What a schmuck!

14 Comments. Let it go!

I have no personal policy about self-published authors. Personally, I’ve never taken an ARC to review, regardless of publisher.

I’m sure you’re right, freedom of speech isn’t the particular law that would be most applicable in this case. What I do know is that it’s definitely a bad thing if reviewers start to feel that they risk personal liability for giving honest reviews.

Also, minor nitpick, but the Bill of Rights only protects freedom of speech from Congress (“Congress shall make no law” etc.). I agree with your sentiment, though.

Ugh, I wish he’d realize that all of this bad attention and his inability to accept constructive criticism only does harm to his book sales and NOTHING to further promotion of his book.

Normally, If I’m thinking of posting a negative review of a book that an author (or agent) has sent me, I’ll get in touch with said author or agent and let him know that I’m going to be saying some negative things in my review. In a couple of cases, the author/agent has told me NOT to post the review and I haven’t.

This beats having to lie and pretend that you like a book that you actually hated. Plus, none of your readers will even know that you read it!

The funny thing is that you never know who is going to be reading your blog. I’ve had several e-mails and comments from well-known authors thanking me for my critiques. It really is quite extraordinary for a little-ol’ person like me to be contacted by Jonathan Maberry or Dave King. This “opaqueness” of our book blogs is both wonderful and a bit daunting, and the open quality of the web something we always need to keep in the backs of our minds.

However, I’ve seen three or four authors get really nasty with reviewers on Amazon.com, even to the point of disguising their “names” and claiming to be someone else. One, a writer who sells in fairly large numbers, has become a laughingstock on Amazon as a result and no one will review him there anymore, in fact.

This kind of thing should not be happening to amateur reviewers like us – but it will, on occasion. We can’t let it stop us from enjoying the hobby we so much enjoy.

Hang in there, guys. It’s worth it.

I sure hope that doesn’t happen with book reviews.

I don’t know if you realize how blog comments work, but when someone comments, it’s entirely likely that they not only don’t go back and read later comments, but that they never even go back to that blog again. You’d be wasting your breath, even IF I clicked ‘approve’ on each of your 14 (so far) comments, because nobody you want to respond to would even see your messages, much less do what you want. I don’t have the power to force people to apologize for things, and neither do you.

Also, you’re better off if your name never appears here, because then people who Google search on your name or the title of your book will not be led to this blog. I’m sure you’ll realize this is in your best interest.

This blog is about me, not you.

You may not have noticed, but I’ve continued to post about other topics. The blog has moved on, as has its audience. I suggest you move on too. Go promote your books or start work on a new manuscript. By next week all of this will have blown over.

However, on the other hand, it is perfectly legal to quote a section of the book for the purposes you stated above. Additionally, copyright law allows you to use cover art if you are promoting the book to your readers….helping them buy it as it were.

In this case, I would appease this author by removing the cover art simply because the review is not a recommendation for the book, but a recommendation against it. Though since I’ve seen this about the blogs…I highly doubt he will be appeased.