When hotels receive good or bad reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, you’ll often see someone from the hotel respond. They may apologize for the experience or clarifying their version of events if the customer didn’t provide the whole story. And when there’s a good review, they’ll thank the reviewer.
Meanwhile, in booklandia, the merest whiff of an author disputing a bad review is treated as a classic case of “authors behaving badly” and the gloves come off. A few weeks ago, when Angie Thomas suggested reviewers shouldn’t tag authors with bad reviews on social media, a vocal minority lost their minds and responded with racism. She didn’t even fight back against a particular review!
A few years back, when I criticized a growing culture of over-the-top and (I believed) overly personal bad reviews on Goodreads, some people put my books on bookshelves named with slurs.
Sure. We can all think of an author who totally lost their minds over a bad review and responded in an inappropriate fashion.
But should authors really be held to a different standard than, say, a hotel? Is every case of an author pushing back on a review really grounds for a witch hunt?
What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
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It’s ludicrous that Angie Thomas was attacked that way. She was absolutely right. It’s obnoxious to tag someone in a negative review. I’m curious as to why people (the called out reviewers/people with strong opinions) feel so slighted and get so defensive.
Sometimes responding directly is feeding the trolls, which may be worse than ignoring them. I know many YouTubers and Twitter users who simply shadowban hateful comments. Unfortunately, authors don’t have such tools on review sites. I would like to see review sites let users up or downvote quality reviews.
Authors have the freedom to respond any way they like. HOW they respond is the issue. Angie Thomas and yourself did it right. But I would try to avoid responding except in extraordinary circumstances.
Some authors have gone the other way, apologising for their novels, particularly in response to political attacks, and sometimes quite profusely. The result has usually been even more condemnation of their work and themselves as people. Even mild calls for moderation have had the opposite effect on politically-motivated critics.
I’ve been reading your blog for a long time, but lately it’s been taking on a troubling tone, i.e. using clearly biased phrases like “witch hunt.” I don’t think you are honestly asking what we, the readership, think when you’ve already made up your mind about the issue.
Authors are not hotels. We are not providing a service we can change or rectify. There is no reason at all I can see for an author to read our reviews. I certainly avoid mine. Just like there’s no reason for readers to tag us. In very few cases I think readers have brought egregious problems to authors’ attention, usually pre-publication, so the author can avoid publishing deeply harmful material. But for books that have already been published, there is absolutely nothing to be gained by reviewers tagging authors or authors responding to reviews. Readers’ space is their space to discuss our books. I’m sorry that your feelings were hurt by how goodreads treated you, but it was your own fault for getting involved and crossing a boundary that should not have been crossed. It does not mean that there are any witch hunts going on.
I’m a little confused – just because I might have an opinion doesn’t mean I’m not genuinely curious what other people think about the topic. I’ve learned a huge amount over the years from discussions like these, try to keep an open mind about other viewpoints, and will sometimes change my mind when I’m persuaded.
Oh – and my feelings weren’t hurt when people attacked me on Goodreads, I mostly just thought it was really bizarre. The discussion wasn’t even about reviews about my book, I was talking about someone else’s.
I do find it similarly strange that you think I sort of deserved what I got? Why? As an author I can’t even talk about *someone else’s* bad reviews?
Reviews are not the author’s realm, whether it’s our own or someone else’s—period. Inserting ourselves into the conversation is never productive, because we are always going to appear defensive (even if it’s not about us!), and maybe even look like a stalker or harasser.
Think of it from the reader’s perspective. You, an author, a person with much greater power, writes about what you think is wrong with a reader’s review. Now other readers *know* that you are in there reading what they have to say—not just about other authors’ books, but your own books. It has a chilling effect. Readers may not feel safe giving their true opinions about your book in that forum because they know you’re reading and critiquing, and maybe even writing about them online. Maybe you’ll put them on blast publicly for what they have to say. I can say that this has happened to me, long before I was an author. I was harassed mercilessly for months for giving a poor review of a book (and it was just about the writing and craft—not personal at all). That chills the environment that is meant for readers. It is no longer safe for them.
And that isn’t without good reason or justification. There have been numerous situations in the last few years where jilted authors have stalked reviewers who left bad reviews, even attacked them. (Read about Kathleen Hale if you haven’t yet.)
Readers and bloggers read our books and review them for no cost. They give us free press. They do our cover reveals, host our giveaways, tweet about our books. There will always be a few bad apples, but to attack readers and reviewers in a public platform can never help an author’s work.
Check out https://www.vulture.com/2017/08/the-toxic-drama-of-ya-twitter.html
re “witch hunt.”
I think the primary difference between a hotel and an author’s work is this: subjectivity. With a hotel, you expect a specific amount of cleanliness, service, amenities, or any number of tangible qualities the general population can pretty much agree on.
That said, writing is a form of art and art – at least the appreciation of it – is entirely subjective. I don’t necessarily feel that authors should refrain from responding to bad reviews as a hotel manager would, but I also don’t think that bad reviews should hold as much weight as they do, either.
When it comes to responding to a bad review, you’re pretty much damned if you do and damned if you don’t – especially if you’re tagged in it (which is an awful, tacky thing to do, but I guess that’s the natural progression of things in the age of social media… everyone is essentially within reach of one another). I think as long as an author respectfully disagrees or otherwise responds without being nasty, they shouldn’t be tied to the stake and set on fire for doing so. Still, I don’t generally feel that a negative review is worth responding to because you’re just feeding the trolls, as someone else mentioned. Although I’m writing books that will someday be finished and published, I write for several publications and rule #1 is Never. Read. The. Comments.
But if you break that rule, don’t take the bad ones to heart. They’re not worth the anguish and you don’t want to let the terrorists win.
Nathan,
I enjoy your articles and your helpful advice.
The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.
Oscar Wilde
Then they crucified him.
“should authors really be held to a different standard than, say, a hotel?”
Yes. Writing is a literary art. Hotels are an accommodations business. While yes, both seek to satisfy customers and, if you really want to push it, qualify as arms of the service industry (writing falling under “entertainment”), hotels are a physical entities and must deal with physical and legal standards irrelevant to the arts. The arts, conversely, are subjective and, in the case of fiction, are intended to cater to people’s emotional as well as intellectual needs. Commercial concerns apply to both in that authors desire to earn money and hotels, too, but darn few if any hotels can survive without their commercial needs being met, whereas a gazillion authors and artists of all stripes carry on regardless of their commercial success. In sum, comparing authors and hotels is a classic apple-and-orange thing. Silly to hold them to each other’s realities.
Sometimes, an author must respond, particularly if it is a review site, not Amazon and its ilk. One review gave away the surprise twist at the end of one of my novels. The equivalent of reviewing THE SIXTH SENSE and saying Bruce Willis is dead. I asked that this information be removed, and it was with an apology. I’ve also requested that misspellings be changed. One review managed to mangle my first name, a character’s name, AND the title of the book. Public forums like Amazon, however, are dangerous and a no win for authors so I wouldn’t recommend entering that piranha pit.
Not everyone is going to like what I write, just as not everyone I meet is going to like me or want to be my friend. That’s life. That’s just the way it is. If someone writes a bad review and tags me on social media, I don’t have to read that review. It isn’t god’s truth of what my book is about. It’s one person’s opinion. And for heaven’s sake, not every book reviewer is The New York Times. Many reviews are loaded with sloppy writing and grammatical errors. Many who review on Goodreads and Amazon are simply average readers with the average scope of the world. They don’t have literary degrees or MFAs from prestigious universities.. So what if they don’t like my book. So what if they think it’s garbage or use it to line the cat litter box. It’s their right to like or hate whatever they please. I’ve seen too many authors become too sensitive about reviews/bad reviews/a few critical comments in good reviews. We all need to understand that reviews aren’t for us, they aren’t promotional tools, though we can and do certainly use them as such. Reviews are basically aimed at other readers, outlining what one person or organization thought of the book’s themes, writing style, plot, characterization, etc.
I think we as writers need to chill out about bad reviews/ negative comments and concentrate instead on writing the best books we can.
Unfortunately, in today’s Twitter SJW mob mentality, the mere whiff of responding to any kind of bad review, whether it’s something you wrote or something you reviewed, is enough to get you taken out to the woodshed with extreme prejudice.
Personally, while none of my books got a bad review, I did leave a two star review on Amazon about a memoir that read more like an apology for white privilege than civil rights, and immediately got lambasted by another reviewer for it. I did have another reviewer agree with me on certain aspects of the book, but the initial reviewer spewed such vitriol that one of his comments (directed at me) got removed by Amazon for being abusive.
It’s not so much about ‘freedom’ I feel, as ‘ readers’ attitude’ to bad reviews and their responses.
I had a real beast of a 1 star review on Amazon, for my debut novel. She not only criticised the writing, the grammar, etc etc but practically gave away the ending and said she wished the heroine had died! A constructive unfavourable review is one thing, but this just dripped vitreol, and had not a single good word to say about the book. I felt very hurt and insulted (the book was published by a respected small press and edited by one of their own excellent editors, so the criticism of the grammar was completely unjustified.) Not knowing any better I wrote a polite reply, saying I was sorry she didn’t enjoy it as much as others had (It had previouslyreceived five and four star reviews) and I tried to explain why the main part of the novel was written in the first person, which had obviously confused her. I tried to be tactful and I don’t think I was anything but polite. I then tried to forget about it. When the third book in what had then become a series was published – on the very day it was published in fact – I recieved a very patronising and critical reply to my reply to that reviewer – not from the reviewer herself, but from someone I can only assume was a friend of theirs. Someone who claimed to be an ex member of the RWA, who soundly criticised me for my poor treatment of paying customers and suggesting that I should have had my book read by someone before having it published , and insinuated, without actually saying so, that I’d just dashed it off and self-published it in an unedited state (as I said before, it was published by a very reputable, award winning publisher.) I looked this person up and found them to be a ‘gamer’ rather than a writer, although I dug deeper and found their real or ‘author’ name although no-one in the RWA seems to have heard of them. I resisted the temptation to add fuel to the fire. I’ve learnt my lesson and will never again respond to a nasty review – I do, however, briefly thank everyone who leaves me a positive and constructive one, I think it’s only polite when they’ve taken the time and trouble to review, and thankfully most of my reviews since have been very good – having said that, we can all learn from a less fvourable review as long as it’s constructive and not ‘personal’.
Some reviewers are bitter and jealous, trying to ‘show off’ their own perceived literary talent by writing essentially spiteful reviews, in the hope others will find them ‘talented’. The same applies to certain culinary reviewers. They are parasites, eating the flesh of their providers. What is the point of ripping apart someone else’s work in an extensive review unless it is for the gratification of the reviewer?
I certainly am tempted to respond to reviews such as one for my “The Joy of Not Working” where the reviewer claims that the book is 75 percent quotations – which is an absolute lie. Having said that, I always keep these important words of wisdom in mind when someone attacks me in a review.
“My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”
— Jane Austin
“A tiger doesn’t lose sleep over the opinion of sheep.”
— Unknown wise person
“Haters don’t really hate you. They hate themselves. You are a reflection of what they would like to be.”
— Unknown wise person
I also refer to these words of wisdom about critics:
“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain … and most fools do.”
— Dale Carnegie
“Criticism is difficult to do well. Recently, we’ve made it super easy for unpaid, untrained, amateur critics to speak up loudly and often. Just because you can hear them doesn’t mean that they know what they’re talking about. Criticism is easy to do, but rarely worth listening to, mostly because it’s so easy to do.”
— Seth Godin
“Many critics are like woodpeckers who, instead of enjoying the fruit and shadow of a tree, hop incessantly around the trunk pecking holes in the bark to discover some little worm or other.”
— HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
“A non-doer is very often a critic — that is, someone who sits back and watches doers, and then waxes philosophically about how the doers are doing. It’s easy to be a critic, but being a doer requires effort, risk, and change.”
— Dr. Wayne Dyer
Hmmm…just reading the comments to your post was entertainment enough for me, and a reminder that while Angie Thomas made a valid point, being the correct person in the mob mentality universe we live in doesn’t always mean being right.
My thoughts are that it’s best to just ignore bad reviews. At least, that’s what I would ‘try’ to do. I do think it is up to the individual, and I really don’t think it should be such a huge deal if they do respond. I completely agree that tagging an author in a negative review is just bad behavior. I honestly feel like some people seem to like nothing they read. I just don’t get it. I love books, and probably about 95 percent of the time, I can see good points in every book.
It’s important to read the reviews of own website or blog. But the thing is, the author does not have much time to read those. But you described the content well. Great, keep sharing!!
I write responses to reviews for the company I work for. For the most part, I always try to be polite and respectful and respond for the person reading the review and not to the reviewer. So my responses are more clarifications than arguing with the person. Negative reviews are ways for people to vent their frustration. Like someone earlier wrote, be careful how you respond or you’re just feeding them more reasons to be angry.
I’ve also consulted businesses on how to respond. I would never recommend the hotel manager responding in the way suggested. The most snarky someone (Unless you’re Wendy’s or someone who can get away with it) should be is ‘I’m sorry it wasn’t a good fit’. Or something similar. Never argue online for people to see the back and forth.
Remember – write a response to the next person reading the review. And try not to get angry or defensive. And as a writer, I think we should always thank someone for the time they spent reading, especially if they paid for the book, even if they weren’t nice. Remember too, people reading the negative review can tell if the person is just ranting or if they have a legitimate point, especially if there are a lot of other positive reviews. And you don’t have to respond to everything.
I have reviewed over 2000 books in the last 14 years. I love reading and promoting books and series I like. If I think a book is really bad, I usually do not finish it, and do not review it. I have had authors hound me for reviews, and occasionally in such situations will write my honest opinion of the book. I do not have a MFA, and do have a dual form of dyslexia so my reviews are not always perfect grammatically.
I have occasionally tagged an author in a negative review. The case that comes to mind is a book in a series all by different authors. One book just did not fit the rest, and I called that out.
In another instance an author who pressured me to write a review because they has sent me a review copy, flipped out when my review was negative. They launched a campaign to get friends and family to leave comments on my blog, and on my reviews on amazon and Goodreads. Eventually the authors daughter, who had illustrated the story chimed in that my criticism was on the mark, and she had told her mother the book, story and illustrations were not ready for publication yet.
I would rather tag an author if I have a negative review, that has valid criticism. Than hide behind not tagging them, when I do the author or publisher in other reviews.