I have been mulling over this blog post for several years now. A review
of a review (yes, such a thing exists) has prompted me to finally put my
thoughts into words. I am sorry that it's so long. Anyone who knows me,
knows I can't say anything quickly. =)
Authors are a group of people that I love working for. They are amazing,
talented, wonderful people. But every once in a while an author comes
along that makes me grit my teeth and roll my eyes. People like these
tend to be the apple that spoils things for the whole bunch.
When I first started reviewing I received an email from an author that
just warmed my heart. She has agreed to let me share a bit with you.
There is
no possible way I can adequately express my thanks and appreciation for
your time and attentions to my novel. I can tell you for certain that
you are a dream reader for any author! Not only in light of your stellar
review, but your super prompt reading and then sharing your thoughts at
lightening speed -- well, no question, you're positively awesome!! You
must know that I am both humbled and thrilled by your review and thank
you, thank you for taking the time and trouble to put it out there.
I
am not a writer. And yet this lady was so sweet and gracious about my
first fumbling attempts to write about her book. It was a great book, I
certainly didn't lie. But my writing such as it is now, was even more
feeble then. SHE was a dream to work with. I have since worked with
other authors who I would love, love, love to meet. If they are as nice
in person as they are in print then I know I'd love to be friends with
them. I might have even gotten a bit giddy to get a friend request from
them. =)
But
there have been a couple of bad apples and this is my frustration now. I
will be very careful to make sure that their names are not revealed.
But I have to vent my frustrations. And lucky you, you get to hear about
them. =)
I
received some books a while back from an author. She was very difficult
from the very beginning. I'd been promised a hard copy by the
publicist. And yet weeks later, no book. Finally the author emailed me
with a request to send an ebook. I replied "no thank you" to which I never
received a response. Another week goes by and I get a message on my
phone. She'd gotten my phone number from the publicist and had called to
try to persuade me to take an ebook. Apparently part of her contract
was she be the one to mail the books to reviewers. And she didn't want
to swing for the postage. I told her my kindle was not working properly
and I wanted my hard copy. She reluctantly agreed to send the book. She ended up sending 2 books, one of which I did not request from the publicist. It was THIS book that I wrote the review for.
I
hated the book, and felt it to be poorly written. But I know that an
author puts their heart and soul into a book and I knew several of my
reading friends would overlook the issues I had and might even enjoy it.
So I very carefully wrote the review and gave it 3 stars. Here is the
review. The only changes (italicized) are made so as to make the book
anonymous.
The story jumps right in and gives the reader a view into their
personalities. But after arriving at the location it seems to
lag a bit. She has a forceful personality that might annoy some
readers. Towards the middle/end of the story it picks up and gives some
conflict and drama. The story ends with all of the loose ends neatly
tied up. I appreciated the Christian way that several of the issues in
the book were handled. While probably not my favorite style of writing, I
can definitely see why this story will appeal to Christian fiction
readers.
Here is the email that she sent me.
Thanks for your review of *, but what I'd like you to consider
is that I personally pay for the books I send to readers (unlike the
books published by the big publishers), I tried to e-mail you and
then spoke with you personally on the phone. While I can certainly
understand not everyone will like my characters and my stories, I'm
disappointed and very hurt not to mention feel slapped in the face.
Because this is a case where I personally invested myself in it, I wish
you simply would not have reviewed it. I wish you the best, but feel
free not to read or review any more of my books.
When
I didn't respond (I was floored since I thought I'd done a decent job
of stating my opinion without being mean), she sent this email.
You should consider removing your reviews for *. I won't write to you again, and
believe me, I've never had to write to a reader like this. But it's so
upsetting and unbelievable to me that you soundly trashed one of them. If
you didn't like it, then simply don't review it. I won't bother you
again, and I'm sorry you obviously feel I wasted your time. In spite of
it all, I wish you the best and thanks for reading Christian fiction.
I
do wish you God's richest blessings but please prayerfully consider my
request. It HURTS small published authors such as myself --
professionally and personally -- to have such low-rated reviews, and
especially in this particular case because of the reasons previously
stated.
I
wasn't sure how to respond. I asked several friends of mine, including
some authors and they all felt I was dealing with a crazy author and to
just leave everything as it was. About a month later I get this comment
on my review.
this person did not have to trash the authors book, she could of been nicer in her veview, i hope its taken down
This
person used their real name and it took me about 10 seconds to trace
them back to the author. Ironically enough, it was an another author who
was friends with this particular author. Ugh! What is wrong with these
people? Can't you take constructive criticism? The book was, honestly,
very poorly written. I've read everything the author wrote and she just
doesn't have the gift. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but in
reality I felt the book deserved a 2 star at best.
Fast
forward to tonight. Amazon shoots me an email every time someone
comments on my reviews. They also let me know if I get a "helpful" or
"not helpful" vote on my review. I received two emails. Both of them say
the EXACT same thing. One is by a person with the name of Jane Eyre.
The other is the author. I go to Amazon and see the comment by Jane. The
author one has been deleted. Clearly the author is writing under
another name to slam reviews on her book. I then receive an email that
these two people have have given my review "non helpful" votes.
Seriously lady?!
Her
book was a * self-help book. It was clear by her writing that she felt
her way of doing things was the one and only way. The people who did not
follow her plan were stupid and unfit to be *. I disagreed with quite a
few things she said, but was able to find several redeeming thoughts as
well. So I wrote the review accordingly. I know of several people that
would agree wholeheartedly with what she wrote, so I couldn't diss the
book. It wasn't the writing style, it was the topic that I didn't like.
So I gave the book 4 stars and moved on. The author, in an argumentative
tone, wrote a snarky review of my review. She basically said my review
was worthless unless I said exactly what I disagreed with. Maybe she's
right. But why hide that it was the author? Why give me 2 negative
votes? It's clearly the same person, so that was cheating in my book.
I'll be honest - I thought long and hard about saying why I disagreed
with the book. But the tone of the book made it very clear that the
author was the type to start an argument with anyone who didn't agree
with her and I thought to hold off such childishness by not being
specific. Turns out I was right about the argumentative, but my methods
didn't work.
Despite
the ugliness of some people, I feel like I can't leave you with a bad
taste in your mouth. So here is some more from another special author.
I
have the awesome privilege of being on her launch team. This was a post
she wrote a couple of weeks ago. Such a beautiful person, inside and
out!
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of
you, I always pray with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel
from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began
a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of
Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 1:3-6
For my launch teamers this Sunday - I hope you know how much I
appreciate each and every one of you! I know we're not sharing the
Gospel in the sense that Paul is talking about in these verses, but I do
believe we are ministering together. My prayer is that as a team, we
can reach out to readers who are hurting and broken, and point them to
the only One who can bring healing and wholeness! Love to you all!
So
in conclusion - even though I have had some negative issues with
authors and am still unsure how to proceed when they act juvenile and
childish, I love my authors. They provide me entertainment, different
views of the world, vacations from reality, inspiration to do/be better,
and the chance to meet amazing people.
Thank you authors! You guys are the best!
