Authors shitting themselves over negative reviews

[KingGeedorah]

I've not seen many of the mainstream ones chimp out, some of them are really cool Arron Dempskey-Bowden who wrights for the black library is really good interacting with the fan base and is more than willing to engage in poking a little fun at the rare cannon cock up he has made.

Dan Abbnet is the same, although not as involved in the community (read his book embedded by the way it's awesome).

The fantasy fan base seems to bread the nuttier variety of fans though, sci fi isn't immune to that but the ones in fantasy that I've seen take things a bit to far.

Dude you read my mind. BL authors are always super cool and nice dudes. I met Abbnet at the GW in NYC and we talked about pulp lore for well over an hour.

Maybe they just can't get as spergy because they didn't technically create the universe (40k).

 

[Ravenor]

Dude you read my mind. BL authors are always super cool and nice dudes. I met Abbnet at the GW in NYC and we talked about pulp lore for well over an hour.

Maybe they just can't get as spergy because they didn't technically create the universe (40k).

Yea he's a nice dude, I met both at the black library weekender a while ago.

Also technically DA created most of the current terms in WH40K Vox, Promethium, Nall wood and 90% of the rest are his creation, and ADB is a massive fan of the series outside of writing, he has been playing since he was 14 / 15 if my memory serves me correctly, also I can't remember what forum it was but it might have been dakkadakka where some kid was trying to write some fluff for his own chapter and he helped him out a awful lot (the kid had talent in storytelling but writing skills sucked) and sent him some signed books I think.

They both have time for the fans, if I take up knife making again I'm going to make DA a ghosts straight silver and send it to him and I have some really nice Flint I might make into a anathame an send him as well because he brought back Ol Person (dude is a badass) in a way that makes him unkillable, I can't wait to see when he shows up in "The End times".

Edit to add:

Sorry for the off topic, but the guys at the BL are that cool they are worth celebrating.

 

[butt in trouble]

I once took a creative writing class and the teacher said "if everyone gives you negative feedback then your work needs improvement. If everyone gives you positive feedback then your work suck so bad that nobody has the heart to tell you and you should just quit."

 

[Rin]

This would seem to be the case from the many 5-star reviews garnered by Melissa Douthit, Carroll Bryant, and MR Mathias.

STGRB is really an interesting case for a lolcow, since they largely milk themselves. They don't always rise to being baited, but when they do speak out on a subject, you know they will just make themselves out to be bigger idiots. They've also turned on several of their most vocal supporters, having alienated Bryant (he's got a couple anti-STGRB articles on his blog) and Rick Carufel (who is crazy, but he is very much anti-STGRB, so I can't really hate him all that much), so it's really only a matter of time before they turn on Anne Rice.

Bafflingly, the latest post at STGRB seems to take an anti-SJW stance as they accuse SJWs of faking tweets from Anne Rice. Apparently they equate "bullies" with SJWs. The reasoning still escapes me and I've gone over most of their recent entries and they don't bother explaining why even in the article itself:



And that's all they mention about bullies=SJWs.

Bottom line is that STGRB is big into tone-policing reviewers, and insisting that reviews follow a specific set of guidelines, and "calling out" people who violate them, so, I dunno. That sounds pretty SJWish to me. But they're not really known for self-awareness, I guess.

Eh, they're pissed at the SJW types for calling out semi-imaginary instances of sexism, racism, ableism, or whatever the latest cause is. In a way, they're natural enemies; the STGRB people want everyone to be perfectly nice and sugary to each other, and the SJW people want to yell and scream at anyone who doesn't conform to their opinion.

 

[sonichuis44]

Who the hell cares about internet reviews anyway? I take any Amazon or Goodreads review with a huge grain of salt, just because there's so many trolls, mouthbreathers, and ideologues out there. Any given product is going to have at least a handful of people who hate it for no reason. Do these people really not understand that? Do they also get career and relationship advice from Youtube comments?

 

[GREEDY FIREMAN]

Bafflingly, the latest post at STGRB seems to take an anti-SJW stance as they accuse SJWs of faking tweets from Anne Rice. Apparently they equate "bullies" with SJWs. The reasoning still escapes me and I've gone over most of their recent entries and they don't bother explaining why even in the article itself:

Well, it appears that bullies (also known as SJWs) are at it again, but instead of trying to smear us, they are attempting to smear Anne Rice...

And that's all they mention about bullies=SJWs.

Bottom line is that STGRB is big into tone-policing reviewers, and insisting that reviews follow a specific set of guidelines, and "calling out" people who violate them, so, I dunno. That sounds pretty SJWish to me. But they're not really known for self-awareness, I guess.

I look at it as one of those "all insects are bugs, but not all bugs are insects" situations.

 

[WWWWolf]

female authors, one in paranormal romance

Ooh! Ooh! Reminds me of an amusing related incident over a decade ago.

"Night Travels of the Elven Vampire", by one Laverne Ross.
I collect weird and wonderful books from the Internets. This book has somehow been a bit more elusive than the rest, because it was released by the notorious scam publisher PublishAmerica (nowadays America Star Books). Usually, publish-on-demand books aren't that difficult to grab (because it's easy to keep them available semi-perpetually), but PA made it especially difficult for random interested customers to actually buy the books from the web stores, because they counted on the authors to buy the books in bulk. The book is completely unavailable nowadays, it seems.
It's especially difficult to find this book in its original cover, which GoodReads has mercifully preserved for posterity. The elf may look slightly familiar to discerning fantasy fans.

So what about NTOTEV? Oh, it's an urban-fantasy paranomal romance tale of highest calibre. It features an elven vampire. Not sparkly at all - that much at least can be said to the author's credit. She also made Amazon sockpuppet reviews, because as other fantastic self-published authors have shown, that strategy never fails.

This review pretty much sums the book up.

And there obviously was some fallout from the criticism. Quite a lot of screeching and screaming.

...of course, unlike many screechy drama queens, Laverne actually rewrote and re-released the book under different pen name. Problem is, it wasn't much better.

In summary: Yeah, bad publicity is better than no publicity. I totally want to get these books despite them being out of print for ages.

 

[Slowboat to China]

Ooh! Ooh! Reminds me of an amusing related incident over a decade ago.

"Night Travels of the Elven Vampire", by one Laverne Ross.

Oh my gosh, that takes me back! I remember when that mess first hit the scene. I think it was one of the first prominent examples of really awful, self-published tripe for the digital age--the cover was just the cherry on top, really.

(At the time I was appalled, but these days, NTotEV seems almost quaint. So much worse has come down the pipe since then.)

As for STGRB, I can't even keep up with them any more. The whole thing seems to have devolved into a clusterfuck of accusations, counter-accusations, meanie haters, and swollen, throbbing egos.

Re: the LKH "Dear Negative Reader" link not working--it looks like she has a new website set up, so the old link would understandably be busted. But is the link now taking anyone else to ... STGRB? I get the feeling I'm poised on the edge of a rabbit hole of author wank here.

 

[Zorceror44]

I don't understand how long this thread has gone on without mentioning Onision.

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

There are so many hapless Newspaper Comic artists that get into personal scuffles even threatening to sue over being told how it is.

 

[Konstantinos]

There are so many hapless Newspaper Comic artists that get into personal scuffles even threatening to sue over being told how it is.

Like Bruce Tinsley. He's everything you would expect of an arrogant hack job author and then some: he attributes all his problems to people he doesn't like, writes a comic strip that revolves around attacking strawmen, responds to criticism with hostility, has an unwarranted level of self-importance, and has some kind of drinking problem that he tries to keep under wraps.

Also, he was so petty that he criticized the judge from his DUI trial in his shitty comic.

 

[Lunete]

I don't understand how long this thread has gone on without mentioning Onision.

Greg is the spokesman for petulant manchildren everywhere.

 

[sonichuis44]

Like Bruce Tinsley. He's everything you would expect of an arrogant hack job author and then some: he attributes all his problems to people he doesn't like, writes a comic strip that revolves around attacking strawmen, responds to criticism with hostility, has an unwarranted level of self-importance, and has some kind of drinking problem that he tries to keep under wraps.

Also, he was so petty that he criticized the judge from his DUI trial in his shitty comic.

I read this post and was like "Wow, that sounds like the Mallard Fillmore guy..."
Yup.

Spoiler: slightly off-topic

http://rubbercat.net/artduck/

 

[AnOminous]

Like Bruce Tinsley. He's everything you would expect of an arrogant hack job author and then some: he attributes all his problems to people he doesn't like, writes a comic strip that revolves around attacking strawmen, responds to criticism with hostility, has an unwarranted level of self-importance, and has some kind of drinking problem that he tries to keep under wraps.

Also, he was so petty that he criticized the judge from his DUI trial in his shitty comic.

You know, if you're trying to hide a drinking problem, ranting and raving about how unjust your DWI conviction is and trashing the judge is probably not the best way to do it.

 

[RepQuest]

I don't understand how long this thread has gone on without mentioning Onision.

 

[The Knife]

This is sort of the other side of the coin, but: Poppy Z Brite, a horror novelist, was kicked out of a livejournal fan group dedicated to him because he asked the group a question http://docbrite.livejournal.com/2004/01/02/

I was googling Brite because I remembered he used to respond angrily to negative Amazon reviews, but actually this little nugget of back-in-the-day LJ drama is much funnier.

I can't even believe that I forgot this, but I once went off on a why-PZB's-writing-style-annoys-me rant in some kind of off-usenet group back in the day. It was basically a proto-version of the Unpopular Opinions About Books thread here and I would have been extremely young--early twenties, if not just barely still a teenager. Anyway, I did the thing and PZB, who was apparently in the habit of googling himself, found it and posted it to his blog. It sparked a bunch of personal attacks there about who the hell was I to be talkin' shit when I was a talentless illiterate nobody who had never written anything (note: this is still true). I got a very few nasty personal emails and I might have even gotten a couple from PZB himself, I don't remember now.

Ten years later, PZB and I were actually members of the same forum. I was kind of keeping out of any threads where he was posting because I didn't know if he was still holding a grudge--I knew it was him, but he did not know it was me. We were all talking about stupid things we'd done in the early days of the internet, when he mentioned accidentally sending his fans after some negative reviewer on a usenet group, and how part of the reason he got so pissed at that reviewer was because she had made points that had been bothering PZB about his own work for a while, eventually leading to him break off from his horror work and focus on the mystery/foodie series he published later. I finally came forward and told him that uh, that negative reviewer was me. He apologized too much, I apologized too much, virtual hugs were shared, and all was happy in Internetland. We're still in a few online communities together (although I think he has again totally forgotten about me).

And that's the story about how I may have inadvertently convinced Poppy Z. Brite to give up writing vampire novels. If only I'd gotten to Stephenie Meyer in time.

 

[Connor Bible]

Speaking of writing, @The Knife ... I joined Fictionpress and Wattpad using my Facebook account, and after I get my book review for school done, I'll see if I can churn some shit out. Feel free to tear up my monsters, guys. I really don't care.

 

[lindsayfan]

I may have inadvertently convinced Poppy Z. Brite to give up writing vampire novels.

this is fascinating, not only b/c it's a funny story, but because ppl have been harassing PZB for well over a decade-- & probably still are-- about no longer writing vampire novels. While I'd never say his books are perfect, I frickin loved reading about 1990s bisexual vampires in the French Quarter... and I have followed PZB's online presence for years (including the intriguing period when he became hyper-catholic and got arrested for chaining himself to a church door)... so stumbling on this potential secret backstory to the end of his vampire-novel era is a little like reading Kiwi Farms and coming across a post where someone's like "yeah, Amelia Earheart crashed in my family's sugarcane field."

 

[LW 916]

I dunno if the forums have ever talked about him before, but there's this guy I learned about through The Worst Things For Sale. His name is Norman Boutin, and he wrote this book called "Empress Theresa" that people fucking ROASTED on Amazon. Since TWTTS is pretty popular, the page got a lot of traffic, and he freaked out in the forums about how his book was so good and no one actually read it.


Ah yes I just checked and people have written about him before. Well, it was worth a shot. He definitely shit himself about negative reviews.

 

[The Knife]

this is fascinating, not only b/c it's a funny story, but because ppl have been harassing PZB for well over a decade-- & probably still are-- about no longer writing vampire novels. While I'd never say his books are perfect, I frickin loved reading about 1990s bisexual vampires in the French Quarter... and I have followed PZB's online presence for years (including the intriguing period when he became hyper-catholic and got arrested for chaining himself to a church door)... so stumbling on this potential secret backstory to the end of his vampire-novel era is a little like reading Kiwi Farms and coming across a post where someone's like "yeah, Amelia Earheart crashed in my family's sugarcane field."

Hee, it's a fun story but I won't take credit/blame for the switch. PZB was dissatisfied at the direction of his writing and was apparently already coming to the same conclusions. He's got a very sharp critical eye. The stylistic swap and the break from horror was maybe not carved in stone, but almost certainly written clearly on wet concrete by the time I opened my mouth. At the time, he was also pretty young--only about six or seven years older than I was--and hearing some stranger mocking your presumed private self-doubts in public is probably not the best way to have them confirmed. I really wish it hadn't happened. I was an arrogant little shit in the throes of mastering the language of literary criticism who went off against a target I thought I would never have to answer to, purely so that I could get internet cool points.

*looks around the Farms*

And apparently my work has not changed.