I belong to a couple of Yahoo groups for cozy authors. One subject that’s been hot on the boards lately is the way some authors argue with their readers on (mostly) Amazon.
It’s almost like the social media phenomenon, which has resulted in a casual relationship with our readers via Facebook and Twitter, has gotten authors in the mood to fight back when a reader gives a negative review.
I think it’s a really bad idea.
Usually, if a reader doesn’t enjoy your book then they’re honestly writing a review of what they personally didn’t like. It’s almost a buyer-beware type post—a note to the reading community: “Hey, if you’re like me and you don’t like this particular thing in a novel, then you might not like this book either.”
Honest dialogue on your book should be happening. You want people discussing your novel, good or bad. If people are talking about your book, then they’re reading it.
There is absolutely nothing gained, in my opinion, by trying to debate someone who doesn’t like your novel. There are plenty of books that have been well-reviewed that I didn’t enjoy: maybe they were really graphically violent, or had lots of long, descriptive passages…whatever. People have a right to their opinion. Every book isn’t right for every reader.
And, yes, then you do have the other kind of reader. They’re sometimes a little flaky. They might say things that don’t reflect an objective, professional-sounding review—they might even be downright mean. They could say something really odd about how your book promotes a particular political bent (when it doesn’t) or that you had an environmental agenda or were anti-vegan, or whatever.
But these aren’t professional reviewers. And they’re not expert readers/critics like book bloggers who review books daily. They’re not writers who express themselves well. They’re regular readers.
And if you start arguing with these people about how your book doesn’t espouse any kind of an agenda, then you’re just going to look bad. I can’t think of a time when it would be worth the author’s time to counterattack.
Because the reviewers will frequently write back to argue your points. And then you’ve pulled attention away from your book and made yourself look unprofessional to boot.
The worst case scenario is when an author really flips out…like Alice Hoffman did last year. She got so upset with a reviewer (and this was a professional newspaper reviewer) that she posted the critic’s phone number on Twitter and asked her readers to call the critic and complain about the negative review.
Of course authors feel very protective about their books. There’s so much of ourselves in every one of them, and we put many hours into books that can be read in a fraction of the time it took us to pen them.
I’ve seen quite a few authors jumping in to defend their novels.
But to me, when we enter into the fray, we’re drawing attention to the negative review, making ourselves look unprofessional, and certainly not convincing the reader to change their mind about the book. What’s gained?
Very well said, Elizabeth! Any author who cannot take criticism of their work needs to get out of the biz. When you write, you expose yourself to the public and you have to be willing and able to take the hard lumps with the lumps of sugar. Alice Hoffman’s behavior was absolutely shameful.
Yeah, I think that what Hoffman did was a bit out of line. People can feel what they want about a book and should feel free to voice their opinions.
The only thing I don’t agree with is if you don’t like a book, don’t bash the author with prejudice or slurring comments. Don’t attack them.
ann
I agree, Elizabeth – authors can’t win when they argue with readers. As Corra said, a negative review is only an opinion. Of course we’re protective of our work and I’d be lying if I said that a negative review doesn’t hurt, but there’s absolutely nothing to be gained by responding to those reviews.
I figure these reviewers just never had their mothers teach them that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all….
Some people just try to be different when reviewing. They want to always seem to know more than the writer in some cases. I think for the most people the average reader knows this and doesn’t pay attention to what they’ve said. I’m sure it has to be hard for a writer to read a bad review and not do something. My suggestion would be find out about the reviewer and make them the victim in the next book. That way the writer has an outlet for the emotions they are feeling toward them. :) Besides I know of a couple of reviewers when they say something is bad and not worth reading, I run out and get it because I know I’m going to like it.
Totally agree with you. I haven’t had the pleasure yet to sell work on Amazon, but when I do, I’ll do what I did in retail: smile! (The customer is always right. Ha!)
People form their own conclusions about the work they read. A negative review here and there is only opinion. The best way to pull attention from the negativity is to rack up more good reviews after it. :)
(Glad you’re feeling better!)
Corra
from the desk of a writer
Elizabeth – I agree 100%! Hoffman was, as everyone else is already saying, completely out of line. As you say, authors do feel protective about their books; I know that I do. I also believe that people who do give negative feedback need to do so in a professional and non-personal way. There’s no need for invective on either side. The whole point is better books, and that’s not accomplished with vituperative.
Elizabeth you are so right on so many levels. We do love our words. Sometimes we take it very personally when another doesn’t like what we have written and is critical. But here’s the thing – the reader is the consumer. He or she is buying the book. Shouldn’t we be gracious. The consumer is allowed his or her opinion – just like me.
Really good advice, Elizabeth. It’s never worth entering into an argument with some people – and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
What’s surprising to me is that I still hear about authors doing this occasionally, even after the much-publicized blowouts. Why? Are they older authors unfamiliar with the fact that in a flame war, everyone loses? On teh internets, silence is almost always the best response to unconstructively negative comments.
Yes, Elizabeth! Our feelings of self-worth and our belief in the works we produce need to be free from what others may feel and think. And that means free from high praise and low. And our books will have to stand up for themselves on the playground – we can’t follow them like neurotic mothers telling the bullies to get lost. We have to let them stand on their own sturdy legs with their own pals (the positive readers, the publishers etc…) and defend themselves with their own strength. If we enter the market place we must trust it – or at least trust it ENOUGH.
Well said, Elizabeth. This is one reason I state over and over that I don’t review. I will allow authors on to talk about their books an the like, but I do not review books. I have my opinion, and I have strong ones. But I want to build readership, not turn it away. And I believe in multiple viewpoints. If something I write angers one person and sends joy through another, I am just happy that it made each of them feel.
I wasn’t aware of this recent phenomenon (though something tells me we could find instances stretching back over time as well). Craziness!
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
I agree with this, and at the same time I understand an author’s frustration, especially with the reviews that are just plain lowdown & mean. I have two of these about my recently published novel. One on a book review blog, the other on Amazon. I would never consider responding or commenting to either person, but I understand the desire to “fight back” or to at least ask, What’s up? Why did you hate this so much? And don’t you know you’re wrong about everything. Most of all I want to say, “Did you really feel you had to trash my novel publicly? Hurting me and hurting sales in the process? Why not just figure you won’t love every book and move on to the next one. Why target mine in such a vicious way?”
That’s what I want to say, but I won’t.
Yeah, the Hoffman thing went all over the web – and she’s the one who looked foolish.
You can’t argue with opinion.
I have corrected a reviewer before though – privately and successfully. She’d written than all of the books in my series were over 400 pages in length, when the one she’d reviewed was the longest of the bunch at 360 pages. I asked that she change the number, as it was an incorrect fact, and she did.
Additionally, there’s the “get all my non-writer friends to jump on the reviewer thing” that probably seems like an OK idea at the time but is not. People aren’t so naive that they don’t know why suddenly there are a huge number of criticisms of the person who wrote the negative review in the first place. (There’s a forensic crime writer who’s famous–or infamous–for that.)
I agree, Elizabeth. A negative or even slightly negative review can hurt because the author has such a high stake in the book. The reviewer does not. This puts them at an advantage. If you start trying to fight back or to hurt the reviewer as you feel you’ve been hurt, you will lose. Your stance is weaker because for you it’s personal. Move on. It’s one person’s opinion. For every one negative review, there will be ten or fifty readers who like your book. Focus on those people.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Nothing is gained, absolutely nothing. Some months ago I ran into an argument between a writer and a blog friend. Not only did the writer blow the fuse, but he continued butting in whenever my friend discussed the book on other blogs. It was extremely unpleasant, and I decided never, ever to read any of his books.
It is okay for the writer to rant about the stupid reviewers at home in their own kitchen, but doing it publicly seems petty, sometimes even vindictive.
I, too, think you are absolutely right. Opinions about books are inevitably subjective.
Great post! There are so many different types of readers out there that not everyone is going to like your book. Even authors with millions of fans (Rowling, Myer, Brown…) have plenty of people who hate their work. There is no arguing personal opinion. It’s personal! But a writer shouldn’t take it personally. Write for yourself and readers like you; that’s all you can do.
This is no business for the thin skinned. It’s an art, and artists will always have critics. I once stumbled across a blog that somebody had read my first book, I Romanced the Stone, and had published a scathing review of it, not only downing me as a horrible writer, but attacking me personally as a fake and a very bad person. Never met her in my life. Thank god it was a little known blog and she never posted it on Amazon! It hurt, but then I took the source into account and got over it.
That sort of thing comes with the territory, hmm? Enjoyed your thoughts on it.
Hey Elisabeth, when you comment on my blog and hyperlink your signature, when I click on it it always takes me to this older post of yours. Any idea why? No problem, I just delete the permalink part of the url and find your current post, but you might be losing some daily traffic if peeps click on that link and think you haven’t posted since then.
Then again, with all the comments you get everyday, it can’t be
THAT big of a problem! lol
Just curious and thought you might want to know.
Marvin D Wilson
Taking notes now – don’t argue with reviewers!
Sue Ann–You’re so right. We’ve got to be tough or else we’re not going to cut it. Not sure what Hoffman was thinking! With all her success, a bad review shouldn’t have hurt too badly.
Ann–Some people do make it very personal. I’ve seen Amazon take those down sometimes, though. A personal attack on an author is really out of line.
Corra–Exactly. If we don’t say anything then we’ve minimized it, in a way. We’ve shown it hasn’t hurt us (even if it has!) And then hope for some good reviews after that one.
Ingrid–Their mamas didn’t do well by them, you’re right! Or maybe they just need to sleep on a negative review and think of a better way to state their displeasure with a novel.
Simon–I think some of them are older…but a couple of the ones that I know do it are just inexperienced and short tempered. And they don’t seem to realize their words are going to live FOREVER out there in cyberspace.
Jan–What a great analogy! You’re absolutely right…we can’t be there to stand up for our baby against the world. It’s got to be able to stand on its own. Being defensive makes our novel look weak and in *need* of defending.
Mason–I like that idea! Or maybe make them the killer? :) Nice stress relief! Good for you for buying the books that bad reviewers dislike!
Karen–It can be very hurtful. I think most writers can be really insecure about their writing. And here we’ve done all this work…sigh. I’ve worked on developing an emotional distance from my books–mostly by focusing on the next one that I’m writing. And then, I know people who never read their reviews. But I’ve found that most of them have some piece of constructive criticism that I can consider when writing the next novel.
Diane–I think that’s a great way to handle it. You found something that was factually incorrect and you asked the reviewer, privately, to correct it.
Laura–No, you’re right–it really stands out when an author enlists help to put down the reviewer. Which doesn’t look professional either! And it’s obvious where that support is coming from.
Helen–And that’s a good po
int. We need to keep the good reviews in mind…and the nice notes from readers. If we focus on the positive, it’s so much easier to ignore the negative stuff.
Margot–That’s so true. If reviewers keep it objective then it’s so much easier to read a bad review. I read one lately for a friend of mine and a reviewer had really picked on her protagonist, calling the protagonist names. I think it was just as hurtful to my friend as if the reader had called HER a name.
Teresa–The only thing that I’ve seen that SORT of worked (but I still felt like the author shouldn’t have done it) was when a particular author apologized to the reader for disappointing them and that they delivered a product that the reader disliked. Wow. I was amazed she did it. And it wasn’t something I would have done. When we buy a book it IS a little bit of a risk. But still…
Jemi–Because we can never look good…and never win the argument.
Michele–I don’t think I’m a very good reviewer and I didn’t make a good critique group member. I seem to be able to tell what works for me, and less what works for other people and in other genres! But yes, unfortunately, there are some really angry authors out there. And they’ve been getting some attention from the rest of us. Authors Behaving Badly! :)
Dorte–It just makes the writer look a little unbalanced. Which isn’t a good thing! Maybe we all *are* a little unbalanced, but we sure don’t need to advertise the fact. :)
Martin–And when I remind myself of that, my feelings don’t get hurt as badly when bad reviews happen.
Marvin–I know a couple of authors who have mentioned something similar. Apparently, if it gets to a particular level of nastiness, then Amazon will just take the comment down. A personal attack? It’s so unimaginable to me that a reader would decide to go in that direction, but they do.
You know, Helen had a problem with my tagline last week! But when I click on it, it goes to a current post. Could it be your cookies or cache? I’m using the same html code as usual…has it always been a problem? I’m going to have to experiment! Thanks for the heads-up…I’ll play around with it.
Alex–And if you’re prepared, maybe you’ll only get good reviews!
I never knew that about Alice Hoffman, must’ve been a bad review.
Smart readers/buyers will wade through the good and bad reviews and evaluate them on their own, at least that is what I do. I don’t blindly accept what someone else says, but if 10 people say the same thing, then I listen.
Carolyn–That’s what I do too, as a consumer. If I’m getting a new appliance, I look through ‘Epinions’ and add up the folks who were pro and the ones who were con and then decide. Good point! It’s probably only the authors who take a bad review so personally…other readers are just weighing it against the other reviews.
You are absolutely right. Graciousness must be cultivated!
For some reason, I began to think of the song from the play Chicago, “Whatever Happened to Class?”
Of course, there’s always the old PR mantra, “any news is good news.” At least someone’s reading and talking about the books. Where I want to be one of these days!
Kathy–It’s so true! Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking! But it does boil down to the fact that folks are buying and reading our books…which isn’t a bad thing, even if they didn’t like it. :)
Lorel–I think that’s so important to keep in mind. We really can’t please everyone…we should just try to please ourselves and readers who read our genre.