There was a pretty unfortunate scene at a book blog recently after a reviewer wrote an unfavorable review of a self-published author’s book. The author responded with unseemly umbrage and profanity.
And then the Internet got involved.
Literally hundreds and hundreds of commenters piled on the author with snide remarks and scorn. Then the virtual mob took to Amazon, where they trashed her book, wrote faux five star reviews, and are continuing to have a great time at her expense (96 reviews and counting).
They may not have been wielding actual pitchforks and torches, but there are burnt embers all around the Internet.
Now, I want to clearly acknowledge that the author in question behaved extremely unprofessionally. No author, with the singular exception of Emily St. John Mandel, has ever responded to a bad review and come away looking good. Let alone with rudeness and profanity. It was an extremely unprofessional and unfortunate scene.
But did she really deserve this?
The heart of the mob
What are the motives of the people trashing this author? Does anyone really think that a virtual mob scene is going to prevent authors from behaving unprofessionally in the future? Authors have been lashing out over bad reviews for several millenia, methinks an Internet freakout will not bring peace in our time.
In truth, the actions of a mob say a lot more about the people participating in them than the person being scorned. And I think in the dark heart of a mob you’ll find a quiet sense of relief. People are secretly and ardently glad that they’re not the ones being targeted.
You can feel the relief and sense of superiority in numbers behind the mocking: Well, at least I’m not that bad off. And a hundred strangers agree with me.
But really that’s a false sense of security. As the old quote goes, “A mob has many heads but no brains.”
To “deserve” is divine?
The other justification you’ll hear is that the person in question deserved it. She brought it on herself by failing to edit her book or behaving unprofessionally or using profanity or etc. etc. And sure, there are consequences for bad behavior.
But what she deserved is compassion.
We’ve all made mistakes in our worst moments. We’ve all taken criticism too hard. We’ve all lashed out when we should have kept quiet. We’ve all said things we shouldn’t have.
Now imagine that the mistake we made was met not with sympathy and fair consequences but with a mob trying to tear down everything we’ve ever tried to build.
This is a person who just wanted to have their book out there and has the same hopes and dreams as any other writer. Some rude Internet behavior negates all of that? People will ridicule her and scorch the Earth and trash what this author has built in the name of teaching a lesson?
Let’s not kid ourselves that a lesson was taught, other than to remind us, yet again, that the Internet is a terrifying place to make a mistake.
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MJR says
Perhaps some of the people who wrote the nasty comments should atone for their bad behavior by buying and reading her novel and posting honest reviews on Amazon. Aside from the grammatical problems, it might be a good book. Who knows…
Bryan Russell (Ink) says
Huzzah.
And it also makes it hard for any sincere efforts to help her being heard. They just get lost in all the noise, or seem like another attack–one more head in the mob.
Robin_Lucas says
Well said, Nathan. I felt so sorry for her last week. I mean, who hasn't exploded before?
I think she deserves a virtual hug instead of the smackdown she's getting.
(but then again, I'm a hugger…)
Orlando says
So, so true. Mercy and compassion should be our guide for one day this could be us on another issue. Thank you for your demonstration of compassion.
J. T. Shea says
Burn her at the steak, I say! I mean stake. Maybe steak too, we could save energy by using the same fire for a barbecue. Why can't persecution be green? And we can throw a few Harry Potter books on the fire for good measure.
Rachel says
This was sad. The woman was obviously insane, but no one deserves that kind of piling on. Good lesson, though. Yikes…
Laura Miller Edwards says
I stumbled across this post right after writing a blog on criticism. Wow, timely.
In my blog I'm asking for tips on handling it. As a writer, I've got to figure out the right way to respond.
My guess is that this author should have ignored the negative review? Or even said "thanks for your thoughts"? I'd love to hear how you think this could have been handled better– how do we avoid a similar event?
Great post.
Nathan Bransford says
Laura-
I'm posting about how to respond to negative reviews on Thursday. Stay tuned!
Kirsten Hubbard says
thanks for this post, Nathan. I totally agree.
Melanie Jacobson says
I was sad for her because it seemed both in her writing and her response to the review, her writing seemed to suggest a lack of self-awareness. I think that will actually make all the negative backlash far harder for her to process than it would for most people. This is going to be one of those things that she always carries with her, I'm afraid. And the people who waved the pitchforks will simply drop them and move on, untouched. It's sad.
Stuart Clark says
Unfortunately, the Internet allows people to behave in a much more uncivilized manner than they would in person. It's easy to say whatever you like when you can hide behind a username and avatar and be totally unaccountable.
fran b says
Thank you, Nathan, for your intelligent, compassionate viewpoint. I don't agree with how the author responded to negative criticism but I don't believe she deserved to be cyber-bullied for it either. Like you said, we all make mistakes, and posting before thinking is a dangerous act. We can all learn valuable lessons from this scenario.
Anonymous says
The best response to a negative review I've seen was the author who simply said thanks for giving it a shot. Totally classy.
Tana Adams says
My heart goes out to her. What a disaster all the way around. I sure learned a lesson, and I hope everyone else has regarding how not to react to a negative review. I plan on taking negative reviews with a grain of salt, and crying into my tea when no one is looking. It is what it is.
I'm going to check out Amazon now. Almost afraid to look!
J. Viser says
Nathan – thank you for bringing some sanity to this issue. All authors are emotionallly and mentally attached to our works, and being human we have bad days occasionally.
Critcizing and flaming people on the Internet is akin to flipping someone off while driving. We feel big and powerful in our car, which encourages us to do things we would never do face-to-face.
A good reminder. Thanks.
gights says
I don't agree. Internet people are a mob only in number. Calling it a witch hunt implies that people were making an organized effort, in groups, to find someone to hurt, but the hurt administered in this case was done one tiny comment at a time. No one post is made more cruel by the fact that there are another hundred thousand of them, equally mild, by no fault of the first poster. It may feel like a pile-on if you're under them, but Internet actors are individuals whose comments happen to feed into an aggregate, but would have been made regardless of the size of that aggregate. Just like fifty agents rejecting the same manuscript.
Dara Young says
Well said. She was unprofessional, but the mob got a little crazy. Remember the buddy system writers! Who is supposed to take the keyboard away when you flip out? If you don't have one…find one! I have 2, my DH and a CP. I hope I never need either of them in that capacity. 🙂
February Grace says
Thank heaven for someone with compassion. Thank you, Jedi Bransford.
I purposely didn't look up the event in question after seeing post after post about this in the 'sphere.
In fact I wouldn't have read this is not for a link from Weronika Janczuk's blog thanking you.
I just want to thank you too. I hope that people will just try to go back to whatever it was they were doing before this happened.
Don't we all have books to finish?
Hopefully people will move along, with a lesson from your post in their heart.
~bru
Rebecca Stroud says
I agree with a few of the posters here that the author was – and is – to blame for her downfall.
I read the review and the comments. The review wasn't all that horrible but the author's reaction was totally idiotic.
Okay, we all have bad days. But after the first "FU" – well, IMHO, she should've quit while she was behind.
Instead, she continued with the "FUs" and other deleterious responses to the point where all empathy/sympathy for her went out the window.
Big Al was gracious; JH was abhorrent. No, I don't agree with everyone gang-banging her on Amazon but she just about begged for it…
Jaimie says
Thank you Nathan. You put clout behind something I was thinking but was too afraid to say — lest I be mobbed.
People do deserve compassion, even in their lowest moments.
Cyndi Tefft says
Nathan,
You have such a beautiful heart.
I hope that the author reads your post and that she remembers that this too shall pass (as my grandmother would tell me when I was in the middle of a drama meltdown moment). The internet will find another victim to jump all over and she (and her mistake) will be forgotten.
Thank you for shining a light in darkness and choosing the path of compassion!
Richard Mabry says
Nathan,
I'll admit that I "watched the train wreck" of the exchange in question, but this got out of control. Thanks for a reasoned discussion of the situation.
Tana Adams says
I don't usually come back to comment twice in one day, but truthfully I couldn't bear reading through the 77 1 star reviews. I'm going to contact the author and welcome her to visit my blog and extend an olive branch back into the writing community.
I think my own books are flawed, and yes there are sentences that could be fuel for fodder embedded in them. I am SO broken hearted at the malicious attacks that have taken place.
We all make mistakes. I've certainly let my temper get a hold of me once or twice and if I could go back and reverse my actions I would. I'm sure she's got to be feeling some kind of regret over the situation.
Thank you Nathan for saying it all so perfectly. (Yes, I used an adverb. It is the least of my literary sins.)
Anonymous says
Whenever I run across a virtual mob like the one that ripped this author to shreds, I always think of the movie The Accused. This author was obviously not raped, but a mob is a mob, and with it comes that same frenzied mob mentality. It's just an ugly thing.
Kate says
I know it's difficult to hear negative commentary on your work, but that's what publishing is all about. If the author can't take the heat, she picked the wrong kitchen.
I wouldn't say she "deserved" it because I'm not in a position to decide who deserves what. But, she took deliberate action that exposed her to this kind of scathing criticism and she gets to own her responsibility in that. I don't see any victims in this scenario.
Kevin Lynn Helmick says
I didn't read or even look over at Amazon. I saw enough on the blog. I even saw supposed proffesionals suggesting the authors behavior was because she was "self published" This kind of narrow mindedness, throwing the baby out with the bath water,could be one reason readers and writers are looking more and more into self published work, and best selling writers are walking away from the industry. Why would somebody even say something so absolutly stupid? I'm sure there's worse though and that's very sad. It all started with one person who made a mistake, and then made another. Yeah her behavior was bad, she could have just said nothing and very few people would have noticed at all. To gang up on her for whatever reason. Nothing better to do with your time? I don't know. Mob behavior is an interesting study in itself. But I hope it hasn't ruined her. I hope she writes again. I havent read anything of hers, but a bad review or hundred of them wouldn't stop me if the book sounded interesting. Tearing people down for self entertainment is immature and pathetic, so I hope they find something more posative to do with their time, and soon.
Missie says
The same thing happened here a few weeks back. Not to the same extent but the comments became some sort of witch hunt against the author, and I still don't get why?
Jaimie says
@gights –
"Just like fifty agents rejecting the same manuscript."
Not the same thing at all.
1. It's not a public forum.
2. Agents don't see that everyone else has rejected you, which doesn't matter anyway because…
3. You've individually asked them for their opinion.
Anonymous says
At some point the responsibility falls back on the blogger. When the comments started getting out of hand the blogger should have turned off the comments and hid the comments. I disagree with what the author did but clearly she has problems. I would never give someone the platform to act insane.
Marilyn Peake says
I agree with you, Nathan. And I admire you for taking a public stand on the author’s behalf. I keep thinking that, if Reality TV ever takes an interest in authors, she could become a Reality TV star. Unfortunately, she'll probably just suffer an extended period of shame and sadness after struggling so hard to write books and being met with so much ridicule. I feel very badly for her. If she’s creative and interested in acting, she could probably leverage her 15 minutes of fame to move onto something using the persona she created, but that only happens for people who really don’t mind putting themselves out there publicly over and over again, no matter whether they’re met with applause or public ridicule. I’m thinking YouTube video or Reality TV.
Alice mentioned Rebecca Black. I feel the same way as Alice does about what happened to her: horrified that people are ridiculing a 14-year-old girl because she posted a video on YouTube in which the lyrics weren’t so great. I thought she had a really good singing voice. I’ve seen famous stars’ home movies they made when they were kids that weren’t half as good as hers. She’s just a kid, barely a teenager. And she made a home movie. It was offered for free on YouTube. I don’t understand how people could be so mean to her.
Thanks for opening up discussion on this topic, Nathan!
Marilyn Peake says
I agree with you, Nathan. And I admire you for taking a public stand on the author’s behalf. I keep thinking that, if Reality TV ever takes an interest in authors, she could become a Reality TV star. Unfortunately, she’ll probably just suffer an extended period of shame and sadness after struggling so hard to write books and being met with so much ridicule. I feel very badly for her. If she’s creative and interested in acting, she could probably leverage her 15 minutes of fame to move onto something using the persona she created, but that only happens for people who really don’t mind putting themselves out there publicly over and over again, no matter whether they’re met with applause or public ridicule. I’m thinking YouTube video or Reality TV.
Alice mentioned Rebecca Black. I feel the same way as Alice does about what happened to her: horrified that people are ridiculing a 14-year-old girl because she posted a video on YouTube in which the lyrics weren’t so great. I thought she had a really good singing voice. I’ve seen famous stars’ home movies they made when they were kids that weren’t half as good as hers. She’s just a kid, barely a teenager. And she made a home movie. It was offered for free on YouTube. I don’t understand how people could be so mean to her.
Thanks for opening up discussion on this topic, Nathan!
Livia says
I agree completely nathan. Every time something like this blows up, I start thinking about what my own conduct should be online when this happens. I ended up blogging about what I decided. It's not for everyobdy, but I think it's the best choice for me at the moment.
Anonymous says
This is one of the best things about you and your blog, Nathan: you are kind and fair and hold the company to civil standards. The world of communication needs –and grows better through– leaders like you.
There are many here among us that would not be here otherwise.
The Pen and Ink Blog says
The most terrifying scene I ever read was in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible."
I'm agin witch hunts in any form.
I am for people going to Amazon and taking down their trash reviews. If any of us made the mistake of writing one, I am sure it was in a sense of fun. They probably got caught in the "fun" of the thing. Right now the new "fun" is posting videos from last night's Dancing with the Stars. I won't be watching them.
~ Wolfe says
I'd agree with the whole compassion thing if the author hadn't been bullying the reviewer in the first place. If you're going to condemn cyberbullying down the line , then why turn around and say the original perpetrator deserves compassion?
Doesn't quite wash.
Michelle says
I made a resolution at the beginning of this year to 1) not read comments on news stories, especially on Yahoo! or other major websites, and 2) to not comment on a story if I got really upset about the content. I hope the reasons for both of these are obvious: when I read the comments, I fear for humanity and it upsets me, and when I respond in anger or frustration, I fear who I become.
I haven't been perfect at it because I'm very much human and curious to a fault, but I have to say that I'm relieved I made a conscious decision to avoid adding to the mob mentality.
There have been a couple times (rare, but it has happened), where I got really upset and in online arguments with individuals on writers sites/blogs. When it happened, I immediately felt uncomfortable with the whole situation. It didn't matter if I was right or justified; I was being harsh and probably rude to someone who didn't necessarily deserve it. Since then, I've decided that it's best to avoid situations where I could fall into that trap. It's so easy, and I honestly believe a normally rational individual can become a raving monster online if put under the "right" circumstances. Because of that, I'm trying really hard not to judge. I'm not nearly where I want to be yet, as some articles and blog posts still get my back up too much, but I'm getting better and feeling so much more peaceful.
In the long run, it doesn't matter what anyone else says or does; I'm the only one who controls my actions. What the author did wasn't kind, but that doesn't mean my own reaction shouldn't be with patience and kindness. Either that, or walk away and forget. My sanity has improved exponentially because of that.
On a related but different topic, I blogged about how easy it is to view someone who disagrees with us as a villain. Some of the things I said there apply here, so I'll cut my comments short(er) by adding a link: https://embezzledimprudence.blogspot.com/2011/03/villains-in-real-world.html
Michelle says
I think blogger ate my comment. Grrr. But I was smart enough to copy it before posting. If it double posts, woops!
I made a resolution at the beginning of this year to 1) not read comments on news stories, especially on Yahoo! or other major websites, and 2) to not comment on a story if I got really upset about the content. I hope the reasons for both of these are obvious: when I read the comments, I fear for humanity and it upsets me, and when I respond in anger or frustration, I fear who I become.
I haven't been perfect at it because I'm very much human and curious to a fault, but I have to say that I'm relieved I made a conscious decision to avoid adding to the mob mentality.
There have been a couple times (rare, but it has happened), where I got really upset and in online arguments with individuals on writers sites/blogs. When it happened, I immediately felt uncomfortable with the whole situation. It didn't matter if I was right or justified; I was being harsh and probably rude to someone who didn't necessarily deserve it. Since then, I've decided that it's best to avoid situations where I could fall into that trap. It's so easy, and I honestly believe a normally rational individual can become a raving monster online if put under the "right" circumstances. Because of that, I'm trying really hard not to judge. I'm not nearly where I want to be yet, as some articles and blog posts still get my back up too much, but I'm getting better and feeling so much more peaceful.
In the long run, it doesn't matter what anyone else says or does; I'm the only one who controls my actions. What the author did wasn't kind, but that doesn't mean my own reaction shouldn't be with patience and kindness. Either that, or walk away and forget. My sanity has improved exponentially because of that.
On a related but different topic, I blogged about how easy it is to view someone who disagrees with us as a villain. Some of the things I said there apply here, so I'll cut my comments short(er) by adding a link: https://embezzledimprudence.blogspot.com/2011/03/villains-in-real-world.html
Other Lisa says
Thanks for this, Nathan. Your compassionate take on things is a great corrective for the ugliness often found on the internets.
I just…why feed the flames? I read the original review and the first batch of comments and that was enough. Yes, she was out of line, and the reviewer was not (and a lot of the comments were pointing that out in a pretty gentle way). But it all got ugly pretty quickly.
You know, it's a variation on one of the oldest internet rules: "Don't feed the troll."
The whole "mirroring" discussion is really interesting.
Jen says
I saw this a few days ago, and it was getting nasty even then. My sympathies were to the reviewer first and foremost, who I though was very gracious. It wasn't even that bad of a review! But once the author got involved, it just got ugly. Yes, she deserves compassion, and yes, it's a witch hunt, but I think anyone that took it as far as posting reviews on Amazon needs to take a good look at themselves and ask if they'd want that to happen to their work.
Having said that, the lesson I took away from the whole mess was, for God's sake, don't take a review of your work as a personal attack, however personal it seems. I'm looking forward to Thursday's post on how to deal with bad reviews. I'm thinking, just take the high road and ignore them?
Ghenet Myrthil says
I completely agree. Thanks for sharing your perspective on this incident. This needed to be said.
Anonymous says
MOB has many HEADS but no BRAINS? You call that PIMPLE. Pimples (plural)or rather blackheads. You only got a brain when there is money. Otherwise …non of my business and it's fishy out there!
E.M.Alexander says
This hoopla made me want to read the book. I love going against the insanity of mob mentality.
Kristin Laughtin says
Emily St. John Mandel comes across looking good because, compared to most authors who have responded to bad reviews publicly, she didn't get personal with the reviewers and kept the tone rather general. A wise move on her part.
As for the mob mentality, I think you're probably spot-on with your idea that these people are relieved to have a target, that they're "better writers" already than the one who got the bad review. If that's true, though, maybe they should devote some of that time to reading or writing or something productive instead of mob reviews.
Marilyn Peake says
Nathan @9:09 AM said:
"But one author spouting off on a bad review is not going to unbuild everything. Self-publishers, I think, need to have more confidence that one person can't undo a movement."
Oh, wow, I agree with that 110%, maybe more! This is such an interesting time in publishing. Many book bloggers are very different than professional book reviewers. Amanda Hocking credits book bloggers for the phenomenal sales of her self-published books. I was struck by Amanda Hocking’s descriptions of book bloggers as people who are passionate about books and, when they love a book, they’ll repeatedly talk about it to the world. That’s different than a reviewer who writes review after review, each review based on how well an author fulfills the literary requirements of a book, then moving on to reviewing the next book in their queue. I’ve been checking out book bloggers’ sites and they vary considerably. I found one that basically said in the ABOUT ME section: If I don’t like your book, I’ll trash it, and I’ll keep trashing it, and if you can’t deal with that, then don’t submit your book here. Yikes. I’m going to have to take a look at Big Al’s blog. From what people have said here today, it sounds like he tried to be rational. Amanda Hocking has said that she thanked book bloggers, even those who only gave her books one star, for purchasing her books.
It looks like this new era of self-publishing is going to be a passionate business, definitely not for the faint of heart.
C.Smith says
Wow, that just snowballed, didn't it? I hope Ms.Howett comes across your blog, because I think she'll need to know that not all authors are discriminating against her right now.
I have been 'prepping' myself for the onslaught of reviews when I get published by means of fanfiction. There's nothing more frightening than a passionate review from hardcore fans who either believe you're doing well, or that you're crucifying their favourite character and therefore must never show your face in the fandom again. It's not much, but it's something.
Although I do believe the only reviews you should take to heart in earnest in the publishing industry are those by your agent/editor/publishing house. All other reviews are pointless – if they're good, you'll get a big head; if they're bad, you'll go into destructive mode. It's unnecessary.
If you like what you've written and your agency does as well, then it really doesn't matter if it's everyone else's cup of tea or not. If you get published, I mean.
P. Kirby says
I was talking to my husband this weekend about publishing, specifically the ongoing discussion regarding self-publishing vs. commercial publishing, Amanda Hocking, et. al. Anyway, your name came up and I added that you were probably one of the nicest people in publishing.
This being more confirmation, thereof.
When I was younger, I was really quick, lamentably so, to jump on any controversy like a pit bull on a steak.
But when this controversy went down, I found myself thinking: "What if she [author] just had an absolutely, horrible day? Her dog died; or her house burned down? What if the problem is mental illness?"
I'm no saint, but even I've found the need to keep piling on this author…utterly unnecessary and cruel.
Anonymous says
The author's behavior went beyond an innocent mistake. She not only cursed at those who disagreed with her, she demanded more than once that the review be taken down or changed to suit her.
Several of those who commented at the beginning were just defending the reviewer, or giving the author some pretty good advice, which she continued to ignore.
This ignited a firestorm, which was just as ugly as the author's ranting.
Then I began to see, at a few places around the internet (though not here, where you exhibit your usual tact), backlash against the people who had verbally attacked the author.
Let's pour some cold water on this inferno. Sometimes the best thing we can offer is silence.
G says
I read a good chunk of that post in question and all I can see is that both sides were at fault.
I speak from experience that no matter what you say to defend your writing, be it articulate or be it stupid like that author, chance are that someone will loathe it to the point of trolling you nonstop over it until whatever reputation that you're trying to establish is almost gutted beyond repair.
Gregory K. says
Nicely said, Nathan. As far as I can tell, I'll be the first commenter here to tie this to the "Friday" video phenomenon (now at over 84 million views!) where it was much clearer that the reaction wasn't proportional and often was misdirected. This case has rougher edges, but certainly the aggressive off-blog bashing is out of line. I suppose, of course, all the Amazon reviewers might have bought the book, read it, and given fair reviews, in which case it would be different. But the odds of that seem mighty slim….
Natalie Aguirre says
You've got a really good point that I sadly didn't think about. Thanks.