#authorsbehavingbadly — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #authorsbehavingbadly, aggregated by home.social.
-
Interesting. This morning I contacted #NetGalley and gave them a high-level overview of what happened. I didn’t give his name or mine (contacted them from a different email address). I asked them whether it not this was against their T&Cs.
They’ve replied to say they think it sounds like it is, but they can’t say for certain without the full details.
-
This morning, I remembered something. When you finish a #NetGalley contract, they send you a spreadsheet with all your reviews and the names and contact details of all your reviewers. They encourage authors to contact reviewers to thank them for reviewing their book.
That’s not what happened here. My account is under my personal email. He contacted my author email.
But actually, this seems like a REALLY BAD POLICY. Because … bears.
-
I’m not going to respond to him. Obviously.
-
I'm not even going to get into why he, of all people, should know better. Based on what I know about him (from his email and from his public bio).
-
It's tomorrow now and I'm still thinking about this. This guy went through my entire website and critiqued it. He sought me out. He went off at me for having the audacity to give an honest review of his book.
Because I gave him 3 stars. I mean, how very dare I?
-
Also, this is the UK. You’re not Caucasian, mate. Not unless you’re from the Caucasus region.
You’re White. Just like me.
-
Anyways, that’s all.
Sorry to get your hopes up. There’s not really any story here. This feels anticlimactic. Like, there should be more of a punchline. But there isn’t. Just some random guy being a bit twatty.
-
This book is being published by one of the top 5 publishing houses. I’m just some indie author no one cares about. I bet it makes him feel really good getting all up on his soap box at me.
Whatever, my dude.
-
Also, he *can’t* be racist – he works with minorities!
-
His email is a passive-aggressive tirade. It’s a wall of ‘thank you so much’.
Here’s just a little snippet.
And yeah, anyone who puts cis in all caps… Totes no red flags here.
-
Reader, the author sought me out.
He didn’t just reply to my review, he read my entire website and then emailed me a SCREED.
-
Three months went by.
-
Right, where was I?
So, I finished the book and wrote my review.
Did I pull any punches in the review? Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.
My review was far from glowing, but nor was it scathing. I even gave the book three stars.
I wrote ‘Honestly, I suspect this author doesn't think he hates women.’
-
Pause for dog duties.
-
But that wasn’t the case with this book. Or at least, not all there was to it.
This book was sexist, racist, classist … just all-around lazy stereotypes.
Now, I can’t let that slide. Nuh-uh. No, ma’am.
-
So, a few months ago I got an ARC. I started it and … it wasn’t for me. But, I didn’t want my reviewer percentage to drop even lower, so I persisted.
Now, if it were just a case of a book being a bad fit or needing another round of editing, I would’ve written a short bland review and all would’ve been fine.
-
Okay, so… NetGalley. I signed up for an account. I applied for a few books. The first one I was approved for … I didn’t vibe with, so I didn’t finish. But the way that NG works is that your profile shows your review percentage. The higher the percentage, the more books you’ll get. As in, she’s had two books and reviewed one of them: 50%.
Stay with me; I’m going somewhere. I swear.
-
The answer is: you don’t respond to your reviews. You just … don’t.
Do not do it.
We all know this, right? Right?
-
What’s the cardinal rule of being an author? What’s the first thing you learn?
Even if you’re not an author yourself, you’ve probably seen enough instances of #AuthorsBehavingBadly to know this one.
-
Ruh roh. Before we’re even over the latest author drama, we’re already on to the next scandal.
https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/18n30jn/i_believe_bestselling_author_mark_dawson_is_a/
#AuthorsBehavingBadly #bookstodon #writingcommunity #MarkDawson
-
“What To Do If You F%#! Up – Avoiding the #AuthorsBehavingBadly Tag”: a webinar lecture + Q&A session with Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford.
Happening this coming Saturday, February 25. Follow link to register in advance. If I’m understanding right, registration for the live session closes 10 hours from now.
Registration is $40 for the live webinar, $30 for only the recording afterward, or pay-what-you-can-afford if you can’t afford those prices.