In a perfect world...

In a perfect world, everyone would get along. Love would outweigh hate and discrimination wouldn’t exist. Sadly this isn’t the case. Our blog hasn’t been as active as it was in the first year of joining our mutual love for books and sharing with the community we love so much, for a number of reasons. Life is a major reason and explanation enough.

Recently there was a post about an author stalking a blogger for a negative review. Normally I wouldn’t say anything about it because it doesn’t concern me directly. But in a way I guess it does. Christina and I started this blog to share our love of reading with other individuals. To promote authors that touched our hearts and share their stories with everyone we could reach. When I decided to embark on the journey of becoming an author, I had no expectations. If I sold one copy of a book I wrote, I considered myself a success. So speaking from both perspectives…IT'S NEVER OKAY TO BULLY.

I remember the first review I received with a few negative comments. Did it hurt? You bet, but did I try to make the person who left the review worry about his or her safety? No. Some things should be common sense. The reason behind reviews is to voice your opinion on the book your reading. Not every book you read or write will appease the masses. We are individuals for a reason.

Now I’ve read about a blogger blackout taking place. In my opinion I feel like everything is escalating to a point that eventually authors are going to have to take a stand as well. What happens when authors decided it’s not worth handing out ARC copies of their books to blogs? Let’s be honest, some blogs are in it for the free books and when they receive copies of the books, a post isn’t always guaranteed. Maybe I’m shooting myself in the foot by saying this but without each other, neither of us would be here.

Our relationship is symbiotic. We thrive off each other. Authors write to tell their stories and hand out free copies so we can read. In return we write reviews, we tweet, and facebook our love of said book to new people. The new people in turn buy the book, supporting the author and continuing on the cycle.

The point of this post is to say we all need each other. There shouldn’t have to be lines drawn. Indie authors, traditional authors, and bloggers. Love is louder and we should all support each other. We all have the same love of reading, writing, and getting lost in a world away from our reality. That’s what we all need to remember. It’s not okay for anyone to bully another person. Bloggers are people. Authors are people. We are ALL people and we all deserve to be treated with respect.