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Old 02-13-2013, 05:26 PM   #1
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Hatchet Job Of The Year
http://www.hatchetjoboftheyear.com/

Quote:
The Hatchet Job of the Year Award is for the writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past twelve months. It aims to raise the profile of professional critics and to promote integrity and wit in literary journalism.
I don't know how I'd feel if I were on the receiving end of one of these, but damn, some of them aren't half funny.

Some of them step too far into criticising the author rather than their work for me, but given that some of the books reviewed are memoirs, that line is quite blurred. And all the reviewers at least attempt to offer evidence for their assertions.

What do you think?
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Old 02-13-2013, 08:19 PM   #2
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The only thing worse than a bad review is no review at all.
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Old 02-13-2013, 08:20 PM   #3
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The only thing worse than a bad review is no review at all.
Oh yeah?
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Old 02-13-2013, 08:33 PM   #4
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Yeah.

A hardcover edition, a bargain hardcover edition, a paperback edition, and a spoken-word edition. Decent sales over the past decade.

So, much as that review may have stung (if the author were foolish enough to have read it), I expect that more people bought it to see if it was that big a train wreck than didn't buy when they otherwise might have because of this review.

When thinking of readers scanning the bookstore shelves don't underestimate the "yeah, I've heard of that one" reaction as a positive sales force.
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Old 02-13-2013, 08:34 PM   #5
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Quote:
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Yeah.

A hardcover edition, a bargain hardcover edition, a paperback edition, and a spoken-word edition. Decent sales over the past decade.

So, much as that review may have stung (if the author were foolish enough to have read it), I expect that more people bought it to see if it was that big a train wreck than didn't buy when they otherwise might have because of this review.

When thinking of readers scanning the bookstore shelves don't underestimate the "yeah, I've heard of that one" reaction as a positive sales force.
No, you're right. I've been looking out for a copy of that for years now.
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Old 02-13-2013, 09:05 PM   #6
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That's truly deserving of the epithet EPIC.
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Old 02-13-2013, 09:07 PM   #7
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Thanks for the link! I needed the laugh today....
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"The YA crossover genre is probably best known for the love-it-hate-it-please-God-make-it-stop train wreck that was the Twilight saga, and every element I’ve mentioned above appears in Meyer’s books. Here’s why The Atheist’s Daughter is orders of magnitude better" -- Cassandra Parkin
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Old 02-13-2013, 10:19 PM   #8
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Yeah, but....unlike on Goodreads, none of those reviews featured GIFs from various TV shows and LOLcats.

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Old 02-13-2013, 11:06 PM   #9
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Those gifs really annoy me. Fortunately, I can zap them with my adblocker.
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Old 02-14-2013, 12:49 AM   #10
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Ow ow ow ow omigod OW.

I really hope that if the guy started reading that, he got as far as 'it's printed on really nice paper' and decided that would be a good moment to put it down.
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Old 02-14-2013, 02:57 AM   #11
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Those gifs really annoy me. Fortunately, I can zap them with my adblocker.
Actually, none of the "Hatchet Job" books was likely to get a lot of Goodread GIFs. They were all far, far too serious.

Unless there's an LOLcat that's all "Lit'ry kitteh iz not amused." Or "Lit'ry kitteh can haz cheezburger and plotz?"
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Old 02-14-2013, 05:27 AM   #12
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It looks like the receivers of these Hatchet Jobs are well-established and successful by most any standard already. I don't pity them (much).
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Old 02-14-2013, 05:29 AM   #13
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The only thing worse than a bad review is no review at all.
THAT'S the God's honest truth, Unk.
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Old 02-14-2013, 06:51 AM   #14
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Old 02-16-2013, 02:43 AM   #15
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Great, so now they get awards for ripping our stories a new one, too...

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Yeah, but....unlike on Goodreads, none of those reviews featured GIFs from various TV shows and LOLcats.
Half of the reviews on GR are by people desperate to make each other laugh, which completely sucks balls for the folks who want unbiased opinions and any weak-willed authors who succumb to the urge to read their one-star reviews. The GIFs are an extra kick in the teeth :P

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I think that explains the distant scream I heard that autumn.
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Old 02-16-2013, 03:18 AM   #16
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Half of the reviews on GR are by people desperate to make each other laugh, which completely sucks balls for the folks who want unbiased opinions and any weak-willed authors who succumb to the urge to read their one-star reviews. The GIFs are an extra kick in the teeth :P
Dude. What's wrong with a laugh? Granted, GIFs get old, but if used right, they are really, quite funny. Appropriate GIF usage is an art.

And there's no such thing as an unbiased opinion. Show me one, and I'll show you a liar.
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Old 02-17-2013, 08:06 AM   #17
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James D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate compliments
That review of The Book of Kings was mentioned here three days and twelve hours ago.

Novelrank.com tells me that Amazon sold a copy of The Book of Kings three days and ten hours ago.

Coincidence?
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Old 02-17-2013, 04:59 PM   #18
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So, much as that review may have stung (if the author were foolish enough to have read it), I expect that more people bought it to see if it was that big a train wreck than didn't buy when they otherwise might have because of this review.
That was my thought as I read it.

Unfortunately for the author, I was not tempted beyond the initial thought.
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