Warning: this post may be filled with some comments driven by emotion. It’s probably not structured well or makes a lot of sense at times. I’m really just ranting today.
Yesterday, I sent out a small tweet that seemed to get a good response. Thanks guys. Glad for that. I meant every word too. But in the end, it still left me thinking a lot about the growing number of people being attacked at Goodreads for their reviews by authors and other readers. Personally, this is something that completely infuriates me.
In case you missed my tweet, it said:
Dear Reviewers:
I will never be an “author gone bad”. Hate me. Bash me. Idc. I still love you all anyway. Reviewers rock.
And if you don’t believe me, feel free to go to my timeline and have a look for yourself. @addiction2books
Anyways, back to the point. What brought this on? Well, in case you’ve been under a rock the past year, you’ve probably noticed a backlash of reviewers and bloggers getting attacked by some angry authors for writing negative reviews. What’s the problem with this? I’ll tell you. It’s unprofessional and tacky. These are their opinions and if they don’t like the book, that’s their prerogative. The only time an author should be upset is if a reader is blatantly attacking them on a personal level (I.e. calling an author stupid, fat, bitch) but even then, it’s called ignoring this type of behavior. To get in a hissy because someone didn’t like your book though? Grow up. You put it out there with that chance. Not everyone is going to like it. People are going to diss your characters or the way you built the fantasy world, etc. Authors do not have the right to go attacking their readers due to negative reviews because their feelings were hurt. Get over it and move on. Enjoy the positive reviews. Be thankful for the fans you have.
But Pixie, you’re an author! Don’t you see their point at all and why they get hurt by these negative reviews?
Sure. Negative reviews do hurt. Know what I do though? Laugh it off. I do not write to please everyone. I write because writing is what I love to do. Me. This is what I want to do, and I’m not going to let negative reviews bother me one bit. I completely understand everyone has different opinions. Heaven forbid that people are unique in this world! And you know what? I love seeing those reviewers express their opinions. It’s why I became a book blogger myself last year, because I wanted to share my own opinions of my love of books with other people in the awesome community of readers (and writers).
Before I continue on any longer tired, overdrawn commentary, I’ll close this.
Reviewers, keep being you. Don’t let some of the bad eggs spoil anything.
Authors who are screaming about how unfair negative reviews are: can I get you a binky?
And that’s my two-cents.
Enjoy the little things. Keep writing and reading, lovelies.
Love always,
Pixie
I totally agree with you. They shouldn't get mad b/c of negative reviews. I actually read a lot of books b/c of the negative reviews. Most of them I actually enjoy them and give the book a good rating or a review on Goodreads.
ReplyDeleteHey Tiffany!
DeleteThanks so much for visiting the blog and leaving your thoughts. :)
I'm the same way. There's been many books before in the past that I've picked up from seeing a negative review, and I ended up loving the book instead. A lot of the authors I've seen get upset over the negative reviews mainly did because they thought it would hurt their sales. Of course, this aggravates me even more because I guess I'm very passionate about writing. I could care less about the money. I care about my readers and just enjoying what I love to do. When these authors act this way, it makes me feel like they don't care at all. Instead of me now likely wanting to check out the book based on the negative review to see for myself what it's like--I probably wouldn't check it out because of their attitude. In my opinion, an attitude can sell more than reviews and many of the temper-tantrum throwing authors aren't getting this.
*sigh* I'm sorry, I just went off on another rant again. Needless to say, this issue has just been bothering me a lot lately. I think reviewers have every right to be entitled to their opinions, no matter how snarky or "possibly bashing" they may be coming across as--just as authors shouldn't be sitting around worrying about these negative reviews like it's the end of the world.
Thanks so much again for coming by. :)
<3
Pixie
THANK YOU!!! One of my very first reviews for my blog, which has only been up just over a month, got me a nasty email from the author, basically telling me my review was "worthless" because it was outside my usual genre. I stated that in the review, so people would take my thoughts with a grain of salt. Forgive me if I wanted to try something else out.
ReplyDeleteYou just got a new follower. :-)
I'm sorry to hear that you were treated that way. Sometimes I go outside my usual genres too when reading because I like to try new things. I've had both good and bad experiences with this. And if I'd never attempted to do this, I would have never read The Hunger Games a couple years ago, which ended up sparking my insane love for Dystopian. So, for that author to strike at you for attempting something different--when you even stated it in your review--was a bit low if you ask me. But oh well, right? I think we just have to learn to shake off the bad attitudes like that. :P
DeleteThank you! :)
Thank you, awesome post! It sparked an amazing conversation too :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! :) Haha, I posted this article earlier today after constantly hearing and reading about this kind of stuff the last several months, but what really started the conversation today was when Kara shared a link of another blogger's post about a similar discussion going on with a Goodreads' author. (not an author behaving badly either- an author getting heat on her own negative review that she wrote against another author's book).
DeleteIt just all bugs me in general. Everyone is entitled to their opinions when reviewing is the simple way I look at it. I think this topic shouldn't even be debated anymore. But I'm sure no matter what, it's still going to happen because there's always bad seeds out there. Haha.
Thanks so much for coming by, too! :)