Some musings on "meltdowns"/"tantrums" due to "bad" reviews

I started writing this article in 2011.  At the time, there had been several very public author meltdowns, and they seemed to be more and more frequent.  Thankfully, I now see that they are not the "thing" anymore, and indie authors (who were usually the main perpetrators) have assumed a more professional attitude and take those "mean"/"bad" reviews in stride by not reacting.  Though meltdowns are not frequent or restricted to the romance genre, as thankfully most authors with more than two brain cells either vent to their friends/family in private, rant in a private venue, or choose some other discreet venue, they were happening back then with a certain frequency in multiple genres/sub-genres.

Of course most meltdowns have to do with reviews or lack thereof.  Some of these ranty, FU expressions of displeasure involved "bad" reviews, the operative word here being "bad".  You see, some of these people have blown up on a very public way about allegedly "bad" reviews they received.  Now, that wouldn't be a problem if the reviews read like this one.  That particular review caused a stir online a few years ago.  Frankly, I still cringe when I think about it.  Though the reviewer was definitely not attacking the author personally, it was so incredibly harsh that I was a quite shocked.  I think that was the first time (aside from Mrs. Giggles' reviews) that I read a review of that nature.  I'd never be able to write any reviews like that.   And yes, I've hated books that much, but not even if the book was a purchase, would I be able to do that.  It's not in me.  But I digress.  (The author of that book is no more, her website is down.  The publishing company, Ellora's Cave, is not in business anymore.  Just an FYI).

The reviews being complained about that I am talking about were actually quite well thought out reviews, non-insulting, definitely not harsh; and the reader of the review could tell that the reviewer was struggling when writing the review .  The reviewers even gave some good points to the book, and explained what didn't work for them. 

That being said, I am a former reviewer and it's things like meltdowns what keep me from returning to that activity in any significant (for me) way.  I now stick to this blog when I want to make public commentary about a book, or stick to the FB groups I belong to. 

Goodreads and assorted thoughts on reviews

Here I am, still trying to get into Goodreads, if not for anything else, at least to keep an online catalog of my books.  I never felt particularly inclined to "friend" anyone though now I have a few people in my "friends" list.   I pretty much gave up on trying to import my whole collection of titles using Calibre, but I am going to try again.  I have well over 3500 ebooks (and I am not done yet "organizing" the collection).  I really don't feel like manually entering those that are not "recognized" by their search engines.  In short, I have been organizing the collection in my own computer using Calibre.

And now to the topic of reviews in Goodreads.  The reviews system in Goodreads reminds me too much of the system in Amazon.  Anyone can up vote or down rate a book, books that are not even out yet are either given 5-star ratings or 1-star ratings, people post as a review an actual complaint about the formatting of a book or any random thought based not on their having read the books, but rather on personal opinions based on a blurb, or a cover, or whatever.  A lot of people love Goodreads, they find it useful, they are active in the communities, etc.  I don't have enough time in the day to tend to all of my personal interests as I work full time and have a husband, so I have to admit I haven't gotten into any of the actual communities/groups, there.

All this being said, there is a further element that has been putting me off, that element is author meltdown.  A few years back, there seemingly was an increased number of author meltdowns, particularly by self-published individuals.  One of those meltdowns ended up in what has to be the most disturbing online author v. reviewer incident I've had the misfortune of witnessing in my 20 years of my being online.  I don't know what has happened to the poor reviewers that were viciously attacked in that incident, I suspect some may not even review as they used to any longer.  Other reviewers in the blogger communities had a rather nasty wake up call as well.

There are a couple posts online that are very well written and do a great job of explaining things.  My favorite can be found here.  DA has an epic thread here, though sadly, the comments thread seems to be broken.  I think every major romance-related and YA blog dedicated articles to the incident at the time.

Some people tried to "justify" the actions of the authors involved in the creation of the nasty, bullying website (which no longer exists as it originally was, by the way, as they "sanitized" it substantially with the bad backlash they received, not to mention threats of legal action against them).  The argument was that people should write "nicer" reviews, that the reviewers "brought it upon themselves" because they were rude.  The reviewers (all participant in Goodreads) were also accused of creating mobs of followers and "harassing and bullying authors in Goodreads", etc.

This is the incident that ended up making me decide that Goodreads was not for me.  A site in which you are supposed to be able to share your thoughts and opinions about books you read, civilly of course,  ending up being controlled by "special snowflake" types of authors is not the place for me.  This is also what caused my decision to stick to writing my reviews in either Amazon (yes, even after what I said above about Amazon) or here, if I ever feel the need to review anything.  I was a reviewer for years, but frankly, things have changed from how they used to be back when I still reviewed, and I don't give a fig about any author whose work I review giving me grief because he/she didn't like what I said, no matter how politely I have expressed the thoughts.  My opinion is: if you put your book out there for all the world to see, IT'S ON YOU if you end up with a review from someone that hated it.  No amount of tantrums and bullying is going to change that fact.  It has always been like that since books became mainstream centuries ago.  Even Jane Austen and Charles Dickens received horrible reviews.  My advice to those types of authors: DEAL WITH IT OR WRITE FOR YOURSELF.  If your work is good enough it will survive anything thrown at it.

Reviewing is not easy, no matter where your review is "published": a blog, a website, Goodreads, Amazon, etc.  Reviewing styles are as varied as writing styles.  Some reviewers are very blunt and unapologetic about it, others prefer to use more tact.  If a reader buys a book and gets sorely disappointed in it, and wants to share his/her opinion online, no one can tell the person not to do so and, much less, how to do so.  Period.  Again, you write a book and decide to put it out there... It's ON YOU, so deal with it and own it.  The rest of us don't owe you anything and you should be thankful that we even bothered to get your book.  I don't know when the dynamic started changing (some would blame millennials, though I know better), but it is plain wrong and does no favors to readers like me, who are constantly looking for new authors to love.

Authors "rebelling"?

I started to write this post months ago, but the topic resurfaces every once in a while so I am going ahead and publishing it:

As I was doing my blogs round a couple of months ago, I stumbled on this post at Karen Knows Best.  When I proceeded to visit the blog she linked to, my first reaction was to wonder what was the author on.  Incidentally, bear in mind that what is up now, is NOT the original post that started the flame war.  Knowing that the author was either going to delete it or modify it, I took screen shots for my own use, for comparison purposes if needed.

I have to say that it definitely was not the first time I read ignorant and shortsighted remarks, as it pertains to reviews, coming from an author.  However, as usual, what got to me was the use of sweeping generalizations, and in particular, the fact that, once again, readers in general were pretty much being insulted. 

As I read the comments section (and added my .2 cents worth because, you know, I am not opinionated or anything) I kept seeing a few author posts supporting the above writer.  The common argument in those replies: that how come bloggers can say whatever they want about a book, and yet when an author calls foul on the reviews, the bloggers get in a tizzy.  Though I do see their point, I also think that they are MISSING the point themselves... actually, I don't even think that they realize how that argument truly sounds and that that particular argument has nothing to do with the rights to voice opinions.  That argument is nothing but a lame attempt at a diversionary tactic to distract attention from the REAL issues at bar, which are:  (1) that readers (ALL of them, including authors) have the right to their opinions and (2) that they have the right to voice and share those opinions if they so feel inclined.  As the saying goes, opinions are like a**holes ... everyone has one.. and frankly, these authors do need to grow a thicker skin.  They can scream, then can come up with "counter-reviews" (nevermind that the latest complaints have been about reviews that, from an objective third party point of view, were pretty good), they can insult reviewers and come up with all sorts of lame arguments ... the fact remains that everyone has the right to their opinion and to voice it however they deem fit, and they don't owe it to anyone to be "nice".

Personally speaking, I can't write a harsh review, but that is me, I am just one individual.  However, I wouldn't go around trying to force my PERSONAL POINT OF VIEW and CHOICES on others. Furthermore, as it now has become evident, even perfectly civil and carefully worded reviews are now being lambasted by some authors, so really, why should anyone care to be "nice" when writing a review when it will be damned if you do and damned if you don't ... I will continue writing my reviews however I feel like it, right now they are civil and even if I hated the book, I'll not go on a frenzy, however, I can not guarantee that I will always be "civil".  Since I am a tiny guppy in an ocean of big name blogs, no one will notice, so I don't really care ... but still, I want to make the point across that I have the right to voice my opinion however and whenever I deem fit, and no lame argument is going to stop me from doing so... and much less, when the lame argument includes scathing and insulting gross generalizations about readers and/or reviewers in general.