Dear Anon Author,
A word of advice from your friendly local book reviewer:
When you submit a book for review to this review site, you have to understand that it’s going to be reviewed, whether it was a fabulous book or an awful book. In case you aren’t aware, in the “About Us” section, we have a disclaimer that states authors and/or publishers are free to submit books for review, but just because you submitted it does not guarantee a good review. If it sucks big donkey balls, we’re going to tell the world.
Unfortunately, your book sucked big donkey balls. I felt the need to tell the world. Leaving comments to the effect of “You’re mean” and “It’s unethical to tell people to steer clear of my book” isn’t going to change the fact that your book sucked big donkey balls. I’d also like to point out that leaving comments saying things like “I meant to write them as idiot characters” and “It was supposed to be written with grammatical and typographical errors” (not that you actually used those words..I think they might be too big for you) “because that’s my writing ‘voice'” does nothing but make you look like a fucktard.
Yes, a big fucktard.
As long as we’re discussing you being a fucktard, I’d like to go one step further here and say it’s probably not advisable to Google the title of your book and then leave tell your friends so they can leave “annoymous” comments on posts saying things like, “There’s a difference between honesty and nastiness”. Because you’re right, there is a difference.
I’d say I’m being honest when I say your book was one of the worst books I read in 2007. I’d say I’m being nasty when I say if you aren’t one of the stupidest people on the face of the Earth, I don’t know who is.
I’d also say I’m being nasty when I state the following:
“Adra Steia is a fucktard. She writes shitty books and then cries when she gets bad reviews for said shitty books. Then she leaves anonymous comments on said reviews and/or other posts further cementing her fucktard status. In my not very humble opinion, no one – and I mean absolutely no one – should read A Year Of You. Ever. Unless they want their eyes to bleed and/or their head to explode. Trust me, that’s time you can never get back. Don’t waste it.”
See, that was nasty. Uh, and honest. Jeez, I guess there isn’t really a difference between honesty and nastiness after all.
Just Sayin’.
Holly
P.S. The sad part is, had you not said a word about it, I would have gladly bought more of your books, because I really liked the first one I read. Maybe next time you’ll think about that and control the impulse to comment..anonymously or otherwise.
*Turns out I was wrong, and Adra Steia herself didn’t leave a comment on our Worst Reads of 2007 post. One of her “friends” did. Since Ms. Steia has changed her story some, I’m not sure exactly HOW said friend came to leave a comment there, but according to our Stat Counter website, AS did a Google search for her book, found our Worst Reads post and emailed it to her friends so they could “laugh” about it.
You know what’s truly interesting? I am not Adra Steia.
You just made a glaringly incorrect assumption.
Check the IP’s, people. I haven’t thought once about this site since I received a review were allt he ‘reviewers’ happily admitted they’d skimmed and not finished a book, yet reviewed it. I didn’t post, had no plans to. Check the IPs. They don’t lie.
People, I don’t care. I haven’t since, what, September? I DID google my name for further reviews, found this, and found it insanely hilarious. (The book you reviewed has received nothing but recommended reads and other great reviews– that says much more than the ‘review’ you all did of it!).
I’m laughing at you all. Not crying about a bad review. LAUGHING. Big difference.
I’m laughing even more now….
Pardon the misspellings. I’m seriously cracking up over here….
Another thing…I’ve never posted anonymously here. I’ll own up to my posts. Even back when my book was getting trashed, I signed my own name to a post.
Ya’ll are just funny.
Oh, one more thing before I once again forget you all exist…thanks for all the sales! Every time you mention my book, my slaes jump way up!
Thank you, Adra Steia, for making my point. I appreciate it.
Oh, and I’m glad I could help your Slaes. You’re welcome.
Those slaes….great things.
Seriously. I didn’t post that original comment. As I said, I looked at that post and LAUGHED. It’s funny. You hated the book, but it made an impact on you, such a huge impact that it made not one, not two, but THREE Worst Read lists!
That’s the whole goal of writing a book–making an impact on a reader. You proved MY point.
I don’t care what you people have to say about me. You just made yourself look immature and childish in front of the whole world. THAT’S what I’m laughing about. You don’t come off as snarky or witty or amusing. Except, of course, to your friends. To anyone else…you just look pathetic. How long has it been since you got out of high school? Most people put the love for drama behind them.
I did react strongly to that review–for a day or two. You and your cohort trashed a book I’d spent a long time and lot of work on. It’s like me walking up and telling you your kid is ugly and smells bad. Just like you’d be highly pissed at me, you have to understand that that’s how I felt for a little while.
Ya know what, though? I got over it. I moved on. I wrote more books. All of which get great reviews and have great SALES. You don’t matter. Your review didn’t matter in the long run. It hurt, I put a bandaid on it, and MOVED ON.
Your ‘letter’, though, is just a huge testament to the kind of person and reviewer you really are. And it’s on my blog now. Let’s see how much more immature and vindictive and childish you can be…
aww! Thanks Ween! You’re so sweet to say that. It’s too bad not everyone agrees with you.
PS..Adra, your link doesn’t work
Rowena, there was nothing nasty in the Worst Read post. A fellow author posted in regards to the original post of the review.
As I said before, I thought the Worst Read post was great. Made my day that you all still thought that much about the book to list it as a Worst Read.
http://www.myspace.com/asharceneaux
Enjoy!
You know I read the Worst Reads of 2007 post and tried to see where we were being nasty but we weren’t…but whatever.
I applaud this post and I second this post…here here!
*shakes head*
It’s like deja vu for me…*rolls eyes*
I still don’t see the nastiness in that post…and I think you’re a fantastic reviewer Holly.
You’re welcome Holly, just being honest…or is that nasty? I don’t know these days.
Holy Hannah, I definitely missed something. I’ll have to go back and read the Worst Read list ~ I think that you posted it around the time I’d dropped off the face of the earth for a second time.
….and I forgot to mention that I love your reviews, Holly. I wish I could articulate as well as you do about the books I read. But, I’ve given up the ghost (so to speak) and have embraced that I’m a reader, not a reviewer so I just state what I like/didn’t like and move on.
Woah! Now see – this is why I’ve always been very leery of accepting books from authors to read/review. I don’t think I’d handle over defensive authors very well.
Dear me, yet another author unable to behave like a professional!
Ms Steia, perhaps you didn’t post the anonymous dig, but all your responses–both in the original thread and here–reek of bitterness, an inability to separate yourself from the books you write, and disdain for readers as a group.
Indeed, your comments are “a huge testament to the kind of person and (reviewer)author you really are.”
But wait! You go on and say: “And it’s on my blog now” Great idea!.) “Let’s see how much more immature and vindictive and childish you can be…” Implicit threats, Ms Steia? Apparently you can reach high levels on all three.
Because these blogs? They are a work of love from readers to other readers. None of these ladies is making money out of the time they spent doing this.
Their reward is sharing their love of the written word and engaging in discussion of the same.
Oh and for free, from a lowly reader, a tip: if you sales indeed go up every time your book is mentioned here, that is testament to the power of readers’ blogs, isn’t it? (And if true, the classy response would be a thank you note, not a diatribe.)
Holly,
Does she KNOW we have the ability to check IP addresses? For the love of all that’s holy, if you get a negative review, don’t try to defend the book. You sent the book to the read for a review and that’s what you got. If you didn’t want a negative review, then NEVER PUBLISH THE BOOK because there ARE, inevitably, going to be negative reviews. Not EVERYONE is going to *like* your book. It’s called diversity and that’s why there are SO MANY different books out there.
Dude, that’s truly fuctardism in its truest form.
Holly, I’d like to introduce you (the pot) to the kettle. Indeed, you are both black.
I find it absurd that you and your bandwagon cronies are attacking Ms. Steia for her comments here. What is unreasonable about defending herself against being called a fucktard, repeatedly and over something she didn’t even do?
Yes, she showed me the Worst Reads post, and she laughed about it. I posted the comment. I didn’t consult her before I did so (why would I?) or tell her I was going to do it. Had I known that you would immediately, incorrectly, and vindictively single her out as the culprit, I would have signed my name.
There is a difference between honesty and nastiness. When one looks for the flimsiest excuse to launch a flame war – when one’s panties get wet at the mere whiff of drama – it smacks of a person eager to insult in the misguided hope that one will appear intelligent. Instead, you only come off as ignorant.
Now you criticize Ms. Steia for defending herself against your vitriolic and unnecessary diatribe, by asking how dare she reply to you here? Well, how dare you create an entire blog post spewing such hurtful, hateful language over a two sentence comment that she wasn’t even responsible for? I assure you, the horse you’ve set to beat is thoroughly, completely dead.
What’s your vendetta against Ms. Steia? Don’t like that she (or someone you believed to be her) took umbrage to your “honesty?” Gee, I wonder if that’s, perhaps, how she felt reading your initial review.
Aztec, I like you, woman, but I think you’re off the mark here. I don’t see what this woman did as “sharing her love of the written word and engaging in discussion of the same.” I see it as a concerted, off the mark attack.
There’s a difference between professionalism, and allowing yourself to get trampled on with unnecessary attacks over, I’ll say it again, something she didn’t even do.
I leave for a few days and look what I found when I come back! Hmph!
I don’t care if that author did post anonymously, her comments in this post certainly sound immature.
KM, I hope you’ll understand if I say that I don’t recall interacting with you, and therefore can’t return the “I like you” comment.
I disagree with your assessment of both Holly (and the rest of the lady Bingers) and Ms Steia’s behaviours.
I find it tiresome, and absurd, and annoying, that Holly, Rowena, Isabel and Casee (and for that matter, any reader) would have to defend their opinions of any book to the authors of that book.
Because it is about the book, for crying out loud, not about the author. The book. It’s a product, and as such, open to consumer review.
The Book Binge is a readers’ blog. The bloggers here are readers. They review as readers. They have every right to their opinions on the books they read, and every right to share them freely.
Authors would save themselves a lot of grief if they could remember that simple fact. Failing that, they could both refrain from Googling themselves obsessively (’cause really, other than an ulcer, what do they get out of it?), and vent offline. In private. To a friend or family member.
Just, for their own sake, not online, for everyone and their brother and pet turtle to see years after the author spewed.
Cause teh internets? They don’t forgets. Evah.
I can take a bad review. It’s a challenge for the overcome when I write my NEXT book. I’m not so emotionally attached to my books that the world ends when one gets a bad review.
I post my bad reviews on my blog right alongside the good ones. It’s a point of comparison. After all, you don’t like the book, you don’t like the book.
What bothered me about the review was the way both of you said you skimmed and didn’t read the book. One of you didn’t finish it. How can you offer up a legitimate review if you don’t READ or FINISH the book? On top of that, I clearly stated that book was NOT your formulaic, regular romance novels. The characters are NOT the usual romance novel characters. The book is violent, gritty, politically incorrent, and something you ladies are apparently incapable of reading without declaring you hate it within a few pages.
You don’t like it, fine. Move on. Write your review, move on. I read your review, got over my issues with it, and moved on.
You unfairly attacked me–someone who has not even VISITED this blog in months. Someone stood up for me, and you are so consumed with…sheesh, I don’t even know…yourself, I guess, that you assume it was someone who couldn’t care less about you or your blog. When you attack me PERSONALLY, yeah I’m going to respond. I want people to see how you ‘wonderful’ people REALLY are. My blog gets hundreds of visitors a day, many of which buy at least one of my books.
And to the person who said I should be thanking them…read my earlier comments. I did thank them, thank you! I’ve already sold quite a few numbers of the book in question, as well as several other copies of my horror novels. I’m the one making the money off this, and once again, I thank you.
Keep up the diatribe, please… it’s doing wonders for my sales.
This whole thing is retarded and childish. I’m a writer. I’ve had six books accepted and published. I’ve proven to the world that I am a capable author. My books are bestsellers, and I sell out at book signings. Your review didn’t just destroy my world and turn me into a sniveling little weakling and leave me cowering in a corner. You can post nasty things about me left and right, and trash me and my books and still…it’s not going to matter. You’re weak. You couldn’t resist the urge to just ignore the comment–or bring yourself to check the IP address against the ones in the posts that I willingly, happily signed my name too. Ya know why? ‘Cuz you know you’d look like an idiot for going off on someone who had NOTHING to do with this.
You can call me a ‘fucktard’ all you want…it doesn’t hurt me. All your cronies can call me all the names and deem my self-defense ‘inappropriate’ all you want. It doesn’t bother me. Get over yourself. You only have power over me if I give it to you–and honey, you’re not that special. Your blog isn’t that special. You have no bearing on my writing, my current writing career, or my future in writing.
Call me all the names you want. Have all your buddies trash me in the comments. It’s fun watching you drag more and more people down into the depths that you’ve descended to.
This is just an attempt to make yourself look more superior, more intelligent, and more snarky. Guess what? YOU are the weak link here. It’s all pack mentality. Most people have no clue who I am, and you’re just sending more and more people to my blog and my website.
One thing I still don’t understand though. Why is it okay for you to trash me, bash me, say things I bet you wouldn’t friggin’ DARE to say to my face in person, yet when I try to defend myself–better yet the person who POSTED THE COMMENT steps up– it’s wrong and I’m even more of a ‘fucktard’?
You can dish it but you can’t take it huh? Or maybe it’s the fact that you KNOW you were wrong and can’t admit to it? A little pride being hurt there? Huh? Need a bandaid? I got some. They have Spongebob on them.
Enjoy your time as the alpha bitch.
Tomorrow nobody’s going to care about this blog post. But guess what? My books are still going to be for sale, and still selling. I’m still going to write them.
I think the bottom line is, dear, you fucked up. You attacked someone who had nothing to do with the comment. You’re too embarrassed to admit it, so you attack the one innocent person in the whole thing. Keep spewing the venom, have your minions post about me.
Simple thing to do? Delete the post. You were wrong. So frickin’ wrong in assuming I posted that. It’s SIMPLE to check and see if I really did. The IP it originated from is in North Florida. I’m HOURS away, and there’s not any way I could have gotten from there to here–where I’ve consistently posted from–in the amount of time between posts.
You don’t have to admit anything, you don’t have to tell anybody about your huge idiotic blunder. You don’t have to eat a huge slice of humble pie. Heck, I’ll even delete my blog posts about it.
You can be a better person here, Holly. I don’t know you, and frankly I don’t really WANT to know you, but I still harbor the hope that humanity still has some goodness in it, no matter how base it is.
Ms Steia,
Which is it? Are you a huge bestseller or most people don’t know who you are?
And, just so that my little reader-not-writer teensie mind can process things properly, please clarify for me:
You want Holly to delete this post and comments, including diatribes and frothing at the mouth, and then, perhaps, you’ll “even” delete your own posts on this matter in your own blog, which (hazarding a guess, here, I’m not giving you more hits, sorry) probably contain even more evidence of your lack of control?
If that’s a fair reflection of what you just posted here…
Guh. Words (almost) fail me.
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. I’m not a crony and I’ll kick anyone’s ass who says I am.
2. Why do people post comments anonymously? No seriously. You’ve managed to type a comment – type your friggin’ name at the end of it! You don’t need to log in or create anything just sign your fucking name at the bottom.
3. In case anyone is now in doubt, Adra Steia is raking the money in. Gobs and gobs of money are falling on her. Got it.
4. No one cares about this site except for the person who just wrote a friggin’ manifesto on all the reasons why no one cares. A simple, ‘wasn’t me and I’m not a fucktard’ would have sufficed. If you didn’t really care you wouldn’t have made an issue.
5. I’m concerned that you have actually come up with an alibi for the time the comment was posted. I mean really. I don’t know where I was yesterday but you know exactly where you were at what time to nail down the exactness of the fact it wasn’t you.
6. Watch what comes next – I’m going to put my name at the bottom this post. Ohhh, ahhhh, shiny!
CindyS (cannot stress enough how easy it is to put your name on a post. You wanna say it, own it!)
If you had said this author can’t write for crap, she needs a new job… etc… then I could understand anon. author being upset. But if you had given your honest opinion and really didn’t like the book, then that is totally understandable. If an author sends you their book, they must realize that you may not like the book. That is the chance they take.
If only every book we review could be winners.
Just my 2 cents. 😀
KM,
You’re right, I was wrong about who posted the anon comment. I’ll be editing my post shortly to reflect that. However, it’s hard for me to feel truly sorry for what I said when AS is the one who Googled her book, saw it on our worst reads post, then sent the link on to several of her friends. You posted a comment, anonymously, in regards to a review that was done, what, 8-9 months ago? Then AS said she had no idea about that post until she Googled her name (naturally after you posted the comment), then changed her story again, and again, and again. That doesn’t inspire me to fee bad for anything I said in my post.
I started the book and didn’t care for it. Casee read the entire book. Every.Single.Word. and didn’t like it, so we reviewed it, saying we didn’t like it. That was it. It bothers me, greatly, that 6 months after the fact, the author would direct her cronies to a post where her book was listed. Then said cronies would leave a comment about us being nasty. Our review wasn’t nasty. Our Worst Reads post wasn’t nasty.
This post, however, is. It was suppose to be. It wasn’t supposed to be funny, or snarky or anything other than nasty. If I’m going to be accused of something, I feel I should have at least committed the crime. So now you can say, with all honesty, that I was nasty to AS. Was it unwarranted? Check the comments here and the “blog” AS wrote up and then you tell me. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t.
But if you look through this blog (and even through our old book blog) you’ll see that it’s not often that I’m “nasty”. I may state my opinion on things, but I generally don’t attack authors (or anyone else, for that matter) for no reason. But there are few things that bother me more than some author, who feels her book is the best thing since sliced bread, sending her minions (whether they be rabid fangirls or friends or family members or whatever) to tell a reviewer how wrong she is about that author’s book.
Which reminds me, the whole reason Adra Steia found this site in the first place was because another author who’s book we reviewed didn’t like what we had to say, and put up a post on a PUBLIC FORUM telling anyone who disagreed to come tell us how wrong we were.
Oh, and Adra dear, you’re wrong. I’d say everything I said here directly to your face. Really, it wouldn’t be the first time.
I’ve never changed my story. Since a day or two after the original review was posted and I reacted, I’ve not been back here.
If I’d wanted to say anything or confront anyone about the Worst Read list, I would have posted to the thread, and signed my name. Happily. I don’t post anonymously. But I didn’t. I found it funny that the book bothered you all so much. Seriously hilarious.
I DID show my friends and cronies the link. One of which is an author you all despise as well. I probably directed about 20 people here– hits for you blogs, ladies, you should be happy. We all had a big laugh. Thats how me and my friends roll—and lots of other authors. We celebrate our victories and our less-than-victories. It was a public post, was it not? I had ever right to pass it around to my friends. In no way does that warrant an all out attack from you. I never posted a word about it anywhere, my blog or otherwise. Only my direct circle of friend (those 20 or so people) knew about it.
I google my books all the time. I find reader blogs, reader comments, ‘bootleg’ sites that sell them, whatever else. Just about every author does it.
My book isn’t the best thing since sliced bread. Shoot, I admit that. I’m not so conceited that I can’t see the flaws. Beyond saying the book is different than one you’d most likely read, I didn’t say anything above and beyond about it. The problem with your reviews were the utter-closed-mindedness of them. But, that’s your opinion. It’s your blog, you write what you want to about the books that are submitted. I run a book review website. I know that and understand it. BUt when an author complains to me that either I or one of my reviewers missed something, if it’s a justifiable complaint, we look into it.
That one book in particular was the one and only romance I’ve ever written and will ever write. I write horror. I’ve never even tried writing another romance, because, well, I don’t like romance. I don’t care that you didn’t like my book. Plenty of other people do. You said you didn’t finish the book. BUT i reiterate–a couple of days after you posted the review and I responded, I was over it. It was done.
I never sent anyone here to post about either the book or the review. Just as you have friends who come to your defense, I do too.
One of which is an author you all despise as well.
Despise? Do we despise authors because we don’t like their books? No. We despise the way authors take reviews as personal attacks on themselves rather than their book. I’m sure you recall that I didn’t like your book, Muse. I admitted that I read it thinking that it was a romance when it really isn’t. You took my comments with grace and class. I actually commented on a post about authors actually behaving gracefully. I also didn’t like A Year of You. I read every single word of that book, so the review I gave it was neither unethical nor unfair. I didn’t like it. Period. You sent it asking for a review and then had the nerve to say that we were unethical. So much for acting gracefully.
As for the Worst Reads post, I don’t see what’s so funny. It consisted of thinking of five books that we didn’t like. I would have still read every single author on that list, but now that’s not true. I will never pick up another book by you. Ever.
As for Holly, you can’t shame her into taking down this post. First of all, she has nothing to be ashamed of. Second of all, she stands by what she says. Always. And we stand by her.
Hey, Casee! I hope you are feeling better *sending good thoughts your way*
I have a question:
Saying your kid is ugly and smells bad… wow, that’s a powerful statement and a strong reaction. So why then the comment about “I’m not so emotionally attached to my books…”??
I had to put my 2 cents in here. I always wonder at author’s who claim they “don’t care” and then go on and on and on and on about how everyone hates them, write obnoxious “people hate me rants” on their blog and the continue to write annoying comments on blogs they claim not to care about.
Is there something in the water? Honestly, Holly, I’d forward this on to the Smart Bitches & let them have a go. I’m sure A. it’d be as entertaining as everything usually is over there & B. They’d make this peron look like more of an idiot than she already does.
JMHO! 🙂
And I apologize for any spelling errors on the previous entry. I’m having a bad “girl” day & just can’t think straight. *sigh*
*head…desk* Image, folks. It matters.
Ya know… sometimes authors and their close circle of friends turn out to be their own worst enemies.
People are entitled to not like your books.
You’re entitled to not LIKE the review. You’re entitled to not like the review done on the book your BFF wrote, slaved, cried, sweated and exhausted herself writing.
However, if you come in and get all snotty… ie: we’re LAUGHING at you…the readers you’re going to lose more than just that reader.
You’re going to lose the readers of the blog who don’t appreciate your attitude.
When other readers hear about your BS, they are going to blog about it and you’re going to lose some readers who pick it from there.
Worse, it’s going to end up on a blog where industry professionals read… oh, like say…
This one
A blog I know for a fact is read by a number of agents, authors, and editors.
So ‘laughing’ at readers has caused you to respond in a way that makes you look the fool, alienates readers and I’m certain really impressed some of the industry pros.
I imagine this the first time some people have heard this author’s name-and I’m certain she definitely didn’t leave the type of first impression she’d hoped for.
All you gotta do is just say,
hey, I’m sorry you didn’t like it. Maybe the next one will work out better for you.
Then if you gotta steam, do it private. Tell your friends NOT to get all ‘writer-wall’ and attempt to block or fight the fact that authors will get negative reviews. All THAT does is alienate people.
People are ENTITLED to not like your book. You don’t have to like that fact, but you should at least respect it.
And I don’t get the ‘my book is like my child’ thing. Books are my work. Yes, they are works FROM me. But once I’ve written the book, it stands on its own. Whether or not I’ve done a good job is up to the individual reader-but after the last set of edits, that book doesn’t need me.
My kids do. My books are my work. My kids are my life. For me, there is a huge difference.
Image, folks. Said it time and again, it MATTERS.
You just made yourself look immature and childish in front of the whole world. THAT’S what I’m laughing about. You don’t come off as snarky or witty or amusing. Except, of course, to your friends. To anyone else…you just look pathetic.
Oh. Good. Grief.
Up until a few months ago when I did a contest, I wasn’t aware of Book Binge. And I visit it sporadically.
So nope, the owners of the blog aren’t my friends. Just blogland acquaintances.
Yes, some people made themselves look the fool to the whole world… but it wasn’t the bloggers at Book Binge. I’ve already made stated my opinion on how an author should handle reviews-I won’t rehash it.
But a word to your friends and this isn’t coming from any place other than a desire to offer some hopefully helpful advice-what you do with it is up to you.
These attacks against a reviewer for not liking a book? An attack over seeing a ‘mean girl’ blogger? And yep, attack is what I see here.
All it does is hurt the author’s image.
I’ve read reviews on plenty of friends where I snorted, rolled my eyes and wondered, did we read the same book?
But I’m not going to tell that person they are WRONG for not liking the book. Nor am I’m going to ‘laugh’ at them.
A person’s opinion of a book is just that-their opinion, therefore personal.
You can’t tell a person they aren’t entitled to dislike a book.
When the book is placed on sale, the author knows people will be reading it. She should be prepared for the fact that people might not like it and the fact they may discuss it.
The author needs to act professionally and if you want her to get a good rep as a professional, not just as a writer, you need to let her handle her business.
Because this mess cost her readers. I guarantee it.
Not the negative review. Negative reviews will sell books.
Negative attitudes are a different beast altogether.
Sigh. If this is the kind of reaction an author gets every time her book gets a thumbs down, her BP is going to be shot within a few years. A review, good or bad, is just there on the Internet. An author ranting like a lunatic and behaving unprofessionally on a blog? Will also be there on the Internet. The latter will also be linked to and copied/pasted in at least four or five popular reader blogs/forums for THOUSANDS of readers to comment on. Never to be erased. Cached on the Internet. The Book Binge has nothing to lose because they aren’t selling anything; the author, however, has everything to lose. It is always best to just eat chocolate and sniff than to go rampaging onto a reader’s blog/review site and start arguing about how they should run their site, because, at the end of the day, the readers will start judging the author’s rants instead of her book.
I luvs Gennita’s outlook.
I agree with everything most of the commenters, particularly Azteclady, have said, but here’s what baffles me, personally.
That one book in particular was the one and only romance I’ve ever written and will ever write. I write horror. I’ve never even tried writing another romance, because, well, I don’t like romance.
This statement, to me, as a lurker on this blog who somehow missed any comments about Ms. Steia before, really baffles me. Why did Ms. Steia even write a romance if she doesn’t like them? Readers aren’t stupid. It’s easy to tell when an author obviously loves the worlds and characters she’s created, and it’s easy to tell when the author is just kind of coasting along. Anyway, wasting valuable blood, sweat and tears over a product you don’t even like doesn’t make me feel sorry for anyone. It just makes me want to tell people to get off the cross already, because somebody else needs the wood. (And yes, that *was* a nasty/snarky comment. :P)
This is hilarious :). I haven’t laughed this much since I read Laurell K. Hamilton’s ridiculous blog post to her “non-fans”. I think I need to check that Worst Reads Post.
All you gotta do is just say,
hey, I’m sorry you didn’t like it. Maybe the next one will work out better for you.
Then if you gotta steam, do it private. Tell your friends NOT to get all ‘writer-wall’ and attempt to block or fight the fact that authors will get negative reviews. All THAT does is alienate people.
People are ENTITLED to not like your book. You don’t have to like that fact, but you should at least respect it.
I HEART you, Shiloh!
Holly, didn’t you like a book by this author? I thought I had read and interesting review…hmmm I’m afraid she should’ve quit while she was ahead. Saying as little as possible is wise, cuz she’s contradicting herself all over.
It’s lucky so many people buy her books, because lots o’folks are sure to be leery of reading/reviewing after that performance.
Yes, Devon, I did read and review a book by her that was wonderful. She really shot her own foot, because I would have gladly purchased more novels by her. I mean, not every book by an author is going to appeal to every reader, but acting like an immature child? That’s the kind of thing guaranteed to turn ALL readers away.
I wholeheartedly agree with the commenter who said, ‘Because it is about the book, for crying out loud, not about the author. The book. It’s a product, and as such, open to consumer review.
The Book Binge is a readers’ blog. The bloggers here are readers. They review as readers. They have every right to their opinions on the books they read, and every right to share them freely.’
oh and hello there! long time lurker of you blog. I enjoy reading your reviews and for the record I ABSOLUTELY LOVE everything Laurell K. Hamilton has ever written and even though I think the reviewers here have given some of her books very poor grades it does not deter me from purchasing and adoring it.
Hello Patricia,
Thanks for coming out of lurkdom. Melissa is the reviewer we have that finds some of LKH’s novels hit or miss, but I know another blogger, Jessica, absolutely adores all of LKH’s stuff, so you aren’t alone. 🙂