Cyber-Bullying is not OK
Today I want to put the spotlight on a serious topic and on an author who is not a good example of how to deal with bad reviews. In fact, she might be a publisher's nightmare. But let's start at the beginning, shall we?
A popular reviewer on Goodreads, known for her well-balanced, humorous and fleshed-out book reviews posted her thoughts on J.C. Cliff's book Quinn in the Undaunted Men series. She didn't like a lot of aspects of the book and explained why it didn't work for her. What did J.C. Cliff do?
She told her minions to go do the dirty work and bully our lovely reviewer. The collective of bloggers and reviewers down-rated the book as a consequence pointing out that cyber-bullying is not a trivial offense but actually pretty serious. The ratings went from 4.12 stars down to 3.44 in the time span of 24 hours. As the day progressed new evidence of the author's failings to deal with bad reviews appeared.
and
What happened in the aftermath can only be described as big pile of steaming donkey poop. Apparently the author went ahead and whined to Goodreads' authorities that she was being treated poorly. All the ratings and reviews disappeared overnight and it doesn't seem like J.C. Cliff realizes her wrong-doings. One good thing about blogs is that you are your own boss. You can express your opinion without being censored so this post will go on my Goodreads profile to make a point.
Writing a review is tough work. You have to take notes, gather your thoughts and eventually get them in order to write what you liked and disliked. And because you WANT to like the books you read you look for the good things you can point out. Our lovely reviewer did a fantastic job, while still staying respectful, yet she was bashed for it.
Some reviewers do an amazing job and I can only hope to be as good one day - although I think that's an illusion ;) So sending out fans to bully a reviewer is not just frowned upon, it is what would be unsportsmanlike conduct in sports. To the author J.C. Cliff I have only one thing to say: I'll NEVER read a book written by you.
Edited to Add:
- In the last 24 hours the ratings went from 3.81 to 2.76 stars on Goodreads.
- The author posted something that is supposed to be an apology - make of it what you will...the snippet below is just another example of how the author lays the blame on Lana and doesn't see her own fault in this muddle
And she's digging her grave even deeper....so much for her apology
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Well said!! :)
ReplyDeleteLoved your blog about it, too xx
DeleteYou Go Girl!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kathleen, right back at ya!
DeleteWow! Had no idea this went on until I was about to add this book on Goodreads this morning. I hate it when authors behave badly. I shall not read anything from her. In fact, she may try using another pseudonym for her next book. I'll just make sure I look up all new to me authors before I even consider reading. Thank you for this lovely post!
ReplyDeleteHi!
DeleteYes, this was quite an uproar. Way out of line and unprofessional behavior. Thank you so much for caring, I really appreciate it!