How rude of him. We support you all the way, don't let him intimidate you, you've done the right thing! Best wishes x
is it okay for an author to ask you to delete your book review from amazon and goodreads?
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How rude of him. We support you all the way, don't let him intimidate you, you've done the right thing! Best wishes x
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Good for you in sticking to your guns! Honest reviews of anything are hard to find on the internet. I know as a consumer, I appreciate straight facts and opinions on a product whether its a book or not.
Besides, that's what happens when a person creates anything and puts it out for scrutiny. We've all gotten critical feedback at some point. Life's hard; get a helmet.
Besides, your review was really nice. I would have started out with the chapter 1 & 18 thing to be honest. I would have appreciated a review like yours. In any case, all he did was raise your blog's hit count!
Besides, that's what happens when a person creates anything and puts it out for scrutiny. We've all gotten critical feedback at some point. Life's hard; get a helmet.
Besides, your review was really nice. I would have started out with the chapter 1 & 18 thing to be honest. I would have appreciated a review like yours. In any case, all he did was raise your blog's hit count!
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Mine's a bit less tasteful: plainly the guy's a speshul snowflake peckerhead. If one moderately bad review causes him to melt down, he won't last as a writer. Tell him to piss up a rope and be done.
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People tend to forget that whatever they say and do online can help them or hinder them, depending on the circumstances. You've been nothing but calm and professional in all of this, which you need in case things get really out of hand.
An update:
Guess who commented on one of my posts on Goodreads? If you guessed Duncan Whitehead, you'd be correct. Under my blog post about announcing that my debut novel is only .99 cents for July, he wrote "I bought your book today. SO looking forward to reading and reviewing it."
I didn't even dignify it with a response, but I'm writing a blog post about it, probably later on today.
Guess who commented on one of my posts on Goodreads? If you guessed Duncan Whitehead, you'd be correct. Under my blog post about announcing that my debut novel is only .99 cents for July, he wrote "I bought your book today. SO looking forward to reading and reviewing it."
I didn't even dignify it with a response, but I'm writing a blog post about it, probably later on today.
I've got DNF reviews on the same book that I've gotten five stars.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I'm thankful for every review, even the bad ones. Why? Because they spent the TIME to put it up and that's darned special to me.
We are supposed to be professionals. Act like a professional and you'll be respected. Act like a baby whining about your specul projects and you'll be treated like a baby.
jmo, ymmv.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I'm thankful for every review, even the bad ones. Why? Because they spent the TIME to put it up and that's darned special to me.
We are supposed to be professionals. Act like a professional and you'll be respected. Act like a baby whining about your specul projects and you'll be treated like a baby.
jmo, ymmv.
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That's so unprofessional of him. You did the right thing in ignoring his comment. Continue to maintain your dignified silence if and when he does write his review.
Here's to hoping he reads your book and he can think of only kudos ... and that's what he posts.
I can just imagine what the review will look like. "Not a single chapter was repeated. Not a one! What was this author thinking? Boo no stars."
You must have incredible patience, honestly. I can't imagine dealing with this person with half your composure.
You must have incredible patience, honestly. I can't imagine dealing with this person with half your composure.
What a baby. Off a careful three-star review, which actually has more clout in the reviewing world than too many ones and fives.
Like Sheryl, I've had bitchy DNF one-star reviews on a book that got 4 and 5 stars from people who were capable of reading it. Whatever. This is why I tend to be very careful about buying, much less reviewing most self-published work. I don't even do structural or typo critiques of fan-fiction, because the authors are generally too fragile to handle it.
If I am suitably masochistic today I'll go look inside this guy's work.
ETA: I went, I read samples. He's okay, if clearly in need of a strong editor. He certainly shouldn't be carrying on vendettas about three-star reviews.
Like Sheryl, I've had bitchy DNF one-star reviews on a book that got 4 and 5 stars from people who were capable of reading it. Whatever. This is why I tend to be very careful about buying, much less reviewing most self-published work. I don't even do structural or typo critiques of fan-fiction, because the authors are generally too fragile to handle it.
If I am suitably masochistic today I'll go look inside this guy's work.
ETA: I went, I read samples. He's okay, if clearly in need of a strong editor. He certainly shouldn't be carrying on vendettas about three-star reviews.
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Made a cup of tea, clicked through to some of his Goodreads reviews. He seems to use it almost exclusively as a medium for indulging his weak comedy stylings. One star for a guidebook to the Greek islands because - get this - he actually went to France on holiday! One star for Samuel Beckett's 'Happy Days' because it isn't about the sitcom! One star for 'An Inconvenient Truth' even though he hasn't read it, but because he dislikes Al Gore!
I wonder that he has the nerve to go around asking people to delete their own reviews on GR when he uses it like that - spamming a marginally useful feature into meaninglessness to gratify his own ego.
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Hey, he bought it. Pat your wallet and smile.
After all, I can't imagine his review will turn out to be objective enough that any reader will take it seriously. When someone's laser-focused on being a jerk, that shows through very clearly.
Look at his bio and you'll get a glimpse inside his head. His GR comments fit the profile he shows to the world.
I'm much more a fan of calm, understated competence (James Hyneman from Mythbusters) than over-the-top boasting (though I'll celebrate that if there's something backing it). In this case, I'm not sure how much 'there' is there.
Not worth my time to read more, really.
I'm much more a fan of calm, understated competence (James Hyneman from Mythbusters) than over-the-top boasting (though I'll celebrate that if there's something backing it). In this case, I'm not sure how much 'there' is there.
Not worth my time to read more, really.
I hadn't seen this thread before, and just caught up with the whole thing:
So he didn't want to pay the earlier price for it, but he's willing to pay the 99 cents sale price so he can "read and review" it. If he were that eager to review it, he would have bought it six months ago at the higher price.
I was thinking earlier in the thread where he was saying "I can't wait to review your book" that he's the kind of person to game reviews with other self-published authors, as in "send me a review copy of your book, I'll give you a five-star if you give me a five-star." I'd be surprised if this pattern weren't easily found among the books he's reviewed and others' reviews of his book.
I'd suggest holding off on posting the blogpost. You may want to think carefully about what you say, and if you want to give this character any (more) attention.
So he didn't want to pay the earlier price for it, but he's willing to pay the 99 cents sale price so he can "read and review" it. If he were that eager to review it, he would have bought it six months ago at the higher price.
I was thinking earlier in the thread where he was saying "I can't wait to review your book" that he's the kind of person to game reviews with other self-published authors, as in "send me a review copy of your book, I'll give you a five-star if you give me a five-star." I'd be surprised if this pattern weren't easily found among the books he's reviewed and others' reviews of his book.
I'm pretty laidback; that's why I have patience with this guy. When I read his comment, the first thing I thought was cool, another sale. Thanks for helping my amazon ranking, then I assumed he'll probably be one of those types to ask for a refund.
It's good to know that I'm not the only one he picks on. Maybe he does this crazy stuff to get attention? Instead of writing a post like I planned to do, I should simply ignore him. Don't mention it on my blog, facebook, or twitter. Just leave it alone. When he writes his review, I'm definitely not making any comments--that whole I don't want to be lumped into authors behaving badly thing. If he's looking for controversy to help sale some of his books or something, then look elsewhere
Thanks for the comments everyone! I just thought you'd like to hear about Mr. Whitehead again--SIX months later
It's good to know that I'm not the only one he picks on. Maybe he does this crazy stuff to get attention? Instead of writing a post like I planned to do, I should simply ignore him. Don't mention it on my blog, facebook, or twitter. Just leave it alone. When he writes his review, I'm definitely not making any comments--that whole I don't want to be lumped into authors behaving badly thing. If he's looking for controversy to help sale some of his books or something, then look elsewhere
Thanks for the comments everyone! I just thought you'd like to hear about Mr. Whitehead again--SIX months later
Hey BenBradley, it looks like we posted at the same time I've decided not to give him any attention.
LOL Old Hack, I was thinking the same thing
I've decided not to give him any attention. LOL Old Hack, I was thinking the same thing
Ignoring him is probably the best way to handle it. No response from you, no gratification for him.
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I'm sorry you're going through this.
I agree that the best way to go is to ignore it and move on. You have handled everything exceptionally well so far. If only other authors would do the same.
I agree that the best way to go is to ignore it and move on. You have handled everything exceptionally well so far. If only other authors would do the same.
I don't think there's anything wrong with him asking once.
Free country and all.
I don't think you should remove or change it in any way though, unless you want to.
After telling him your response, that should be that.
Anything further is really just childish and unprofessional.
Free country and all.
I don't think you should remove or change it in any way though, unless you want to.
After telling him your response, that should be that.
Anything further is really just childish and unprofessional.
I wouldn't actually REMOVE the review from the existence of the world, but I could imagine (I wouldn't actually do this either, unless required by law to remove it) editing the review, replacing the body with a few short words:
"Review removed at author's request."
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