I have to share this excellent and thought-provoking article about the reader/author relationship. Readers with an overblown sense of entitlement have taken “the customer is always right” to a new level.
The short life and unlamented downfall of Clean Reader leads to musings on the reader-author relationship
Blink and you might have missed the kerfuffle. The so-called Clean Reader app offered the chance to read without sullying your precious mind with rude words and profanity by covering them with an alternative deemed acceptable by the app’s creators. However, the backlash from authors including Joanna Harris meant that very rapidly the company was obliged to remove all books from its catalogue. The app seems to still exist (so perhaps my blog headline might be misleading) but I shall watch with interest the developments. I have a feeling we are not done with Clean Reader yet. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/27/clean-reader-books-app-censorship-victory-authors-celebrate
There were some excellent explorations about what the existence of such an app means, the best of which was here:
A conversation on Twitter set me to thinking about the relationship between reader and author…
View original post 527 more words
All I Have to Say 
Yet there are people who bought the app, so there is a market for literary fig leaves. Hard to imagine that we live on the same planet, but it takes all sorts, I suppose.
LikeLike
For some reason this just reminds me of Hemmingway. There have always been censors, but in the end, the meaning comes through in context, anyway. “I obscenity in the milk of…” *Shrugs* Each to their own.
LikeLike
I firmly believe that the writer must write for herself/himself first and then the reader second. Reversing that order really does endanger creativity. I’m glad you shared that post or I would have missed it xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was sort of interested in reading mine in the censored version. Replacing so many words with “groin” and “bottom” was bound to make it hilarious :p
LikeLiked by 1 person