Author Responds Badly To A Review, And Crosses A Line…
Thursday, February 25, 2010Posted in: Authors behaving like twits, reviews
Oh look, another author who can’t take criticism.
*Yawn*
The difference is, this author decided to take a potshot at the reviewer’s weight.
Lord.
Here’s the author’s rant in its entirety, crossing a line that no man should ever cross:
Seriously….you’re just going after me on Twitter and Good Reads now after savaging me on DarkScribe?
what is your problem with me?
the typos are LONG gone and the book has all been re-edited. That verison hasn’t been available for almost a year. I sent you that copy a year ago…you JUST got to it.
enough with the typo thing.
and can you not see that your hyper interest in woman studies and equality are tainting your ability to review a book with an even hand?
Jeesh…if you hate my characters because some are sexist or bigots…what kind of books DO you like?
and for every character you mention that is a “weak woman” or ” idiot cop” there are others to balance them out…yet you don’t even mention them.
You are the first person who has absolutely hated my book. That’s fine. If i wrote a horror novel that EVERYONE liked…i’m doing something wrong.
it’s just that your hate is coming from the wrong places.
anyway…you’ve blasted me enough. Shut up and movo on.
I can’t help but wonder if you’re pissed because the character “Janice” in my book…the one you posted an excerpt about:
“…She needed a man. Hell, maybe if she bothered to drop down below 220 lbs she might find one. That, and she’d have to not talk. Basically she’d have to become an anorexic mute and then she could possibly attract the attention of a blind man with no sense of smell.”
…Hits a little too close to home. Don’t take that out on me.
Others on good reads like my book, even with the old typos (see Monster Librarian member on here- they put Under on thier best of 2009 list…up with many published authors.)
Your opinion is fine….but don’t pretend your hate comes purely from my book….your self loathing is creeping in far more than any typos.
but hey…that’s just my opinion.
how about we both just forget about each other, okay?
Wow, he actually went there.
The self-pubbed author was a chap called Brad Quinn. Somebody needs to tell him that implying that the reviewer reacted negatively to his book because she was a fat cow who couldn’t get a man, is so not the best way to win friends and influence people.
Wanker.
Via Katiebabs’ blog.
lilitu93
February 25
5:46 pm
Must be something in the air at the moment – when I saw this post, I thought it was going to be about R. Malone (another self-published author throwing a hissy fit about bad reviews): http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1241128.html
lilitu93
February 25
5:50 pm
Must be something in the air at the moment – when I saw this post, I thought it was going to be about R. Malone (another self-published author throwing a hissy fit about bad reviews).
BTW, this is my 4th time trying to post this – I’m not getting an error, but just in case the spam filter doesn’t like the URL, go to Fandom Wank on Journalfen and it’s currently the latest post on there.
katiebabs
February 25
6:28 pm
So professional on an author’s part to make fun of a reviewer’s weight. That crosses the line.
katiebabs
February 25
6:32 pm
You mean this drama with R. Malone:
http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/2793354.html
Amarinda Jones
February 25
7:03 pm
Sad little man
Melissa Blue
February 25
7:18 pm
Oh, JF, an anon commenter, who likes the book and states all the same things the author does…yeah, we all have no idea who that is.
At this point I think authors should just say thank you for reviewing my book. (if that much)
Shannon C.
February 26
7:34 am
The weight thing goes without saying, but you gotta love his crack about how because she’s a feminist she can’t read the book and review it evenhandedly. Yep. Education ruins everything, because it helps a person develop a better understanding of when and how people can be douchebags. Up to and including the author himself. That must really stick in his craw.
Karen Scott
February 26
8:55 am
Shannon, the ‘author’ was acting like a petulant ten year old, so his comment about her not being able to review properly because of her feminist bent didn’t surprise me whatsoever.
Also, it makes me laugh how he can’t understand that reading is a subjective thing. Some people will love your book, others may hate it.
Shiloh Walker
February 26
1:04 pm
This is a rather common problem, it seems, and it’s one reason I don’t get overly bent up up bad reviews. A review is one person’s opinion. Period. Unless every single review I see tells me that Shiloh Walker’s work sucks, I’m not going to worry about it.
We all know this guy would have been better served to just ignore it, or say, “Sorry it didn’t work for you but thanks.” He didn’t and now he’s gotta deal with the fall out.
I can’t believe he actually had to go and get that personal though… whoa.
Jody W.
February 26
2:05 pm
People will do lots of things to reviewers or other internet victims if they think they can get away with it. Not that people aren’t bullies in real life, because they are there too, but the internet lets them bully with more range and frequency. It will allow someone who’d otherwise just complain to a friend (which I’m sure we all do!) or kick the dog (which I’m sure none of us do!) to attack or even do harm. People who are not even bullies in real life will bully on the internet. I hope the reviewer in question has not been hurt by this small person’s lash-out.
MichelleR
February 27
4:48 pm
Just as new authors should have a grasp of good writing tools, so should someone equip them with the knowledge that shit like this never ends well … for them.
I think there’s too much stigma attached to being self-published, but at the same time there is such a sense of entitlement among some of these authors who have very noticeably not paid their dues. The ability to self-pub shifts the responsibility to the author — there’s no automatic stage where someone looks at your story and tells you how to make it better. It’s all you, Chicky!
Until readers and writers realize they need basic respect for one another, and that a reviewer’s allegiance is to the readers, this crazy stuff is going to keep happening. And, most readers/reviewers, will be hard to win back if the copy is an effin’ mess.
Roger Saltsman
March 10
4:54 pm
Karen,
I came across your blog and the information about the guy who was unhappy with his review. I am sorry for that. A new author needs to take all inputs to heart and learn from them.
I had a review of my book Agony Hill last Fall on Self Publishing Review.com http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/blog/2009/10/07/agony-hill-by-roger-saltsman/#comments
What is showed me was I still had more to learn. You will see my post at the bottom. I was happy for the input and all other input from reviews of my book. I am re-writing my book as I write this. I have a new editor, Erin Stropes, who is great. If I don’t get published after the re-write I will self publish again and update my current listing on Amazon and AuthorHouse.
We new and hopeful authors need to pay our dues.
Roger Saltsman