[MichelleR]

I started a similar topic at the other place, but I'm going to do a less pointed version. 

We are awash in readers, what with this being a Kindle board, and people are reporting reading more than ever, so...

Do you expect readers to be more logical/intelligent/articulate?

Do you associate certain personality types with certain genres?

Do you judge the writers here by their posts or hold their posts up to a higher standard? Do you associate articulate posts with being a better fiction writer? Does the perceived quality of posts affect buying decisions?

 

[Jeff]

Do you expect readers to be more logical/intelligent/articulate? How often are you disappointed?

I'm a snob. When I meet someone and discover that they like to read my opinion of the person immediately goes up. I'm only disappointed when I discover that the person only reads books with pictures.

Do you associate certain personality types with certain genres?

Not unless the reader's taste is very limited. (Only books with pictures, for example.)

Do you judge the writers here by their posts or hold their posts up to a higher standard? Do you associate articulate posts with being a better fiction writer? Does the perceived quality of posts affect buying decisions?

I view posting in forums on the same level as cocktail party conversation after everyone has had a few cocktails. Some of the posters that I always find entertaining are not authors and I've read several very good books by authors whose posts are boring or completely self-centered.

 

[MichelleR]

Thanks, Jeff.

I'm catching heck for this topic over on Amazon.

If anyone here thinks it's inappropriate, that was not my intent. If a mod finds it out-of-line, and wants it gone, I'll understand. Sometimes my curiosity and belief that people can discuss issues civilly gets the better of me and I take it too far.

 

[Jeff]

Michelle,

I'm obviously not a mod here, but your topic seems perfectly reasonable to me.

As for Amazon's forums, I've almost stopped posting there because there always seems to be someone that wants to take exception to what someone else has said. Trying to analyze every word to see if anyone might misinterpret it is too much effort.

 

[Leslie]

Michelle...it's a perfectly fine topic and good questions. I haven't had enough cocktails at the party to come up with an answer yet. 

L

 

[marianneg]

Interesting questions.

Do you expect readers to be more logical/intelligent/articulate?

Not really. Although, like Jeff said, it does kind of depend on what they read. If I know someone has read a lot of classics or a wide variety of non-fiction, for instance, then I would probably expect more of them.

Do you associate certain personality types with certain genres?

Yes. I'm a total Judgy McJudgerson, at least in the privacy of my own head. Not that people can't overcome this with me, but I do tend to judge people by what they are reading.

Do you judge the writers here by their posts or hold their posts up to a higher standard? Do you associate articulate posts with being a better fiction writer? Does the perceived quality of posts affect buying decisions?

Again, yes. If someone can't articulate a coherent thought on a message board, I don't really expect their book to be much better. I will forgive the occasional typo and looser grammar, but I do form judgments pretty quickly about someone's grasp and use of the English language, and, if I don't like what I read here, I'll probably pass on the book.

 

[MichelleR]

I accept typos, because I do it all the time. I also accept that people can be really smart and either bad typists or just be wired in ways where spelling is not a strength. There does come a point where I still become judgmental, but that has more to do with a perception of effort than skill. I find it insulting when people don't make an effort to communicate, and I think that comes through in a different way than dyslexia or what have you.

With writers, I expect them to make an extra effort, I won't lie. Not perfection, but some wit, intelligence, an occasional good line. If a post doesn't impress me, I'm not making the purchase, no matter how many times I see the book mentioned. I might pay for many services from people who are unskilled with words, but storytelling services are not included in that, anymore than I would hire a swim instructor who sinks like a stone. 

 

[durphy]

Do you expect readers to be more logical/intelligent/articulate?

I never thought about this before Kindleboards, but I find people who enjoy reading have a lot in common. I think curiosity is inherent.

Do you associate certain personality types with certain genres?

The only one I've thought about is Sci Fi. Its fans seem to be highly intelligent and understand complex ideas.

Do you judge the writers here by their posts or hold their posts up to a higher standard? Do you associate articulate posts with being a better fiction writer? Does the perceived quality of posts affect buying decisions?

Authors' post don't influence me. To me, post don't reflect whether someone is a good storyteller. I will always give their book a chance. The only thing that brings me up short in reading a new book is poor editing. In other words, grammar and punctuation will pull me right out of a story. But writers improve with writing, so I'll give them another chance and another one after that.

 

[WalterK]

Pretty much no to every question.  

All I really expect out of any board is some common ground based on the interest that defines the community and not much else.

- Walter.

 

[Susan in VA]

Do you expect readers to be more logical/intelligent/articulate? How often are you disappointed?
I'm a snob. When I meet someone and discover that they like to read my opinion of the person immediately goes up.

I confess to sharing that particular kind of snobbery.

Do you associate certain personality types with certain genres?

Rarely, because the stereotypes I used to believe have been proven wrong often enough. However, if I see that someone only reads books about Nostradamus, UFO abductions, and irreproducible miracle cures, while showing no interest in any other topics, it tends to color my view of that person. (And yes, I've met someone like that.)

Do you judge the writers here by their posts or hold their posts up to a higher standard? Do you associate articulate posts with being a better fiction writer? Does the perceived quality of posts affect buying decisions?
I'm always tempted to associate articulateness with good writing, and keep having to remind myself that
a) even world-class authors have proofreaders and editors, and I don't know what state the original manuscript may have been in, and
b) I like to think of myself as reasonably articulate, and yet I have no delusions that I'd be a good writer.
So, even though it goes against my gut feelings, I have to conclude that there is no correlation.

 

[MichelleR]

There's more than one sub-genre of sci-fi, too. I like some forms and others talk about concepts that are way over my head. I like "softer" sci-fi, with the focus on the fiction portion, because too much science makes my brain melt.

 

[Jeff]

Do you associate certain personality types with certain genres?

The only one I've thought about is Sci Fi. Its fans seem to be highly intelligent and understand complex ideas.

I would be astonished if there was any correlation between intelligence and preferred genre. Some of the smartest people I know read the dumbest books. (Dumbest being 100% my opinion and indefensible intellectually.)

 

[drenee]

Great thread, Michelle.  I like reading other perspectives on this subject. 
deb

 

[MichelleR]

I would be astonished if there was any correlation between intelligence and preferred genre. Some of the smartest people I know read the dumbest books. (Dumbest being 100% my opinion and indefensible intellectually.)

I would agree with that. However, I think even intelligent people have different types of "smarts." I'm pretty verbal and enjoy language, but math and science are a struggle. That's the level I think you might be able to judge strengths, if not actual I.Q., by what someone reads. A "dumb" book might still have some interesting word play, or key into someone's social skills or interest in, oh, sociology, psychology, some -ology, and still engage the mind of an intelligent person.

Or, you know, it might be fun to shut down the brain a little.

 

[Anju]

Back in the 40's my grandfather was a court reporter, he educated himself, not through law school but passed the bar exam, and was elected by the judges of the STATE unanimously to fill a vacant federal judgeship.  His favorite reading was the Micky Spillane type of detective mystery books.  Fluff, not necessarily bodice ripping, but light reading.  I also heard many years ago that the most intelligent and broadminded people read the funny papers - so from that time I read every comic strip I could find because I thought it would help me be intelligent and broadminded.    While I don't claim to be intelligent I do think I am broadminded.

I have an acquaintance, not a friend, who will only read books that have won some kind of an award or another.  She is missing so much, but she is a book snob, and a lot of her preference of books leave me absolutely cold and I get nothing out of them.  She is not a bit more intelligent that I am, IMHO.

I have discovered new genres since joining KB and absolutely love the new adventures.

 

[MichelleR]

Back in the 40's my grandfather was a court reporter, he educated himself, not through law school but passed the bar exam, and was elected by the judges of the STATE unanimously to fill a vacant federal judgeship. His favorite reading was the Micky Spillane type of detective mystery books. Fluff, not necessarily bodice ripping, but light reading. I also heard many years ago that the most intelligent and broadminded people read the funny papers - so from that time I read every comic strip I could find because I thought it would help me be intelligent and broadminded. While I don't claim to be intelligent I do think I am broadminded.

I have an acquaintance, not a friend, who will only read books that have won some kind of an award or another. She is missing so much, but she is a book snob, and a lot of her preference of books leave me absolutely cold and I get nothing out of them. She is not a bit more intelligent that I am, IMHO.

I have discovered new genres since joining KB and absolutely love the new adventures.

In my time on the Amazon Boards, I've been called a book elitist and a book moron, depending on the stance of the person arguing with me.

Both are right.

I love a literary magazine like Glimmer Train, but I also like a saucy little tale not appropriate for younguns. I was raised on horror and romance, and realize as an adult that many would turn up their noses at the books that taught me to love reading. Let's not discuss how many times I read Flowers in The Attic. Somewhere in my teens, I discovered the Brontes, Dickens, Steinbeck, and the love of a beautifully crafted short story. There's room for all of that. The person who doesn't see that stands to miss out. You can read the classics, scope the literary section, and then go find something that is just a fun roller coaster ride or that makes you laugh or cry sloppy tears, and have that all be okay.

I remember, again in my teens, Bob Talbert (a columnist for the Detroit Free Press who passed away many years ago now) posting as a sort of stream of consciousness that he'd never read Stephen King and never would. It blew me away. Why? How do you know? We all make judgments about what and whom to read, and there has to be some assumptions, but you don't know an author until you read his or her words. I wonder if Talbert had lived, if he'd seen Shawshank or Green Mile, or caught an essay by King, if he would have rethought that. King is certainly not regarded the same way he once was -- in my lifetime I've certainly seen him go from "the creepy guy who writes pulp horror" to someone who is respected as a writer. The comment from Talbert made me feel a little sad for him, for the possibility that he might be missing a good read.

 

[geoffthomas]

Do you expect readers to be more logical/intelligent/articulate?

Yes. Because I automatically expect a "reader" to be well-read. To me that means that they have been exposed to a variety of concepts and opinions not just one. I am often disappointed by a reader with tunnel vision in terms of their reading choices.

Do you associate certain personality types with certain genres?

Yes. I tend to think of Harlequin readers as pom pom types (sorry I know that is probably wrong). And I tend to think of readers of deep psychological writers and philosophers as geeky people unable to hold a coherent conversation. This form of generalization is very dangerous. Fortunately I usually don't know what people limit their reading to so I have given them the benefit of the doubt.

Do you judge the writers here by their posts or hold their posts up to a higher standard? Do you associate articulate posts with being a better fiction writer? Does the perceived quality of posts affect buying decisions?

I believe that I do. I am more open to the writers who participate as normal human beings and help out here. As compared to the ones that appear to have come here only to promote their books. While I appreciate the need to do the latter, I respond to the former. So it would appear to me that if you only market, you may have inarticulate posts. But I will give someone with badly written posts the benefit of the doubt if they are good board citizens. Make sense?

Just sayin......

 

[MichelleR]

Do you expect readers to be more logical/intelligent/articulate?

Yes. Because I automatically expect a "reader" to be well-read. To me that means that they have been exposed to a variety of concepts and opinions not just one. I am often disappointed by a reader with tunnel vision in terms of their reading choices.

Do you associate certain personality types with certain genres?

Yes. I tend to think of Harlequin readers as pom pom types (sorry I know that is probably wrong). And I tend to think of readers of deep psychological writers and philosophers as geeky people unable to hold a coherent conversation. This form of generalization is very dangerous. Fortunately I usually don't know what people limit their reading to so I have given them the benefit of the doubt.

Do you judge the writers here by their posts or hold their posts up to a higher standard? Do you associate articulate posts with being a better fiction writer? Does the perceived quality of posts affect buying decisions?

I believe that I do. I am more open to the writers who participate as normal human beings and help out here. As compared to the ones that appear to have come here only to promote their books. While I appreciate the need to do the latter, I respond to the former. So it would appear to me that if you only market, you may have inarticulate posts. But I will give someone with badly written posts the benefit of the doubt if they are good board citizens. Make sense?

Just sayin......

It does, indeed, make sense.

I've fallen out of the Harlequin habit. other than occasionally, but I've never been the pom-pom type. I suppose because I spend a lot of time on boards with romance novel readers and writers, I know them to be tough and intelligent (for the most part, of course) -- and surprisingly scary in a fight.

I think Leslie hangs out in some of the same circles and can tell you!

 

[Gertie Kindle]

It does, indeed, make sense.

I've fallen out of the Harlequin habit. other than occasionally, but I've never been the pom-pom type. I suppose because I spend a lot of time on boards with romance novel readers and writers, I know them to be tough and intelligent (for the most part, of course) -- and surprisingly scary in a fight.

I think Leslie hangs out in some of the same circles and can tell you!

Yeah, watch out. We're liable to bury you in flowers and syrupy prose.

I didn't used to read romance because of my pre-conceived notions about the genre. Non-intellectual and all that rot.

Now I know that a good read is a good read no matter what the genre, and so-called intellectual and classic books can sometimes leave me zonked (non-intellectual word meaning catatonic).

My shelves and my K now contain romance, historical fiction, mystery, action/adventure, spy, classic, non-fiction, humor, sci-fi and I don't know what else.

Reading is pure enjoyment for me. It satisfies my thirst for knowledge; sometimes with only a small tidbit and other times with huge amounts of information.

To answer your question, Michelle, I don't expect more from readers in general. We're a diverse lot, and I'm not going to relate to everyone just because they all read. I do enjoy cultivating an interest in reading in my grandkids and their friends.

 

[Leslie]

It does, indeed, make sense.

I've fallen out of the Harlequin habit. other than occasionally, but I've never been the pom-pom type. I suppose because I spend a lot of time on boards with romance novel readers and writers, I know them to be tough and intelligent (for the most part, of course) -- and surprisingly scary in a fight.

I think Leslie hangs out in some of the same circles and can tell you!

Oh yes, I do, and there's been some particularly nasty name calling in the fandom the past few days...

Which is one of the reasons I like it here. We can talk about books and reading and not necessarily agree on everything (or anything) but still keep it civil and interesting.

L