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Writers: An interesting question for you. What is your opinion?

  • Sorry. Long post.. Questions are throughout the post. My first question. Please answer before you read on. If you're an aspiring author, how do you feel about publishing bad reviews under your real name (or pen name) about published books? Do you think it's okay and you shouldn't be silenced? Do you think it will or won't have an effect at all. Do you think it matters or doesn't matter? Now read on. :) No names in the following story. Just "best-selling author" and "first-time author" and "editor." Okay, I remember a best-selling author wrote a blog post about how she received a blurb request from an editor. The editor said that her first-time author LOVED best selling author's books and the editor would like to know if best-selling author would like to read new-author's book and offer a blurb. New-author's name sounded familiar to best-selling author, so best-selling author Googled new-author's name. It turned out that New-author wrote a scathing review of Best-selling author's book. Best-selling author said that the review was so bad that she remembered it all this time later. Now, from the sounds of the post, it sounded like this review might have went from being professional about the book to being personal about the author. But, alas, that's just a guess on my part. Anyway, Best-selling author said she found many reviews from New-author trashing many books and not just hers. So, Best-selling author said she sent the editor a polite email making up an excuse about how she didn't have the time to read New-authors book. There was no way Best-selling author was going to give New-author a blurb knowing New-author hated her book. Best-selling author said that she wasn't surprised when New-author's book was published nary a blurb from any author on it. Basically, Best-selling author implied that New-author burned lots of bridges by writing lots of scathing reviews of published books, some of whose authors might have been asked to review New-authors book. ** Okay, end of that story. So, before reading on...tell me what you think of publishing on a sit like Amazone.com or Goodreads (under your real name) bad reviews of published books. I mean, really bad reviews. Do you think it's a good idea for an aspiring author after reading what Best-selling author did? OR do you think it still doesn't matter and you'll write as many bad reviews as you want? Personally, before I even read Best-selling author's new post, I knew that I wouldn't be published lots of bad reviews for published books under my real name. I wouldn't want to get a bad reputation before i even started and I wouldn't want to insult too many published authors, all of whom are where I want to be professionally. Now, this doesn't mean that I will write a good review. And, to be honest, I have some bad reviewed books on my Goodreads page by authors who's books are similar to mine, meaning my books would appeal to people who liked their books (concept, idea, whatever), and I will absolutely erase those reviews if I get a literary agent or publisher. I mean, I might be asking them for a blurb one day, which would be like asking their fans to read my book. Moving on to the last part. So, I just happen to catch on Twitter an aspiring writer who asked this question of a literary agent. The writer also has a book review blog and wanted to know if something like that was a good or bad thing. The agent responded that it was fine as long as there wasn't a mountain of bad reviews on it. Basically, like with Best-selling author above, you don't want to burn bridges with too many authors because publishers do want you to get blurbs for your book. The literary agent said sometimes it might be best to keep a bad review to yourself instead of publishing it. Again, this doesn't mean that you should write a good review for a book you hated, but just keep the bad review to yourself. And, hey, I know all about offending authors, lol. One of them unfollowed me on Twitter when I said I hated a character in his recently published book! Hey! I thought it was a compliment. I mean, we were supposed to hate this character in the end, lol. Too bad, because I would have loved to ask him for a blurb one day, haha. and, before I get to my last question. I read a blog post by a debut author. Not the one who offended Best-selling author, hahah. Debut author ended up getting some blurbs from published authors. She said that those blurbs definitely helped in getting her book reviewed by some big time reviewers (publishers weekly, kirkus, etc) who otherwise wouldn't have bothered with her book. Keep in mind that a very, very small number of books get reviewed by big-time reviewers and these reviewers usually review books by authors you've heard of (best-selling ones, rarely new ones). So, on to my last question. W

  • Answer:

    IT'S NOT LETTING ME SUBMIT!!!! Edit - Yeah, that's right, Y!A, the time I type a stupid comment, *then* you work, don't you? "Long post." Understatement of the bloody year. Lol. Anyway, *takes half an hour to read your essay.* 1) I think anyone deserves to have an opinion. Just because you're not published doesn't mean that your opinion is any less than someone who is published, but people might disregard your opinion. I don't think I'm explaining this clearly. Wait. What I mean is that people might deem a published author's opinion more valid than yours, but... it counts as much to yourself as another's opinion. Just because people don't take it into account doesn't mean that your opinion doesn't exist anymore. I would feel bad for writing a bad review, but, like I said, that's my opinion. 2) Keep it professional. I wouldn't make it personal about the author - that's just spiteful. We don't know the author and reviews are only about the book, not the person. I think that if something clearly meant to hurt someone else's feelings then it wouldn't (shouldn't) be taken seriously. If I HATED the book with a passion then I'd write a review, maybe sugarcoating my words a bit but if the book was... bordering on bad then I'd leave it. 3) Despite what I said in question one, I think that we unpublished authors can be too hard on published authors because they've been published and we haven't. LOL at the twitter thing. Um... I think maybe you should've explained why you hated the character instead of just saying it. Haha... I don't know... I feel too mean if I write something bad about someone, even though I know it's about their book I fear they'll take it personally. (God, I'm such a softie...) 4) Uh... I never really wrote bad reviews anyway, but I know more about what they can do now. I think people are entitled to their opinions, of course they are, but sometimes maybe don't broadcast it all over the world. Reviews influence my decision too much so I tend to read them after I've read the book. Otherwise I'll go into the book with a certain mindframe. 5) I... would rather ignore both. But if I had to choose, I'd pick the unpublished author as long as they told me *why* they hated it. When I write I'm in my own little bubble, so I wouldn't want positive or negative comments to burst it. Good questions, Joss. (I think this one was longer than one of Gemi's, lol). xx :) xx

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I'd have to question why they write _lots_ of bad reviews. Do they only review books they hate or something? Because I can see how that would get people's backs up. It smacks of trying to get known by trashing other, better-known people's work. Alternatively, it makes them sound really arrogant - they think almost everything they've read is poor? I may think most things posted here are pretty poor, but published novels? If I reviewed every book I read, I reckon about 95% of my reviews would be positive, maybe more. Some more glowing than others, but almost all of the books I read are darn good and I'd give my right arm to write that well. I don't think I'd want a blurb written for my book by an author whose work I had written a bad review of anyway. There are certainly authors who I'd love to review/blurb my book...but that's largely _because_ I've seen them review other books honestly and not always positively. Which would you rather have, Stephen King say you can write (knowing what he's said about Stephenie Meyer), or some other author who never, ever publicly says anything negative about anything no matter how bad it is? I would honestly rather have one brief, blunt and not completely negative comment from King than five pages of glowing praise from an "I only say nice things" author.

cathrl69

To misquote a little, I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to face the consequences of saying it. I've written a few bad reviews under my real name, but (so far) they've been mainly on other aspiring authors' books. They've been more like critiques, where I thought the author still had the opportunity to decide to listen to me and change the book. I don't see any point in leaving nasty reviews on a book I don't like that's already selling well. It's not going to stop people from reading the book, or make the author write differently in the future (or stop writing, if I think they're beyond hope). Anyone who knows I'm a writer will just think I'm envious of the other writer's success. That is, it has the potential to hurt me a lot more than it hurts them. I think the bestselling author in your first example did the right thing. I would probably have done exactly the same had I been in her shoes. The only thing that I *might* consider baby-ish is that she told a white lie about why she wasn't going to provide a blurb. Then again, I'm not sure I would feel comfortable telling someone, "I'm not going to help you because you tried to pull me down, and now you expect me to forget about it." If the new author has reached adulthood without realising her words and actions have consequences, or expects to be able to avoid said consequences, I doubt anything I can do or say (legally, anyway ;-) will make any difference. I wonder if the author who unfollowed you wasn't making the distinction between hating a character and loving to hate a character. Did you hate the character or did you hate the way he portrayed the character? You meant one, but maybe he thought you meant the other. You can hate the villain in a story because of what he does and what he plans to do, but you can still think he's a good character - believable, three-dimensional and a worthy adversary for the hero. (It doesn't work the other way, though - if the hero is two-dimensional or behaves unrealistically or is constantly whining about how nobody understands him and his problems, you're going to hate him, and the fact that he's the good guy won't change that.)

Steven J Pemberton

First question: I don't think that will ever have a bad effect. Second question: I feel good that I never write reviews under my name bad or good doesn't matter.

animals123

Woah, ok. There are few books that i hate so much (there's really only one book that I found uniquely boring, i felt suicidal for a moment). But no, I'd never put out a really, REALLY horrible review... especially not under my real name. thats insane! I want my pen (and real) name to stay flawless, so far I can only be found in news papers with comments (my school was extremely involved in different types of media). Never post your real name on something that can be used later in your life. better yet, dont do it at all.

Caleido

1. I write bad reviews of books all the time (I get paid to), but not under my real name. And I have and equal amount of positive reviews. Then again, I'm a caustic critic who extenuates the negative for entertainment value. Being able to express your opinions, positive or negative, is a good thing. I don't think it matters much in the long run; I might dissuade or persuade a few people to read whatever book I'm talking about, but that's about it. 2. Once again, being able to express opinions is good. I do agree that being too scathing can be a major put off because it goes from being entertaining to just sounding bitter and hateful, which you don't really want to do.When I write review of books I think are bad, I make a point to talk about the parts of it I liked as well to avoid that. I wouldn't erase my negative reviews just to get blurbs from other authors though. I don't like their book, and I'm going to stand by that. 3. There's a way to express your distaste for something without being hateful about it. In my opinion, authors who don't like someone just because said person didn't like their book are being very childish. Maturity is being able to accept criticism and the fact that not everyone is going to like your work (I'm talking to you S'Meyer.). 4. Stephen King, definitely.

Brianna

I would never publish horrible reviews under any name. If I didn't like it, I'd move on. I don't see the point at all in publishing an opinion that's only going to hurt the writer and doesn't benefit me in the least. I think "Best-Selling Author" seems a bit immature. I guess I would have to read the blurb written for her story to understand. I understand after getting a horrible review she would be horribly biased in reading this other author's work. It just doesn't seem very professional to decide because she got a bad review she didn't want anything to do with the reviewer. At the same time New-Author was not smart in planning at all and apparently had no marketing strategy whatsoever. I think it's a good idea for new writers to keep their mouth shut. I personally don't think voicing an opinion is worth losing you a chance to get good reviews on your own writing. Good reviews are already hard to get, so why in the world would anyone want to risk offending someone who could help them out? I just can't imagine giving a bad review but I know I'm not going to say anything harsh or over critical. I personally think especially harsh reviews make the reviewer look bad, not the author. At the same time I did think Best-Selling Author was being a baby. While I can imagine that it hurts receiving bad reviews, she's a best selling author and the reviewer was just a new writer. I think to intentionally not help someone just because you didn't like what they had to say is childish and unprofessional. But really it all comes to what was said in the end. I don't think that author should have unfollowed you. Talk about childish right there. You were expressing an opinion on an already unlikable character, it's normal and natural. He sounds touchy to me, and I think it shows a lack in self-confidence. And my opinion hasn't changed. I still don't think it's a good idea to leave bad reviews. Especially a writer that is just starting out and has everything to lose.

Hazel

I think it's fine if you use your real name. I use my nickname for reviews, but I use my nickname for everything on the internet because I don't like my real name. The reason why I think it's better is because you shouldn't be embarrassed. If you don't like the book and you have a good reason not to then everybody should know. Authors should respect their readers' opinions and if somebody doesn't like their books then they should respect that. Not everybody has the same tastes. I would answer the second question but I'm worn out and haven't been well so I don't really have the energy to read all of the question, but I'll give it a star :)

Archie and Madison's auntie

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