I can't think of a better reason to stick with old OOPs and dead authors.

If people stopped reacting to the authors' bad reactions, the whole issue would go away. Once I post a review at GR or AZN, I'm very unlikely to go back and check it for comments. How do people have time for this?

Interesting reading.  I never go to goodreads, and that certainly doesn't invite me over. 

Sometimes a book is just not very good, and we are just writing an honest review. Maybe if the authors tried to understand why the reveiw was written it would help in future wrtining.

alice

whoa

Here's a blog post from author Stacia Kane on the matter. Several people have tried to comment on the GR haters blog to protest, but those don't get past moderation.

I am a big Goodreads user, I like the fact that I can catalogue and track my books read and see what my family and friends are reading.

I am not a lengthly reviewer, and I never impunge authors personally, but when they publish a book that is subpar, or I don't enjoy, I definitely have no issue with saying that.  I just wish more publishers read the reviews and saw that editing errors are noticed and do affect a novel. 

Am I missing something here? I didn't have time to read EVERYTHING on this topic but from what I gathered, authors are being attacked by these "bullies" for commenting on reviews of their work - even if their comments are reasonable. I don't see the authors being the bullies here, although I'm sure that every once in awhile you'll come across an author who lips off in response to a really negative review . It seems to me very sad that these "bullies" seem to have no other form of entertainment (?). Is this where one would say "get a life"?

Jeanne, let me see if I can put it in a nutshell. There have been quite a few author behaving badly kerfuffles at Goodreads this year, particularly in the YA genre. The biggest blow up was over a review of The Selection by Keira Kass (sp?). The reviewer goes by the name Wendy Darling (review can be found at the book's Amazon page). The author and her agent made some nasty comments on Twitter and things exploded. I believe they were trying to get their fan poodles to vote up the five star reviews at GR to bury the critical ones. I read Wendy Darling's review very carefully, and while it is critical and she didn't like the book, she is very fair in what worked and didn't work. Snark free, yet still the author went nuts.

I don't know any of the alleged *bully reviewers* personally, but I've seen them in my feeds at Goodreads since they are friends of friends. I believe they are all very highly ranked and respected amongst other readers/friends at GR. I don't Twitter, so can't comment for remarks made there, but I personally have never seen any reviews on GR that go about bashing the authors like this Stop the Bullies website claims. I do know that many GR members are upset at these author attacks, and discuss it. I also know that many feel strongly about not reading books by authors who attack readers and shelve them at GR. Another GR member started a list called Author Temper Trantrums, and to date 69 members have noted on it. One author had a hissy fit on the thread and likely didn't do himself any favors.

Anyhoo, *someone* started this new website in the last week exposing these alleged meanies to the world and revealing personal names. I know some folks who have tried to leave comments disagreeing with what's going on, but comments are moderated and only the supportive ones come through. Supportive comments with names like Peter Pan and I think Tinkerbell (see issues with Wendy Darling above). Coincidence? Or are they all the same person talking amongst themselves like happened on a now-protected blog post by an author who did a big *expose* on Wendy Darling and revealed her personal information? And this is an author who got kicked off of GR for having multiple accounts and harrassing other reviewers (at least that's what I've seen in some of the threads there, again nothing I know of as a fact).

Thanks Cathy, now this makes more sense. What a mess, hey? There are always going to be about the same percentage in any specified group (reading, ethnic, political, geographical, etc.)  who are somewhat "unbalanced" - this is true.  I think I will just continue to use GR to track my books, etc. as I have been doing.......

I really enjoy GR, and the general attitude of sharing a love of books and reading, and being able to speak freely (like here). The only time I've had trouble has been from sock-puppet like accounts or author influenced. Apparently some folks see a critical review of a book as an attack on the author. It's two different things entirely. I know some folks don't like snarkly reviews (I know, I do them on occasion), but the easiest answer is just not to read them. I've seen some reviewers on Amazon that are worthless to me since they are associated with professional review sites and only review books they get from publishers and always love everything. I don't go out and about naming them, nor leaving snary comments on their reviews. I just don't read them. Same as for commentators - there's one nutter on the Amazon boards that drives me bats. I just put him on ignore and then I don't have to see it.

Lol, Jerelyn and I were taking a private *stone her* attitude over a critical review of Lady of the English at Amazon UK. I know it's tempting to say something when you feel the other reviewer got the book all wrong, and also to down vote it; but again we have to respect each other's opinion even when they are different.

That said, we continue to ask the controller here at the office WTF is he thinking Pillars of the Earth is such a great book

I totally agree with you, Cathy, about the different opinions people will have on books they've read - just human nature. If you'e going to present yourself in public though - to any degree and in any aspect - you need to develop an elephant's hide and be able to handle negativity and not take it personally. So sad that there seem to be those who can't do that and who go "bonkers" instead, but we've always had them and always will!

Cathy what I have been doing lately is if I really dislike a book I just put a one star down and no wiritten review.. I know there are some folks who may love I book while I think it is a piece of trash, so that is why I just use a star.

Alice

Missed that Cathy!  I  review books and I do try to tell others why I might dislike a certain book.  Most get 3 stars, some 4 stars and a very few 5 stars from me.  Occasionally, however, I have given 1 star and I still think potential readers might like to know why I rated the book that way.  Sometimes I just dump the book from my reading because I can't get myself to continue reading it.  No, I don't go back and look for responses to my reviews.  Too busy reading!  

I have been following this and I think Stacia Kane (who I have never read before but might have to check ouit now) nailed it.  You just don't do that.  You can't solve the problem of bullying by turning into the bully yourself.  I  have seen both authors and reviewers behave badly on GR but this site was totally uncalled for.  Unfortunately the laws for cyberbullying, cyberstalking, and cyberharassment are so murky and vary from state to state it's hard to tell if the reviewers being "featured" on this site have any legal recourse. 

Speaking of author kerfluffles on Goodreads, we had a mini one in the Historical Fictionistas group recently.  Seems an author was nominated for the monthly group read and invited all of her friends to join GR for the sole purpose of voting on the poll so her book would win.   The mods caught onto this and took her book out of the running and were receiving harassing PMs from some of the friends trying to get them to reverse their decision.  The author did come back on and apologize and  I am still willing to check out the book because it does sound good.

It's The Assassin's Wife by Moonyeen Blakely if anyone was curious.

Holly, I did see that kerfuffle over at Goodreads. I'm not a member of that group, but I read the comments and think the mods handled it quite well. It baffles me that all those brand new to GR members who voted for her book don't quite get that what they did was ballot stuffing. I agree about Stacia Kane's comments on her blog. She nailed it.