected by your work for tor.com.
ReplyDeleteAnd I will continue to read your blog :-)
I'm confused. 3 hours a week as a guest poster or are you working on the actual website? I suppose if it was your full time job it's something you may want to disclose but I wouldn't stop reading this blog. If you're a contributor there, I don't particularly think this makes you biased somehow.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ole, I appreciate that.
ReplyDelete@Janicu - I am just a guest poster. Each week myself and Bill Capossere post a joint feature on the Malazan series, taking a few chapters at a time and writing commentary on it. Sometimes I do odd articles as well. It is not an actual job. And I don't work on the actual website.
I think it's good you have posted this, and I don't think this damages your impartiality.
ReplyDeleteI for one was a little confused [nothing new]earlier on Twitter, and I thought Tor the publisher were paying for content related to their products on this site. That not being the case, I See no problem.
I think the history of this blog shows your commitment to impartial reviews. Congratulations on your work, and I hope you continues to achieve the recognition you deserve. Your friend, and continuing reader - Jason :)
So what you work for tor. Tor puts out some amazing stuff, and I love their blog. People really complain about this stuff? Seriously? I probably never would have made the connection with Tor had you not mentioned it, and I read tor on a daily basis. I feel bad for the folks who feel the need to call you out on this. You do a good job on your blog, I enjoy reading it and the fact that you do a re-read article for Tor, won't keep me from coming around.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work. Just one thing...You do need to read more Sci-Fi...LOL...J/K...
Disclosure is good, transparency is good, but this all a much adu about nothing. This isn't really a big change from how things alway have been. Paid reviewers in Locus Magazine work for a magazine that get a large amount of funding from publisher advertising. Other magazines, and e-zines are the same. Writers, reviewers, critics have always worked in a small world (especially in SFF) with overlap, friends on all sides and potential conflicts of interest around every corner. It's all up to the individuals to maintain integrity through all. Amanda, you do fine in this.
ReplyDeleteMany blogger/reviewers dream of becoming published writers in one way or another. The blending between amatuer and profession is bound to occur and this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
A note: The stance that Tor.com is somehow seperate from Tor the publisher is ridiculous. I don't care how they seperate funding or management. The name alone is enough, but how many Tor employees work for Tor.com? They are essentially one and the same - or at least 99% of their audience considers it so.
I think the proof is in the pudding as they say and in this case I'd say that your impartiality isn;t in doubt, at least it's not for me. I'll be reading your blog as long as you care to keep blogging. Though I can only applaud your transparency, as there's been plenty of grumbling of late on people and entities not being transparant.
ReplyDeleteFair enough being paid to blog on their website. Probably a mistake to post bits of them here too without explaining they'd been paid for.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am concerned, your integrity was never in doubt and I am surprised this was ever questioned.
ReplyDeleteSo you do a small amount of paid work for tor.com... good for you! I cannot see how this would compromise you in any way, especially as this blog (ie Floor to Ceiling books) has been running for quite some time now and I guess the tor.com thing is relatively recent.
I will continue to visit here and read your reviews as I have always found them to be an honest reflection of how you personally got on with the book in question. You have posted reviews of books you didn't like yet were you constructive in your criticism rather than just being negative. You have always come across as a lover of books first and foremost and that shines through your writing.
Keep up the good work Amanda, and don't let the naysayers grind you down! There are lots of us who appreciate the amount of (unpaid) work you put in to keep this blog fresh and current :-)
Cara
I have to admit to a bit of denseness on my part as I have seen mention of Tor but wasn't exactly sure what it was (I thought it was a person, oops!) I think I've mentioned before how lovely it is reading your reviews because you are SO honest to the point of...erm... I wont say rudeness but it does make for comical reading when you come across something you didn't enjoy :)
ReplyDeleteWho cares who you work for - keep on keeping on :)
Impartiality is a chimera; there are built-in biases. I should also note here, as I do on occasion on my blog, that The OF Blog is not completely "independent", as I do some freelance work for a few others (see Amazon's Omnivoracious blog, where three recent reviews of mine were featured) and that certainly does have the potential for coloring my opinions, despite vigorous efforts to do so.
ReplyDeleteI hope this post wasn't due to a passing comment I made over a week ago, as I was just noting that one has to be careful in making criticisms of another to have a disclaimer that the opinions are separate of other commitments. I will have to insert a disclaimer in an upcoming review or two, since I'm doing translation work this week on the stories being reviewed and even then, some may question my entanglements. It's a fair question, but one whose interpretation depends upon the recipient of such comments. I just choose to regard those as merely being signs that I just state where I'm coming from and let others decide. And for the record, I tend to be harder on the stories/books/authors where I have some prior contact.
Larry - please don't ever think it was your comment at all. It was to do with a discussion on Twitter today regarding me taking payment from Tor.com and whether this would affect my reviewing on my personal blog.
ReplyDeleteAh. Thanks for the clarification! And for the record, you're being paid to comment on a book, even if it's affiliated with the book's publisher. I would imagine that's a very different affair than if you were promoting only books from (for you) a foreign publisher.
ReplyDeletePeople who care about things like that are weird so nur!
ReplyDeleteI don't see any possible conflict.
ReplyDeleteNot only do I trust your opinions I just linked you !
ReplyDeleteI don't see what the big deal is. I'll still be reading.
ReplyDeleteI work for Waterstone's, organise author events, and am trying to forge an academic career by networking on as massive a scale as possible and writing reviews for journals and my own blog. I completely understand you're worry about people's perceptions. The way I see it though is that as long as we're aware of the possible conflict we can make sure its not an issue, its people who don't realise they're in conflict you have to watch.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to see one of the blogs you regularly write for not appear in your list, Amanda. Don't you consider us excellent and/or impartial? :)
ReplyDelete