What does it mean that three new gay novelists have trounced the old guard in garnering online reviews? While Ed White, Chris Bram, and Felice Picano's latest books have enjoyed wide mainstream praise including the NYT and The New Yorker and overall higher sales, they have each inspired fewer than 20 customer reviews on Amazon. Three new authors so far have been mainly ignored by the straight press yet they appear to be really connecting with readers, each earning an average of 4.5 stars with a very impressive 56, 125, or 155 customer reviews, respectively.
The most literary of the trio is Ryan Quinn's The Fall [Kindle], told in alternating voices from two boys and a girl -- gay film geek, football jock, and classical music prodigy -- at Pennsylvania's Florence University. Ryan is a 2003 NCAA champ and All-American skier who penned this essay about coming out to his team and that essay about whether or not gay books are gay.
The most fabulous is Justin Luke Zirilli's Gulliver Takes Manhattan [Kindle], about a 20-something's misadventures in NYC while working for a talent agency. Justin is a gay nightlife promoter and co-owner of BoiParty.
The sweetest is Jay Bell's Something Like Summer [Kindle], a love story that spans a decade as two Texan boys "discover what it means to be friends, lovers, and sometimes even enemies." A movie adaptation is in development from the team who made Judas Kiss.
This seems pretty easy to explain: Ed, Chris, and Felice are old guys who wrote books relevant to old guys that were reviewed in publications read by old guys. Old-guy readers probably bought the books in a bookstore and think they are above Amazon reviews.
The new writers are young guys who wrote books relevant to young guys. The young-guy readers almost certainly bought the book from Amazon (probably for Kindle, so they can read it any time). Young guys like reading and sharing opinions in dialogue online, instead of being told what to think by the old-guy book reviewers on pension at heritage media corporations.
Sounds like a classic generation gap to me. Thanks for bringing these books to the attention of this guy who's teetering precariously between the old and the young.
Posted by: Alex Snell | August 17, 2012 at 05:14 AM
In addition to age, I think it says a lot about how information is shared these days. It used to be, living here on the West Coast, I couldn't have imagined a morning without the LA Times. I would get up and leisurely browse its articles and reviews. But I've long since let my subscription lapse, as everything I got from them I now get elsewhere, fast and free! (Especially as some news outlets are moving toward a pay for content model.)
Today, it is not just the paid critic who is a reviewer. With each "like" and share, we're following our friends and their tastes on facebook, twitter, goodreads, and amazon.
Unfortunately, what is lost now is critical review, as anyone and everyone can have their say--and many of those leaving reviews are friends of the author.
While in some respects having walls torn down can be good (especially for indie authors such as myself), it also means that in an even playing field, everyone is yelling loudly, trying to claim their space and piece of the pie. No gatekeepers = a whole lot of yelling!
Posted by: Kergan Edwards-Stout | August 19, 2012 at 12:27 PM
Thanks so much for these. I'm leaving for Bermuda next week and need a few books for the beach. I just added The Fall to my reading list!
I wonder how price also comes into the mix. I was suprised how inexpensive these books are. And Amazon just told me I can borrow The Fall for free from the Prime member's library.
Self-promotion might help these authors get more reviews too. They really sell hand-to-hand asking for reviews. I'm looking forward to reading these -- thanks again for your site.
Posted by: Chris | August 22, 2012 at 06:49 AM