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There’s been a lot of articles recently about social networking and the impact it has on sales. There’s also been a lot of authors behaving badly. And, frankly, I’m nosey.

I have to admit I’ve never bought an author’s book because of how they’ve behaved online (authors I’ve admired online include Nora Roberts, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson and many others). I’ve admired and applauded them, but I haven’t added anyone to my Amazon wishlist. Sometimes it’s because the genre doesn’t appeal to me, but mostly it’s because me to read pile is already stacked higher than me, and book buying is limited to Oxfam only. If I were to go New Book Shopping for myself, and fancied, say, a Young Adult book, I’d be confident if I bought one of Sarah Rees Brennan’s books that I’d enjoy it, but I wouldn’t go specially.

I can’t say I’ve ever stopped buying books because of the way an author’s behaved online, but there have been times when I’ve been grateful I wasn’t buying that author’s books anyway. I’d gone off Anne Rice long before her meltdowns came to my attention, for example.

I believe in separating the artist from his or her works – Michael Jackson’s music was brilliant despite his personal life – but it is difficult when acquiring their works implicitely suggests you approve of them. Well, financially suggests, anyway. I can see why some people pirate the works of authors they dislike, though I disagree with that approach. If you want to take a stand against something, sometimes that means inconveniencing yourself. I object to the fact that Kraft bought out Cadbury’s, so I no longer buy Cadbury’s chocolate. I loved the stuff, and I’ll accept it as a gift quite happily, but I don’t want to put my money in their pockets.

So, what do you think? Do you stop buying an author’s books if you dislike their behaviour? Do you start buying them if you think they’re awesome? Will you keep buying an author’s books regardless of what they say or do?