Actually, there is nothing Yom Kippurish about this post, except that it’s going up just after Yom Kippur ends.

Just noticed this. You missed an opportunity to do a post on atonement and asking for forgiveness in romance.

And something good has come out of it. While I disagree with some of the more pointed criticisms of blogs, I do agree that the blog review format is not the best for book discussions. This is a point many of us have made in our debates about what a review is for, and whether to include spoilers.

So, in an effort to make lemonade, I have invited readers to join me in a discussion of Anne Stuart’s Black Ice on October 25-27th, a book which I happened to read on your recommendation. Hope to “see” you there!

I am an infrequent AAR poster who used to be a regular poster there. I agree that the majority of posters there are not hostile to blogs, but the vocal minority is made up of some of the most frequent posters there, and to me, it sets an unpleasant tone. SBTB and DA catch most of it because they are high profile, and I find it silly; this shouldn’t be a competition, just different parts of the romance community. I think AAR is a wonderful resource, but I don’t find it “better” than my favorite blogs.

Of course, I don’t disagree with that. Since I blog for DA I’m of course very partial to it, but I think there are other wonderful resources too, and I guess I just don’t want all that AAR or the blogs have contributed over the years to be lost from sight because of this perceived competition on the part of some.

Jessica,

I see them as compatible, and always have, but comments I found on that and some other threads, alerted me, for the first time, to another viewpoint, which I wanted to speak to on my own blog.

The viewpoint exists and is worth discussing; I just wanted to make the point that it doesn’t represent everyone who is associated with AAR.

And it is a minority, but a minority who purport to be close to the owners. If I were an owner who disagreed, I would be clear about it publicly.

You have a point, but there could also be other reasons for choosing not to step into discussions as a site owner.

I’m pretty sure I saw a Latina-marketed line of serial romances at the grocery store. They were super-colorful.

- the boards vs. blogs issue
Before AAR overhauled its comment system platform, I was a frequent poster… well, let’s be honest – I inhaled the bloody board. It was a paradise for people who love discussions.

There was a streak of anti-blog bias showing up at the time, but I think it was mostly because some bloggers blogged about some of AAR’s reviews and/or editorials. Some interpreted those as attacks on AAR itself.

And some felt that the blogging scene was destroying the community spirit because bloggers were breaking away from a central community point, such as the AAR board and other boards, and taking with them were frequent posters/readers. Hence the ‘Screw you! We like it here more!’ mentality among a few.

But the thing is, it’s all part of the online evolution.

Some people from newsgroups and mailing lists saw the growing popularity of online CGI/message boards as a destroyer of the Usenet.
Fast-forward a couple of years later, people of message boards saw blogs as a destroyer of message boards.
A couple of years later, Twitter is now seen as the enemy of the blog scene because some feel it’s destroying the community spirit of the blog scene.

It still doesn’t mean the Usenet is dead (it isn’t) or that a message board is as well (it still isn’t).
It just means more choices for people to enjoy. That’s how I see it, anyway.

- mattress
Hilarious!

Latin romance!! I do a lot of Hispanic/multicultural characters, but I’m not writing for a Latin audience, per se. I wouldn’t want my books shelved separately.

I am Latina, (although I’ve never identified myself as such up until the last 5 years when I realized it- I’m half Brasilian raised by my Irish Nana- I self identified as Irish).

I wrote a novella set in Manaus, Brasil with Latin American characters. The full has been requested, and my BIGGEST fear if it is published? IS that they are going to market me/my story as Latina Romance. I didn’t write it as a Latina author, I have no concept of their heritage paradigm and I feel as if I would be a fake. So, it really comes down to story. I wrote a story that happens to be set in Brasil because that is setting the information I used would need. My characters happen to be Latin American because the girl who inspiried the story looked Latin American. So marketing it as such, I feel, would be dishonest to the intent of the story and Latina women.

Will there eventually be Latina Romance? I think they could have tried already? I don’t know. I think publishing is circling the wagons and not trying new things so much (see today’s RTB post about publishers cutting the midlist). But where I live? EVERYTHING is in Spanish/English and the ethnic aisle better be well stocked with favorites, and growing, so I think the purchase power is there already.