Filed under: Letters of Opinion, Misc
UPDATED: Ms. Laurie has apparently deleted her post. The cached version is here.
Victoria Laurie, a professional psychic and author, engaged in an Amazon contretemps not too long after the Deborah Anne MacGillivray. This led to a mass deletion of reviews and comments at Amazon on all sides.
Apparently Laurie, who says
“Thanks to Candy Thompson and Deborah MacGillvray for their support, advice and for hanging in there and thanks to everyone else who clicked that “not helpful” and “report this” button - I most appreciate it!”
has taken to instructing readers not to pick fights with authors.
And you should never pick a fight with an author….well….because, honey, we know how to get even. ;)
The reason that Laurie gives is that if you do decide to “slam an author”, you’ll be inserted into their books in an unflattering way:
And so, come September…my little “fan” and some of her close friends and family will likely read about a character with a very similar name, (i.e. nearly identical but not enough to get me sued) depicted in one of the most comical and fabulously scandalous scenes within Death Perception. And trust me…this isn’t a scene which in any way flatters that character. :) (Also trust me….you’ll know it when you read it!)
…
In other words, if in a year you should pick up a copy of Doom With A View and read about a certain transvestite prostitute with a piss poor attitude and a bad case of V.D., who just happens to go by the name of an ice cream topping….well, you and I and about 60,000 of our closest friends and family will know exactly where that inspiration came from. ;)
The possible remedies include a tort action for defamation (is Laurie saying that Butterscotch is a transvestite prostitute with a bad case of VD) or possibly intentional infliction of emotional distress (a person does something intentionally to another to cause the victim emotional distress and the action “shocks the conscience of the community). After all, simply because Laurie has slightly changed the name of a character, she is making it publicly obvious who the mocking, possibly defamatory language is about.
Anyway, you have to read the whole post to get the flavor of what Laurie is posting about including her publicly bragging of getting negative reviews removed through the “not helpful” and “report this” button. It’s all pretty stomach turning so I hope you eat lunch after reading the post. Hat tip from SB Sarah.style=”margin:10px;float:right”
Every time someone accuses us of being mean girls I’m pointing them to that Laurie post.
Holy crapola that is amazing. I don’t know what’s more astonishing: her bravado in putting it out there like that or the fact that she thinks what she’s doing is okay.
Do these authors really have a fan base? Where does this fan base originate? Mars?
I can’t understand why any thinking person would ever want to read a book by any of these people.
I couldn’t find the post. Maybe she deleted it?
Sorry - I fixed the post.
Here is the link though.
*stunned into silence*
Ew.
What Bev said.
I mean, really, I know some brand name authors engage in some petty crap, too, but it’s not as ridiculous as this! There’s a NYT bestselling thriller writer whose friends swamp Amazon with five star reviews when someone posts a negative one, and another who’s very lucky the guy he abused in a book by giving a character his name and job *didn’t* sue, but neither of them engaged in the one-on-one hatefests DAM or VL have.
From VL’s post:
Pot, kettle, black.
Don’t be surprised if that is removed soon. I am sure someone will alert her about Jane’s post and the reality that she may well end up with a lawsuit on her lap…oh and I am sure she will say she “meant that in jest”.
Just one more to add to the list of people abusing loopholes… and one more reason for me not to bother with Amazon reviews any longer.
Holy fucking crap.
And this person not only expects us to buy her books, but to allow her to give us psychic readings? I’d rather slit my throat than have a reading done by someone this petty and vicious.
This is what I call a serious CLM as in Career Limiting Move. :|
Here’s how the next post starts out:
Apparently the post on getting a thicker skin wasn’t so convincing after all?
And how exactly is this “getting even” with a reviewer? It’s like, Oh, no, someone somewhere wrote a character that they based on me and then they wrote a diatribe of b.s. that her fangrrl/bois absolutely adored. How can I ever hold my head up again?
Please.
Um, can I just apologize on behalf of authors everywhere? ;-) You know, I’m sure a lot of us have thought about abusing people who trash our books in a similar fashion, but I wouldn’t put it out there on my blog. Just saying.
Did anyone else notice she has a lot of attaboy follow-up posts from people who don’t have blogs? I smell socks.
oh no she’d use my name as a dispicable character, say it ain’t so… yeah, like I’d even read the book to find
Wow. Just wow.
I was a fan of her ghost hunters mystery series but I definitely won’t be buying her books anymore. I’m just amazed at what people will write online.
As a professional psychic, you’d think she might ’see’ the repercussions from this.
Wow. The stupidity of this, I can’t even comprehend it.
What an effing twat.
Ahh, I misread. I thought it was “professional psycho.”
I agree with MCHalliday. I don’t think much of her psychic skillz if she doesn’t SEE what this is likely to cost her down the road.
And it seems like maybe someone has pointed this out to her, since all the links are coming up “not found.”
I was famous! On the internet! Back in March! Wow, when I wrote that review, I had no idea anyone would think twice about it, let alone respond so angrily. Rereading it, I do agree that it was a little mean in parts- if I had thought about the author reading it herself, I would never have called it “garbage”- but I do stand by my other criticisms. I am dying to know what nasty things VL said about me or my review- you know, the comments that are now deleted. If anyone knows, do you want to share?
Didn’t Michael Crichton do this recently? I seem to recall hearing about a pedophile/sex-offender/erectile-ly dysfunctional/unattractive character whose name bore a striking resemblance to a critic who had panned his previous book.
What a God complex….
Ah, revisionist history in action.
Kathryn, as a writer myself, I agree with your assessment. You wouldn’t do it, I wouldn’t do it. But I think something more sinister is at work here.
Whenever Ms. Laurie (and others) writes this kind of crap on blogs and posts, others take it up and post it elsewhere. Same thing happens when negative reviews get taken down on Amazon. It’s discussed on forums and what ends up happening is that these writers are in the public eye.
Granted, it’s negative publicity, but you know what they say — all publicity is good, so long as they spell your name correctly.
And yes, I know there’s a reader backlash as well. And this is just my opinion — I’m not saying writers do this deliberately to jump sales. But it’s funny how negative junk about a writer sometimes corresponds to increased sales.
Agrees with Robin on the thicker skin…didn’t quite work did it?? That was embarrassing. I am not an author, but if I was one I would be cringing…I am cringing still because this is a grown woman posting this trash. I thought for a second that it was my 11 year-old playing a trick on me. That is what I can see her typing…well gosh everybody has to love me cause I am so gosh darn good. Geeesh!
I got a message saying that what I was looking for wasn’t there, or something like that. *sigh* I guess that’s another author’s books I’ll take to the ubs. They keep on, by December I’ll have no to be read pile and no books to buy.
I see she says her editor thinks this is a hilarious idea. I think I know her Penguin editor and I can’t foresee that person being thrilled with Laurie’s post and/or idea. Does she have another editor?
Also, if she’s so proud of her great idea, why delete it?
I agree with Jane. Why would she delete it if she’s not feeling either A.) Stupid for throwing a tantrum or B.) the backlash with bite her in the…
Wow…I’ve had her books in my TBR pile for awhile…yeah, those are getting donated to the library. Although, is it fair to expect the library to use them either?
She doth see too little, me thinks.
Wait, this is the same woman who wrote on her blog, less than three months ago, in a post called “Feedback…the Key To Success” [sic throughout]
Wow. Hypocrisy much?
Holy crap!
I will forever be amazed by someone trying to or succeeding in getting rid of a negative review on any review site. It has been said before, opinions are like assholes everyone has one and that is really how a review should be looked at. An author may not want to see a negative review, I get that, however, not everyone is going to like a book and they have the right to put that in print on a review site.
The audacity and ego involved in these women/authors removing negative reviews is disgusting.
I am the person Ms. Laurie is sending all this hate to. Personally, I think she has a screw loose. She is trying to get people riled up so that they will buy her books. I really don’t care. I wrote a review and told people how nasty she was to a reviewer. She has all her friends on Amazon with a tag on me. So, whatever I write, they know instantly. It is really very sad. Let her write a character about me. I won’t know about it. I only know about this forum because friends told me about it. Please don’t worry about it. In the end.. she and her friends will look like idiots and I will go on writing reviews.
Butterscotch, you should feel special. She thinks you’re important enough to warrant all this attention, whereas you probably haven’t given her a thought in months.
Oh, people. When will they ever learn that things on the internet don’t just go “poof” when they push delete?
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=39f55928bcf25d62d2db6fb9a8902bda
(or http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?lyalpgb3thk)
I knew she’d delete that as soon as she realized not everyone would respond as sycophantically as the people who commented on her blog, but I was too lazy to take screencaps, so…there ya go.
Comments by VL deleted by Amazon, saved in Romance readers forum.
Here’s the first 8 posts of the book discussion with the deleted comments restored
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Post 1 - Victoria Laurie
Wow! Do you need a hug, honey….you sound like the dog that got kicked and wants to bite someone just to feel better. Poor thing. Ah well, perhaps in your next lifetime you’ll come back as someone with a better outlook! :)
Oh, and in referring to your review above, not all of the clues come from the ghosties - obviously in that hour you skimmed a lot! Most of them, in fact, come from the living, (Detective Muckleroy, Nickie, Dory, Maude’s sister and the list goes on and on…really, how did you miss them? Or maybe you were just having fun whth the thrashing you were giving me?) And who specifically in my novel said, “There’s so much chemistry between you two!” Seriously, if you’re going to quote my text, it would be nice if you actually QUOTED my text! :)
Anyway, best of luck to you, doll, I’m sending you a mental hug cuz I’m pretty sure you need one. :)
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Post 2 - Donna D
Also, “J”, if you disliked it so much, how on earth did you manage to read the entire book in an hour? It sounds as though it must have been quite engrossing! I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed Demons:)
Donna
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Post 3 - R Golden
J. Kaplan, your review says more about you than this book. I couldn’t disagree with you more. I was sad when I reached the last page. I want to hang out more with MJ and the gang!
-Rose
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Post 4 - Jenni B
I am curious as to why both reviews you have posted are negative. It would be very helpful if you had a few reviews of books you enjoyed so a person could get an idea of where you are coming from. Right now, it just sounds like you are being unnecessarily spiteful and mean. Or that you have really bad taste in books, picking “bad” ones over and over again. Again, I am interested in seeing what you qualify as a good book. Oh, and the reviews that are obviously bitter are not helpful. Negative reviews can be helpful, just when they are done in a more constructive, knowledgeable and balanced way. Thanks!
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Post 5 - J Rose
I was going to try this book, but I’m always put off when I noticed the author retaliate against someone that gave her a bad review. That has turned me off from a few authors. That is really tacky. Ignoring it would have been much classier. Then I noticed that this author commented on this reviewer’s other review. This author is creepy, and not in a cool author of horror kind of way. I’m writing down the author’s name so when I hear it again I will remember to warn others.
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Post 6 - Victoria Laurie
Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Oh, J Rose! This made me laugh! I love that you’re going to write down my name and “warn others”! Ha ha ha ha! That is too precious for words! (I am just imagining you in a bookstore with a list of authors to warn people about…hilarious) I looooove it! Thanks for the giggle, girl! hee hee! :)
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Post 7 - J Rose
Bitter authors are a laugh to me, so cheers!
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Post 8 - Victoria Laurie
Rosey-dosey….are you cuckoo for cocoa puffs or what? :)
Oh, and dear, it’s spelled “whatsoever” not “what so ever”. Might want to grab a dictionary the next time you decide to write a one-star review - that’s right everyone - Rose likes to award the onre star to books she’s not read all the way through too! So, me thinks that her (over) reaction above was because she was feeling a tad bit self-conscious. Maybe you and J Kaplan should form a Negative Nellie’s club! Ooo! You can trade your list of authors back and forth and “warn” people the world over! “Alert! Alert! This author responds to mistruths and misquotes! Gasp! It’s the begining of the end for us allllll!” Ha, ha, ha! Yep…that still cracks me up! It’s comic gold! :)
I just read Peter Durward Harris’s copy of the posts from Victoria Laurie - I will say it again…HOLY CRAP!!! She is a few fries short of a Happy Meal! She is definitely on my list of “oh hell no, I am not reading that!”
Why would you do this? What is she two?
Dear LAWD - that woman is the cheap crack kind of crazy. And Karen Scott, I have to agree with you. She’s either an effing twat or she’s doing a great impression of one.
The vast majority of authors don’t retaliate this way, and this one is definitely blackening her name by publicly bragging about such shitty behavior. She obviously is either a complete dumbass or has a complete disregard for her job.
Or it’s proving to be great publicity, Kitty :-). Not that I’m being cynical or anything…
Seriously, you’re absolutely right. The vast majority of authors will read the review, rage at their computers, whine to a couple of friends and move on when a negative review comes up (Oh, wait. That sounds like me). The operative words here are “move on…”
So does that mean that Laurie hasn’t been asked to sign a contract including this interesting provision? Maybe if she did it wouldn’t seem so heelarious.
“You can’t fix stupid.”
No need to apologize, Kathyrn. Most of us readers don’t classify writers like Victoria Laurie with the rest of you.
Could someone clarify for me what Laurie means with the 60,000 number? Is she claiming this as the number of books sold? I’m kinda finding that hard to comprehend. And I’m officially calling a spelling change of her last name to Lorre, in honor of her general creepiness.
And I thought DAM was a loser.
Victoria Laurie gives fresh new meaning to the term.
Another writer whose books I will never buy.
And ye shall be immortalized in prose.
I’m the kind of twisted person that would get a sick thrill from pissing someone off enough to get a part in their book.
But really…wow. What emotional response is appropriate here? Pity? That’s about all I can come up with. Outrage and offense just seem kind of pointless and empty. Yeah, I’ll go with pity. *shakes head*
I’ve read and mildly enjoyed some of Victoria Laurie’s Psychic Eye mysteries. I’m never picking up another book by her ever again. This kind of appalling behavior leaves a permanent bad impression.
Bev- I was actually a huge Victoria Laurie fan (though her last book dissapointed.) I only knew of her books- I wasn’t aware of this behavior. So yes, I AM a thinking person but not every paperback fiction reader is sent a constant update on all of our favorite writers daily antics.
I will confess that I actually used someone’s screen name as my villain’s after a particularly fraught internet ‘discussion’ but it never got past the second draft because (a) it was wrong for the character and (b) seeing the twit’s name every time I reread the story meant I got aggravated all over again. Wasn’t worth it for someone I will never meet and never have any meaningful interaction with.
So Laurie may think this is cute and amusing, but it will blow back on her professionally (already has) and emotionally. Let it go, girl. Life’s too fucking short for nonsense like this.
Actually, using aggravation and upset to power story writing and plotting and scene building can work much better for an author than petty revenge. Turn the turd into gold. Works for me, anyway.
I’ve read most of her books, but had trouble getting through her last ghosthunter mystery and can’t find the time to read her latest psychic mystery. Think I may just have to get rid of it. What a bitch!
I think I’ll be skipping her future books.
I’m with JaimeK. I just don’t get why a writer would do this. I thought DAM was bad enough (in fact, after reading your coverage of THAT, I was moved to write THIS on my “Emma Cole” web site). Thanks for warning me not to eat before reading such vitriol, Jane.
I’ll admit to being with the twisted humor group. It appears, Butterscotch, that you upset her a whole hell of a lot more than she got to you. Thanks Peter for the deleted bits. I’m adding them to my Amazon authors behaving badly PDF file along with the archived post.
I have a friend who likes these kinds of mysteries and I have warned her off this series– actually, she had never heard of the author any way.
Do you know, I woke up this morning even more pissed off? (Nice to see MacGillivray hasn’t learned a freaking lesson, btw, and is apparently involved in this one too right up to her psycho eyebrows.)
My relationship with my readers is SACRED. It is because of them that I get to do the work I do. I write books; they buy them. That makes me lucky, and blessed. How dare this woman stomp all over that relationship by treating anyone, but especially someone who says she is a fan of her other work, in such a crappy, disdainful manner? Who the hell does she think she is?
But it’s not just that. It’s women like her who make it extremely difficult for writers to say anything to anyone, about anything. Not that we necessarily should; I’m a firm believer in keeping my mouth shut when it comes to reviews, or simply politely thanking the reader/reviewer. Once I emailed a reviewer to tell her she was right, the book she didn’t like wasn’t my best work, and that I appreciated her time and hoped she would give me another chance with a different book.
I understand the urge to name a villain after somebody. I still have plans to slip my tenth-grade band teacher into a book somewhere and make something awful happen to him. Of course I probably never will, but the idea makes me smile. And if I ever did do it, I certainly wouldn’t brag about it online and make it very clear to everyone that rather than viewing writing as a craft, rather than seeing myself as someone who serves the story to the best of my ability, I instead view my work as a chance to get one over on someone I’ve never met in my life who had the temerity to disagree with me, and so deserves all the punishment my petty and vindictive little mind can come up with. Fuck the story; fuck the craft of writing; fuck creativity; fuck the readers who expect–who have a right to expect–those things, they’re just dirt under my feet. I expect people to pay to read the filth of my miserable, shriveled, shit-sucking soul spread out on a page for personal reasons. I expect them to pay to see me give a stranger the finger.
I’m sorry for the language, y’all, but this is just… Man. Are we sure the writer is an adult? Because this is the kind of stuff people did in junior high. Which is where she belongs, with the other bratty children (no offense to mature junior highers out there; I’m sure there must be a few somewhere.)
Where she does not belong is on the bookshelves of anyone who believes in human dignity, politeness, and adult behavior.
Anion- Well said! You rock!!! :-)
* Stands and applauds Anion*
Game, set, match!
I actually did a blog post on this very thing Monday. I didn’t include her name however. I also posed the question to a couple of Yahoo! Groups I belong to, to see if I was the only one who found this so disturbing. What I found really disturbing, is all of the comments on her blog that praised her craziness. I called her editor yesterday, but just got voice mail. I almost sent you the link to see what you thought, too but chickened out. I’m glad you added the cached version, because I could not figure out how to do that LOL
Good heavens. Not again.
Hmm, seems like another Amazon email campaign may be in order. Why? Because in the cached entries, this author comes right out and names two individuals for their help in dealing with this bad review. Followed by a sentence refering to the tactic we all reported DAM for using. That wasn’t a really smart thing to do, considering the outrage last time.
Um, Amazon, if you think our outcries over manipulation of your reviewing system by certain authors were unfounded, take a gander at this and extrapolate a bit. Anyone can kill a low ranking review even if it is not abusive. Reports of abuse should be handled by a live human being, not a computer generated “numbers” system.
*falls in love with Anion*
I think the fact that Laurie thinks this is not only acceptable, but clever and funny is probably the worst part. She’s clearly delighted by her own vindictiveness, which is just scary. And her now-deleted comments from Amazon don’t do her any favours either.
Thanks everyone. :-)
It just makes me so angry. Why deliberately give readers the impression that we hate them? That there truly is some sort of writer/reader war going on?
I write for myself, yes. But I also keep readers firmly in mind. I want to please them. I want to make them happy. That is my JOB. And every time I see something like this it upsets me more, because this woman is basically behaving as though readers are just the dumbshits who pay the bills, who deserve nothing and should be treated with condescension, instead of deserving the very best we can give them. Every time. That is what they deserve; it is what their money pays for. I take that shit very seriously, and I hate that this bitch can sleaze around online and take whatever steps she’s taking to damage that relationship.
Because that’s what this does, every time. Every time a writer pulls this crap it impacts my relationship with my readers. It makes it that little bit harder to joke with them, to talk to them, because it makes them see me as an adversary. Even if they don’t consciously, they still feel it like poison gas in the air, because this woman encourages them to do so. Encourages them to see themselves as figures of contempt in the eyes of those of us who write. Encourages them to think they better be careful what they say about us because who knows what we’ll do. Encourages them to see themselves as creatures of little power, of no say, as unimportant, in our eyes. It breeds suspicion and anger between writers and readers.
Because hey, if writer X does this shit, and writer Y does it, and writer M does it, who’s to say we don’t all do it? It damages the trust, and that pisses me off (I know, lol, really?)
I love my readers. They make me smile. When they email me–perfect strangers, contacting me, because they liked my work–it’s the greatest feeling in the world. I sit down to work every day hoping to put something on the page that people will enjoy, that will make them feel something, that will make them forget their problems. I want them with me. I want them on my side. I want their trust–to know that if book 2 in the series ends badly, they’ll stick around for book 3 because they know their pleasure is utmost in my mind and I won’t let them down.
And I can’t have that if this woman runs around behaving as though no writer (or editor!) in their right minds cares about what readers think.
Ugh.
You know….as a general concept, the idea of making nasty characters out of people you don’t like or “killing” ex-boyfriends in your books is a riot. You write it, get a private little snarky giggle and move on. But…the key word there is PRIVATE! You go and blog about it (and have it zip all over the net like…well…like this) and it’s immature and crass. I had never heard of this author till someone else blogged about it and I checked her site out. I’m glad I did. Her books sound like something I would read but now? Not so much. She’s kind of like that hot guy you see across the room. Well dressed, drool worthy, looks half-way intelligent. Till he opens his mouth and his ginormous ego pops out. No thanks.
Anion, I feel exactly the same.
Well said, very well said.
[...] wonder if Butterscotch will make an appearance in this one. Victoria Laurie’s GHOULS GONE WILD, the latest in the [...]
Well crap I own like 3 of her books and now I have no desire to read them. DANG it good money wasted I wonder if the half price book store would take them? Somethings better than nothing right?
Needless to say I won’t be buying this author or DAM ever again.
I used to adore Laurie’s books. But, a trip to her site earlier this year almost had me quitting them. She actually rips at some one that disagreed with her over a review she did of a book. She had stated that if you e-mail her and she thinks it’s a nasty e-mail she would post your e-mail and e-mail address for all of the www to see. That warning has since been taken down.
Despite her nastiness I was going to continue reading her books until I had discovered her blog post that detailed her revenge. I can’t read her and know that she’s publicly humiliating some one. But I’m seriously disappointed in myself that I ignored my first instinct to avoid her books. The measly one sale she received from me, was one sale too many.
Lynn, you hit the nail on the head, it’s a great idea to take a private revenge, as long as it’s private. I’m sure Laurie isn’t the first author to make a character after some one she dislikes. She just had the very bad taste as to make it so public.
On her home page, she says this about reviewers
I wonder if the comments on this blog will keep her up at night.
How disappointing. I’m a fan of her Psychic Eye series, but this whole thing is leaving me with a bad taste. Sadly, this isn’t new. I remember reading a review for Howling at the Moon by Karen MacInerney, and she left a comment saying insulting the reviewer. She’s since deleted her review, but I remember it being pretty uncalled for.
I liked the author, but the whole thing is troubling and really makes me not want to read her books anymore.
As an actual psychic and an author with… well, you know… a conscience…
I foresee a very dim future for this skanky charlatan.
Somebody please assure me that Julia Quinn, Rachel Caine, and Jim Butcher are still sane. I couldn’t take it if they went off the deep end, too.
Nice. She stays awake all night reading amazon reviews chainsmoking cigs, guzzling Natty Light and plotting ways to destroy people all because they didn’t dig her book. Here’s a newflash, Vickie Babe, - not everyone is going to like yer chit!!!! My husband thought one of my paintings sucked, and yes, he is still alive. My Gosh didn’t we learn all this in school? Believe it or not there are some people out there that just don’t like you or your work. You can’t control the universe, Babe. May you should read the book He’s Just Not That Into You and apply it in daily life.
The way she flaunts her vindictive attitude is what gets me. And funny - she says the only 2 people you should never mess with are waitstaff and writers. Well, I gots one for ya - how about collection reps?! Yeah, people who can look up all your personal info. Now, I’m not a collection rep, or an IRS employee (although I do know some…), but gee, let’s hope Butterscotch doesn’t know any, LOL!
Anion, will you marry me?
Keep dispensing the sense. Hopefully a few folks will actually get it.
With great pleasure, Seressia. *squee* I’ll be a bride again!
Karmyn, I’ve corresponded with Butcher and Quinn both (and I don’t mean that in a name-droppy way, I hope it doesn’t sound like that) and they are both fantastic people, and I hear Caine is as well.
I have enjoyed the Psychic Eye mysteries too, but dang–don’t know if I really want to participate in the craziness any more.
I have gotten some Seriously Nasty reviews on Amazon. People calling my Rose books soft-core porn, etc. The only reason I know this is because I have a google alert for my name, and sometimes a few words of a review, or a comment about a review will reach me that way. Otherwise, I DON’T READ THEM. It is a policy of mine. I Do Not Read Amazon Reviews. I don’t read them for the books I write. I don’t read them for other people’s books either. Makes it really easy to stay above the fray.
Like Anion said, bad behavior from one writer makes the rest of us look bad. So I really wish she’d stop.
And in the comments, where she’s scoffing about the two lone reviewers sharing their “do not read” lists with each other–Word-of-Mouth is powerful. It metastasizes. And it does it really fast with internet access. Yeah, a lot of people don’t spend much time online. But they have friends who do. Word-of-mouth can be good or bad, and hun, I want The GOOD kind…
You are right about how it spreads…like wildfire. I’m sure the publicity for her actions will not cause her too much fuss with her publisher. It’s the readers with their wallets firmly shut that will have more bite.
Some authors embrace there poor reviews and post them on there site as badges. Douglas Preston and Child
http://www.prestonchild.com/rogues/index.html
Rachel Caine as well
http://rachelcaine.livejournal.com/108066.html
First of all, Anion, wonderful posts. You have said all there needs to be said.
I have posted this before regarding the DAM situation, about authors who are outraged when readers dare criticise them:
As for authors not being able to take criticism - I am a fairly well-established academic, have published quite a bit. But I’ll never forget, several years ago, when for the first time a paper I’d sent to a journal was rejected. A very senior colleague - a very well-known professor - laughed at my self-doubts and said, look my dear, if I were to take all the rejected papers in my career, I could wallpaper my entire office with them. (He’s got a VERY big office!!) These things happen, they are normal and we just have to take them in stride and attempt to improve our writing. I’ve taken that to heart, but it looks like Deb Mac and her posse and now Ms Laurie are somewhat differently inclined..
Damn, if this doesn´t tempt me to include a character in one of my books…
Like, uhm.. a psychotic stalker author, by the name of… (I´ll come up with that later) who has nothing better to do than to slander other people´s …
Lack in self-esteem, narcistic personality *ponders*, delusions of grandeur…
Hey, that might work. A truely interesting and unusual villain.
MUHAHAH!
God, the nerv of those people and their stupidity!
I´ve had exactly the same problems, though in another branch, a while back.
A cyber stalker, using my pictures to create some really disgusting stuff.
Since I didn´t want this person to know my real life data, I implied him for some other wrong doings.. which worked perfectly.
Justice was server and through the grapevine I hear he had to pay some 6000$ in fines.
Ok, but that was a seriously dangerous stalker… in this case, I´d just think it calls for a lawsuit.
The nerv….!
I actually thought that no one could be worse than Cindy Cruciger and her BFF Ann Vremont. But this has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever read. I wonder if she was on meds when she did this, because that’s the only way she could be possibly excused.
This is effing brilliant! It makes me what to have their babies. Or do their responses count as authors behaving badly? I don’t think so, but I’ve been known to be wrong . . .
Three Fold Rule. Even if you’re not Wiccan, the laws apply. Do nasty stuff, nasty stuff comes back three times over. Get a bad review? Better to swear at the cat (who will ignore you)and move on to the next book. Someone will always hate what you do. Some will love it. Just ensure there are more of the latter than the former and you’re in good shape.
Posting the bad reviews on your website takes chutzpah. These people got stones. I applaud them. And the Preston/Child responses are just cool.