This Week's Topic: There is No 'Me' in Community
I haven't written a Breakfast with the Bookie post in a long time but I haven't felt the need to write a rant or discussion until now! This week I want to talk about reputation, actions and how they affect the blogging community. With the recent burst of new plagiarism claims, I just want to talk about how one person's actions can cause repercussions for the whole community.
The blogging community is really fragile, it the grand scheme of the publishing industry, we are a very small and quite insignificant part. I'm sure we make somewhat of a footprint in publicity, media and sales but we are in position to cause masses of drama and in turn give publishers a reason to say no to book bloggers. With sites like Goodreads and online bookshops allowing customers and users to post reviews, publishers could easily give up working with bloggers.
The foundation of anything in life is honesty and plagiarism is anything but honest. However I'm not here to lecture anyone about why plagiarism is bad and why you shouldn't do it ( like smoking and drugs!). I'm here to talk about how one action affects everyone. I like to think of this community as quite a close knit family and when something happens in the community, everyone is bound to find out. Everyone including publishers.
So when something like a plagiarism claim pops up out of no where, it's quite embarrassing not only for the plagiarist but for everyone. Book blogging is a hobby but when you add an industry like publishing into the equation, it's a professional hobby. Essentially your actions affect all bloggers because we are a community.
The last thing anyone wants is to hear someone say" Oh did you hear about the plagiarism in the blogging community? That's so pathetic, they must be a community of plagiarists." Of course this could apply to anything - the way you behave at book conferences, your actions against another blogger, author or publisher or some other drama that I forgot to mention.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that next time you're going to do something that's not "right" please think not only of yourself but the whole community. We have your back so please don't stab us in the back by doing something like plagiarising or biting librarians at conferences or calling people names. Keep it professional people.
I would like to know what everyone else's thoughts are on dramas that affect the whole community, what do you guys think is the most professional way to deal with a drama llama and just what everyone thinks community means. Let's discuss!
PS - Matt Bomer is a sexual beast.
Badass Bookie xx
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