This week Naomi Blackburn continues her “Authors Gone Wild” column with ‘A Tale of Two Authors’ – and what a tale!
Naomi is founder of the Goodreads group Sisterhood of the Traveling Books, as well as the Nordic Noir group, dedicated to discussing Scandinavian mysteries. This year, Goodreads ranked her at # 11 on their top reviewer list, in both the U.S. and in the world (2011 rankings). As a reviewer, Naomi is brilliant, insightful, and, as she puts it, “brutally honest.”
Please feel free to leave questions for Naomi, as well as any suggestions you may have for future posts. I hope you enjoy the column!
Authors Gone Wild: A Tale of Two Authors
by Naomi Blackburn
My reputation for doing this series is starting to get around and people are starting to send me examples of authors behaving badly as well as examples of angel authors! The story I am going to tell you today came from an article posted on an independent book site and recently forwarded to me. Links have also been posted on Sisterhood of the Traveling Book by Shay, one of our members.
As I read the article, my initial snickering at the author’s childish behavior turned to shock and then to horror. Finally, it turned to downright anger. This author’s post, presented as an advice column, was about responding to negative reviews; she referred to this as ‘customer service,’ and used business development as her basis for doing so.
Now, working in business development, I tend to pop up whenever I hear that term. As I searched this woman’s credentials, nowhere did I see any mention of business experience nor even, minimally, any continued education in this area. Not even a book on Customer Service, grabbed off Amazon, was mentioned. Nah, instead I got to read about her being raised as a military brat, the place where she has lived since birth, and let’s not forget the two dachshunds she calls her children. Plus, I got to read about a rant she’d had with Hyatt Hotels, which made her look like a spoiled brat, ending with the Hyatt just trying to get her out of the hotel!
For readers who are not familiar with my background, I hold an MBA and, for 12 years, have worked in the field of business development, strategic planning and marketing at a corporate level. For 10 years, I have coached and mentored sales/marketing people and I have even educated operations teams on business development ‘thought processes’ (yes, scary as it is, you can ALWAYS tell who works in sales/marketing by our quirky, often sarcastic, but charming personalities!).
This author in question encouraged her readers to stop thinking as an author and start thinking as a business person. She also encouraged authors to think of their readers as customers. I agree with her to a point-a reader who buys your book is a customer-and will continue to speak on this in later posts. However, if a business person did what this woman advocated in her article, I would be trying to figure a way to strangle her in her sleep for the damage she was causing the business, thus creating more work for me to clean up!
Just a few tidbits of what she encouraged her readers to do (in my own words):
- Get a 1- or 2-star review? Bully and berate the reader until they change it! In other words, throw a temper tantrum because someone hurt your feelings because they didn’t like your book.
- Get into a debate-the author even admits to having had heated debates-about the review until the reviewer tires and takes down the review or changes it.
Now, she did go on to say that her rants often fall on deaf ears. Good for those reviewers who did not give in to this child throwing herself on the floor kicking and screaming.
To the author who says to treat publishing as a business and argue with your customers, well here is how that works out: BUSINESS OWNERS WHO RANT AND RAVE AT THEIR CUSTOMERS DO NOT STAY IN BUSINESS FOR LONG! In fact, one study found that, on average, if a customer has a negative experience with a business, that person tells 25 people about it. If they have a positive experience, they tell only 1 person. What really had my blood boiling and my head exploding is that she honestly had the GALL to call what she does customer service. This individual, who clearly has no concept as to what ‘customer service’ actually is, uses the term flippantly to justify abhorrent behavior.
At the end of the blog, this author compared the Hyatt’s giving her a $200 bar credit (personally, that would make me go HMMMM??) to the fact that, as a result of her ranting and raving, reviewers changed their book reviews. A critical question for her: Did they buy another one of your books? Did it occur to you that maybe they simply changed the review to shut you up-because they are not invested in you as an author, so changing the review was not a big deal?
Anyone who truly understands business recognizes that a business person’s goal is to sell their product, in this case their book. What this author is advising is far more dangerous than simply leaving the 1- or 2-star review alone. What’s more, the lower review would have also given those 4- and 5-star reviews that authors love so much a bunch more credibility.
Just as I thought I’d have a conniption fit, I clicked on the second link sent to me, a post by author Stacia Kane (http://www.staciakane.net/2012/05/21/customer-service/). I am supplying the link to Stacia’s post because I’m including quotes; she makes some really good points that I didn’t want to paraphrase. Granted, the language may be a bit graphic (my poor virgin eyes), but the message is dead on!
‘The first problem, of course, is that reviews are for readers, not authors. The problem is that authors need to stay the fuck out of it and leave readers the hell alone.’
‘So in her mind,†Stacia goes on, ‘a victory for customer service is bullying and manipulating readers into giving her what she wants, regardless of how they feel about it or the fact that they may have simply done so because it wasn’t worth arguing with her anymore. In her mind, a victory for customer service is manipulating potential readers into thinking her book is better than it is. You guys, this makes me so angry I can hardly type. You all know what I think of authors who attempt to game Amazon reviews/ratings, remember? (Hint: They are scumbags.) In her mind, it’s a total win when a reader finally gives in to her pushiness and demands and does what she wants. Sure, that sounds like great customer service-except that it doesn’t remotely. Puh-leez.’
‘This woman, again, insists that responding to reviews is just ‘good customer service.’ She tries briefly to couch this in the idea that she feels bad when people spend money on her work and it fails to entertain them.’
Right on, Stacia! Thank you!
I recently coined a new term: ‘Like beauty, a book’s value is in the eye of the beholder.’
To any author reading this spotlight series: I can assure you that, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, YOU WILL GET A NEGATIVE REVIEW, MAYBE EVEN SEVERAL. It is okay. I can’t say this enough times. You will survive it. Just remember: a few negative reviews give all those 4 and 5 stars more credibility.
How you react to less than stellar reviews can kill your credibility in the click of a mouse! No less than 5 members of STB who read the column by the first author stated that they have put the author on their ‘NEVER TO BE READ’ list. Those were the members who spoke up. About the same number of members talked glowingly about Ms. Kane and her books.
As an author, whose advice would you want to follow?
About Naomi Blackburn
Naomi is a book reviewer and founder of the Goodreads group Sisterhood of the Traveling Book, as well as the Nordic Noir group, dedicated to discussing Scandinavian mystery writers. Goodreads ranks her #29 on their top reviewer list for the U.S. and #35 globally of all time. This year, she topped the list at #11 for both U.S. and global reviewers. She is also on the Goodreads list as the #46 top reader in the United States (2011 rankings).
When she’s not reading, she loves to cook and bake for her family and friends and to all around entertain! Although she loves wine, she loves to play with various liquors and considers herself to be quite the mixologist! She loves to putter around her house and play with things in it, as well. She recently started a food blog called The Pub and Grub Forum, dedicated to making and reviewing food and drink recipes, and she even throws in a couple of her own concoctions! Finally, she loves to scuba dive, play golf, travel and hike/bike. She’d love to relocate to an area where she could do all this stuff 24/7/365!!!
She holds an MBA and has 12 years of experience in healthcare business development. Currently, she works as a healthcare consultant/independent contractor in the areas of business development and marketing.
Nice read, one thought you sparked in my mind though, why on earth does one negative review stick with us, stand out more and really seem "louder" than 10 positive reviews…. or is that just me?
That's a wonderful question Laura. Perhaps we are programmed to 'prick our ears' at the mention of unpleasant or 'bad' things? I do think that a well written review (good or bad) can resonate long after reading though.
I don't think anyone likes to hear bad things said about them or their work. I think it is also the approach of the reviewer. I was just thinking about this for another post I am writing and, to me, it is ironic that so many readers put down Indie authors because, in their words, anyone can write a book now and have it published. But, I also think in the era of Goodreads, Amazon.com and other sites which allow willy nilly reviewers (not that I am a fan of "professional" reviewers) who have no clue as to how to write a "critical" versus a "drive by" review.
I agree authors should not confront reviewers. This is low class and in the end counterproductive. There is the special case of bad review campaigns against authors waged by individuals with multiple accounts, but this is a very special case. If I do contact reviewers, I do so to thank them for their reviews or to ask for advice.
Rolando, thank you for your comments! I agree that we must not be confrontational. A review is an opinion and when we begin to challenge people's right to hold a certain opinion, we're venturing into dangerous territory!
I do agree with you, Rolando, that it is counterproductive. I just commented to an author who argued with two reviewers (both drive-bys, btw) if it felt good for him to do so, because it led to his books being placed, with numerous voters, on an Authors Throwing Tantrums listopia on Goodreads. The reviewers were looking to be antagonistic and he accepted the bait like a mouse to cheese on a mousetrap. So, who now has lost out..him because readers look for any reason to cross books, particularly Indie books, off their TBR list and it continues the misconception about quality writing in the Indie field.
[…] does a series of posts called “Authors Gone Wild” at Terri Giuliano Long’s blog, has also discussed the situation. Naomi has a Marketing/business background, which makes her take especially interesting. I […]
Ah yes, read about it. Can't imagine doing that myself. Dislike confrontation for a start. As authors we have to accept we can't please everybody, and try to move on.
I'd rather interact with my readers in a positive way.
The only thing I can think is that if the first author did a "shock" post, it would help to sell her book. That can't be any farther from the truth if she tried!
Naomi,
I read the blog post of the "badly behaved" author perhaps a week ago. I can't say I plan to follow her advice. Thinking of myself as a reader, and imagining an author suddenly popping in on my review on Amazon or anywhere else, I feel . . . invaded. I want to be left to post my reviews in peace!
However, in justice to this author, she did not seem to be advocating that a writer berate her readers or behave in any way but civilly.
Her anecdote about the Hyatt was intended as an allegory in which she herself represented the outraged reader and the Hyatt management represented the calm and want-to-make-it-right author.
I think you were envisioning it the other way round: she as outraged author and Hyatt as berated reader. No.
I wondered if the author were deluding herself with her good intentions. Maybe she intended to make things right for the disappointed reader, but slipped unknowingly into berating.
So I went and checked.
I read only two of her comments, but they dovetailed well with her report of her performance in her blog. I'm pasting them into this comment, so that you can see them.
I've certainly heard reports of authors behaving badly, but I wouldn't say this one is. Unconventionally, yes. Wisely? That remains to be seen. As I mentioned, I do not plan to follow her example!
Yours,
J.M. Ney-Grimm
The posts from Amazon:
"Thank you for taking the time to review SLEEPING BEAUTY, C.M. I always appreciate a reader's valuable time, and never cease to be amazed by those who will take the trouble to post a review–good, bad, or indifferent. I am heartily sorry that you did not enjoy SLEEPING BEAUTY as much as you did FROG PRINCE. To be sure, SLEEPING is a very different book (i.e. romantic suspense rather than romantic comedy), which I didn't realize I was writing at first. Particularly, you wrote: "[E]veryone in the story is falling over backwards to do everything for this girl, free of charge and without any regards for their own time." Ha! That's the very thing I thought while writing it. I kept wondering, "Why are all these people killing themselves to help her? Why? Why? Why?" It was right around that time that I realized what one of the central characters was up to. (Yes, I know everyone thinks that writers have their books tightly outlined with a plot solidly in place–and some do–but I've never been able to make that work. My characters just do whatever they want with no regard for my outline/creative process.) I will say that there are very few people in the novel who are helping Claire for no reason at all. They ALL have their own motivations, some more selfish than others (even her own brother has his reasons).
"That said, I did want to let you know that I was grateful for your review and feedback, and to let you know that Amazon has a VERY generous refund policy, which should allow you to receive a full refund for SLEEPING BEAUTY with no problem at all. RAPUNZEL will be released around the holidays, and will be more along the lines of FROG PRINCE-type romantic comedy. Perhaps that one will strike the right chord with you!"
And:
"Hi, Susan. Thank you for your review. Many of your points (as well as lots of others on this site and others) have prompted me to re-write certain parts of the book, and to edit out a lot of length. I had no idea so many people were going to be "Team Davin!"
"Also, I revised the book with the "alternate ending" that you craved (changes begin in Chapter 11), titling it SLEEPING BEAUTY WAKES UP! You can find it on Amazon here. The reception so far has been positive, and–if you do end up reading it–I'd be very interested in hearing your opinion!"
Oh, JM..I whole heartedly disagree with you. My take on the Hyatt incident was scream loud enough and you get your way. Carry that over to reviewers and it is the same thing.
A negative reviewer is not complaining..they are simply stating their opinion of a novel. No need for comment. Reviews that she disagrees with, in her words, “she runs to her computer like her “ass” is on fire.
Here are some of her quotes:
1) My go-to reply: \’Are you kidding me? I comment on good reviews every once in a while, but as soon as I find out that I\’ve gotten a bad review, I stop whatever I\’m doing and run to my computer like my ass is on fire. The faster you respond, the better.”
2)”Would you be surprised if I told you that every negative review I\’ve responded to that resulted in a dialogue with the reader ended with them 1) deleting their review altogether; 2) amending their review with more favorable language; 3) Increasing their rating at least one \’star,” but more typically by two, three, or even four?” (i.e.If I manipulate, berate or debate with the reader long enough, they will take the review down or change it.)
3) “Of course, you won\’t actually find any of these reviews there now-at least, not exactly, and not with the 1-star ratings they were originally given. Why? Because when I got my first 1-star review back in 2010, I didn\’t close my eyes, \’wish upon a star,” and hope it would all go away. Frankly, I was appalled-not at the reader, or the content of her review, but by the fact that someone had paid money for my work, disliked it enough to write a negative review, and I was keeping their money! I don\’t know about you, but if I was on the paying end of that raw deal, it would leave a taste in my mouth worse than chewing on a bad peanut.” (Basically, she kept the nice reviews, probably the ones you have seen up..the nasty ones, she has taken down.”
These are just 3 examples. There were more out of there, but I stuck with these 3.
Again, though, and one of my major points is that this author is admitting to “manipulating” the reader, in many a ways”, to get her desired result. There is a HUGE difference in what Hyatt did and what this author did. For example, for those who gave one star reviews did she give a full or partial return of their money laid out for the book…Nope! In fact, she states…”Frankly, I was appalled-not at the reader, or the content of her review, but by the fact that someone had paid money for my work, disliked it enough to write a negative review, and I was keeping their money!”
That doesn’t strike me as someone comparing what they do to what the Hyatt does.