This post originally appeared on Book Riot, where it got a lot of great feedback. Since it was published on Tuesday, Kate Rados with the Crown Publishing Group reached out on Twitter to ask for feedback on Blogging for Books, a program targeted at bloggers that is mentioned in this piece. I sent an e-mail with many of my concerns (and the concerns voiced by other bloggers) to her and plan to do an update post next week. For now, though, I think this post/rant stands on it’s own. 

When did there get to be so many expectations for readers?

Simply reading books – and, maybe, if we liked them, telling our friends about them – just doesn’t seem to be enough any more. Now it looks like publishers may have taken readers’ jokey offers to “work for books” literally, and that’s just what they’re asking us to do.

In the last month or so (as far as I can tell) the Crown Publishing Group has been pushing a new review program for book bloggers called Blogging for Books (that is the most tone deaf program name). Book blogger Michele at A Reader’s Respite wrote a wonderful post about the initial problems with the program and, after conversing with the folks at Crown, posted an update to how the company may be addressing some of the most egregious aspects of the program. Even with some tweaks, I still think it’s a terrible program for book bloggers, but that’s not the point of this post.

Blogging for Books is very explicit about what it expects reviewers to do after they’ve received a book for review, if they want to continue to participate in the program. Reviewers were required (now just encouraged) to post their thoughts online in a review, on a book retailer website, and share via their social media. The “penalty” for not following through with these steps is being cut off from the program. As far as I can tell from the Frequently Asked Questions, there’s no option to just choose not to finish or not review a book.

Under Blogging for Books, the vision of an ideal reader is one who reads everything, writes about it, then shares those thoughts across the web to create “buzz” about titles. It’s not enough to read a book and tell a friend – your feelings have to be made public (preferably on a retail site).

This vision of the enthusiastic, verbal, retail-oriented reader is not exclusive to book bloggers or book reviewers, either – it’s becoming part of the way The Publishing Industry thinks it is going to save itself.

When I was at Book Expo America at the end of May, I attended a session with Patrick Brown, director of author marketing at Goodreads, called Goodreads 201: Advanced Tips for Driving Book Discovery. In the session, Brown focused on ways that authors and publishers can use tools on the site — giveaways, advertising, and the new “Ask the Author” feature, among others — to convert individuals from readers to fans to evangelicals for a particular author.

Brown argued that authors build loyalty with readers by giving something back to them – readers want to feel a connection to the person who wrote a book they love. Features like Ask the Author, which rolled out to a group of 54 authors in beta last month, give authors the chance to have focused interactions with individuals readers while building out “genuine and interesting” content connected to their work.

Ask the Author and the other strategies Brown presented made sense and, alone, aren’t a problem. But they do point to broader pressures being slowly applied to readers that risk making reading work rather than fun.

According to The Publishing Industry, it’s not enough for readers to just read books anymore. The point of it all is to take readers, convert them to fans, then push them to become evangelists for a book or author. Real readers have to become evangelicals for books because evangelism is, apparently, the only way to drive sales. Like the prophet John Green, readers have been tasked with saving The Publishing Industry… And I call shenanigans on that.

It’s frustrating that it’s not enough to just read. Readers now have to share everything they read with followers across a variety of platforms with hashtags and @ replies to interested parties. It’s not even enough to write reviews of books you love. Those reviews need to be on retail sites and pushed out through social media too. Being a good reader means being a good “word of mouth” marketer without any of the perks that come with having that job.

Now, I’m not saying that enthusiasm is a bad thing. I love to gush about books that blew my brain or were just a ton of fun to read. It’s fine to love independent bookstores and advocate for readers to buy local. And it’s even okay to express support to one side in a business dispute if you disagree with the business tactics of a particular conglomerate.

Readers can evangelize, but we should only do it for the books that truly deserve it. If readers enthuse over every book, it makes that enthusiasm dishonest – a problem for readers, publishers and authors. You can’t be a sincere evangelist for what you don’t really believe in. And if you don’t really believe in it, no one should ask you to evangelize for it.

Enthusiasm shouldn’t be required or even expected of readers. Readers should not be pressured or cajoled or guilted or tricked or passively forced into being enthused or publicly sharing that enthusiasm on behalf of The Publishing Industry.

It should be enough to just read a damn book.

Special thanks Florinda (The 3R’s Blog) for being a beta reader for this post, helping to clarify my thoughts on these issues, and even contributing a few sentences. And a major shout out to Michele (A Reader’s Respite) for her initial posts on Blogging for Books. She helped inspire me to find my voice on what is, I think, a very serious issue for bloggers and readers. 

Finally, the post from Book Expo America with all of the books! I had mixed success grabbing the books I was curious about from the show, but found several others I’m looking forward to reading. Below are 12 of the books I’m most excited to read, followed by some quick thoughts on the other books now gracing my bookshelves.

A Deadly Wandering by Matt Richtel (Sept. 23 from William Morrow): This is a piece of narrative nonfiction by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (see why I picked it up?) about the dangers of texting and driving. The book has two threads, one the story of a man who killed two rocket scientists while texting, the other about the science of attention and the impact of technology on our brains.

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (Aug. 5 from Harper Perennial): Technically, I didn’t snag this book at BEA — it arrived in the mail the day after I got home — but it was one of the books that the Harper Perennial marketing folks featured during a preview event. These essays feature politics, criticism, feminism and pop culture. I can’t wait to read it.

Dangerous Odds by Marisa Lankester (May 21 from Cappuccino Books): This one is described as a “true crime thriller memoir,” an inside tale of one woman’s experience behind the scenes in the world of illegal sports betting. I’m really curious about this story!

City of Lies by Ramita Navai (Sept. 9 from PublicAffairs): The Tehran we seen in the news is only part of the story. In this book, Ramita Navai explores the lives of ordinary people in the city — “the porn star, the ageing socialite, the assassin and enemy of the state who ends up working for the Republic, the religious militiaman who undergoes a sex change, the dutiful housewife who files for divorce, and the old-time thug running a gambling den.”

On Immunity by Eula Biss (Sept. 30 from Graywolf Press): On Immunity was one of the books featured in this year’s BEA Editor’s Buzz Panel. The slim book is an exploration of vaccinations and our ideas about what immunity means and how it connects our bodies and our communities.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty (Sept. 15 from W.W. Norton): I was so excited about this book, a memoir by a woman who worked in a crematory, I started reading on the plane ride home from New York. I’m only about 40 pages in, but so far it’s great — she’s managed to include references to both Puppy Surprise and Pogs, which warms my heart.

Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev (Nov. 11 from PublicAffairs): This book reminds me a little bit of City of Lies in the sense that is is a book that goes inside a generally close society. In this case, the society is modern Russia, specifically the way new money and new power is fostering major changes.

The Price of Thirst by Karen Piper (Oct. 1 from University of Minnesota Press): I like hthe brief description from the publisher, so I’m just going to borrow it — “Karen Piper leads us through the frightening landscape where thirst is political, drought is a business opportunity, and multinational corporations control our most necessary natural resource. Visiting the hot spots of water scarcity and the hotshots in water finance, Piper shows what happens when global businesses buy up the water supply and turn off the taps of people who cannot pay.”

The Glass Cage by Nicholas Carr (Sept. 29 from W.W. Norton): I’m actually a little apprehensive about this book, a look at the way automation — factory robots, self-driving cars — is changing how we interact with the world. Carr’s last book, The Shallows, was a bit of an alarmist book about the horrors of the Internet, so I’m curious about the tone of this one.

How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor (Sept. 30 from Basic Books): This one just sounds like fun. — “Veteran journalist Chris Taylor traces the series from the difficult birth of the original film through its sequels, the franchise’s death and rebirth, the prequels, and the preparations for a new trilogy.” Pop culture, history and business are my jam.

Fire Shut Up In My Bones by Charles Blow (Sept. 23 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt): Charles Blow is a New York Times columnist, and this is his first memoir. The book explores the small Louisiana town where he grew up, the abuse he suffered from a cousin, and his coming-of-age in a black fraternity at a state university. I think this is going to be a tough but important read.

Daring: My Passages by Gail Sheehy (Sept. 9 from Harper): Memoirs by lady journalists are my kryptonite, so you have to know that this is a book I was excited to get my hot little hands on it. In the book, Sheehy explores her time as a groundbreaking girl journalist making her way in a man’s world. I can’t wait.

The Rest of My Books, Briefly

If you were paying close attention to that list, you’d have noticed a striking similarity among several of the books (aside from the fact that they’re all nonfiction):

I brought home 29 upcoming releases from BEA 2014. Of those, 21 have publication dates in September. That seems crazy, right?

— Kim Ukura (@kimthedork) June 7, 2014

That is not an exaggeration. Of the 37 books that I brought home (not everything was a new release), 21 are books coming out in September. For those curious, the stack on the right is September releases, while the stack on the left is everything else I brought home.

If you have questions about any of the other titles, let me know in the comments!

Five days at a book conference in New York City is a lot to recap in a single post. Hence, part two of my adventures at Book Expo America. This post includes evening activities on Thursday and Friday as well as my adventures in bookstore shopping (I know!) on Saturday before catching a plane home. You can read the first part of my adventures here. Be sure to stop back tomorrow when I share the books I brought home!

Thursday Night: Bloggers Recommend and Book Riot

Thursday night I had two engagements: a happy hour hosted by ladies behind Bloggers Recommend and a “family dinner” for Book Riot contributors who were in New York.

The Bloggers Recommend happy hour was a low-key event — just bloggers and a few publicist friends — at the Galway Hooker in the Village. I saw several great people there including Kerry, Nicole and my roommate Florinda and Lydia and Swapna. A personal highlight was meeting Farin (formerly of Gotham Books, now with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) in person for the first time (top left). Thanks to Swapna for the great photos!

Swapna and I snuck out of the happy hour a little early to head over to The Half King for dinner with the Book Riot family. I’ve been writing for the website since it launched in October 2011 — it’s so fun to see how the site has grown and to be part of a site that has such a strong editorial voice. I’m glad they keep me around, even if I’ve been a little lax on posts lately. The group at BEA is in the big picture above. And top right is me and Brenna (@mittenstrings) in our party cardigans.

Friday and Saturday and Going Home

Friday night Florinda and I went to see a play with Cassandra (@CassandraNeace), another Book Riot contributor. Before the play we had dinner and $6 martini’s with Leslie (Regular Rumination), one of my very favorite book bloggers in the world. The play, The Realistic Joneses, was a little strange, but it was a fun experience. We got out late that night and were assaulted by neon lights in Times Square where I, obviously, had to take a selfie.

On Saturday morning, Florinda and I met up with Leslie again for brunch down in the Village. Afterwards, we made stops at two bookstores I hadn’t visited before: Housing Works Bookstore and McNally Jackson. I generally restrained myself, getting just four books total: Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, Future Perfect by Steven Johnson, an ARC of Jackaby by William Ritter (Housing Works sells ARCs for $5 each), and Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. I’d say that’s pretty restrained, right?

The bottom left photo is from my train ride back to the airport with Florinda. We were really successful navigating the subway during the trip, which I was excited about. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare and with many great books to choose from. My flight arrived safely, I spent the night at my parents’ house, then trekked home on Sunday. </BEA14>

Briefly // The boyfriend started a new, full time job at a manufacturing facility here in town, which means he’s up early in the morning and not working on nights and weekends anymore. It’s a transition for both of us, but I’m excited about it.

Time and Place // 9:45 a.m. at my desk

Eating and Drinking // Cranberry Blood Orange Tea, blueberry Greek yogurt, strawberries

Reading // It’s been a quiet reading week. I think seeing the pile of books from Book Expo America sitting on my desk (37, if I am counting correctly) has put me into those READ ALL THE THINGS modes where I flip between books without really getting anywhere. When I have been able to sit down, I’ve been picking through On Such a Full Sea by Change-Rae Lee (from the library!), Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty (Sept. 15 from W.W. Norton), and The Crossword Century by Alan Connor (July 10 from Gotham). I’m hoping to find time to just sit and finish a book this afternoon.

Watching // My sister and I are rewatching Merlin this summer. We got through the first four seasons a couple of years ago, but then were too sad about the show ending to watch the fifth season. Jenny finally decided to just go for it and I’m copying her. Other than that, I’m trying to cut back on television for the summer… so not much to report!

Listening // I finished a wonderful, frustrating, outrageous audio book this week — Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff. I loved LeDuff’s style of outraged, gonzo journalism, even as my heart was breaking for the situation in Detroit. It’s a good one and works quite well on audio.

Blogging // This week I shared my May reading wrap-up and looked ahead to June. I also shared my first recap from BEA. If all goes well today, I’ll get my BEA books post and my second recap post ready to go, along with a review of… something. I’m not sure what yet.

Promoting // I thought this post from NPR Monkey See — Do Female-Named Hurricanes Need to Lean In? — was hilarious. And this post from the Feminist Texan — On Divergent, Sex and Assault — interrogates a part of that movie that I found really troubling.

Loving // It’s been a really beautiful week in Minnesota. We had a bit of rain, but when the sun has been out it’s been gorgeous. I feel like I should just change this particular prompt to “Reacting to the Weather.”

Hating // I finally got back to the gym yesterday after way too many weeks off. It was good, but wow, am I sore today!

Avoiding // We’re having friends over for a game night tomorrow, so we need to get our house cleaned up. It shouldn’t take too long, once we get started.

Anticipating // I love the feeling of Sunday just stretching out in front of me. I’d really like to get myself organized today — get books put away, get a plan for the blog in place, and get started on all of the books I am excited to be reading!