It looks as if author C.J. Anderson fell into the same snake pit as Carroll Bryant when he requested a review from a reader. When the deal went south, Xox, the reviewer wrote up a nasty review (without having read the book of course) bashing the author (the review below is not the original review but instead was edited after the feedback thread started):
Now, does this review violate GR’s TOS? Remember what Patrick said about reviewing the book, not the author? (screenshot from Ridley Gets Schooled, post to come)
Why, yes, it does violate GR TOS. Imagine that!
C.J. flagged the review and tried to contact the GR moderators. When there was no response, he started this feedback thread called Harassment:
These are just a few shots we took. You’ll notice some names (i.e. BBG) as you read through the comments:
But guess what! Less than five hours later, the thread was shut down:
And GR claims that they don’t censor. Right. Notice how quickly the GR moderators (Kara in this instance) shut down C.J.’s thread because she doesn’t want people to target a misbehaving reviewer? Do you think they have ever done or would ever do that for an author who was being targeted and attacked? Uh… no. Now do you see what we mean by GR protecting the bullies?
They do this all the time.
In the end, what C.J. did was actually smart and if a reviewer is truly misbehaving, starting an harassment thread to get GR’s attention is probably a good idea. But authors, just keep in mind that if you do this, you will attract the unwanted attention of the bullies and as we all know, if they come at you, GR won’t help you. For some bizarre reason unknown to the world, they’ll jump in immediately and protect a misbehaving reviewer, but under no circumstance will they interfere with a bully attack on a targeted author.
Don’t believe us? Just take a look at what recently happened to Eve Thomas here and here. Or Sharon Desruisseaux here and here. In both cases, GR was notified and did they do anything?
Answer: No. Nothing.
It boggles the mind.
How often does it happen that authors send off free copies to reviewers and then don’t get a promised review? I’d be interested in knowing if there are any stats on that.
In any case, I wonder if you shouldn’t add a new heading to your sidebar: ‘unprofessional reviewers who scam free review copies and then won’t review your book.’ It might be a useful tool for authors when they’re considering who to send review copies to.
That’s a really good idea, Goronwy.
I know of several authors who have done both Goodreads and LibraryThing giveaways. They say if you get even close to a 10% return review rate, you are doing fantastic.
You don’t always know what is happening in private emails between authors and reviewers. As a reviewer of both traditionally published and self published works, I have had authors attach ePub/mobi/PDF files of their books without waiting for any confirmation that I will indeed review their book. Other reviewer friends of mine have had similar situations, and if the books are not ones they are interested in, they delete the emails. It finally got to the point where I put up a notice that I was no longer accepting books from self published authors simply because I need to get caught up on the books I already have and I don’t want to disappoint anyone. That said, if I’m not enjoying a book, I won’t force my way through it just for the joy of writing a negative review. I contact the author and explain the situation, and offer some other kind of exposure on my blog.
You also have to keep in mind how long it takes to read a book. A 300 page book can take around 4-6 hours to read, depending on the speed of the reader. On top of that, people work full- or part-time and might have families to take care of as well. Reading is a time consuming hobby, and even though I’m a SAHM I still have a home to maintain, a kid to take care of, and an occasional social life. It’s simply not possible to be all the way caught up with all of the books I have for review. And oftentimes, traditional publishers just stick us on some kind of list and books show up at random without our approval.
I’d be broken hearted to end up on a list on STGRB as an “unprofessional reviewer”. Most of the bloggers I interact with take their blogs very seriously and reading and writing reviews consumes a large part of their lives. But we’re only human, and there are so many hours in the day.
I didn’t mean to suggest ‘punishing’ reviewers who are sincere, especially if they receive unsolicited manuscripts. I was thinking more of a list of reviewers who have shown themselves to be deliberately malicious in some way, so that authors know what can lie in store for them. Not all the bullies review, and not all reviewers who like to make names for themselves by giving negative reviews are members of the BBA group, so it’s not a simple matter of looking at the current sidebar.
#2 something that just occured to me: think the guy who blackballed CJ said he had 202 books to review ahead of his, so wouldn’t it be a good idea for reviewers to post how many books are on their waiting list so that authors can get an idea how long they’ll have to wait?
I think there’s a huge problem in that so many indies know absolutely nothing about marketing,including how to approach reviewers. There’s a desperate need for somebody to start a blog about that that isn’t full of bullshit advice.
I’m not really sure I agree with you on the queue thing; I participate in tours and often have to schedule certain reviews ahead of others, even if I’ve had other books longer. I’m also very much a mood reader.