Wait a second....I recently learned that Christina Dodd is no longer part of AVON publishing. When and how did this happen? I want dirt. Over at the Avon board, a fan is now forbidden to discuss "non-Avon authors." Hmmm...interesting. I never noticed this before. I always remember people discussing Candice Hern and Lisa Kleypas after their departure and now suddenly we fans can't talk about them anymore? Interesting and downright rude. Nice slap in the face, huh? I want to spit. There must be more than meets the eye. Why would we not discuss authors who've been part of Avon for like EVER? If anyone has some dirt or links or if the authors themselves would like to respond, then be my guest. I'm very curious....
....and now heartbroken that my other two favorites, Julie Anne Long and Loretta Chase, have become part of Avon. I only hope Avon doesn't change them (Chase was part of Avon before they started the practice of sucking the talent out of its authors...). There are still a few authors who have remained strong, despite Avon's practices (see Jenna Petersen), but one cannot help but be worried. One or two or even three strong Avon authors vs. the rest of them...eek. It's really difficult to stay positive, but I'm hoping...hoping...because I love Long and Chase.
Update: I apologize, but earlier I erroneously posted that Teresa Medeiros is no longer part of Avon. Ms. Medeiros continues to be an Avon Author. I apologize once again for any confusion; forgive me for my poor research skills (I could have sworn I read that somewhere and then missed her name on the site when I was quickly looking at it the other day). Sorry!
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Hi - I just happened to stumble upon your blog and wanted to let you know that the Avon Author's message board does indeed welcome comments and recommendations etc about non-Avon authors...there is just a request in place that those comments etc be posted on the "Off-Topic" message board, rather than the main "Avon Authors" message board.
Matter of fact, if you look at the menu of board descriptions (just click on the "discussion" tab on the home page and it takes you to the menu of board options) it says the "Off Topic" board is the designated place for all discussions of non-Avon Author books.
Truly, discussion and recommendations of non-Avon authors are welcomed (I've gotten from great recs from readers on the "Off Topic" board!).
As for the C. Dodd/T. Medeiros news...I'd heard about Christina's move some time ago but hadn't heard anything about Teresa leaving Avon. Where did you hear that news? Just curious.
Anyway, I hope this helps to clear up any misconceptions about the Avon Author message boards. They are a separate entity from the publisher, and while we try to be as inclusive as possible, the Avon Authors site exists as part of the promotional efforts of the individual Avon authors who pay to participate in it. That's why we set up the different boards for discussing various topics.
Best wishes,
Mary Reed McCall
hey hon...
I posted again at the blog where ever it was that I checked and TM was still on the board.
I forget who told me she was gone... or going... so maybe it was a mistake or rumor?
And silly or not the Avon Ladies pay for the site so if they want people to talk only about pink elephants on it... they can.
ya know ;)
The blog looks good!
Mary Reed McCall - I cannot recall where I read that bit about Medeiros, but I'll look into it. I did correct my post though, since Medeiros indeed is still on the Avon board as an author. I completely overlooked her name when I was checking the site the other day.
I never remember the site specifically stating that there would be no NON-AVON authors discussed in that forum. It seemed new to me and I was merely curious. Thank you for clearing things up though. I'll review the site a bit more carefully in the future.
Sybil - Yes...true...they can do what they want. I know that. Just like to offer my two cents. :)
Thanks, romancelover. TM is one of my favorite authors (and has been for years, long before she came to Avon). Maybe her name was tossed in with the other few Squawkers who changed houses recently (?)
Anyway, I'm glad to be able to shed some light on the Avon board issue. I can certainly see how it could be off-putting to someone who used to visit the board of a few years ago, when it was just one board, period, anything goes. I know that change is inevitable, and for the sake of clarity/sheer unwieldiness, I understand why we had to go to the multiple board situation to make everything work - but I hate to think of turning off anyone because of it, too.
Like I said in my first post, I love to get recs on all kinds of authors (and I read books by authors from many different publishers myself), whether Avon or not, so I'd have voted against losing that element of readers and authors visiting/participating there. FWIW...
Mary RM
I wonder if some of the confusion has to do with asking questions about "Why is so and so author not listed anymore". When the updated author list went up on the left hand side, the moderators of the group posted a message reminding all the readers/visitors that the authors choose whether or not to be part of the site and that if they weren't listed it was because they chose not to participate, either because maybe they left Avon or just didn't want to participate or whatever the case may be.
Then, a few visitors posted new topics saying, "Where did so and so go?" The moderators posted a nice message just pointing them to the original post about how authors choose to be listed or not by participating in the site. And then they locked the topic.
It wasn't to keep people from talking about authors. As Mary pointed out, we welcome recommendations and talking about outside of Avon authors. There's a whole sub-area just for Off Topic subjects, including many, many recommendations for other house's authors. It's just that since the question had already been answered in one topic, there's no need to clutter up the board with individual topics asking about "What about Author X? Where did Author Y go? How come Author Z isn't on the side anymore?" There was already a topic discussing/explaining that. I think it's more a space/consolidation issue than a "we don't want you talking about former authors here" issue.
Hope that clears it up.
What Mary and Jenna said. :-) Also, don't forget that Lord of Scoundrels was published by Avon, so they did right by Chase once...
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