The Street Team concept has been around for a while, and I’ve never really liked the idea. It’s one thing for a reader to genuinely lurve a book/author, to rec it to friends, to talk about it to everybody and their grandmother. Another thing entirely for an author to “put them up to it.” It just smacks of having an agenda, and agendas just don’t do it for me.

I think you bring up an excellent example in Kristie’s Dreaming Of You Crusade. I read that book. 1) Because Kristie nagged me and 2) Because many romance readers seem to love it. I ended up rating it around a C; because even though I thought Derek Craven was sex on a stick, I had other issues with the story. Kristie knows this, and she is still talking to me.

Now if Lisa Kleypas had been lurking behind the scenes like some demented puppet master? (which OMG – I could not see happening! LOL), the whole affair would have come off as disingenuous to me. The entire fun of it was how infectious Kristie’s love of that book is. How she genuinely adores it, and the author’s other work(s). In a nutshell – I believed in her, and didn’t feel manipulated.

Sigh – but I do understand the pressure authors feel when it comes to promoting their work. This is just one idea that personally does not work for me…..

I admit not everybody is as honest as my sister and I’m sure there are people that totally use the opportunity of reader blogs as an excuse to get free ARCs. I think the difference between those sites and blogs like ours, though, is that here we’re honest. I mean, I recently requested an advance reader copy of a favorite author’s book which comes out in early July. I expect I’m going to like it a lot because, dude, favorite author. But if it sucks, then I’m obligated to mention that it does in my review because that’s the understanding we have as reviewers. Those blogs Sybil mentioned don’t adhere to that standard, so there’s no way of knowing what they really think, and I agree, that’s not good for the community in general. But then, I also think discerning readers who want recs that mean something will come over here or to DA or Rosie’s or wherever because they’ll realize if we liked something and articulate why, it means way more than some blog that just says “OMG this is the best book evah! Next up, the next best book evah!”

And now I go find something else to do besides ramble on pointlessly.

A blog like TGTBTU is a shitload of work. The ARCs are great, but they’re responsibility. You must read and review it. There have been a number of times I’d have liked to just chuck a book and move on to something else, but I can’t. Must…keep…reading, while gazing longingly at the TBR. I owe it to Sybil, the Publisher, and the author. When I had my own little place, I could do what I want. But now we’ve all got to do our part to maintain good relations, so we keep getting books

But my point is, it’s truly a labor of love. When you read reviews on a reader blog you know they actually read it, even if they didn’t like it. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy blogs…feh.

In the meantime, though, there’s clutter

Rosie take the money and run… well books not money. People like you who will be honest over grateful are the types that should be getting them.

Instead it has turned into a free-for-all with random HAPPY!blogs popping up everywhere. And I don’t get it. Is that fun to read a book and give a 2 second sound bite? Are they even reading the book? Is it just an ARC high – they feel special so will keep on feeding whoever it is they think they need to in order to keep em coming.

And you need to look at the fact blogs are ‘new’ to many PR peeps. The door is opening and they are making lists, of lists, of lists and much like fishing… they are casting out to see what is going to bring the most return. I think the HAPPY!blogs are trying to answer the question with crap like “go XXXX and tell ‘em XXXX sent you”, telling you over and over how happy they are you like them, you really really like them, misrepresenting their content, and commenting on any blog they can find and agreeing with two word comments.

If reader blogs are suddenly pimping themselves out like authors have always been slapped on the wrist for – does that mean they really aren’t ‘reader blogs’? Who is the person behind the curtain? Or like gwen said… should we care cuz anyone with a brain will see it for what it is at some point.

Coincidentally, I have a draft post on this subject. I have somewhat similar feelings to yours. For disclosure purposes, I read the post at DA, but declined to wade through all the comments.

My observations stem from some emails that I’ve received recently requesting reading books, offers of ARCs etc. All from publishers. Call me paranoid, but I’m small potatoes compared to sites like yours and have a lot less traffic. Why would I be so popular all of a sudden? Consequently, this whole STREET TEAM thing has taken on sinister overtones for me.

This is an interesting question, Sybs. I think Street Teams for authors is a good idea, as long as they identify themselves as acting in that fashion.

If they don’t, it’s a bit like being told that “smoking is good for you”. If I didn’t know it was Big Tobacco funding the ad, you could be misled (if you’re a sheep and don’t read any other opinions, that is).

It’s an interesting conundrum.

And I’m with Sherry, that’s a great turn of phrase–very graphic!

But sometimes you come up with a grand turn of phrase and I keep reading despite the risk of infection.

As in “soil that grows the rabid.” Man, I need to write me a contemp so I can steal that phrase.