The big news of the day was author Sarah Daltry throwing in the towel, having had enough of the bullying reviews. In a heart-breakingly frank open letter she addresses these bullies and displays incredible emotional courage in her outburst, baring her psyche and wounds for all to see.
The small news of the day was that I had my first 1* review for Year 18, the first book in my epic fantasy/sci-fi series Pearseus, by someone obviously out to get me (and other Indie authors). I swear I’m not being paranoid here; he had this to say:
“I took this up – free thank goodness – as I wanted to see what some the Indie authors (sic) were doing. Nicholas Rossis claimed in an article I read to have gone to the top of the Amazon free books in one category. So I read it. It starts in a space ship in the year 2099 just going for a new year’s eve jaunt to the outer reaches of the solar system (we don’t know how), there is an explosion, but happily a nearby planet to land on (not described but obviously earth-like as everyone survives). How such a planet could exist on the outer reaches of the solar system is not explained. There appears to be one giant on this planet and they kill it. It gets worse. I gave up.”
Now, he (I’m confident it’s gotta be a he) has obviously never read my book, since there is a sad lack of giants in it, the planet is not in the solar system, they use a spaceship, and that vessel is introduced (on page 2) as the first commercial ship with “faster than light” engines, which is explained to mean that it can cover vast distances in the blink of an eye. As for my “claim” of Year 18 reaching #1 on Amazon, both my books have, more than once (I thankfully remembered to take screenshots).
Still, the interesting part is that this guy:
1. Sought out my book (which means, people know of it),
2. Has only reviewed two books in total, one of which is mine (naturally, he hated both). I’m therefore genuinely humbled by his attention.
Of course, the real question here is, why are you still reading this post instead of buying one of Sarah’s books? 🙂
I don’t know why people (authors) can be so mean spirited to one another. Because we always hear that reviewers bully but I think its actually authors who have put on the reviewer hat who bully one another to take out the competition.
In fact unless a pure reader is paid or acting on behalf of a writer they favour,, i sincerely cannot see why someone who loves books would do this.
Its really heartbreaking about Sarah.
Wendy, I suspect you’re absolutely right.
Having said that, I must say that I’ve been very lucky in the authors I’ve met. Indie authors in particular have been extremely helpful, friendly and supportive to me.
I was actually sent a long list of names and pseudonyms some of these people use (in particular one site), but I deleted it. I suppose I should have kept it, but that’s not my nature. I sort of wish I remembered them now, though.
No need to worry about it, as I’m sure it doesn’t really matter. They come up with new ones on a daily basis; any such list is bound to be useless after a few months. 🙂
Sorry to hear about your bad review! From what I read, it looks like he basically skimmed the first few chapters, not really paying attention, and then posted the review. His motives are harder to determine. Could be that he was purposely setting out to write a bad review. Could be that he decided before he started reading that there was something about your book he didn’t like — maybe the cover rubbed him the wrong way? Either way, don’t pay it too much attention 🙂
Hi Michelle! That’s actually very sweet, thanks 🙂
His opening line makes me thing it has to do with my various posts and guest posts in support of Indie publishing. I might as well paint a bulls-eye on my back, I guess.
It’s so stupid that people express their disapproval of an author by leaving a bad review of their book. There was a recent kerfuffle — https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/27/crime-author-urges-jk-rowling-stop-writing — essentially, a crime author wrote a public letter asking JK Rowling to stop writing adult fiction. It was a stupid public letter, and I disagree with every word she wrote, but some people actually started seeking out her books on Amazon and leaving bad reviews. That’s just bad manners. Don’t leave a review unless you’ve actually read the book and given it a fair chance!!!
I know the kerfuffle you’re referring to, and agree wholeheartedly with you.
Incidentally, I love your blog, your posts always crack me up! It was your fun writing that led me to buy the book, too, as your style reminded me of Douglas Adams’ classic. I’m looking forward to reading it 🙂
Answer: I already have! As for your troll, I’m at a loss! What I fail to understand, is why someone discounts a book or a writer using unsubstantiated arguments and, well, let me just say it…lies! Do they take pleasure imagining the author cringe at the rating? At least, in your case, this one is buried under all the wonderful 5* reviews, so who cares…
As they say, misery loves company. I can only assume negative people are unhappy. Lovely, positive ones like you on the other hand… 🙂
You’re a sweet and kind person and a damn fine writer. Wait till people read Mad Water… Mind-blowing!
Thank you, MM and Nicholas. I have not said a word and I’ve tried to stay out of it and just leave it behind. Although my post was actually about my struggle with depression and the open letter wasn’t necessarily linked, it was enough to make people say outrageous things and I am truly grateful that not everyone jumped on a bandwagon to attack without knowing a thing about me. Thank you again, sincerely.
You’d be surprised by the amount of support this little post generated at the time. I remember a lot of the people in this blog being genuinely outraged that the trolls had played a part in your decision.
I’m just so glad to see you reemerge out of it, even stronger. 🙂