Ooooh, do tell! This one has SO much hype, too.

Wow. That really stinks.

That's so...bratty.

I'm confused though, I thought this was self-published? So basically the author herself didn't honor the giveaway?

From what I understand in comments elsewhere, the publisher is an outfit that has published other reworked Twilight fanfic.

The author cancelled the giveaway herself? She actually announced that? Wow.

Yeah I just looked it up, and it looks like a small small-press.

Jan wrote: "Yeah I just looked it up, and it looks like a small small-press."

You have a link to an author announcing refusal to honor a giveaway because the book received a bad review? Could you please post the link? I have got to see this for myself.

No, I meant I looked up the publisher after being confused and thinking she was self-published.

I did see on the authors site she removed the link to the bookpushers review from her blog tour dates, but I haven't found the announcement for the canceled giveaway.

Jan wrote: "I did see on the authors site she removed the link to the bookpushers review from her blog tour date..."

That's what I just found. No announcement, but the Jan 29th Book Pushers review isn't in the list. Link

Jan wrote: "No, I meant I looked up the publisher after being confused and thinking she was self-published.

I did see on the authors site she removed the link to the bookpushers review from her blog tour date..."

Oh. OK. So maybe the author didn't actually cancel the giveaway? She might have removed the link because she preferred not to feature the negative reviews or something.

We were told (via email) by the publisher that our giveaway wouldn't be honored because the author didn't like our review. We've since spoken with the appropriate person at the publisher, and have resolved the problem. Our giveaway's still on!

Nicole wrote: "We were told by the publisher that our giveaway wouldn't be honored because the author didn't like our review. We've since spoken with the appropriate person at the publisher, and have resolved the problem. Our giveaway still on!..."

Wow. That was very unprofessional of the publisher to state something like that, especially if it isn't true. I'd be furious if I was the author.

M wrote: "Nicole wrote: "That was very unprofessional of the publisher to state something like that, especially if it isn't true. I'd be furious if I was the author."

Well, that's the risk you run when you 1. pitch a fit over a bad review while 2. publishing with a vanity press with no PR department.

Another thin skinned author who wants our money but not our opinions.

BarkLessWagMore wrote: "Another thin skinned author who wants our money but not our opinions."

I'm still not convinced this is the case, though. Nicole said the review blog was emailed by the publisher and told "(the book giveaway) would not be honored because the author didn't like the blog's review." The author hasn't pitched a fit, or at least not a public fit. For all we know, someone in the publisher's officer decided to cancel the giveaway without consulting the author. There's no proof the author herself is involved in the unprofessionalism, and it looks like whoever "cancelled" the giveaway in the first place spoke out of turn since the blog is receiving the giveaway book after all.

It's poor representation and very bad customer service, but I don't see this as a case where the author is a meanie.

@ M - Given the author's history, I would find it VERY difficult to believe she isn't behind it. That being said, you're correct, we do not know for sure.

I, for one, will be steering clear of all Ms. James works in the future, given the quality of the third book, and numerous other situations I've read about involving her. Including this incident.

Nicole wrote: "@ M - Given the author's history, I would find it VERY difficult to believe she isn't behind it. That being said, you're correct, we do not know for sure.

I, for one, will be steering clear of all..."

I'm just glad you got your book giveaway, it would've been pretty ugly if the pub reneged on that. : )

I've never heard of this author, book, or publisher before reading about this so I'm not comfortable commenting about other things the author may or may not have done. But I'm really sorry you had this negative experience with the publisher.

I'm just tired of all of the hissy fits regardless of whether it was the author, her dog, her editor, publisher or her PR person. This is a business and they need to realize it and stop acting like whiny brats when people have the spine to dislike their work.

BarkLessWagMore wrote: "I'm just tired of all of the hissy fits regardless of whether it was the author, her dog, her editor, publisher or her PR person. This is a business and they need to realize it."

True. But no business always runs smoothly with 100% customer satisfaction at all times. Sometimes a business meets a customer's needs to his satisfaction, sometimes not.

I think pretty well of this publisher because, in the end, the publisher did the right thing. Instead of backing up a crummy move by one of its reps, the company stepped up and did the right thing. I would expect that of any ethical, competent company.

Expecting any merchant or company to run mistake-free at all times isn't a realistic expectation. It's how those mistakes or disappointments are dealt with that demonstrate a company sincerely cares about their professional reputation and about making a second effort to satisfy a customer instead of just leaving him high and dry.

I am with Nicole on this - I know it was awkward that this review was part of the tour blog. And I can understand the fact that they would want to remove us from the tour but other blog tours had negative reviews & giveaways which didn't cause a reaction like this. I don't know if it was either the pub or the author or even both. But it was unprofessional, it doesn't affect us but it did affect those who entered the giveaway. We've had giveaways in the past where we didn't rate a book highly but it doesn't mean that others wont enjoy it. We pride ourselves in giving honest reviews.

The sad thing is that the readers who did enter the giveaway - were not put off by our review and wanted to read the book.

I liked the first two books even with the flaws and yes the high prices. And they were crack but I wont shy away there was editorial issues with the books. It pisses me off because I even recced them to others but this whole incident left a sour taste in my mouth. Whether it was the author or the pub or both. I will also be avoiding any of her books in the future for the same reasons.

Authors or pubs behaving badly is the one thing that pisses me off and I don't like to support or read authors or publishers who engage in asshery.

All I have left to say is that behavior like this turns off more readers than any negative review ever will. I hope publishers and authors realize this sooner rather than later.

Has wrote: "I am with Nicole on this - I know it was awkward that this review was part of the tour blog. And I can understand the fact that they would want to remove us from the tour but other blog tours had n..."

I agree with most of the main points in your comment. IMHO, it's better for authors and publishers (the merchants and companies in the "business equation") to act in the best way to promote positive customer-merchant relationships.

It was awkward and unnecessary to cancel the book giveaway and remove the review blog from the author's book tour. I hesitate to call it "malicious" because I have no clue as to the motives of the people responsible. I still don't know for certain who is responsible. I applaud the publisher for doing the right thing in the end, though, and I'm glad the giveaway is still "on" for the blog so readers won't be disappointed.

This event has made me appreciate all the other publishers and authors who know how to act in a professional manner. What happened here was very unprofessional, and the author and publisher engaged in a hissy fit because they didn't like the review.

While we are satisfied they are now honoring the giveaway, we can say for certainty that we'll never work with the author and publisher again.

It doesn't bother us that they removed our site from the blog tour. It is troubling though that they would act in a manner such as this.

Like I said before about this book, no way am I going to give it a positive review when it was so poorly crafted. If the publisher can't hack that, then they need to pull on some grown up panties.

Really surprising behavior from unethical amateurs who decided they wanted to create a scam "publishing house" to convert fan fiction for profit.

Thanks for the info, but it would be safer for you to move it into the comments and just say that the reason for one star is in the comments. Goodreads doesn't allow any mention of the author's behaviour, not even well documented behaviour, in the reviews. If this gets flagged, they'll delete it.

Sarah wrote: "This event has made me appreciate all the other publishers and authors who know how to act in a professional manner. What happened here was very unprofessional, and the author and publisher engaged..."

The best professional transactions occur when both the merchant/s and the consumer/s exhibit professional decorum.

"The customer is always right" is a euphemism, not a universal truth. Just as one can measure a merchant's integrity by how the merchant handles second effort situations, one can also measure a customer's credibility by his responses.

I can't help wondering if, as more and more of these "bad author" or "bad publisher" rants are posted, will more publishers and authors think twice about continuing to submit books to reviewers, particularly if those reviewers demonstrate consistent prejudice against anyone they consider a "bad" author or publisher. If authors and publishers begin perceiving the on-line drama as "bad for business," it's not to their benefit to do business with the parties responsible for the drama.

M wrote: "Sarah wrote: "This event has made me appreciate all the other publishers and authors who know how to act in a professional manner. What happened here was very unprofessional, and the author and pu..."


Well in this day and age of bloggers being picked by major sites like HEA USA and or Kirkus - and they have blogged about wtfery issues with authors who have had racists rants/behaved badly or incidents of bullying bloggers by calling them bitches or pubs stealing royalties off their authors or contract breaches. I VERY much doubt so.

Bloggers are doing a good job to let others know about these issues because they are important. And frankly, many don't review or blog about books because they can get arcs. A LOT do buy their own books and have been fantastically supportive of newbie/indie authors as well as the big ones. The majority of reviewers have had a great relationship with authors and publishers and they have blogged about wtfery incidents. I very much doubt this will be the case and if it does happen - this wont look good on those authors or pubs who take part in this. Just my 2 pennies worth.

M wrote: "Sarah wrote: "This event has made me appreciate all the other publishers and authors who know how to act in a professional manner. What happened here was very unprofessional, and the author and pu..."

Reviewers and bloggers should not reveal when authors and publishers act in a manner that's unprofessional just so we can still receive arcs? Um, no.

There is no prejudice involved when bloggers call out behaviour when an author or publishers acts in a manner that does not befit them. Sure, bloggers can also act in that way and I think we do a pretty good job of letting those bloggers know they're acting like asshats. Let's not forget that authors and publishers are in business. They're accepting money from consumers for their products. You bring out a product that's full of editorial mistakes, a weak plot line and we're supposed to keep quiet so we can receive more arcs?

Reviewers are not part of that business where we must serve the publisher or author in a good deed. We conduct ourselves in a professional relationship via the author, publicist or publisher where we receive arc's in return for a honest review. Most publishers understand this. EL James and the publisher must have missed this memo somehow.

This started as a Twilight fanfic. I read the whole Masters of the Universe story. She stole this from Stephanie and now wants to make money on it and say it was originally all hers. Well If that is so why did she post it originally on a twilight saga Fanfic page and say it was a take off of Twilight. If I was stephanie this broad would be seeing me in a court of law for big time copyright infringement. She may have change the names but those of us who was hooked on the story Masters of the Universe where she did use the names of Bella and Edward in that story, we know that is is just a Twilight knock off. Go Get Her Stephanie!!!!!

Really people... do you feel this same way about Gabriel's Inferno and Poughkeepsie? It's not plagiarism. Christian is not a vampire, and does not sparkle. There is nary a vampire or shifter to be found in any of the 50 trilogy. I'm sure lawyers would be swarming from hundreds of miles away to SM's door if there was a case.

Alana (aka ◘Whiplash◘) wrote: "Really people... do you feel this same way about Gabriel's Inferno and Poughkeepsie? It's not plagiarism. Christian is not a vampire, and does not sparkle. There is nary a vampire or shifter to ..."

I do. Both are equally reprehensible. Unfortunately the legalities are unclear, but all three authors (among others) are profiting from intellectual property theft. They took Meyers characters, labelled their stories as fanfics by posting them as such, made superficial changes, and pulled to publish. Changing the names and physical descriptions doesn't make the characters original or theirs.

rameau wrote: "Alana (aka ◘Whiplash◘) wrote: "Really people... do you feel this same way about Gabriel's Inferno and Poughkeepsie? It's not plagiarism. Christian is not a vampire, and does not sparkle. There i..."

Right If it was not for the whole twilight fanfic thing she would not have even wrote this knock-off.

Yes I never planned to read it but everyone's reviews gave me another reason NOT to. And nooo! Not more popular than HP!!!