Enough is Enough. Authors Need to Chill Out and Not Respond to Reviews

"Prolonged, indiscriminate reviewing of books is a quite exceptionally thankless, irritating and exhausting job. It not only involves praising trash but constantly inventing reactions towards books about which one has no spontaneous feeling whatever.” - author, George Orwell

This week has been very interested in the review blogging world, or maybe I should say all the drama llama regarding the wacky world of Goodreads.

"Goodreads is the largest site for readers and book recommendations in the world. A home for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads users recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they've read and would like to read. Goodreads' mission is to help people find and share books they love. Every once in a while you run into a friend who tells you about this "great new book I'm reading." And suddenly you're excited to read it. It's that kind of excitement that Goodreads is all about."

At no time in Goodreads’ mission statement does it state that their site is for authors to promote their books, nor is it a place for authors to attack readers there who write down their thoughts and opinions about a book and whether they loved it pieces and want to have babies with it, or hated the book so much they want their cat to poop on it and then burn it because it was so bad.

Goodreads is FOR READERS. It’s a platform, an interactive message board, if you will, for people to discuss books. The general opinion at large believes no one reads. Goodreads is proving that people do read, all 7 million of them. Out of these 7 million reviews and discussions posted, there will be all types of reviews written. Some of these reviews are ones authors shouldn’t read because, shocking to say, not everyone is going to like your book, Madam/Sir author. A reviewer is going to be very vocal about what they read, so much that after you, Madam/Sir Author read the review, you may break down in tears, scream in gut wrenching pain or go off the deep end and go on Goodreads and attack that fine reader’s opinion, tweet about it on Twitter how wrong that reviewer was because they “didn't get” what you’re trying to say in your book or go on your blog and complain how mean and nasty the review is.

This week a shitstorm of bad author reaction behavior about reviews posted on Goodreads, including on some review blogs, has exploded. Lately it seems all this public boo-hooing from authors has been from Young Adult authors. Lately the reaction from YA authors over their books posted on Goodreads and on review blogs have become ridiculous (from what I can see).

The YA genre has exploded in regards to the buzz for certain YA books. These authors are getting high 6 and 7 figure advances (the normal advance for a book is under $10,000), the publisher is spending a great deal of money on promotion, and the media is highlighting these authors like they’re the second coming. For an author, this is a dream come true. But in order for your book to sell and pay off that nice 6 figure advance and receive, and make certain you have a nice long career in publishing, you need good word of mouth to help your sales and make the crème de la crème of all lists- the New York Times and Bookscan. Authors think book reviews can do that. A raving review will get someone to buy your book. A bad review will stop someone from buying your book. Sorry to burst your bubble, but a review isn’t going to make or break a book sale. We see this time and again with movie reviews. Critics can universally pan a movie, and yet that movie will go on to make tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. What creates buzz or sales is word of mouth, as in people talking about your product. A review is not word of mouth. A discussion between a group of people is.

Kat at Cuddlebuggery has a great post on authors this week reacting badly in public to reviews posted on Goodreads. The one that started it all was in regards to a review of Julie Cross’s Tempest. The author herself didn’t get into the fray, but some of her fellow YA authors came forth, as well as Julie’s agent to give the people involved in discussing the review there a talking down to. If you notice, the majority of reviews on Goodreads haven’t been all that great for The Tempest. Is this a sign that The Tempest isn’t selling well? If a book like The Tempest can’t be praised on a site like Goodreads, surely that means the book is going to bomb, right? And if that happens then the author will never pay out her hefty advance, the agent won’t get her cushy commission and the publisher loses a great more from this because they have put out a massive amount of money. Readers really don’t give a flying fig about the inside wheeling and dealing of authors, agents and the publisher’s revenue they’ll make off the deal.

Then there was another bad author reaction, where the author Leigh Fallon had left a long call to arms plea about the review of her debut book, The Carrier of the Mark. She said some very harsh things, mean name calling about a reviewer who dared to not like her book and was very blunt about it. Someone sent Leigh’s reaction to the reviewer and the reviewer then posted it on Goodreads for all to see. There was some back and forth whether Leigh really left the scathing message, because what author would do such a thing on even a private loop or message board? Well, it was her because she sent the reviewer an apology email for her, “I didn’t think before I spoke” response.

Then to top off a crazy week, another author wrote a post on her blog that takes the cake. I found out about this post based on a book, Kat (Yes, Kat again, you instigator, you!) labeled on Goodreads as do not read. This book is Don’t Stop Now by Julie Halpern. The reason Kat won’t read this book (and keep in mind authors, Goodreads readers are starting to put do not read labels on their Goodreads shelves based on authors’ public reactions to reviews) is because of Julie’s response on her blog to a review on a book blog. What Julie posted made my jaw drop because she was over the top angry about the review in a post titled, Google Trash: (she ended up deleting her post and the two she wrote after it because of the comments on her blog post. But thanks to Google cache this has been saved)

“I awoke this morning with my usual google search of myself, and I came across a nasty review of "Don't Stop Now." I ALMOST responded. I fucking hate people who write nasty reviews! You already know that if you've read this blog post of mine. (Um, you probably already know that anyway.) There is nothing redeeming about this one. And, like I noted in my other post, the blogger goes there: "A plot line made up so that a road trip could come into play." Ugh! I didn't make it up, beyotch! I had a friend who faked her own kidnapping! Grrrr. She insults my main character and writes this amazingly insightful line in her "review" : "The plot of Don’t Stop Now is totally weird." Wow. Great. Okay. What really pisses me off is this blog has a ton of followers, who, by the two comments already posted, are just as delightful and loving as the blogger. I know it should not matter what this blogger says about my book (and after just reading her bio, which has much in the way of potential mocking, I am just going to rise above). Because I am already SO FAR ABOVE in my life. Ooh, that was kind of mean, right? But I know this type of person, one who doesn't have their own accomplishments so they have to dog on anyone and anything to make themselves feel bigger and better. That's all bullies are, right? And hilariously, the internet has turned so many of the once bullied into bullies. Now that they have a voice and an audience, it's time for their power to come to fruition. But they're going about it the wrong way. Negativity is never the way to beat down those who tormented you (is this sounding like I tormented bloggers? I just mean that, in my opinion, those who write critical reviews lacking in any actual thoughtful criticism obviously have some issues they're working through from the safety of their computer desk). Instead, why don't you get out and do something great for the world? Create something meaningful. Find happiness. Because what you're doing is DISCOURAGING PEOPLE FROM READING. Even a negative review, when written well and from an open-minded perspective, can give readers insight into whether they, no matter how the reviewer feels about a book, might like it. As a librarian, I may hate some books, but I would NEVER stop someone from reading a book. I even suggest books I hate to people because who am I to say whether someone else should or should not read a book? So, Ms. Blogger, you say you'd like to get your Library Science degree? Time to start thinking like a librarian. I guess I did respond.”

Julie’s response was immature; much like a four year old would do and roll to the floor and have a tantrum. The reviewer at no time makes it personal. She points out why the book didn’t work for her and leaves it at that. And from Julie’s reaction on her blog and other’s getting wind of it, the word of mouth about Julie’s blog post started. In less than a half an hour by the time I read the post and tweeted it, it flew across twitter, where authors, bloggers and the public couldn’t stop talking about it.

We’re told actions speak louder than words. In the case of the internet and at places like Goodreads, Twitter and blogs, our words are what make us. People can’t see our actions here. Your words define you. As an author, what you writes defines you. Readers don’t really care (or that was the way it used to be) about the person writing the book. They don’t care if an author spends hours after hours writing or if they wrote the book to honor a deceased parent, pet or some heartbreaking dilemma in their lives they were able to rise above. All a reader cares is the words you pen on paper, those characters and the story and whether it resonates with them. In some cases a reader will enjoy what they read and want to share their opinion with the world. In other cases they will have such hate for a book, spit on the author’s words, and tell everyone and their mother why the book is worthless and only good for toilet paper, and the author who wrote it needs to find different employment because their writing is the worst thing they ever read.

Last night I met with an author friend who was concerned because she can’t get any reviews for her book. She’s dying for any review, good or bad, because a review means her book has gotten noticed. I think the kiss of death for an author is not having anyone talk about their book at all. I get so angry when authors, like the ones I highlighted here, bitch and moan about bad reviews. You should be grateful your book is being talked about. Out of the millions of books being published, your book was read by someone who took time out of their busy schedule to sit down and write their thoughts about what they read because you affected them in some way. That’s an amazing accomplishment for an author.

Reviews can be cruel and for the author, heartbreaking. But reviews are not for the author. They are for readers. Authors, the reviews aren’t for you! Why do you think so? Is it because a praising review is a promise of a book sale? Sorry to say that’s not the case. A promise of a book sale in some cases is an author being gracious toward a review and how they react to them in public. I can promise you that Julie Halpern and Leigh Fallon’s unneeded reactions to a lone review will hurt their sales. The public loves drama and when a public figure like an author goes off the deep end, the public will eat it up and that author has hurt their sales. You’ve accomplished what you thought that “nasty” review has done. The review didn’t do it, you did it all yourself.