Read the twitter convo betwn a #RichardArmitage fan and #HamletANovel authors @david_hewson and @authorajhartley. Yikes! is all I can say.

One thing I cannot abide is a dismissive attitude to RArmy contributions. Guess our work here is done, so "See ya!"

Hamlet # 15 now , Armitage Fans, Hewson and Hartley Fans, Shakespeare Fans and Audible Fans -all beaming
Posted on May 21, 2014 by Perry


I hope we can all remember that while certainly Richard Armitage fans on twitter, blogs, Tumblr pages and Facebook contributed greatly to the pre-order success and buzz about Hamlet: A Novel, the authors themselves have their own following and have effectively used social media to promote their work. One need only look at the activity on their respective blogs and on A.J. Hartley’s Web and Facebook page, not to mention both these men’s strong credentials and past successes, to figure out that Richard Armitage Fans were just a part of the juggernaut success of Hamlet.

And, you can’t discount the popularity of audiobooks in general and Audible in particular. Audio books are a 1.2 billion dollar industry source . Audible has millions of customers and continues to grow that number annually source.

Audible promoted this book, one of its A-List series, with gusto, as it has other books likely to draw a large audience, especially in pre-orders. Audible and Audible UK have 170,000 followers on Twitter and over 1,250,000 likes on Audible’s Facebook page. ( which today, features Hamlet)

Claiming credit for the success, so far, of Hamlet, is demeaning and insulting to the authors who created the work, in my opinion, and grilling them about numbers and comparisons to their past work, puts them on the spot – in that gray area, of stepping back or possibly alienating a fan base.

I don’t know about other bloggers, tweeters, Tumblrs or Facebook pages, but I know that when I post information and comments about what’s going on, it’s almost entirely to and for other Richard Armitage fans or others with a similar interest in the particular topic.

So, while all Richard Armitage blogs, Facebook pages, and tweeters , as well as silent fans everywhere, can and are, reveling in the early success of the book, and especially the terrific response to Armitage’s narration, no one group, and certainly no single fan page, no matter the name, can take, and certainly ought not beg, for extraordinary credit for this success. Just as no one individual should, misleadingly hold her or himself out as a spokesperson for “members” of the Armitage Army – whatever that is – in seeking, on behalf of these “members” business and financial information from Richard Armitage’s employers.

In my opinion, and I know I am not alone in this based on loads of emails I’ve received, such action is less about being a fan of Richard Armitage and more about promoting oneself.

David Hewson ‏@david_hewson 13 Min.
The reviews are coming in for our Hamlet narrated byRichard Armitage http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Hamle ... 791&sr=1-1 …

Fan labor should not mean fan entitlement. Most fans *are* doing it for fun, though sometimes single individuals forget that. No one speaks for the entire Armitage Army and I like it that way. Comments there, please.

Weder Hewson noch Hartley haben in irgendeiner Form eine " dismissive attitude to RArmy contributions" gezeigt, ganz im Gegenteil. Sie haben sich erst gestern bei den RA-Fans bedankt.
So was zu behaupten finde ich total unfair den beiden gegenüber, die wirklich den Fans gegenüber auf Twitter eine Engelsgeduld zeigen.
Und ganz ehrlich- so zu tun, als ob der Erfolg hauptsächlich der Army gedankt wäre, finde ich auch ganz schön überheblich. Die Autoren, Richard... etc. da steckt eine Menge mehr dahinter.

À propos Bestsellerlisten:
Mag sein, dass das Bild verfälscht ist, aber es haben ja noch längst nicht alle "zugeschlagen" und die Kritiken/Resonanz wird vielleicht auch auf Nicht-RAddicts übergreifen. Who knows?

Ist es nicht ganz normal so. Wenn etwas auf den Markt kommt, dann schlagen zunächst diejenigen zu, die persönlich motiviert sind und bereits warten (Lieblingsautor, ...), dann kommen die Kritiken und Empfehlungen dazu, ... Und es gibt tatsächlich noch well-wisherinnen, die noch nicht gekauft haben und dann noch später das Ranking schönen.

Mir gefällt es auf jeden Fall sehr gut bis jetzt (bin in der Mitte von Kapitel 2). RA kann Audiobook - wussten wir aber schon vorher Aber die Hamlet Interpretation der Autoren ist auch sehr interessant. Lässt das Shakespeare Play in einem ganz anderen Licht erscheinen. Bin sehr gespannt, welche interessanten aufschlussreichen Hintergründe und Infos noch zu entdecken sind. Polionius habe ich übrigens auch immer schon so gesehen, wie das die Autoren tun.