Authors Behaving Badly
Loading ...Last night, on Twitter, Alice Hoffman totally lost her shit over a review written by novelist Roberta Silman at the Boston Globe. As Ron Hogan so beautifully summed it up:
In addition to playing the Famous Writer Card on Twitter, Hoffman also played, among others, the Feminist Card (“Girls are taught to be gracious and keep their mouths shut. We don’t have to”), the Provincial Critic Card (“This is a town where a barking dog is the second top story on the news”), the Lousy Paper Card (“No wonder there is no book section in the Globe anymore – they don’t care about their readers, why should we care about them”), and the Post Your Enemy’s Email & Phone Number Online Card (encouraging fans to further validate her reaction and “tell her what u think of snarky critics”).
Gawker had some things to say about Hoffman’s inability to keep her fingers from her keyboard as well.
Popwatch found out that Hoffman once gave a negative review to author Richard Ford which lead Ford and his wife to shoot a bullet through a Hoffman book (Practical Magic maybe?).
Hoffman decided that she would delete her Twitter Account and issue a lame ass statement through her publishing house because she apparently couldn’t use Twitter to apologize directly for her actions:
Of course, I was dismayed by Roberta Silman’s review which gave away the plot of the novel, and in the heat of the moment I responded strongly and I wish I hadn’t. I’m sorry if I offended anyone. Reviewers are entitled to their opinions and that’s the name of the game in publishing. I hope my readers understand that I didn’t mean to hurt anyone and I’m truly sorry if I did."
The screencapped deleted Tweets of the raving Hoffman:
But rivaling Hoffman for douche of the day is author Alain de Botton who, in response to a negative review, wrote the following:
You have now killed my book in the United States, nothing short of that. ….I will hate you till the day I die and wish you nothing but ill will in every career move you make. I will be watching with interest and schadenfreude.
I thought shooting the book was funny. And cathartic. It also did not affect the reviewer’s private life.
My favorite phrase in Botton’s quote is “I will hate you till the day I die”. That’s awesome and so 7th grade.
I agree, DS, and it doesn’t make Ford look near the jerks the other two do. I wonder if the relative isolation in which some big writers live dulls their social judgment? They’re not like movie stars in level of fame or wealth, but maybe they’re similarly shielded from the daily slights and indignities normal people have to deal with, so when someone is insufficiently dazzled by their work, they get pissy like two year olds.
I think a lot of big writers are also kinda clumsy with the Internet. Twitter and blog comments are both even more unforgiving of impulse than is email.
Do not drink and tweet?
I’ve seen authors flip out over bad reviews before. That doesn’t bother me anywhere near as much as Hoffman tweeting the reviewer’s phone number and asking fans to harass the person. NOT. FUCKING. OK.
People really need to think before posting.
Holy crap.
Gee, what’s the best way to bury a negative review and hope no one notices? Why, of course! Let’s rant on Twitter and ensure that you reach an entirely new audience who (a) missed the bad review the first time and (b) maybe wouldn’t have cared one way or another.
Seriously, people, step away from the keyboard!
The best revenge for a bad review? Excellent sales. That, and selling your next book for an even larger advance.
The phone number business is definitely the worse. The other statement about hating someone is simply childish and shooting the book? Well, they owned the book. It’s not even about the information being out there. It’s about why someone would essentially say, “We know where you live” like that.
Not good. Not nice. And that’s putting it mildly.
Gosh, I’d comment, but am too busy stepping away from the keyboard so I don’t spew ice tea all over it ’cause I’m laughing so hard.
Talk about what NOT to do, ever. Yikes!
Tweet, the new way to act like an ass in public…
Is there any way to delete or fudge Ms Silman’s information in the screen caps? It’s making me twitchy to have it there.
And posting personal information like that, encouraging her readers to harass the reviewer, then “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone”? Talk about being childish and lacking integrity.
@azteclady good point. I’ll do that.
Apparently Hoffman got Silman’s phone number wrong, so it’s actually not accurate. But, yeah, it’s creepy to see it there.
I have to say my selection among the possible poll choices was much closer than I thought it would be. It came down to private v public & action v. words. Hoffman won (or lost, as the case may be). de Botton ran a close second. Ford’s incident was kind of funny, although the firearm aspect of the anecdote made it a bit more disturbing than it might have been if it had been, say, darts. But still, it was a private moment between man and book and therefore the best of the lot, so to speak.
Although his story begs the question for me of whether it’s better to know this is how some authors react or whether it’s better to have those responses confined to a dark hole somewhere out of sight and hearing, lol.
Had Hoffman not included what she thought was Silman’s phone number, I would not have been AS disturbed, because I imagine the email was listed at the end of the review, although it was definitely a step beyond ‘write the editor and tell them that the Globe should discourage plot revelation in their reviews. That might still have come across as a bit cracked, but it wouldn’t have been malicious. Once things progressed into outright aggression, though, it definitely looks more like — as the PopWatch commentator put it — harassment.
I have to wonder, though, if the economic situation has fueled some of these outbursts — that is, if the normal insecurity around having a book hit the market isn’t exacerbated by the shrinking economy and publishing downsizing. Not that it’s an excuse, but Hoffman and de Botton’s responses seem just SO oversized for the circumstances, so filled with an irony that they should easily recognize, that outside of existing grudges of which we are not aware, it’s all very strange and very sad to me.
I just went to Gawker to read the tweets, not cool, not cool at all. It’s fine to feel bad when you get bad reviews, but to go overboard like this and give out personal information about the reviewer is just stupid. I don’t think it will affect her sales though, so while some people may be turned off her books now, the majority will continue to read them.
I still find it odd that the author fiascoes that I’ve read about here, usually deal with 3 star reviews, or ones that are not that bad.
I have no words to say to this. It was funny though, which I’m sure isn’t his intention, but I couldn’t stop laughing. What a drama queen. I hope the whole thing is a joke and he isn’t this pissed at getting a not so favourable review.
~ Popin
How is it possible to get on your rantitude in 144 characters? Just as you work up some steam, you have to stop then start all over. Nah, I couldn’t do it. I need a big white box, kind of like this one. A good rant requires an even, unbroken stride.
Hoffman needs a blog.
I agree with DS about shooting the book. That’s hard to do in e-publishing circles, though, without ruining some expensive equipment.
What, no comments about Silman’s mother’s choice of military footwear?
@Popin:
I wonder if it’s because the author cannot fully dismiss those reviews or expect readers to dismiss them, but it *is* strange. The really really petty part of me wants to ask, ‘for such an accomplished writer, how can you have such poor reading skills?’ But I know that’s as much about my perspective on the situation as theirs.
God, Alain, stop trying to make “fetch” happen! It’s not going to happen! [/Mean Girls quote]
Way to channel the spirit of Niles Crane. I love the awesomely stiff politeness covering the vitriol there.
I will remember for the future – get a bad review, get off the Internet and go do a really hard exercise class or something. No Internet access until steam has stopped coming out of ears.
It’s natural to feel bad about horrible reviews, and I’m sure writers did and said some douchebag things in the past about them. They just didn’t get to do that in front of the entire world, in a way that will be recorded forever and follow them the rest of their life.
I really resent the “feminist” card being used there. Refraining from posting someone’s contact details so people can harass them is not anti-feminist, it’s just, you know, normal.
I like the gun story. Quick, clean, cathartic. I don’t have a gun so, were I angry enough to want to shoot a book, I’d have to use an alternative. Kitchen knife? Barbeque fork? Ooh–blender.
No gun? Use the pages to line the litter box – cat does all the dirty work :)
I’m more confused as to when the obviously edited, forced to do by my agent, obligatory apology has become the band aid of all public figures. Does “I’m sorry” really cover this? What has Hoffman learned? What are the repricussions that will stop her from spewing this sort of crap again? Nothing because as much as good press sells, bad press sells better.
So my question remains – what are the repricussions if someone posts your contact information on a public networking site to incite a crowd to harass you? Are there laws against such a thing?
The best part? Hoffman isn't apologizing to Silman. Just ‘anyone she may have offended' and her readers. Nice.
I can see shooting the book. I just can’t see TELLING anyone I shot a book. (Not that I have, mind you… Yet.) But to tweet and run? Unforgiveable. Unprofessional. Immature.
I really think this reflects one of the unforeseen side effects of the changes in technology. Because people are instantly interconnected, they are also, in general, more rude than they’ve ever been. We all get honked off. We rant and rave. We write letters spewing venom. BUT, we used to do all that in private. By the time you had to locate an evelope and a stamp, your temper usually cooled and you realized what a putz you’d look like if you’d actually sent it. Now? You jump on your keyboard, unload all those negative feelings, and hit “send” before your emotions cool and your brain actually kicks back into gear.
Perhaps computers should all have a five minute delay before sending emails or posting things on Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace.
This is so sad. Before today, AH was one of my all-time favorite mainstream authors. Why couldn’t she just have shot the paper and kept her fingers off the keyboard (and her mouth shut)? Everything she’s doing just makes it worse.
Don’t care so much about ADB, but did people learn NOTHING from all the brouhaha on Amazon and elsewhere last year?
This SO proves that people with special talents are not necessarily swell human beings. Or nice. Or civilized.
Off to donate all my Hoffman books to the library book sale. I was looking forward to reading The Story Sisters, too. Sigh.
Agree with everyone that posting phone number was nuts, shooting the book is private and sort of funny. But Imogen – stabbing a book with a kitchen knife is not going to end well. For you. The book will survive. Awhile ago I read an article (probably also New York Times) about a couple who decorated their yard with decaying books. That would be a good revenge on a bad reviewer – essentially saying your book is manure, chicken manure, cow manure, crap, and thus I will compost it alongside my hosta and hydrangea.
Words to live by . . .
@ Robin:
I think that’s it exactly — it’s much easier to dismiss a one-star review as a simple mismatch of reader to book. A three-star review indicates that some elements of the work are sound, but there are major problems. It’s much harder to ignore that kind of criticism, probably because the author is forced to recognize those critiques and goes on the defensive as a result.
What never ceases to amaze me is when authors, or anyone else who puts their work out for review, become defensive or belligerent when someone receiving a less than perfect review. Have they never seen a movie they didn’t like, a work of art that didn’t speak to them, or read a book they didn’t like; have they never spoken those words to another person, thus giving something a less than favorable review?
Human reactions to any work (and I mean any, my boss critiques my work all the time) are based upon different view points, values, and taste. Losing sight of this is a slippery and dangerous slope into the land of “out of touch” because nothing is perfect to everyone.
What has happened to the simple phrase “to each their own”?
I thought the de Botton guy might be French. Which would make this rant the conversational equivalent of calling the reviewer a twit. (The French have such lovely insults.)
However, Wiki says he’s Swiss, and they’re much more civilized than this.
I know what you mean. While I’m new to Hoffman’s work, I recently bought The Story Sisters after enjoying her YA Green Angel.
I’ll probably still read her latest book, but the chances of me buying another now are very slim. Her behavior surprises me and I only hope that she realizes how detrimental this could be to her career. (Not saying it will be, though.) :-)
I prefer a rework from Groundhog Day: Don’t Blog Angry!
@chicklet:
I also think that sometimes, when a writer sees a mixed review, because they are looking at the review to see what went ‘wrong’, there is a tendency to mentally shift the review as worse than it actually is.
I would consider the possibility that writers that have gotten to a certain point in their career respond to this perception with anger rather than introspection, but I have seen writers respond to C reviews with grace. Just look at LaNora when DA reviewed Tribute.
A good thing about Twitter is that the whole incident gets Tweeted and forgotten more quickly than when we only had blogs and Amazon. Things that used to take weeks to blow over dissipate in days. [Unless somebody wicked creates some sort of Txts From Last Night for the publishing industry…]
The last time I got frustrated with a publishing situation, I stapled 1000 programs for my daughter’s dance recital. Not only cathartic but efficient!
Oh, and yes, I was SUPPOSED to staple the programs :).
@Jane,
Seems to me both Hoffman and de Botton need to re-read your “10 Author Online Promotional Don’ts”, in particular #8:
Somebody needed some serious pie, there…
@Kinsey, who asked:
I don’t have an answer for this one, but judging solely from my own experience in meeting and mingling with other writers, I believe “big writers” are like “normal people”, in that some of them are really nice, and some are not so much so. I don’t think it’s fame that makes people rude or intolerant (witness Nora Roberts, who is definitely neither, or Ian Rankin, who’s a gracious man and pleasant to spend time with). I think they’d be that way no matter what they did for a living, whether they were writers or garbage collectors.
Pamela, you are a much kinder person than I.
There are lots of lesser-known good authors with nicer manners out there who deserve to be read. This is a hard time for the publishing industry. You’d think authors would remember that before they open their pieholes to bite the hands that feed them–and that includes critics who bother to read, review and publicize their books.
In one of the links to this page, a former fan said she asked AH a mildly critical question at a reading, and AH ripped into her. I wish I’d known that before I recommended two AH books to my book club. Neither was selected, but still…
Oh crikey, what a collection of fail. I wondered what was up when I saw the poll, and now I know. Thoroughly puts me off all the writers concerned including the bookshooting ones – fine to do it if you simply must rid yourself of an excess of bile, but then why publicise it? Too stupid.
I am bemused by Alain de Botton – he’s a philosopher, I would’ve thought he’d be used to criticism.
@Jody
Wow, I didn’t know that about AH’s response to the fan. Yipes! And you’re right, there are plenty of other, much more pleasant authors out there. Not to mention, no one told AH to act this way. No wonder some book reviewers aren’t keen on giving “negative” reviews. They’re probably afraid of the backlash.
Alice Hoffman is a favorite writer. She let it be known that she was unhappy about a bad review. I have seen much worst behavior by authors on the net.
Okay, while we’re talking about Alice Hoffman, I am wondering whether her dramatic weight loss (I know you can’t really tell what someone weighs from their appearance, but she seems to have lost 100+ pounds since the 1990s) was the result of an intense commitment to physical fitness, or of something more unfortunate like a serious illness?
It’s not any of my business at all. I was just wondering–the change is so dramatic, and I’ve never seen her talking about it in print. Either way, I wish her good health and happiness, despite her very public tantrum.
I stabbed a book with a pen once. But I was in high school. And it was Moby Dick.
I think I can be excused.
;P
Alice Hoffman went after the reviewer.
She vilified Roberta Silman and encouraged others to do so. That was tacky, but she posted Ms. Silman’s contact information for any wacko to see and act on.
And yeah, plenty of authors are guilty of bad behavior. Most of the time it just reflects on them, but in this case, she’s exposed Ms. Silman to harm. I hope Ms. Silman is not being inundated with hate email and phone calls from rabid fans, though apparently the information was inaccurate. Good thing.
Sorry, but if this is an acceptable way for people to express unhappiness–especially people more or less in the public eye– then the Mark Sanford thing is SO just a misunderstanding.
Ya know…for once, I’d love to see an author say, “I was a D-bag. It won’t happen again.” I can forgive almost anything as long as the person takes responsibility. But the whole, “I'm sorry if I offended anyone,” is LAME.
If I ever act this bad in public, I expect everyone here to call me out on it.
I would like to see anyone, whether it is an author, reader, politician, public figure or store clerk simply say “I’m sorry”. NOT I’m sorry but I was having a bad day, bad idea, bad brainstorm, or bad weather, bad karma, bad sex with my wife, bad travel arrangements, bad journalistic coverage or whatever.
Just apologize, wish the offended person or people well, accept that some won’t ever let it go and then BE DONE.
No back-peddling, no excuses. Just say ‘I’m sorry’.
aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgh
(oops, I’m sorry)
@flip: You really don’t hang out online much do ya… In 6 years I’ve been online and as a reviewer, this has been only the second time in which an author goes as far as Hoffman has. You do realize that the reviewer could very much sue over what Hoffman did, right? That could be considered online bullying which is a form of harassment, and the dimwit did it very publically. I would love to see how YOU would like it if it was YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION posted for hundreds if not thousands to see, and with the specific request of harassing you … and all over a PERCEIVED slight.
Has Ms Hoffman any idea how many authors, published by respected publishing houses, never get a print review at all? And instead of being grateful for the notice, she act like like a member of the Bloods who’s been dissed?
Incredible.
Ah yes; an apology
‘conveyed by her publicist, Camille McDuffie at Goldberg McDuffie Communications’
It just oozes sincerity, doesn’t it…
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/06/did-alice-hoffman-strike-back-or-strike-out.html
While I don’t find shooting a book particularly helpful I’m all for safe ways to burn off anger. It’s like eating a pie for gun lovers.
What really astounds me here is that as an Artist your bound to get bad reviews…. what do you think the first twenty rejection letters that most print authors get are? Theatre reviews are tough, harsh and cold, but you don’t see any Set Designer’s or lead actresses tweeting their offense at The New Yorker. Any time that you create anything someone is going to hate it: point and fact. Since when has it become exceptable for authors, e-publishers, or business people in general to completely ignore their sense of propriety and behave like two year olds? Maybe there is a pamplet or a seminar I forgot to attend but nothing makes readers, publishers, or humans run away screaming like a fresh dose of insanely over-reactive, anger-filled posting online.
I guess in a world of reality tv, trashy and trash-talking celebreties anyone with half a millimeter of talent and an online website can bring themselve down a peg on the evolutionary chart.
A de B is an interesting bloke who has great passion for his subject. He’s a bit smarmy and know-it-all, but his work engages the mind. All this is to say that I am not as bright or as erudite as him but I curse in exactly the same way. Yeah, you know who, it might have happened 38 years ago but I will hate you till the day I die.
@flip: Yeah… What hasn’t been mentioned yet here is that Silman is eighty-five years old.
In your world, it’s okay to post the home phone number of random people you’re angry at online and encourage people to call them and yell at them? It’s not that bad, in your opinion, to do that to an eighty-five-year-old woman?
This is revolting, inexcusable behavior, no matter how old the reviewer in question is, but especially given that Hoffman was too freaking lazy to even google her and discover that she is herself an award-winning author and is, again, an octogenarian.
Disgusting.
Inexcusable.
Hoffman behaved like a pissy little brat; like an immature seventh-grader. Her behavior was gross, and grossly inappropriate. I simply cannot fathom how anyone could defend it.
I have not read any thing by A.H. and I doubt that I will after this. Not sure why some people be an author , neighbor or your co-worker in the next cubical think that they can go off on you if you voice an opinion of your own.
This sense of entitlement is kind of scary, is the fact that she make more money than the reviewer, that it’s makes her own rant legit ?
The email to her fangirls with the instruction to light it up is just downright evil does she not know that viruses can be sent thru an email that can fry her computer or that giving out some’s # and having ittied up with her looney fangirls is out and out crazy, and I think some what illegal.
Wow, and to think I’d recently decided I really oughtta get around to reading Hoffman soon.
“Till the day I die” rants are juvenile. Shooting a hole through the reviewer’s book in private is actually kind of funny. Posting the reviewer’s personal information is creepy stalker stuff.
Oh, and I’m not surprised that some take a C review as a pan. I’ve been flamed on Amazon by readers when I gave three stars to their favorite books. It’s crazy. I mean, if I’d hated it, I’d have given it one star. But I think a lot of reviewers at Amazon give everything either one star or five. They see anything below five, they assume you hated it. Whereas in my mind, most books are a 3 or 4, with 5 being for those “up all night reading, bawled at the end” sorts of books.
Well Kelly don’t you know that YOU MUST NOT STRAY FROM THE FLOCK of FANGIRL in other words you can not express your thoughts freely with out getting reamed by some one be it an author or the rabid fangirls………….it’s becoming kind of frightful that one can not express your own thoughts REMEMBER JOE THE PLUMBER.
What hasn't been mentioned yet here is that Silman is eighty-five years old
She’s actually 75 years old (born in 1934), according to her own website.
Still, yeah, uncool. Of course, Alice Hoffman is 57, so she should be old enough to know better.