Online author etiquette for keeping safe in the cyberjungle.
by Anne R. Allen
After I wrote my post last month on cyberbullying in the publishing community, a lot of people asked if there’s any way to avoid these online terrorists.
I wrote a post on the subject back in 2013, soon after my nightmare encounter with the Goodreads Mean Girls, who attacked me with everything from one-star “review” swarms to death threats that included pictures of my house.
My crime was simply witnessing their obscene cyber-assault on a naive teen writer who had broken one of their unwritten rules.
Obviously nobody can be completely safe from online sociopaths, but that poor girl would have been safer if she’d known their “rules”.
So I thought I’d post an updated and expanded version of the “laws of the jungle” I first wrote in 2013. These rules aren’t secret, but for some reason most social media gurus fail to tell new authors about online author etiquette.
Here’s the thing: the Internet is still the wild frontier. And it’s so huge nobody’s quite sure how to police it. Big, loosely regulated social media sites that allow anonymity seem to encourage the worst in human behavior. Previously civilized humans become cyber-monkeys, tossing around verbal poop.
Stay Off the Bullies’ Radar if you Can
Writers can learn how to avoid gang-infested neighborhoods and stay off the radar of the poop-tossers, bullies, and vigilantes.
Unfortunately, marketers sometimes tell us to go into those neighborhoods and do the very things that will set off attacks. I’ve seen “marketing handbooks” that are the equivalent of sending children into gangland wearing a rival gang’s colors.
Part of the problem is that the rules of the online book world bear little resemblance to the conventions of the staid, gentlemanly publishing industry of the past.
That’s because the conventions of online activity come from the people who were here earlier than the writers: young (at the time), mostly male techies and computer gamers.
When you enter the online culture, it can feel like stepping into a game of “Grand Theft Auto.” It’s an aggressive, testosterone-fueled, competitive universe. On some sites, sociopathic behavior is the norm and innocence is a crime.
Everybody is trying to eliminate the enemy, and the enemy is probably you.
“Gaming the system” is a matter of pride for some, and because people tend to judge others’ characters by their own, the system-gamers think every innocent newbie is gaming the system too.
Remember: if someone accuses everybody he meets of sneaky, underhanded dealings, he’s only telling people who HE is.
Internet Trolls are not Rational Beings
One of the first infamous Internet trolls was the sociopath called Violentacrez. He slimed up the forums of Reddit with threats and hate speech masked as “categories” with names like “chokeabitch” that were technically within site guidelines, but invited racist, misogynist rants and child pornography.
Now-defunct Gawker outed Violentacrez in 2012, but thousands of his trollish kin sprout up every day—and plenty lurk under literary bridges.
Their goal is to get you to interact. Internet trolls have such meaningless lives, they will do anything for attention, even though that attention is negative.
“Don’t Feed the Trolls” is the only way to deal with them. Any interaction at all encourages them. No matter how horrific their statements are, just leave.
Online Harassment is a Growing Problem
Cyberbullying has escalated since I first wrote about the problem in 2013. Just this week online threats forced the cancellation of a meeting at tech giant Google.
“Gamergate,” the 2014 poopstorm of cruelty and misogyny terrorized women game designers and reviewers. Some had to leave their homes and go underground.
The 2016 online persecution of the brilliant SNL comedian Leslie Jones, who committed the “crime” of being cast in the new version of Ghostbusters while female and black (as well as middle-aged) was a low point in social media history.
Her final Tweet when leaving Twitter was heartbreaking:
“I feel like I’m in a personal hell. I didn’t do anything to deserve this. It’s just too much. It shouldn’t be like this. So hurt right now. I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie.You can hate the movie but the shit I got today…wrong.”
Twitter did ban the Neo-Nazi who led the persecution, but his cohorts are still out there. And of course, we now have politicians actively trolling each other online.
Last week there was a Twitterstorm of hate against a YA author whose work was misunderstood by a politically correctibot army who hadn’t read the book. (More on that below in rule #6)
Although they have a long way to go, Twitter is trying to clean things up. They have new tools in place for reporting abuse and recently they announced some impressive stats about how their new Truth and Safety Council has reduced abuse. The Council removes “thousands more abusive accounts each day.”
Be Careful Where You Promote Your Books
Remember: social media should not be used for direct marketing. It should be used for making friends. You wouldn’t wear an advertising sandwich board to a Chamber of Commerce mixer, but a lot of authors do the digital equivalent. It makes them bully-bait.
If the bullies catch you breaking their rules—even unwritten ones—they will destroy your career and reputation with all the self-righteous sadism of the Taliban slaughtering a schoolgirl.
Don’t give them an excuse to terrorize you. Follow the rules. Nobody deserves bullying, but you’re safer if the bullies don’t notice you.
12 LAWS OF THE AMAZON JUNGLE:
Online Author Etiquette
1) Don’t Spam
Easy to say; harder to follow.
What is spam? It’s unwanted promotion: the digital equivalent of those sales pitch phone calls you get just as you’re sitting down to a family dinner.
But one person’s spam is another person’s “savvy marketing.” One of our biggest problems is that spam is defined differently depending on where you are.
Here’s a detailed post on how NOT to spam on specific sites like Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, forums, etc.
A few authors have spammed and gamed the system so badly that we’re all paying the price.
Some readers have reacted so negatively they’ve invented a bizarre dichotomy of readers vs. writers. They consider anybody who writes to be the mortal enemy of “readers.” Don’t ask me where they think reading material comes from. A Magical Book Stork in the Sky may be involved.
Of course, in real life, authors are voracious readers, but remember this is a videogame world, so they need an enemy.
Mention you’ve written a book—even an unpublished one—and that enemy can be you.
2) Never Trade Reviews
It’s against Amazon’s terms of service. If you’re caught, Amazon will not only remove your reviews…they may ban you from the store forever.
One of the tricks of the early Amazon-gaming authors was to give a book a 5-star review, then contact the reviewed author and demand a 5-star in return. If the targeted author refused, the 5-star would be reduced to a one-star.
Not all trading of reviews is the result of blackmail. Lots of authors drop hints they expect a quid pro quo when they’ve written a good review. Do not fall into this trap. Even if you love the reviewer’s book, you could be violating Amazon’s TOS.
One of Amazon’s rules is that you can’t review a product if you will benefit from the proceeds. That’s why your Mom can’t give you a review. Or your editor. You also can’t review if you have a “rival” product. Some people interpreted that to mean “any author who writes in the same genre”—even if that review is positive. But that no longer appears to be the case.
In the great Amazon review purge following the purchased-review scandal of 2012, thousands of reviews disappeared, and many more were removed when the review rules changed in 2016. Unfortunately, they throw out lots of babies with the bathwater, so make sure your reviews are squeaky-clean. For more on this, here’s my post on Amazon’s New Review Rules.
3) Never Dis Other Authors
Authors have fans…and bestselling authors have a LOT of fans. If you say you hate Harry Potter, or Game of Thrones, or the Vampire LeStat, you are asking for swarms of one-star reviews from the author’s loyalists.
So does this mean the superstar authors condone the behavior?
Not at all. But it happens. And it can ruin your career. One writer who dissed a superstar author was so bullied she had to leave all social media for months, and her Amazon buy page was severely vandalized.
Readers feel they have been attacked when their idol is attacked. Their behavior is reprehensible, but disapproving of them isn’t the same as stopping them.
It’s not great to dis your fellow authors in any case. You’ll get a reputation as an unpleasant person and lose out on a lot of possible joint promotions and group marketing.
It’s good to remember people can choose from 100s of thousands of books at any moment these days. They’re less likely to choose one from an author whose behavior is rude and off-putting than from somebody they like.
4) Don’t Pay for Customer Reviews
As I mentioned above, buying reviews is a major no-no.
It’s okay with Amazon if you pay for a professional review from Kirkus, or other respected publication like the Midwest Book Review. However, those reviews can’t be posted on Amazon as “customer reviews.” You can paste a quote into the “editorial reviews” section. But paying for a customer review is verboten.
Even a free book is considered “payment”, so book review bloggers have to post disclaimers when they review a book they have received from the author or publisher, although free review copies have always been a standard practice in the industry.
These days, the Zon has even cracked down on some affiliates, who get a tiny percentage if somebody clicks through a review blog to buy a book. So if you’re an affiliate, be careful where you post reviews. Only your own blog is completely safe.
5) Don’t Stray too Far From Your Genre’s Parameters
I’m adding this one because I’ve heard from so many authors who have been trolled on social media because they called a book a “romance” that didn’t have the required HEA, or they labeled a mystery “cozy” but included swear words or sex. Some people are also offended if you call a book “Christian” that doesn’t follow strict evangelical teachings.
If you’re not sure of your genre, go for broader categories. “Women’s Fiction” can have an ambiguous or even sad ending. So can “Romantic Suspense”. A standard mystery can have plenty of sex and violence, and an “inspirational” romance can offer any kind of spirituality.
The same applies to cover art. Don’t put a cartoon on the cover or “cupcake” in the title if anybody uses language stronger than “goldurnit.” If there’s a gun, your book had better provide a high-bodycount thrillfest, and don’t put naked people on the cover if you don’t deliver serious steam.
Fans of some genres can be brutal to authors who stray from the beaten path. Their trollish behavior is reprehensible, but they’re not about to stop, so be aware it can be career-shattering to cross them.
6) Never Respond to Your Reviews
If a review violates the rules, you can ask for it to be removed (don’t expect immediate results), but responding—even to a good review—makes some reviewers furious. It seems they want to feel we’re off in another realm somewhere, not right here looking over their shoulders.
On places like Goodreads, people will call you a “badly behaving author” simply for thanking a thoughtful reviewer for a good review.
What you can do when you get a fantastic review is follow the reviewer on other social media and hope they’ll reciprocate and initiate contact. Several of my reviewers have become good friends because I friended them on Facebook. But resist the urge to say “thank you” in the comments of the review itself. I did this myself before I knew the rules, with no bad consequences, but you never know when a vigilante might be lurking.
I’m only talking about review sites here: not blogs. Most bloggers welcome a thank-you for a nice review.
And never comment on nasty reviews. You’re inviting further abuse.
Here are a few facts about reviews that may help to keep your fingers off the keyboard when the nasties hit:
Online review sites do not require reviewers to read a book.
Often people rate a product even before it’s available to anyone. This is a convention of the gaming world. It’s something videogame companies did in the early days to gauge interest in a new game. Now, unfortunately, it’s become a convention in online bookselling.
There’s recently been a storm of hate against an author who wrote a fantasy book that condemns racism. But because it has racist characters (it would be hard not to, considering the subject ) the cult of “censor everything that might offend anybody” has rallied thousands of people who haven’t read the book to write 1-star reviews. Unfortunately this is perfectly okay with Amazon.
Why do people write nasty, hateful reviews of books they haven’t read? Because being nasty and hateful is what they do. A 2013 study said haters really gotta hate. Be glad they’re on your book page and not in your living room.
One of the most common nasties is the “I hate this genre” review.
I’ve seen plenty of review pages by people who apparently do nothing but troll Amazon for books in genres they hate so they can write one star reviews. Unfortunately, they have that right.
But as tech becomes more part of everybody’s lives the need to use Amazon as a playground has diminished a bit. And let’s hope things continue to move in that direction.
Bestsellers always get snarky reviews.
So accept it as a mark of success. Sometimes they’re from sour-grape wannabes and sometimes from sock puppets. (Those are other authors with fake id’s trying to get you “out of the way.”) But sock puppetry is hard to prove. If the person has no other reviews and mentions a “rival” book, report abuse and hope the Zon elves will give you a hearing.
Free books are magnets for cruel reviews.
Giveaways of free paper review copies on Goodreads and other book sites often go to people who only want the book to resell as new. Every day I see authors complain that their expensive review copies are immediately sold on Amazon as “new” and they get no review, or worse, a one-sentence one-star.
So I advise that authors only send paper review copies to established bloggers and reviewers they have a prior relationship with.
NOTE: Always query a book review blogger before sending a review copy and for goodness’ sake, READ THE GUIDELINES ON THE BLOG! Here’s how to query a book blogger.
Luckily, your readers can usually spot a troll review
Nice people may even buy the book because of it.
And guess what? There really are a lot more nice people than nasty ones. One way to fight all this is to be one of the good guys. Writing honest reviews of books you like is the best way to fight this behavior.
7) Always Report Abuse (and take a screenshot)
These crimes are new—and span continents—but when a few sociopaths interfere with the bottom line of multinational corporations, you can be sure somebody’s going to want to control them.
That may result in restricted freedom for us all, which means cutting down on it now is in everybody’s interest. So do report abuse whenever you see it.
Okay, what’s a screenshot? It’s a photo of what’s on your screen. I could really have used it back when I was getting death threats. But since then, I’ve found this great thing called Awesome Screenshot that puts a button right on your toolbar. Just click on that button and, voila! You can capture the whole page, the visible part or a partial. It even has a tool to make red circles around the pertinent spots.
A negative, snarky review is not abuse.
But a review that’s obscene, threatening, or attacks the author personally is. Ditto an ad for another author’s book or services.
So you have to live with a review that says:
But you can report one that says:
- “Author has orgies with Kim Kardashian, Vladimir Putin and Kermit the Frog.
- “Somebody should #%&*@#!@$&*%!!! you sidewayswith a %*&@#!!!”
- “This book is soooo boring. My erotic romance FIFTY SHADES OF DRYING PAINT is much more exciting. Here’s the link.”
Amazon will also usually remove a barrage of one-star personal attacks, called “swarming”. Character assassination by “review” is one of the more heinous misuses of Amazon and Goodreads.
Even if you don’t see an immediate result, things are probably happening behind the scenes. Site admin. usually pays attention to abuse reports only after they get a lot. So report.
8) Never Argue with a Drunk or a Fool
Internet bullies are both. They’re literally drunk on their own rage. Rage can trigger endorphins that create a high similar to cocaine or meth.
How far do you think you’d get using reason and logic with a crazed tweaker on the street? Right. Then don’t try it on the Internet. Even if they are wrong. Because guess what? They almost always are.
This famous 2008 cartoon from xkcd says it all.
The most important thing to remember when you encounter unpleasantness is: take a breath, verify facts, and don’t over-react.
When cybermonkeys start tossing verbal feces around a forum or blog, treat it like any other pile of poop.
- Carefully walk around it.
- Realize you don’t have to tell anybody what it is. Its stink will give it away.
- Call maintenance.
- Go someplace cleaner.
You might want to send private messages of support to victims, but don’t stand up for victims in cyberpublic no matter how much your inner Atticus Finch is hurting to speak.
I didn’t follow that advice and it took me years to scrape that stuff off my shoe.
9) Stay Out of Rough Neighborhoods
Absolute Write is a site I no longer recommend. Interacting in the forums is usually unpleasant. It’s still good to check for info on bogus agents and scam publishers. But take everything with a grain or two of salt and don’t post anything. It’s dominated by bitter, bad-tempered rudeness.
Amazon Fora: The Deadwood of the publishing frontier. Brutally anti-author and out of control with vigilantism.
Reddit: I understand there are safe “subreddits” for book lovers, but be aware Reddit is famous for harboring Nazis, sadistic misogynists, and child pornographers. Personally, I’ve only visited a couple of times and I only ran into garden-variety snark, but newbies should be aware it’s a notorious haven for the lowest forms of humanity.
LinkedIn My experience with LinkedIn groups has not been good. Lots of spammers. If you’re not there for your day job, I don’t see much point in LinkedIn. They’ll trick you into giving access to your email contacts and spam them mercilessly in your name, including every agent you’ve ever queried. Plus they will NEVER stop trying to get you to invite your dead parents and toxic ex to join.
Goodreads: This used to be Mean Girls meets Lord of the Flies. They’ve taken steps to clean up the site, but don’t mention you’re an author. And don’t read your reviews! I’ve left even the author groups there, because some troll would regularly come stomping in, spouting hatred for the genre or authors in general. To be really safe, follow the advice one agent tells her clients: “Go to Goodreads to put up an author profile. Link to your blog. Log out. Never go back.”
10) Keep in mind that nobody owes you a review
That’s true even if you send them a hard copy and pay big bucks for postage. If reviewers don’t review your book, they may be doing you a favor. Maybe they hated it or they couldn’t get past the first chapter. They could dislike it because the love interest has the same name as their ex-husband or that horrible bully in 3rd grade. Whatever. The book turned them off, and they didn’t feel like writing a review. That’s the way it goes.
A review is a gift, not a right.
If there’s no review, don’t send an angry note demanding one. Chances are you won’t like the end result.
11) Treat your fans like gold
If you’re lucky enough to publish successfully and have fans, remember they’re your most important connections online. Treat them with respect. Don’t spam them with a barrage of emails. Don’t order them around or demand they give you free book promotion. (You can ask, but be very, very polite.)
And if a bunch of fans give a new book a less than stellar review because they feel betrayed by the ending, or you killed off a favorite character, don’t get angry. Pay attention. They’re offering valuable advice that can help you with the next book and improve your sales.
You’re in business, and the reader is an essential part of that business.
12) Change your definition of “review” and don’t take online reviews so seriously
An online product review is nothing like a traditional book review.
When most of us think of a book review, we think of something in the New York Times, or a sincere blogger who blogs about a book after reading and thinking about it.
But online product reviews—as established in the early days of the Internet—are essentially comments, like the comments you see at the end of online news stories.
That means some online “reviewers” bear the same resemblance to traditional book reviewers that soccer hooligans do to sports commentators: not much.
Cruel, angry reviews say more about the reviewer than they do about your book.
They put you in excellent company. I know yours hurt like a physical wound, but it helps to read some of the idiotic one-stars of the classics.
It’s an urban myth that Amazon requires a certain number of reviews for a book to move up the ranks.
Ditto stars or “likes” on your author page. Only one thing does that: sales.
Some advertising newsletters like Kindle Nation Daily and BookBub DO require tons of 5-star reviews. But that has nothing to do with Amazon rank.
For actual readers, it’s much more important to have a few good reviews and some editorial reviews from well known authors. So don’t obsess.
Bad reviews don’t always mean bad sales.
When I got swarmed by the Goodreads Mean Girls, my sales went through the roof.
Amazon has an ultra-competitive “top 500/100/50 reviewer” program and you can get caught in their games.
According to many reports, Grand Theft Auto mentality is rampant there. Reviewer-on-reviewer bullying and competition can be toxic. I’ve seen them use review comments and “useful” voting buttons to harass each other.
Some will give one-stars to books their rivals love. With the author or vendor getting caught in the middle.
This is an obvious breach of Amazon rules, so clicking the “report abuse” button usually solves the problem, but it can be traumatizing for the baffled author.
There is a rigid Amazon review culture and fall afoul of it at your peril.
Most people who write product reviews and comments are sincere, helpful customers.
Some Amazon book reviewers are old school literary experts who could publish in any upscale magazine.
The best way to clean up the review system is add your honest reviews to the mix. Join the ranks of the sincere and helpful.
by Anne R. Allen @annerallen August 13, 2017
***
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I did engage with two reviewers — one that ended very well — the last time ended badly. I know I wasn’t supposed to, but the last one got my goat, having entire conversations with another reviewer in MY comment section on the Zon. I was very nice, answered her questions, and left it that. She still decided to leave me a two star review. It took me months to get over the header she posted on the review –If you were thinking about reading this series, don’t bother. I was going to say something to Amazon, but figured they wouldn’t care. I’m a minnow swimming with sharks so I left it alone.
I don’t engage in social media groups although have been asked to join. I remember what happened to you and so stay away. I barely blog anymore either, so afraid I’ll say something “wrong” and spark an international ruckus. Don’t need that.
Thanks for posting the “rules” again. Even seasoned vets need a refresher course.
Anne–I totally relate. I have some doozies on my buy pages. There are some people who think women should never be allowed to be funny and think everything in a comedy is supposed to be taken literally.–as cartoonists are really advocating dropping pianos on people’s heads. Nothing to be done about them, and engaging with them is pointless because you can’t fix stupid.
One thing online reviews have taught me is that even though they can read words, a lot of people are not smart enough to understand them.
But it is pretty tragic that trolls and cults have such power over us right now.
Anne—Thanks for a valuable, informative post. Makes me wanna get into bed and pull the covers over my head. 🙁
Ruth–Me too! 🙁
Me as well. It’s all just too sad.
Hey Anne — excellent advice for internet-inhabiting authors. It’s also good advice for humans anywhere interacting with other humans. Be nice. Avoid Godzilla. Oh, and be nice.
Charlie–Excellent advice. It helps to know where Godzilla hangs out so we can not go there. 🙂
I got off Absolute Write–now a few years ago–because I was seeing a trend of keeping everyone at the beginner level. A writer trying to advance their skills by imitating a best selling writer would be told, “Only Big Name Writer can get away with it. You can’t, so don’t even try,” or “Most writers screw that up, so don’t bother trying to do it.” I write differently enough now that I don’t feel like I would be welcome there any more. Even then, just being a pantser, I felt like I sometimes needed to hide that. People would say, “Everyone writes differently,” and then say in the next breath, “You don’t outline? Get with the program already.”
Linda–I think you’re right. Absolute Write is for beginners. They can’t relate to a professional. There’s also a real bias toward Big 5 publishing, and some of them have been querying for decades, staying at that “aspiring writer” level (often with one book) forever. And they want everybody to stay there with them.
Excellent! Anne your posts are always worthwhile, but this one deserves additional praise.
I tell all these do-nots to my students. I am sure they think I am over-reacting. We know I’m not.
My own funny story: I got a caustic one star review on Rowena Through the Wall, early on. SMUT! It said in the review title. I was devastated. I cried. I *don’t* write erotica (okay, maybe it’s a little hot. But only romance-hot.) Happily, I followed your advice and didn’t respond to the review, tempted as I was. Instead, I went away and licked my wounds. Next day: my sales went up! People actually bought the book to see what the fuss was about.
Melodie–That reviewer probably did more for your sales than a BookBub ad!! In the days of 50 Shades, getting labeled as “smut” is probably like getting a bestseller sticker.
Although that’s pretty funny. Rowena is not only not smutty, but the romance is played for laughs. But one thing I’ve discovered about writing humor–readers have to be smart. And a whole lot of them aren’t.
That is a fascinating discovery, Anne (humour: readers have to be smart.) I’m going to remember that. I always assumed the sitcom audience would ‘get’ humour in a novel. But I’ve just remembered: there’s no laugh track.
Melodie–No laugh track! That’s the secret! I couldn’t understand why people can understand a joke when it’s in a sitcom, but not in a novel. A lot of people need a signal to know something is meant to be funny! I wonder if we could write our books with emojis in them?
I’ve been here reading you for some time, and I can see the marvelous history of this post, Anne. You blend time-honored old advice with things that have happened recently, and it’s all of a piece, honestly so well written. I particularly like how you can unearth a logical reason for something that seems so bad to us as authors (like naming a character accidentally the same as an ex, ouch!).
A lot to think about and I’m definitely getting Awesome Screenshot! Thanks as always. Here’s to the day when most of this starts happening to me too. I like war stories as much as the next indie.
Will–Sometimes I worry about revisiting old posts, but we have new readers all the time who want to know this stuff that’s buried in the archives. So yes, I try to bring stuff up to date and add relevant events.
I laughed out loud at your comment about war stories. Yeah, we do kind of trot out our war wounds when we talk about the review wars and Goodreads bullies. I hope you don’t ever have to deal with them. Epic Fantasy seems to have its own rules and allows a bit more leeway for its authors. Maybe because it isn’t the money-making machine romance and mystery can be. Those genres seem to have the most toxic battles.
Anne,
Thank you so much for this horrifying and delightful article. Horrifying to me because I’m preparing to send my first little darling out into this fray, and delightful because it’s full of useful, fascinating information. I admire your willingness to speak up and your generosity to the rest of us.
Ann R
Ann R–Nice to meet another Ann(e) R! Best of luck with your book launch! Yes, it’s terrifying, but it helps a lot if you know what to expect and you realize that a lot of this is just part of the process of publishing in today’s world. At least we’re not living in the days when one snarky review in the New Yorker could kill your whole career. Even a swarm of one-stars can sometimes boost sales.
Afternoon Anne!
Another excellent post filled with time-honoured as well as current sage advice. Getting caught in a s*&#-storm of trollish behaviour has driven excellent authors out of the publishing industry – sadly. I spend a lot of time trying to hep beginners – as you do. So many of the mistakes that beginner authors make are not malicious – but born of ignorance. Keep on educating authors with your common sense advice!!
Barb–That’s so true. Most of the “offenses” newbies make are simply naive blunders. But vigilantes target and troll them–and often keep them from writing another book. Think of the wonderful books they have kept from being written! And they claim to be “readers.”
Anne, thank you for telling it like it is and especially sounding the warning about sites which look useful but are full of mines.
Goodreads is an especially sad situation. Have a decent profile and connect your blog, as the agent you quoted said, but maybe also maintain shelves of books in the same genre you write and add your books to lists. But absolutely avoid the trolls in group discussions.
Carmen–That’s a great suggestion! I stopped adding books a couple of years ago, but I should go back and do that. But the trolls are so toxic, I haven’t wanted to go back for any reason. Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll hold my nose and go do that.
Anne, since Amazon bought Goodreads, your books are added automatically in almost all cases. However, you should make sure that your profile is complete and all your books are associated with you. Passively, Goodreads is a powerful place for readers to find books.
Barb–I do make sure my own entries are correct. Saying I never go to GR is a bit of hyperbole. I should remind people to check their own book entries for accuracy. I once found my mom’s books had all been linked to another Shirley Allen who wrote erotica! Not good.
What I think Carmen is talking about is adding books to your “want to read” lists. It does help to add books I’m actually reading and liking in my genre and I’ve been neglecting that.
I’ve been reviewing books online for years but am newer to the world of writing blogs and writer communities–and can really use the warnings on the package.
A little too late: I recently made the mistake of reviewing a popular writing guru’s fiction release as if I were a beta reader–there were a lot of technical editing problems for a professional release. But now I realize it wasn’t the place to be so critical. I didn’t think it was a BAD review and it certainly wasn’t personal! I love this person’s blog and advice.
But suddenly I was being accused of tearing her apart and I was shocked and saddened; I’d been thoughtful and sincere. (If I gave her 5 stars, what would I give Ursula LeGuin? My Aspy tendencies back-fire again!)
Now that I’ve read your last couple posts on the topic and others about author-bullying I understand the reaction. The technical problems were fixed and much of what I said was a moot point. I’ll remember now to do unto others… and that mainly if I don’t have anything nice to say, move on; it’s not my job, even as a fellow aspiring author, to be “helpful” at that stage. The author has people for that!
So I’m hoping one mistake hasn’t branded me for life. I really do want to be the kind of writer supportive of other writers and in a way that only benefits them and the industry.
Thanks for advice which we wouldn’t even need in an ideal world…We aren’t always one, big happy family, are we?
Histoire–Thanks for your thoughtful comment. You found out the hard way that a “customer review” isn’t the place for a thorough critique. The best place for those is on your own blog or a joint book review blog, where you have more room to explain your thinking.
One of the problems is that Amazon itself calls 3-stars a “critical” review, so 3-stars make the author look bad. But every author should be happy to have a reader who takes the time to actually read the book and write a thoughtful review. So many of those “reviews” are written by people who don’t read the book, or only glance at the “look inside.” Thanks for being a reviewer!
Hey Anne,
Excellent post, and one I intend to share. I’ve been pretty lucky and haven’t stepped in it, accidentally or otherwise, although I tend to keep a low profile.
I have recently started using good reads more, but only to post reviews. I don’t get involved with groups there or on amazon either. I have found a couple of decent groups on Facebook, but it is also teeming with groups like you describe, but in that case they seem to be authors attacking authors. And of course the usual, gamer groups who has a group founder that somehow profits from get members to follow their “game the system” advice. I left one such group not long ago and stopped feeling all nervous and depressed about myself and my work. Telling, no?
I think maybe the problem we experience as authors is that on a personal front we are used to and like that interaction and personal connection aspect of the internet. We’ve all met wonderful people online and made some real friends there – so why would we think that extending that as authors would be a bad idea? However, once you are pursuing a writing career you have crossed the line from personal to professional and unfortunately have to change your conduct because of it. If only to protect yourself, your privacy and your work.
Personally, I do my author stuff on my author page on FB mostly, list my books on GoodReads, post reviews on my blog, Amazon and GR and pretty much leave it at that. I have had plenty of tangles with trolls online and they never get full. They just seem to have to keep eating live innocents to keep their pulse going and their bellies from growling.
Once again, thanks for all you do and give to writers. Sometimes, I think I’d be lost without your blog.
Have a great day.
Annie
Annie–Thanks for posting reviews on Goodreads. Honest reviews are always a gift to authors. And less than stellar review on GR doesn’t play havoc with a career the way it can on Amazon. Posting reviews but not interacting is probably the best way to use the site. Every time I’ve joined a group, I’ve run into trolls. (And I agree they’re addicted to the negativity they generate. Great point.)
And yes, they’re in FB groups too, although I haven’t run into as many. But those “gaming the system” groups can be run by trolls, so beware. Very telling that you found your overall well being increased with you left that group!
Happy Sunday Anne —
Thanks, as always, for bringing back another topic for a second look. It will help me so much when mapping out ‘look outs!’ for the authors I edit, especially those with a first book.
I’ve never done FaceBook and without that experience, I tend toward a ‘common sense’ chat with these authors. You know, don’t be an ass, don’t walk into a bar where everyone wears a scar, don’t ever think no one is listening to what you say online….etcetc.
Thanks for your wonderful tips and advice, and keep on keepin’ on for all of us!
Maria
Maria–It’s so great to know that editors like you are warning new authors about this stuff. And your advice is great “don’t walk into a bar where everyone has a scar.” Haha.
Some of this isn’t so intuitive, like don’t buy reviews and don’t interact in a review. Especially since the review sales people will tell you different. I recently Googled something about Amazon reviews and read an appalling thing about how you have to buy reviews. Then I saw it was written by somebody from a review mill! We have to be vigilant.
Anne — this is why I depend on wonderful blogs like yours! I am reluctant to tell my authors not to buy ‘how to market your book’ and ‘what’s next?!!’ books, or to take things with a grain…but I know things change quickly and what might have been a safe haven for the new author is now a pit.
So — this is why I urge all my collaborators to read your blog and search the archives for specific support and tips. Nothin’ like getting the straight skinny from someone who’s been there, and survived. :o)
Maria
I’ve been very fortunate. I joined Goodreads after the bullying had been tamed. I don’t spend a lot of time there but I do participate in discussions in a few groups from time to time; one for authors and a couple for readers. I completely ignore my reviews there and rarely look at my actual author page. It’s not worth getting worked up over.
I have no interest in Reddit and similar sites as my audience, primarily women over 35, isn’t found there or in like quarters anyway. I do participate in multiple genre specific and very active Facebook groups as a reader and as an author. I own a group and moderate another one. They’re heavily vetted and primarily made up of middle aged women. I’ve recently met several of the women I’ve been ‘talking with’ for years in these groups at a literary con where we reveled in the books we love for several days.
Yes, you need to be careful. Yes, you need to vet every site and wade in slowly. Yes, you occasionally need to step around steaming piles of manure. However, there are amenable, friendly, well managed groups out there who enjoy having authors in their midst. It’s worth it to find those and connect with other authors and readers.
Anne–Ignoring Goodreads reviews is a great help to your mental health. 🙂 Some of them are just off the wall. I know people who are in lovely, friendly GR groups. but groups need a vigilant moderator with an iron fist. Our Boomer group went downhill fast when the moderator needed to focus on other things.
I’m in a number of Facebook groups that are great–and a wonderful way to connect, as you have found. (How great that you got to meet in person!) As with all online discussion it all comes down to moderators. A tough moderator creates a safe environment. But it’s a lot of work. They have to remove spam, trolls and porn every day.
Your warnings are worth heeding, but I would like to emphasize that you can protect yourself by not going to those places in the first place (like Goodreads), except as you say, post your public face and stay away. Also, I’d suggest getting an email address that is for public use only, keeping your private one for your family and friends. So if you do find yourself in the storm, you can change emails easily.
I got into a bit of trouble early when I reviewed Guy Kawasaki’s guide to self-publishing. It was terrible advice, so I posted a one-star review on Amazon. That got me some bad email, including one idiot who worked for some ISP in Colorado who vowed to block my site from probably the five readers who lived there.
I’ve seen a couple places where authors are annoying spammers: On Twitter when an author’s feed is nothing but ads for their book, and on private Facebook groups that have a “no advertising” policy, and a new member drops a drive-by “by my book.”
I forgot to add that if you want to give an author a positive review in your genre, they can add it to their Amazon book page in their “Editorial Reviews” section. What you’re doing is blurbing the book; just don’t leave it in the reviews.
Bill–All very good advice. Thanks for the reminder to have a professional and personal email address. It’s so awful to get those death threats mixed in with your updates from your mom!
I agree 100% about Kawasaki’s book BTW, Terrible advice. But yes, he’s one of those people with an army of fans, so dissing him online is going to activate the troops. Sorry you had to go through that.
Amazon has let up on its ban of reviewing authors in your genre, but yes, to be safe, it’s always best to offer an “editorial review” instead.
I’ve been fortunate enough not to engage any trolls in publishing (i.e. Amazon). I did have a weird experience with a 2 star review I left for a memoir. Apparently I made a non-politically correct (aka a non-progressive knowledgeable statement) comment about Ruben “Hurricane” Carter within my review. Someone took major exception to that and blasted me and my review. Fortunately, I didn’t respond to it, having taken your advice not to respond to any negativity on Amazon and someone reported it to Amazon. In fact, my review spawned a discussion between that troll and a well-known attorney from the Cleveland Ohio area who also gave the book a two star rating.
Beyond that, I’m very careful on who I engage in my FB writer’s groups and FB in general, which is directly due to being a whipping boy in the chat rooms from ’07-09.
GB–After being bullied in chat rooms, I can imagine you have no desire to get involved with online drama again. Probably a good rule of thumb in negative reviews to avoid mentioning anybody Bob Dylan has written a song about. Haha. 🙂 But how awesome that an attorney jumped in and defended your point of view!
Thanks as always Anne. Thankfully I already practice all your helpful steps. There is an abundance of hatred in this world that seems to persist. I learned a long time ago to hold my tongue and for those things I must vent loudly about, a few author friends and me have formed a couple of ‘secret’ groups on FB to share our thoughts and rants among ourselves without troll interjection, especially when it comes to politics. I try to ride under the radar, and I thank you for your advice because I began following you early in my Indie career and learned a lot from you. 🙂
Debby–Secret FB groups can provide some safety. I always suggest that authors form those for close friends and family. You don’t need trolls seeing pix of your kids, details of your vacation or know when you’re going to be out of town.
Yeah. I made some major mistakes early on with social media and review trolls, and I’m glad when people like you can learn from them.
Thanks again. I’m doing my best while still trying to keep visibility. 🙂
Interesting about LinkedIn. Most of what I get from it is people asking me to review books for other people who I don’t know. Social media is a minefield. Twitter can be really nasty. Why are so many people so angry?
Susan–That’s the kind of spammy stuff I’m talking about on LinkedIn. I don’t think I’ve had more than two or three real interactions there in over a decade. 99% is spam.
Why are they angry? That’s the question of the millennium, isn’t it? I wonder if tech does it. Because we’re not outside in nature, plowing fields or walking to work, maybe we don’t generate the endorphins we need to be happy. So everybody’s in a state of rage. I also blame the 24/7 news cycle. Lots of people getting money and power from inflaming anger in the masses.
I thankfully only ever had one ‘troll’ and he was actually trolling another writer I knew, and was trying to get under his skin by leaving comments on the blogs of others. I just turned comment moderation on until he got bored and left. I’ve had the odd crappy comment off people on Twitter and I usually respond with “Thank you so much for your feedback. Have yourself a great day now!” As for reviews, I had one 1* review on one of my Westerns referring to my gender and complaining I should ‘write what I know’ (excuse me, how many male Western writers are eyewitnesses?!), and another complained my book of ghost stories wasn’t a thriller. I just ignore them because they don’t raise any valid points that I can address in future novels.
Icy–It sounds as if you’re handing these people just right. I’ve never heard of a troll stalking their prey on other people’s blogs before, so thanks for the heads-up. Tolls can take stubbornness to new heights.
That reviewer sounds like he hates all women. Lots of misogynists and Nazis on the Internet. The world is full of stupid and unwell people, but mostly we don’t run into them in real life, but online we don’t see their crazy facial expressions or tinfoil hat, so we can get entangled with their dramas.
Anne, I promised my wife I would disconnect from the Interwebs and reconnect with her while we are vacationing down in Tulum, but I accidentally slipped and fell into my email inbox, then accidentally clicked on the link to this piece, then accidentally read it.
Fantastic, funny and actionable post. So good, in fact, the divorce my wife threatened while I was reading it didn’t make me stop.
You should consider turning this piece into a short ebook–one you could update every time a new digital danger zone for authors emerges.
It’s a virtual jungle out there.
Okay, gotta scoot now. Have to go find my better half fuming somewhere down the beach.
Best,
GL
Greg–Please offer my apologies to your wife! She’s right. You should be basking in all that beachiness, not succumbing to the siren call of your electronic overlords.
But I’m glad you did. Thanks a bunch. That’s a great idea to do a short ebook on Online Etiquette and how to deal with the bad guys out here in Cyberia. I just might do that. Thanks for the suggestion and the day-brightener!
Thank you for this post, Anne. My book just came out and it’s good to be reminded of what not to do when your book goes “out there” for everyone to see. I had been told about the 50+ reviews on Amazon giving you a leg-up. I didn’t know that was not true. Thank you. I’ve received reviews before that were negative and said some pretty dumb things. I ignored them. I was told that “engaging” someone who feels they have to be nasty can lead to an ongoing argument that I’m not going to win. I’m sure it’s true too.
Great suggestions, as always.
Patricia–That “you need 50+ reviews to rank on Amazon” is an old myth that’s being recycled by devious people at paid review mills. Just ignore it. BookBub prefers that you have a bunch of reviews, but Amazon doesn’t care as far as sales rank. Only one thing influences your rank and that’s sales. They will put verified reviews and more recent reviews first, but that’s all. Best of luck with your new book!
I’ve kind of soured on reviews. I know they’re necessary, but I don’t particularly like the ‘get reviews’ process, so haven’t done a lot of seeking. On the whole, most of those who have kindly taken the time to review my work have been sincere and honest. But reviews (for books, restaurants or anything, I suspect) are highly subjective. Maybe I’ll jump on the review train if I ever start seriously marketing. But after reading about all the trolls and lurkers out there out to feast on the souls of unwary authors, I may just dig a hole, crawl inside, and pull the dirt in after me.
Richard–I hear you about the review process. For my last one, I just decided to sit back and wait for reviews, but they never happened. I don’t know if it’s because the book was about a music reviewer whose life was destroyed by a band he gave an unfavorable review. It probably did have some effect. 🙂
But the only way to fight the troll reviewers is to put some good reviews into the mix. so do review good books you read and try to ignore the trolls. I just found a bogus one star review on a Janet Evanovich novel and reported it. Doing that can make you feel less powerless. Hang in there!
Hi, Anne,
Thanks for this wonderful, myth-breaking, informative post (Awesome Screenshot is fantastic!). Two days ago I was at a dinner with friends. A new friend of theirs had just had a really terrible time with trolls on Twitter regarding a book that she is in the process of writing about a medical trial. She made the mistake of thinking that the readers were intelligent (as you comment on several times above), said something in reply to a post from a doctor, which was taken the wrong way, and resulted in a firestorm of trolls accusing her of lack of empathy, etc. She did the right thing by apologising immediately, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. The doctor continues to harass her, but many of the others thanked her for her apology. Wish I could give you more detail – it proved that many people don’t read things with any form intelligent brain in gear – but it was a private conversation, she was deeply shaken by the experience, and I’d hate to expose her to further trolling. I gave her your good advice about not responding and will share this post with her. Do you mind if I also share it with my writers group on Facebook?
Brian–So sorry that your friend went through that. There seems to be a large segment ofTwitter users who troll Twitter looking for comments to take out of context in order to start a fight with a stranger. It happens to me about once a week. Somebody sees the title of something I have tweeted or retweeted, doesn’t read the article, and tries to twist the title into something to use as a weapon against me. I tweet a post about Writer’s Block and Depression and get a response saying I’m disrespecting the Mentally Ill. Sigh.
Do share and spread the word! Our goal at this blog is to teach writers how to be safe and prosperous during this time of seismic change in the publishing world.
Good advice.
I remember once a reviewer accused me of paying for the good reviews. She claimed all the five star reviews were obviously fake. For someone like me, who doesn’t even ask for reviews, much less pay for them, I was insulted, yet resisted the urge to respond. Instead, I did a search on the reviewer and found she was listed on a site as one of the top Internet trolls for going after authors. She was obviously on a fishing expedition, and if I had bit, I imagine she had all sorts of ugly things planned for me. Ignore is sometimes the very best advice.
Bobbi–It sounds as if you dodged a bullet. No, a bomb. The Goodreads Bullies did exactly what you describe. They’d try to pick a fight with an author and then use any response at all to further harass and bully the person into quitting writing. Not that they’d ever read the author’s work. I’m not sure most of them couldn’t even read very well. But they were mostly failed self-publishers (many wrote bad erotica that didn’t sell.) They had given up on their dreams and wanted everybody else to do the same. Sick, despicable people. Some of them are still on Goodreads, so it’s best to give any trollish remark a wide berth–as you did.
A very interesting and informative read. It’s a shame such an article is needed but that’s the world we live in.
If I could, I’d just like to thank your father for his service on Omaha Beach. Lest we forget.
Eldon–I agree that it’s sad that so many people use the fantastic tool we have in the Internet to do nothing but bully and harass their fellow humans.
And thanks much for your kind words about my dad, Major Archibald W. Allen. As a Latin professor, he was not a born warrior, but he did his duty to fight for freedom for all people. He later was an aide to General Dwight Eisenhower, one of the greatest anti-fascist fighters of all time.
Wow, your dad was in the thick of history. I’m also grateful for his service.
histoire–Thanks! He was indeed. He was also a student in Berlin during the rise of the 3rd Reich. He said most people thought Mr Hitler was a joke and a buffoon, and most people didn’t take him seriously. My dad did, and helped some Jewish friends get out while they still could.
Sounds like a great man indeed! Perhaps the topic for a biography?
Great post! I like to do as you say and join the ranks of the sincere and helpful by posting my honest reviews of all the books I read. I feel that if someone took the time to write a book, I should not belittle and berate them.
Shelly—I love your positive attitude! An honest reviewer is an author’s best friend. Even if you don’t love a book, your honest opinion helps us. As you say, it’s possible to talk about what didn’t work for you without belittling and berating the author. Thanks for being a great reviewer!!
Annie
Thank you for this post. I joined GoodReads after reading Frances Cabello’s “The Author’s Guide to GoodReads” and, shortly afterward, posted my first review. It was on “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”, a book which my daughters had been begging me to read. I found the book an absolute delight and said so in my review.
Oh, the venom that those snakes spewed at me! Haters really got to hate, right? One gal even referred me to her own review, a five page manifesto knocking down every single aspect of the book (I know it was five pages because I hit the print button just to see).
I couldn’t understand how people who’d never sat down at a keyboard to write could be so vitriolic in their criticism.
No more GoodReads for me. And no more Absolute Write, either (thanks for that tip as well).
Suzanne–Thanks for sharing that experience. I fear it’s typical of Goodreads. A lot of people there are rabidly anti-intellectual.They can only read for the surface story, but have no comprehension of subtext, nuance, irony etc. So any thing ‘hard” to read becomes the enemy. They also think the views of every character are the views of the author. I think I only wrote a few reviews there, and they were of bestselling authors the Goodreads crowd could not understand, like Nick Hornsby, Margaret Atwood, and Donna Tartt. It all sailed over their little heads, so I wrote trying to explain why these writers are so good. At least I wasn’t attacked, but that was many years ago. I don’t read any reviews there now. My blood pressure couldn’t stand it.
Informative and really useful blog with lots of good points and I love your humour 🙂 The only time I fell foul but via email when another author who ran a group asked me to list what I’d done to promote my books. I did so only to get a blistering reply that she couldn’t possibly work with anyone as big headed as me who couldn’t stop showing off and wouldn’t take direction. I was devastated and cried, but I didn’t reply and I’m glad now. i felt a coward a the time, but it was for the best.
Lucinda–I may have heard about that woman. In any case there are a bunch of them out there. They are scammers, so they only want newbies, and if you show any marketing savvy, they’ll carefully weed you out. This is actually a good thing, because if you become a member of their cult, and then show initiative, they sic the other members on you with swarms of 1-star reviews and libelous stories about you on social media. Read my post on Publishing Industry Cults for more. https://selfpublishingsites.com/2017/07/publishing-cults-reviews-cyberbullying/ You may have dodged a bullet. But what an awful experience.
I love your blog. I’m not published (in my real name, just a poem in the high school year book) but I enjoy the advice and other information. It helps to know the appropriate behavior to follow so as not to have your name blackballed or get attacked until you have to go into a sort of self-imposed exile for your own protection. Thank you for this information.
sillysad–It’s always wise to “lurk” for a while when you’re getting started in the blogosphere. Congrats on speaking up and making a comment.
When you do start thinking about submitting work to magazines or agents, it will be a good idea to “come out” as yourself and use your own name for comments, social media, etc, to start building your brand.
But for right now, certainly the safest thing is to use a pen name so you don’t get caught making some newbie mistake that could get you in trouble with the vigilantes.
Excellent advice as always, Anne. I just received my first one-star review for a Kindle World novella. KW seems to have their own haters. After shredding me and my characters apart, I looked up from the computer and said to my husband, “I’ve arrived!” The review had such anger, such hatred. I figured if I elicited that strong of a reaction in her, I must be doing something right. LOL
Sue–So sorry you had to go through that–but you’re right that snarky one-stars are a right of passage. I remember my first one. “This book sets women back 1000 years”–apparently because Camilla uses hairspray and stiletto heels as weapons instead of the more manly knives and guns. And everybody knows real women must behave like men in drag. Readers like that, we don’t need. 🙂
I’ve heard that fanfiction fans are the most snarky reviewers. It’s true with the Jane Austen spinoff stories, too. That’s because most of the readers are wannabe writers who don’t have the chutzpah to actually write anything, so they criticize people who do.
Wow, thank you for your comprehensive article. The world is a pretty scary place!
I am new to the blogging world so have not run into trouble yet, thankfully. I hope your post will teach me how to keep it that way!
I used to go on goodreads a lot to read reviews so I could choose what I wanted to read next, but I started seeing so many scary and crazy reviews with the writers really being quite aggressive to the authors of those YA novels, or to other reviewers who enjoyed a book or whatever, and it really frightened me. Since then I have stopped visiting as often, as it just really started to get me down.
🙁
Thank you for this post. It is nice to see someone blogging so openly about this stuff. I really appreciate that.
Poppy–One of the great things about blogging is you can talk about this stuff and not get piled on by the crazies and trolls. (Well, they may leave comments, but you have the power to delete them.) YA and Romance get the nastiest haters on Goodreads, but I’ve even seen them on Boomer Lit (“Nobody wants to read about old people. Why don’t you all just die already”) and even Christian lit. There’s an atmosphere there dominated by wannabes who have never written a book, but are sure they could do better than the people who do. It’s a good place to study mentally unbalanced people, but not to find out about books.
Great post! I have learned all this the hard way, but it’s a wonderful reminder. I shared it on my Facebook profile.
I rarely visit Goodreads. I find it a toxic environment, especially in my genre. I am not in KU, either, and made that decision after some nasty reviews on my very first book, which *was* in KU. I figure, if you want to leave me a nasty review, you’re going to pay for the privilege.
Thank you for writing this. As I said, it was a great reminder. 🙂
Zoe–We all have to learn this stuff sooner or later. Some people have very good experiences at Goodreads. They’re in a friendly group and they don’t get many reviews, but they’re honest. But I find most writers have at least run into the nasties who make it–as you say–a toxic environment for so many of us. I think romance and YA have the worst haters.
And you’re absolutely right that free books bring out the worst in reviewers. Somehow if they pay for a book, they feel more invested and don’t want to look stupid for having bought it. KU is paying off less and less for the average author, while it elevates the Amazon imprint superstars to an elite 1%.