Comments on: A Modest (Book) Proposal

By: Wednesday's What Are You Reading? (Apr. 9) | BOOK CLUB CLASSICS!

Wednesday's What Are You Reading? (Apr. 9) | BOOK CLUB CLASSICS! — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:33:48 +0000

[...] myself in a discussion on censorship on Chartroose’s Book Barrage blog. She had linked to a post about whether or not books should have ratings, like movies do. Well, I flippantly replied: [...]

By: B.G. Smith

B.G. Smith — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:48:40 +0000

Good point Shari. I think it’s more “fear” of anything resembling a limit to freedom of speech more than that they wouldn’t be able to publish what they want.

By: Shari

Shari — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:11:17 +0000

Brian — Tell Staci that I too, (and I’m sure others out there) have the same problem when reading books! SOme books come highly reccommended and then are ruined (in my opinion) by smut that I am not interested in reading.

From a PR standpoint…I think it’s a great idea.

I was reading some of the comments on another’s blog about this post, and was kind of annoyed at the idea that authors wouldn’t feel able to write what they want because they know their work will be rated. Why should that stop you from writing what you want? Having the work rated might limit the audience, but it will still be published and available for anyone to read — regardless of the rating. Just as movies and music are. DUH!

By: B.G. Smith

B.G. Smith — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:25:57 +0000

Thanks BeBeth, Clary, and Rik, I’ve been getting a lot of mixed responses on this idea, at least on other blogs responding to this. More than anything, I was hoping to illustrate the PR implications of such an idea, and I’m glad that there were at least a few people who saw past the controversy for the implications for PR. Interestingly, though, and on a total tangent, I find it funny that something so conservative could be considered so controversial.

By: bebeth

bebeth — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:35:29 +0000

Self-ratings are what have kept movies from government censorship. I think this is a great idea. I’m sure it would get a lot of attention if anyone did this due to the controversy, which would spark tons of spin-off conversations on the PR implications of book ratings.

By: clary

clary — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:29:42 +0000

That is an excellent idea! I encounter many books that “surprise” me with their content.

By: rik

rik — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:24:18 +0000

here here!

By: This is Quite Disturbing « Bloody Hell, It’s a Book Barrage!

This is Quite Disturbing « Bloody Hell, It’s a Book Barrage! — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:47:36 +0000

[...] 3, 2008 by chartroose Please read this post and let me know what you think. Should we have a rating system for books? My answer is an [...]