Why I Don't Read My Reviews

Seriously, I don't read them. Heck, I can't remember the last time I went on Goodreads. I grew up with a parent who had to be "realistic". No matter how good I did, it was never good enough. I could have done better. Or even worse, why did I embarrass her by doing so poorly?

You'd think I'd be over it. I even did therapy for a couple of years to get those phrases out of my head. However, no matter what a review says, I still hear that parent's voice saying those words, especially if it's critical. And it puts me in an emotional tailspin. Even if it's a good review, I hear, "Well, they're just being nice."

Unfortunately, DH gets a little too excited whenever I have a new release. He's the one refreshing the screen constantly, waiting with bated breath for that first review. And he's so excited, he HAS to tell me. No matter how many times I ask him not to.

He doesn't truly understand. And in a way, I'm glad he doesn't. The in-laws didn't lay a whole bunch of insecurity on him or undermine his accomplishments, growing up or as an adult. In a way, I'm a little jealous of him.

So, he had to report the first review on Amazon for Hero De Jure.

We ended up having a long discussion about what it does to me when he feels the need to report those reviews. To him, it was a good review. To me, not so much. And I hate the feelings a review trigger in me, good or bad. So I don't read them.

Deep down, a review shouldn't matter to me. It's a reader's view on something they consumed. They bring their own pasts and foibles and desires with them when they read a story, any story not just mine. I can't change them. Nor do I want to. Because then I'm just like my parent saying, "You're not doing it right."

Lessons Learned - Misbehavior in the Internet Age Can Kill Your Career

The first headline that popped up on my MSNBC news feed yesterday concerned the nasty ass response Kelly Blazek, a woman named "Communicator of the Year", gave to an applicant on a job bank run by Blazek. When Blazek's response went viral, others came forward to say they had been treated the same way by Blazek.

In today's environment, nearly everything you say or do or type is recorded. It's simply the nature of the Information Age. The problems occurring today are no longer those of twenty-somethings posting pictures from the bong party they went to over the weekend. (Though you should watch what photos you post on Facebook.)

Now, we're seeing issues of people not thinking about the consequences of their actions, and those consequences come back to bite them on the ass.

Blazek's response to a young job-seeker was through LinkedIn, a social media site specifically for professionals. It was bad enough that the Cleveland newspaper, The Plain Dealer, picked up the story. Even worse was CNN and NBC. According to CNN, the backlash against Blazek was so bad she apparently deleted her Twitter account and her blog.

The last few weeks seem to be rife with people sticking their feet, or in the case of uber-agent Donald Maass their hoof, into their mouths. (Really, an agent shouldn't refer to writers as cattle to be culled.)

British author Lynn Shepard's first mistake in a Huffington Post UK essay was dissing beloved Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling. Shepard's second mistake was insulting adults who read the Harry Potter books. You know, adults? The ones with the money to buy Shepard's books?

The backlash was immediate and fierce. Over fifty one-star reviews appeared on Amazon US for Shepard's latest book, The Solitary House. Nor was she spared on the book fan/review site Goodreads.

Last year's negative publicity for self-publishing distributor Autharium had already died down when the director of the company, Matt Bradbeer, stirred it up again by filing a DMCA take down against popular publishing blog The Passive Voice. Now, not only are the new articles at the top of the various search engines, the old articles are back up there, too.

Then there's Sean Fodera, a contracts attorney with publisher Macmillan, who made the mistake of dissing one of Macmillan's authors on a public forum. When the story spread across the internet, Fodera made matters worse when he threatened to sue anyone who linked to the story.

So what can you take from all of this?

1) Watch what you say on the internet. Never post or tweet while angry or upset.

2) Treat others with respect. If you can't, go back to Tip #1.

3) Learn when and how to disengage. Sometimes, it's not worth the fight. There's an old saying, "Never wrestle a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it."

4) There are competing opinions and there are trolls. Know the difference.

5) If it's not something you would say to someone in real life, you probably shouldn't say it online.

And most of all, remember the internet is forever!

If you have any additional tips, I'd love to hear them.

Can Writers Review Books?

Writers are in an incredibly difficult position. Most, if not all, of us started as readers. The love of story is what got us into this profession. Unfortunately, we can't talk about other writers' books without being accused of something.

I'm a pretty selective reader who delves into, well, just about anything. In fact, my only line is Christian romance, but there's always exceptions. I'll read anything Carla Rossi puts out. Not because she's a friend, but because she understands the difference between subtlety and beating someone over the head with a cross.

Which brings me to accusations of favoritism. When I said I was selective, I wasn't joking. I rarely pick up or download something that I know I'll hate. Which means pretty much everything I read will get three out of five stars or more.

Does this make me a Pollyanna? Someone who's unable or unwilling to criticize a fellow writer?

Maybe it does. But as I said on The Passive Voice, reading is a very subjective experience. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's wrong. All it means is that particular piece didn't do anything for me.

Have I read things I hate? Of course, but there's only one book I've read in the last ten years.that would have gotten zero stars. It was a paranormal romance where the so-called hero committed what in Texas would be a minimum of aggravated sexual assault against the heroine. I have a serious problem with rape as titillation, so the author in question lost me as a reader.

Now, what exactly would it gain me by going onto Amazon, Goodreads, etc., and blast this lady?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. In fact, I would lose in the long run.

Why? Oh, goddess, there's too many reasons to count, but I'll list a few. She's a NYT best selling author and I'm not. therefore there would be accusations of jealousy. No matter how carefully I worded the review I'd be the one coming across as a douche. Rape fantasy is the number one sexual fantasy among American women so more than one friend has questioned what's wrong with me because they thought that particular scene was very hot. Her readers may decide I need to be taught a lesson and one-star my books in retaliation.

It's the last example that brings me to the current issues with both Goodreads and Amazon. (FYI - Amazon purchased Goodreads in March of this year.) Accusations of gaming the system drove the changes to Amazon. Accusations of bullying drove Goodreads' changes.

A lot of folks are upset about these revisons Amazon made to their review policy last year. Goodreads revised their review policies on September 20th. Many readers feel the new policies are draconian and limit their free speech. The reason in both cases are abuses of both businesses' reviewing policies by both readers and writers.

Was there a happy medium before either company went Big Brother on everybody's asses?

Yes, but neither side wished to meet in the middle. Extremism has become the word of the day, not civility. Former agent, now author, Nathan Bransford tried to discuss the problem, but the comments on his blog quickly escalated into vitriol by those with vested interests on each side of the Goodreads divide. Nathan had to disable comments because things got so out of hand.

And underneath the truckloads of manure are all the people who, like me, just want a place to hang out and talk books.

Do reader's have the right to discuss why they don't like a particular book? Yes, they do. Can writers get upset about bad reviews? Yes, they can. It's what both sides do after that, threats, listing people's personal info, etc. that becomes the problem.

The whole situation reminds of why I stopped mediating divorce cases. Invariably, neither spouse was innocent. A lot of hate was spewed, a lot of ugly accusations, a lot of lies. The children were caught in the middle. Sometimes the divorcing parents could get the kids to take sides. Most of time, the kids would hate both parents by the time everything was said and done. Both parties harangued me for trying to get them to let go of their hate and come to a settlement. And both parties raged at the judge because she HAS to end this situation one way or another. Sound familiar?

So what am I going to do?

1) I'm going to continue talking about finding the new authors I love (like when I discovered Gail Carriger), new books from old favorites that I'm squeeing over ( Lilith Saintcrow's new paranormal steampunk series, the Bannon and Clare Mysteries, rocks!), and occasionally, the stuff I dislike (Star Trek: Into Darkness isn't quite as bad as Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but it comes pretty damn close).

2) I'm going to keep a close eye on comments. If parties from either side come here to continue their Goodreads feud, I will shut down comments. I've already disabled anonymous comments. There's plenty of other places in the internet-verse for y'all to rip into each other.

Civility is the key. There's no reason not to use it when it comes to books.

The Godzilla-clone Amazon Is Rampaging Again

Yes, the giant behemoth known as Amazon ate Goodreads yesterday. I'm not going repeat all the speculation. And that's all it is right now--speculation.

There's several articles listed over at The Passive Voice that give the range of "Oh, God, Amazon will eat us all!" to "Cool! Best marriage ever."

My two major concerns?

1) My books have more reviews on Goodreads than they do on Amazon. I hope both sets are integrated, and my Goodreads reviews are not purged.

2) I liked Goodreads because it was an alternative to Amazon, and even though I was an author, I could write reviews there. There wasn't any "reciprocity" at Goodreads for me. I could write a review and say whether something I read for fun was "fabulous" or "meh." I'd hate all my efforts to go to waste just because I write for a living.

Like everything else in the insanity that is publishing these days, we'll have to wait and see how it shakes out.