Who Is Unprofessional Here? Part 2
A few weeks back, I wrote about author Sylvia Massara who decided to berate two bloggers and call them unprofessional for posting negative reviews of her book.
One of my reviewers, Jennifer Jensen, brought another instance of a disgruntled author to my attention. BigAl of BigAl’s Books and Pals posted a review of The Greek Seaman by Jacqueline Howett. He wrote that the story was compelling and interesting, but that the book was full of spelling and grammar mistakes. See his review here.
Jacqueline Howett took to attacking BigAl’s review resulting in 307 comments on the post. At first, she posted other reviews from Amazon that gave the book 4 and 5 stars (in reality, there are only a few 5 star reviews and dozens of 1 star reviews). When other readers responded with support for BigAl, Ms Howett responded with even more ridiculous comments. Here are some snippets:
“Look AL, I’m not in the mood for playing snake with you, what I read above has no flaws. My writing is fine.“
“And please follow up now from e-mail. This is not only discusting and unprofessional on your part, but you really don’t fool me AL. Who are you any way? Really who are you? What do we know about you? You never downloaded another copy you liar! You never ever returned to me an e-mail. Besides if you want to throw crap at authors you should first ask their permission if they want it stuck up on the internet via e-mail. That debate is high among authors. Your the target not me! Now get this review off here!”
“You are a big rat and a snake with poisenous venom. Lots of luck to authors who come here and slip in that!”
Yes, words like these will really get your books sold. BigAl stopped responding to her tirade after making a post with his thoughts on negative book reviews. Ms Howett, on the other hand, kept going.
Now, I truly enjoy working with self-published/independent authors and welcome their books for review. To date, I’ve never had to deal with an author’s wrath after posting a negative review. However, I think that authors like Jacqueline Howett and Sylvia Massara truly sour book bloggers on accepting self-published books, and quite a few choose not to. After all, you never see blockbuster authors like James Patterson or Jodi Picoult attacking bloggers for negative reviews. And believe me, they do get criticized just as often as as self-published authors. Could it be that they’ve grown thicker skins over the years and learned to accept criticism as part of the job? Or do some (and I say some because most authors are a joy to work with, and Howett and Massara are truly a minority) self-published authors feel more invested in their brain child?
Thoughts?
Update: Since Jennifer pointed out that many of the reviewers on Amazon did not actually appear to have read the book (see her comment below) before leaving bad reviews, I decided that I’d be best to review The Greek Seaman here so we can really know what we’re talking about. I purchased the Kindle book for Jennifer, who agreed to read it, so watch out for our review – coming soon!
Category: Etc.
[...] a week ago, I wrote about author Jacqueline Howett, who took to attacking a book blogger for a negative review of her [...]
Hi,
I came here having read and commented on Matt Plourde’s blog piece about professionalism and I can’t remember exactly what I wrote there, so I’ll have to paraphrase it…
I winced all the way through that particular reviewer/author slanging match.
Not only at her unprofessional comments and terrible spelling and grammar (although I suspect a lot of that was due to her rage), but at the responses that were posted to her comments.
The commentary certainly egged the author on to a meltdown long after the reviewer had switched off. and it made me feel sick.
It reminded me a lot of what happened in the Authonomy forums over a couple of particularly volatile authors on the site and I feel it is incredibly childish to make things worse.
I’m an Indie Author and a Webzine Editor – I know how fragile some people’s egos can be and I want to help people rather than hurt them, so when I review, I post the positives on my site and contact the author directly with the negatives.
I don’t do star ratings (although 3 out of five I would consider to be a good one) and I will always say if I recommend the book as one to buy. I’ve been lucky so far – the books have been worth buying!
Great Blog, I’ll come back here again!
Well, it appears the blogosphere already linked my post below this one automagically. Thank you, internet gnomes!
Chiming in as a self-published writer, I’m saddened everytime I see something like this. In fact, I just blogged about “professionalism.” (Link below)
I do hope the unwashed masses of self-pubbers flooding the market (and blog reviewer’s inboxes) don’t turn you off to the group as a whole. Some of us are okay people!
Matthew C. Plourde recently posted..Are you a self-published writer Be professional
[...] April 2, 2011 by matthewcplourde I’ve orbitally mentioned this concept in a few of my blog posts and I think it’s time for a dedicated advice post. What spurred this? Several things, really. My own journey as a writer, observations and great insights by people like Vera over at LuxuryReading.com. [...]
I haven’t read the book, nor do I know Al or the author…but I just had to laugh when I saw the word “your” when I think it should’ve been you are
This is the problem with the internet. People do not realize that what they write stays around forever. If you do not want negative comments than do not ask people to review or work or write anything at all. Did you copy the quote above because is a spelling error. On one hand what is good for the goose is good for the gander but personally I do not think that authors should be getting up in arms and insulting people over their reviews. These reviews are an opinion not the gospel. Are any of us that compelling that we are going to impact the sales of their books?
I used the quotes above because they were particularly crazy, but yet, the spelling errors are there too!
I wonder if these authors would have the same things to say to the bloggers face? Being online gives people a level of comfort knowing it’s not an actual face to face confrontation. People type a whole lot more than they will say in person.
Thankfully I have never experienced this situation, but it makes me wary to accept a self-published book. Looking forward to Jen’s honest, unbiased review
And thanks for getting these hot topics out in the public.
Jennygirl recently posted..Suddenly Sunday March 20
Unbelievable. I can see how this kind of reaction would make book bloggers leery to review self-published books. The author could have handled it better.
Stacie recently posted..Book Review- The Butterfly
I don’t think most poeple would have had a problem with her commenting about the review. It’s the way she commented and the F-bombs, the other cursing and putting the reviewer down just because he gave her a less than stellar review.
If she had let him and others know in a civil way that she didn’t agree with his review…I think that would have gone over a lot better.
Mary Kirkland recently posted..How Many Giveaways do You Enter
Oh boy, I’d like to be around when that firestorm starts! I hope Ms. Howett has learned her lesson by now and won’t be leaving those kinds of comments on your review of her book. But hey, even if she does, great way to get some traffic!
I’ll be looking forward to reading your review.
Kate {The Parchment Girl} recently posted..Giveaway In the Land of Believers by Gina Welch
I am shocked and appalled but happy she made a fool of herself. I am working on my grammar but I am no where close to being an author and when I say my writing is fine I hope I am not being “discusting” lmao, that error alone had me in laugh out loud, seriously, wow.
Marce recently posted..What are We Reading – Monday
I’m really disappointed in a lot of the commenters’ reactions, though. In next to no time at all, many of them had wandered over to Amazon and given a 1-star review to her book. It was obvious in several of the reviews that they hadn’t actually read any of her writing (aside from comments she wrote and the info on her blog) and were just quoting the same two sentences that BigAl used for examples in his review.
I don’t think that most of them review books regularly like some of us here do, but whether they realize it or not, their actions can reflect negatively on book bloggers. I’ve seen a lot of posts recently about the credibility of book bloggers, and if a more popular one were to join in and post a review, there would definitely be some heated discussion going on about that.
BigAl is allowed his opinion, but Jacqueline Howett is allowed one as well. I don’t agree at all over how she handled this. But there are no written rules on how an author should act over a review. Some people say, “don’t comment at all on the review, even if it’s a positive one.” Still others say, “just say thanks for the review and your time and move on”. In big publishing houses, the publicists might be the ones dealing with the hysterical authors, and I’m sure they’d talk some sense into them before they went around posting on reviews.
A lot of not so great things came about because of this review. A woman had a meltdown. Commenters purposefully left bad reviews for a book they didn’t read (some say they did actually download the book and read it all, but there’s no Amazon verified purchase note above their reviews). Both sides of the fence handled things poorly (except for BigAl–I don’t find any fault with his comments or his subsequent post).
Sometimes it takes a thick skin to be a reviewer, as well. I’ve seen reviewers get attacked for writing negative reviews on books that all previous reviewers LOVED.
Jen recently posted..February Pick- Handmaids Tale
Here’s my proposal Jen: I will buy The Greek Seaman for your Kindle and if you’re willing to read it and write a review. That way, we’ll see what all the fuss is about.
It’s happened to me once, the author didn’t appreciate my honest review. I personally thought his book was filled with gripes about women and how they are all generalized into only loving money. He decided to rip me a new one, but honestly, his opinion is one in one hundred million. Which means it is insignificant. Let it roll off like the dust speck it is and continue with your own way.
Oh and do not read Gold Digger Nation by Hal Roback. He is a very bitter man.
Freda recently posted..Teaser Tuesday
Oh my! How does she have so much energy to do all of this? Get a life! There is so much venom in what she says. I see not an ounce of consideration for the other person in her.
When I review a book, is all my opinion, this tirade makes me very sad.
Carol Wong
Please excuse me for a second while I stop laughing hysterically! Did anyone else notice her spelling and grammar issues in her tirade? I burst into laughter when she said he was “discusting” and nothing was wrong with her writing
. I really don’t know what these authors are trying to accomplish by putting down and ridiculing the book bloggers who get their names out to the public. Do they just not know that the reader is who buys the books that allow them to be a writer for a living? Do they really think insulting readers is the way to make their name in the literary world? Thank you for giving me my laugh for the day!
I agree – WOW!!!
I am so glad I have not had to deal with that.
I have had to give not so great reviews a few times and one Author actually commented and thanked me for being honest and said her books are not for everyone!
I guess not all Authors are not that nice.
wall-to-wall books-wendy recently posted..The Canary List- by Sigmund Brouwer review & giveaway
Oh, my. I just read some of her responses. She is a complete and total fruitcake. She is ranting and raving and not making any sense at all. Oh, she just threw in a couple f-bombs.
Jen recently posted..Dream Big Little Pig
All I can say is wow. The author who was reviewed has done quite a disservice to herself. Whenever something like this happens and it does happen sometimes…this is the third time I’ve seen things like this on review blogs…other reviewers and readers refuse to buy, read, review and even tell others they know not to buy anything from these crazy authors.
The blog reviewers are a huge group of people and when you piss one off so many others find out about it and post links to the author going crazy about a review so that everyone else can see. Just look at this one it’s gone viral. It’s everywhere. I saw this post on a forum this morning that has nothing to do with books. And it’s all over twitter.
I’ve reviewed a few books on my blog and I know from experience that what is in a review is just the opinion of the person doing the review and even if I get a book for free and am asked to review it, which has happened…most authors know not to expect a good review just because they give the book away for free.
Reviewers read the book and write a review based on their opinions. Everyone has a different opinion and not everyone is going to like everything they read. But an author who comes back and makes nasty comments on a less than 5 star review is doing themselves a great disservice.
The problem with society. We don’t teach our kids to properly handle confrontation (or to ignore things). When you handle it badly you come out looking like a crazy nutcase.
Sara recently posted..Play All Day
These train wrecks by authors are mesmerizing. I cannot imagine losing my composure in such a way, or reaching such a delusional state that a meltdown would seem like rational discourse.
My list of authors to avoid is growing at an alarming rate.
Rabid Fox recently posted..The WIN THESE FIVE Zombie Books Giveaway BONUS
amazing… downright amazing….
Shannan/girlsinthestacks.com recently posted..Waiting on Wednesday- Divergent