New poll - Embarrassed of reading genre?

Wednesday, October 26, 2011



***

First let's return to the last poll.  The questions was "Do you watch book trailers?".  The results were as follows:

- 75%  No
- 25%  Yes

There you have it, like myself (you can return here for my opinion), not many fantasy readers are actually interested in book trailers. To go even farther, when I look at the comments, it seems that its not simply a factor of indifference but a question of existence. I'm not sure that with this kind of reaction toward book trailers, the publishers ought to keep investing money in this particular type of marketing. Enough said anyway...

***

On to the next subject, in a completely light tone.  When I posted the french cover for the latest novel of David Anthony Durham (The Sacred Band), at the start of the month, someone commented that he would be embarrassed to read this novel due to the cover art (and I have to add that his reasons in his case are totally legitimate and understandable).

I'm not here to criticize and I also have a good friend who is having the same kind of feelings, though less justified this time, no harm intended Dom :). He is actually quite happy when I bring him an hardcover book with a dust jacket. Then, he can read everywhere without feeling 'guilty' or embarrassed.

That situation is worse when you pick up a novel with a cover like the infamous Gathering Storm illustration by Darrell K. Sweet. However, for me, that has never been the case.  I don't think I ever tried to hide the cover of a book I was reading or felt ashamed of reading one in public.

So, simply for the sake of curiosity, where do you stand?  Do you know of others who are like this?

"Are you embarrassed of reading fantasy publicly?"

-Yes
-No 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not embarrassed, rather sad. Sad that you see oddly derogative smiles, that there are non-genre readers who still think fantasy readers are immature, that many readers still think fantasy is rubbish/bad literature ... embarrassed, in no way. What should all those lovestory-romance-readers say?
Proudly I would read aloud out of the Malazan Books to humble them all.

AngeloB said...

I'm not embarrased. But... I read ebooks on my ereader, so there's no "shameful cover" problem. ;)

Patrick J. Wood said...

I actually love reading fantasy in public. You're more likely to be noticed and be engaged in conversation about your favourite titles with another fantasy fan. Hiding what you love is lying to yourself.

Yiota said...

Embarrassed? No way! I'm always like i read fantasy! And showing the books around and how amazing the covers are! And as for the certain cover you mentioned with the dragons or dragon-ish creatures (not sure what they are), i would probably buy it on purpose and then show it to all my friends (to get jealous they don't have it) and my family happily!

Everyone at uni read more "serious" books and i'm like "hey look! i read Stardust! It's so awesome and fairytalish". I really don't mind. And the more fantasy a cover has, the more are the chances to pick it! They are exciting! Non-fiction people can live with their "boring"(for me always) covers, if they want to XD

NoOne said...

this is where the kindle etc is great :)
i have to admit that as an adult in a very professional and serious work environment, i do sometimes feel a bit of a dick with a fantasy novel on my desk....
but I get over it :)

Unknown said...

Not embarrased! Actually kind of proud. In the best case I'll engage conversation with someone who shares my interests. And I just love the weird looks I can get from strangers, specially if I complete the scene with a heavy metal t-shirt.

Dom said...

It's not so much as I don't want people to see me reading fantasy, I couldn't care less about that, it's when the cover is so Ugly, even I don't want to see it. People come at you and say, hey whatcha reading? I kinda have to show them the cover. I tell them the book is way better than it looks but it's always harder to keep them interested.

Emma said...

No, never about fantasy. For a while I was embarassed about reading romance novels in public but I've gotten over that.

Dom said...

Over what, reading romance novels or being embarassed about reading them?

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