A Personal Statement from Lydia Michaels Regarding the False Accusations Floating Around...
Public Announcement
Lydia Michaels, author of contemporary romance, wrote the following statement, incorporating exact copies of all correspondence referenced.
To all of my lovely readers and the wonderful reviewers out there,
Recently, I have been the victim of undue slander by a well-known blog. I am not speaking of unfavorable reviews. On the contrary, this blog gave my work raving reviews. What I am addressing is the course of events following said reviews and a misunderstanding regarding my correct email.
For the record, my website address is www.LydiaMichaels.org and the only emails associated with my work are Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org(used preferable for reader correspondence) and Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org (used preferably for promotional purposes). I do not, nor have I ever, had any association with www.LydiaMichaels.com or any emails associated with this site (e.g.: ****Please understand that writing is my livelihood. I am of the belief that reviewers as well as readers that take the time out of their busy schedules to write reviews, are of an unmatchable value. They do a service to readers and authors that I, along with millions of other authors appreciate beyond measure. Even negative reviews are a tool to writers, an opinion I have held since the beginning of my career as an author. Yes, we authors cry real tears when our work is torn apart, but I have always advised other authors to do as I do, breathe, get over the hurt, and take the lesson for what it is worth. I learn from my reviewers. When readers comment regarding my “lengthy descriptions” or “dragging internal dialogue” (two recent issues I’ve been working on based on feedback from real reviews) I listen. I have profusely thanked certain bloggers for contacting me to go over critiques they had to share. I have never, nor would I ever, attack or treat a reader/reviewer rudely. It simply is not part of my disposition and I believe those readers/authors/reviewers out there that have taken the time to get to know me would full heartedly agree.
Now, throughout this upsetting ordeal involving said review site, myself, and the unknown operator of Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com (Not me, remember, I am only associated with Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org), a lot of innocent people have been hurt. First of the victims, and greatest of my concerns, is the reviewer, thinking that after praising my work, I could send her a rude email. The fact that she might assume such a thing has been extremely upsetting to me on more than one level. Second to be hurt by this course of events, myself, frustrated that a mistake could lead said reviewer to assume I would treat her rudely, which I did not, and then the fall out done to my reputation as an author.
The word “proof” has been thrown around a little too loose and fast in this entire situation in my opinion. Please note I am not upset with the reviewer. If anything, I am so sorry (even though I am not responsible) for the fact that she did something nice and was unnecessarily hurt. However, those associated with said review site have crossed a line and accused me of wrongly hurting this reviewer, exposing my name, and painting me in a negative light. Where was their proof?
Damage has been done. Readers have rallied and added me to their “do not buy” list, because they are offended by these unfounded accusations, which I have disputed, with opposing evidence, since the moment I understood the situation resulted from the reviewer emailing the wrong Lydia Michaels. In addition to my argument, the review site administrators received numerous messages from outside sources, some testifying that it is not in my character to treat a reader/reviewer rudely, others providing the site administrators with the public information proving I am not the owner of the “.com” site/email. Unfortunately, they exploited the situation with uninformed assumptions and created an authors worst nightmare.
I’ve thought long and hard about this situation. I am, for lack of better words, sad that it has come to this point. When I saw the raving reviews posted by the reviewer were removed, I was heartbroken, because it told me how deeply she was hurt and how much she still believed I was responsible for her pain. Let me be clear, this is not about obtaining a review. This is about clearing my name that has been wrongly dragged through the mud. Like I said above, there are two victims here, the reviewer and myself. The administrator of the review site overstepped and did something ungrounded and unwarranted in my opinion, thereby influencing others to think unkindly of me when I have been nothing but kind. The operator of the “.com” site/email was an unknowing player in the situation, but played a part none the less. For there is nothing worse a reviewer can be told than, “Please do not contact me again. I have no interest in your opinions.” That is exactly what the owner of the “.com” email responded when the reviewer accidentally emailed them instead of me. There is no denying how hurtful that must have been to read after she showered me with such praise and we shared such friendly correspondence prior to that email sent by an outside player in this mess whom I have absolutely no association with.
Writing is my livelihood. These accusations have negatively influenced the source that puts food on my table. The women that administer this review site also have to make a living, which is why I have decided not to disclose their names or the name of their site. From here on, their site shall be referred to as “Review Site” in order to maintain their privacy. The reviewer that reviewed my work will be referred to as “Reviewer1” and the other operator of Review Site shall be referred to as “Admin2”. For the sake of privacy their email/site addresses will also be blocked, but I will disclose all other emails since this is, in fact, a case of mistaken email identity.
I would also like to bring it to everyone’s attention that this dispute has been resolved between the “Review1” and myself and she has withdrawn all accusations. We are in agreement that I did not act unprofessionally or rudely at any time during this stressful situation.
For those of you that need further proof, beyond that of my genuine character which you witness bits of every day online, here you have it:
I originally contacted “Review Site” using a form on their site, asking if I could submit an ARC for my new release. The following is a screenshot of their spreadsheet used to catalogue review request, which the information appears to be added manually by a human being like any other spreadsheet.
(This screenshot was provided by “Review Site” to settle this dispute. Personal information not pertaining to this dispute has been censored to protect the privacy of uninvolved parties.)
[Note that the above email entered is correct [.org], which is the book I originally contacted Review Site about, book 3 in the series I was submitting for review]
[Note that this email was entered incorrectly [.com]. This ARC was only offered to Reviewer1 after she emailed me at Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org, which you will see below. This entry is for book 4 of the series, which Reviewer1 requested from me after reading my submission of book 1,2, and 3]
The first contact I had in response to the above-mentioned form was sent to me at Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org on February 7, 2014 from “Reviewer1”. Here is the correspondence from that day:
On Feb 07, 2014, “Reviewer1” “Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com> wrote:
Hi there!Thank you so much for contacting us to review Chaste {McCullough Mountain 3}!This book looks amazing and “Admin2” and I would love to review it. I do have a question though. I see that it's #3 in a series. Is it a standalone book or should we read the first two as well?Thank you!“Reviewer1” “Review Site”
On Friday, February 7, 2014 12:43 PM, "Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org"
publicist@lydiamichaels.org> wrote:
subject: Re: “Review Site” Review Request from: Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org <publicist@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Feb 7, 2014 01:43:05 PM to: <“Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com>
Hello “Reviewer1” and “Admin2”,
Thanks for getting back to us! Chaste is indeed the third book in the series McCullough Mountain. The McCulloughs are a wild Irish family living in a redneck town. They speak freely and curse entirely too much, but are incredibly comical. Chaste features Kelly, the rake of the family. Book one (Sacred Waters) features Colin, the oldest son off to become a priest and book two (Skin) features Finn, the ordinary son who falls in love with an extraordinary (overweight) woman from Philadelphia. If you are interested in reading the series from start to finish, we'd be happy to send you an ARC for each. Please let us know if you're interested and which formats work best for you.
Thank you!
Publicity Department
Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org
Feb 7, 2014 01:51:15 PM, “Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com wrote:
Okay - I must read the whole series! It sounds wonderful!
“Admin2” and I would need mobi formats sent to:
“Admin2” - “Admin2”@Admin2email.com
“Reviewer1” - “Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com (or just respond to this email).
Thank you SO very much. I cannot wait to read them all!
(And I will review each one of course!)
“Reviewer1”
Feb 7, 2014 01:58 PM, "Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org"publicist@lydiamichaels.org> wrote:
subjec: Re: “Review Site” Review Request from: Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org <publicist@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Feb 7, 2014 01:58:48 PM to: <“Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com>
Hi “Reviewer1”,
Here are mobi's for each. The order of the series is Sacred Waters, Skin, Chaste.
Enjoy!
Publicity Department
Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org
Feb 7, 2014 02:03 PM, “Author Lydia Michaels”Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org> wrote:
subjec: ARCs per “Reviewer1”'s request for “Admin2” from: Author Lydia Michaels <lydia@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Feb 7, 2014 02:03:28 PM to: <“Admin2”@Admin2email.com>
Hi “Admin2”,
I'm sending 3 ARCs per “Reviewer1”'s request for McCullough Mountain. The order is as follows: Sacred Waters, Skin, Chaste. Thank you and enjoy!
~Lydia Michaels
www.LydiaMichaels.org
Called to Order
Calling for a Miracle
Destiny Calls
White Chocolate
All for You
To Catch a Wolfe
Chasing Feathers
Breaking Perfect
Sacred Waters
Apr 27, 2014 12:01:30 PM, “Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com wrote:
Hi there!!
I just read Sacred Water and am almost done with Skin - OH MY WORD they are such amazing books!!! I can't thank you and Lydia enough for allowing me to read an review them!!!
I will review each individually and will send you the links as soon as my posts are live!
I have the first 3 - are there more to the series that are already released? I'd love to finish them and make one giant post on the blog featuring all of them!
“Reviewer1”
“Review Site”
http://www.facebook.com/”Review Site”reviews
April 27, 2014 11:13 AM, "Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org" publicist@lydiamichaels.org> wrote:
subject: Re: “Review Site” Review Request from: Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org <publicist@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Apr 27, 2014 12:13:40 PM to: <“Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com>
Hi “Reviewer1”!
Thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying the McCulloughs! Yes, there are 4 total, at the moment, and the 5th comes out in May. I should have an ARC for the 5th book in the next ten days. I'm sending you FAKING IT now, book 4. When you finish that, check back with me to see about the ARC for book 5 FORSAKING TRUTH, and if I have it I'll be happy to send it. (FORSAKING TRUTH, Luke's story, is my favorite!)
Happy reading!
~Lydia
Publicity Department
Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org
Apr 27, 2014 12:58:30 PM, “Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com wrote:
subject: Re: “Review Site” Review Request from: Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org <publicist@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Apr 27, 2014 04:05:27 PM to: <“Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com> Me again!!!
I'd like to share my first two reviews with you - well I'd love to really share my review for Skin as I cannot tell you how much that book meant to me.
I'm working on a blog post for all 4 of them now but here are the review links from Amazon.
Sacred Waters – (LINK REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)
Skin – (LINK REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)
Again, thank you SO much - there aren't words to tell you how much Skin meant to me
“Reviewer1”
“Review Site”
http://www.facebook.com/”Review Site”reviews
Apr 27, 2014, 04:05 PM, “Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org”Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org> wrote:
Wow, “Reviewer1”... That just brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for such a lovely review. Truly. I absolutely adore when SKIN touches home with a reader. I know it hit home with me, more than I ever expected. Currently, SKIN has made it to the final round of the RONE awards, which is a HUGE honor and I hope it wins for the simple fact that I want to get that message to as many Mallory's as possible. I'm a Mallory too :)
Have you seen the trailer for SKIN? It's full of real life Mallory's. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkQykfjYUqM
After writing SKIN so many readers expressed their Mallory-ness to me I started a private group called Loving YOU Every Day. It's full of Mallory's of all sizes who struggle with learning to love themselves in the skin their in. If you'd like to join us (we all follow different routines and regiments, but the support and inspiration is incredible) send me a PM on Facebook and I'll add you.
I want to thank you again for loving my stories and characters. If anything, I'd call McCullough Mountain the realest series I've ever written. FAKING IT and FORSAKING TRUTH are also quite realistic and touch pretty deep. I hope you enjoy them just as much.
Take care,
Lydia
Publicity Department
Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org
Meanwhile, “Reviewer1” contacted me on Facebook via private message. Here is a copy of our correspondence:
Sunday 6:19pmHi Lydia - it's “Reviewer1” from “Review Site”. I hope it's okay that I sent you a friend request. I'd love to join the group that you mentioned! Thank you so much “Reviewer1”
I also wanted to inquire about purchasing a signed copy of Skin from you. Is that something you do? This is one I HAVE to have on my bookshelfMonday 11:32amHere is my blog post for all 4 books!! You're an AMAZING writer Lydia!! (LINK REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)
It was at this point that I was at the bus stop, waiting for my daughter, using my phone to check Facebook…
Then I saw the post with a picture of the response from Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com (NOT ME!) that upset “Reviewer1”.
(Screenshot provided by “Review Site”. Personal information has been blocked.)
Here is a close up of the image “Reviewer1” posted above where you can clearly see it was from Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com (Not me).
I was sick the second I saw the screenshot of this email (That I did not send!) and thought perhaps I was hacked. As I couldn’t rush home to my computer in that second, I zoomed in on the email, not believing my eyes. Then I noticed the email was not from me, but the owner of Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com. I immediately commented on the Facebook post explaining this to “Reviewer1”, but I was upset and perhaps did not explain it properly. As you can see from the above emails, “Reviewer1” and I never corresponded through any “.com” email. We only corresponded through MY emails (.org) and Facebook. I simply don’t have a “.com”, nor do I have any ties to the owner of www.LydiaMichaels.com. The “.com” was already taken when I became an author and thus I was limited to purchasing www.LydiaMichaels.org, which I own and manage via Vista Print. The only emails associated with my website are Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org and Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org(which I use for promotional purposes only).
To prove my point further, the owner information for www.LydiaMichaels.com is public and available for you to check:Domain Name Registration at Joker.com with comprehensive Domain Control Panel and Reseller API
The information linked to LydiaMichaels.com, which you can verify at any time, I will not disclose publicly, as I do not wish to violate the owner’s personal information. However, if you need the proof, feel free to search it. It’s there for the public to see. The owner of that site/email resides in the UK and you can find everything down to the phone number if you need the proof.
(This information was provided to “Review Site” by an outside party without my knowing, because they were personally offended by Review Site's accusations on my behalf. I did not know they sent this information until after the fact, but I am grateful for their research and concern on my behalf.)
As soon as I returned home and situated my daughter, I contacted “Reviewer1”. I did this immediately because her feelings, wrongly hurt by no doing of my own, weighed on me and were a top priority. I contacted her again via Facebook:
Monday 4:15pmThank you so much for so many sweet reviews, “Reviewer1”! Wow. And I wrote back to your post regarding the not so nice email you received. Sorry that happened. It wasn't from me. LydiaMichaels dot COM is actually owned by a baby in the UK, well, her family. In 2006 she was an infant, so I guess she's not a child now. I am at LydiaMichaels dot ORG. My email is all dot org as well. I feel terrible that you got that message and thought it was from me, especially after how generous you've been with your kind opinions about my work. Trust me, lol, I care very much about my readers' opinions and would never send something like that. I hope you didn't get too upset thinking that was from me. Have a better day. ~Lydia
“Reviewer1”I was and still am very confused. While you and I were communicating through the other email address, I went back and looked and the Faking It review request came from the .com address...it is still on our spreadsheetIt makes no sense that you'd send that, I know, so I just had/have no idea what to think
Lydia MichaelsThat's so odd. I'm confused too. I assure you my email and website is all through "org" I just emailed the Lydia that owns the .com and asked her to please (in the future) simply say she is not the author so emailers that mistakenly contact her are aware. I don't know if this person will care, but I explained how upsetting it is for my reviewers to be told I don't care about their opinions. I just feel terrible about this confusion. I'm going to call my email/web provider now and see if there is any way my email correspondence could show as .com
On April 29, 2014 I sent the following email to Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com because I was still very upset that this happened to an innocent person who goes out of their way to share opinions and help authors like myself. I was extremely bothered by the tone of the response she received from Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com and worried other readers might mistakenly contact this person as well.
Apr 28, 2014, 04:21 PM, “Author Lydia Michaels”Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org> wrote:
subject: Email mishap... from: Author Lydia Michaels <lydia@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Apr 28, 2014 04:21:49 PM to: <lydia@lydiamichaels.com>
Dear Lydia,
My name is also Lydia Michaels and I am an author. Today, a reader notified me about an email she thought I sent, but she mistakenly emailed it to your address. I'm sorry for this confusion. This reader is actually a reviewer that had nothing but lovely things to say about my work and it was quite upsetting for her to get an email stating I did not care about her opinions. This is of course no one's fault, but I was wondering if in the future you might just reply to any email mistakenly addressed to you that you are not Lydia Michaels the author. My email is Lydia@LydiaMichaels.ORG. I know this is a lot to ask, but I assume you may actually get quite a bit of mistaken mail meant for me.
I hope you understand. I'm sorry for all the confusion and any trouble this has caused you.
Sincerely,
Lydia Michaels
Romance Author
www.LydiaMichaels.org
Please confirm receipt of any attachments. Thank you!
I wanted to let “Reviewer1” know that I took the initiative to clear up this misunderstanding, but she had removed our friendship from Facebook. I was even more upset to see that she removed herself from the group I invited her to join, where she would have seen evidence of the person I am and assumedly realized I would never write or speak rudely to one of my readers. I love my readers and it hurts me to think one could assume I’d treat them rudely, especially in such an undeserved way.
When my husband came home I was very upset. I decided to reach out to “Reviewer1” one last time and show her that I contacted this other email holder.
subject: Fwd: Email mishap... from: Author Lydia Michaels <lydia@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Apr 29, 2014 08:17:11 PM to: <“Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com>
Dear “Reviewer1”,
I wanted to let you know that I contacted the other Lydia Michaels (the one that owns the dot com address) and explained the situation to her. I also spoke to my email/web site provider to see if there is any way our addresses could have been crossed and they assure me that is impossible. I don't know what correspondence you have from the dot com Lydia because it doesn't include me. The only correspondence I have with you is throughpublicist@LydiaMichaels.org
I tried to contact you via Facebook to give you this information, but I couldn't reach you. I understand that you're upset. All I can do is give you my word that the Lydia that contacted you through the dot com address was not me. I'm only through dot org. If you go to www.LydiaMichaels.com you will see the site is in no way associated with me. I find it devastating that this other Lydia was rude to you and possibly others that mistakenly contacted her.
I won't contact you again, but I just wanted one last time to express how sorry I am that this happened. You did something so nice and I truly appreciated every word you wrote regarding my work. Your review of SKIN made me cry. Below you will find a forward of the email I sent the dot com Lydia. She did not respond to me.
Sincerely,
Lydia Michaels
Romance Author
www.LydiaMichaels.org
Please confirm receipt of any attachments. Thank you!
------------Forwarded message------------
From: Date: Apr 28, 2014 04:21:49 PM
Subject: Email mishap...
To:
Dear Lydia,
My name is also Lydia Michaels and I am an author. Today, a reader notified me about an email she thought I sent, but she mistakenly emailed it to your address. I'm sorry for this confusion. This reader is actually a reviewer that had nothing but lovely things to say about my work and it was quite upsetting for her to get an email stating I did not care about her opinions. This is of course no one's fault, but I was wondering if in the future you might just reply to any email mistakenly addressed to you that you are not Lydia Michaels the author. My email is Lydia@LydiaMichaels.ORG. I know this is a lot to ask, but I assume you may actually get quite a bit of mistaken mail meant for me.
I hope you understand. I'm sorry for all the confusion and any trouble this has caused you.
Sincerely,
Lydia Michaels
Romance Author
www.LydiaMichaels.org
Please confirm receipt of any attachments. Thank you!
However… it was in this time that “Admin2” took it upon herself to accuse me publicly.
Their public post, which later divulged my name gained over 50 comments, most of which had readers outraged and rallying not to support me as an author. The post was written as follows:
“REVIEW SITE”/ “Admin2” April 28 “FYI, the way an author acts matters. If you're rude or condescending I will not be promoting you or your books on my page or blog. I will ask that “Reviewer1” not do it either.
Sometimes I feel like people think this, promoting, reviewing, sharing, etc is something we HAVE to do. It's not. We do it because we love it. We love books and authors and reading. But we aren't…for lack of a better term authors' "bitches". We deserve respect for all the things we do. And if we don't get it, we certainly won't give it.”
Later, this post followed from “Reviewer1”:
“REVIEW SITE”/”Reviewer1” April 28 In regards to the rude author thing...
I'd like to thank everyone for their support and loving comments. While I'm not over what happened, I'm still very confused by it all, I've chosen to stop thinking about it.
So - to all the fans and authors who have commented - love you all
~ “Reviewer1”
p.s. I'm still not comfy disclosing the name of the author - I just have a bad feeling about it (I'm unsure why). “Admin2” is the opposite and feels that you all should know - so she has named the author in a previous post.
And then this was posted by “Admin2”
“REVIEW SITE”/”Admin2” 6 hours ago This is the last time we will be addressing this issue.
In regard to the rude author issue: This whole thing has been EXTREMELY difficult and upsetting for “Reviewer1”. But we're trying to get past it. Some people, though, are making that impossible. I understand the fans of this author wanting to come to their defense, I really do. But I would hope that you all know that we wouldn't accuse someone of something, especially an author, if we didn't have good reason to do so. And it's gotten ridiculous and a bit tedious for me to keep having to explain the facts to people and ultimately have them backtrack or avoid the issue.
Here are the facts. After posting (5 star) reviews for their books, “REVIEWER1” received a rude e-mail from this particular author.”[THIS IS FALSE, Reviewer1 received a rude email from the owner of the .com email address] “Said author and their fans claim it couldn't be them because the author has a different e-mail address. We might have accepted this and let the issue drop if we hadn't received review requests for this author's books from BOTH the author's "real" e-mail address and the e-mail address Reviewer1 received the rude e-mail from.”[Also NOT TRUE. I originally submitted a review request via a form on the review site, not email at all. They copied my information into a spreadsheet and obviously made an extremely detrimental typo.]
“When the facts are presented nobody seems able to come up with a excuse or reason for this. Now, we are fully ready to accept that we were wrong and issue a public apology IF someone can explain to us how or why this happened. But so far, nobody has been able to do that. So, unless or until that happens, we are done with this. After everything she's already been through with this, I hate seeing my admin and friend getting upset on a daily basis because people won't let it go. And I won't put up with it anymore. We will be ignoring any further messages about it and I will not hesitate to ban people if I think it's necessary.”
So here are the facts requested…
One, I never sent an email from Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com. How could I? I don’t own that email.
Two, the original request for review was submitted via a form, NOT an email at all as “Review Site” has claimed. When I asked them to produce this email, they sent me a copy of a man made spreadsheet, which they entered the data—incorrectly added. A simple mistake which I and Reviewer1 have paid a price for.
Three, helpful outsiders provided the Review Site with the name and credentials of the owner of www.LydiaMichaels.com [Not Lydia Michaels the author], which should have been proof enough, yet the accusations did not cease and desist as they should have.
And finally, Reviewer1 has since corresponded with me, when I mentioned that the slander they are creating and false accusations they are making have continued long enough, and if the situation is not resolved I will be forced to contact my lawyer. We got to the bottom of the misunderstanding and she has publically apologized, but I believe the situation is too complicated for those passing by to understand at a glance.
Reviewer1 did, however, message me privately on Facebook once the issue was put to bed, and for that I am thankful.
about an hour ago“Reviewer1”“This has ****ing killed me. (Excuse my language) I have literally shed tears over the whole thing. I NEVER EVER EVER wanted you to be named. If you look at the page and see, I said that multiple times. I can't control “Admin2” though. And for that, I'm sorry. This is my personal apology. I have one written for the page but I wanted to talk to you as a person and not as an author”
My (Lydia Michaels, the author) final thoughts…
In the end, I have also shed many tears over this. It is quite clear that “Reviewer1” and myself are the only ones making apologies, yet we are the two victims in the matter. So, while I am a big enough person not to slander the “Review Site” I will say this.
Yes, reviewers are essential to authors, and the respectable authors out there know this and treat them with the well-earned esteem they deserve. However, in defense of authors everywhere, reviewers should perhaps be reminded that we, too, are people. Yes, you review for your “love of books” and owe us nothing. But never forget, we write for our love of the readers.
Sincerely, Lydia Michaels (THE AUTHOR)
PS:
My heart goes out to “Reviewer1”. I believe she is a kind and genuine person who has suffered along with me through this confusion. Even after all is said and done, I hope we maintain a friendship, as I love all of my readers from the bottom of my heart.
Lydia Michaels, author of contemporary romance, wrote the following statement, incorporating exact copies of all correspondence referenced.
To all of my lovely readers and the wonderful reviewers out there,
Recently, I have been the victim of undue slander by a well-known blog. I am not speaking of unfavorable reviews. On the contrary, this blog gave my work raving reviews. What I am addressing is the course of events following said reviews and a misunderstanding regarding my correct email.
For the record, my website address is www.LydiaMichaels.org and the only emails associated with my work are Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org(used preferable for reader correspondence) and Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org (used preferably for promotional purposes). I do not, nor have I ever, had any association with www.LydiaMichaels.com or any emails associated with this site (e.g.: ****Please understand that writing is my livelihood. I am of the belief that reviewers as well as readers that take the time out of their busy schedules to write reviews, are of an unmatchable value. They do a service to readers and authors that I, along with millions of other authors appreciate beyond measure. Even negative reviews are a tool to writers, an opinion I have held since the beginning of my career as an author. Yes, we authors cry real tears when our work is torn apart, but I have always advised other authors to do as I do, breathe, get over the hurt, and take the lesson for what it is worth. I learn from my reviewers. When readers comment regarding my “lengthy descriptions” or “dragging internal dialogue” (two recent issues I’ve been working on based on feedback from real reviews) I listen. I have profusely thanked certain bloggers for contacting me to go over critiques they had to share. I have never, nor would I ever, attack or treat a reader/reviewer rudely. It simply is not part of my disposition and I believe those readers/authors/reviewers out there that have taken the time to get to know me would full heartedly agree.
Now, throughout this upsetting ordeal involving said review site, myself, and the unknown operator of Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com (Not me, remember, I am only associated with Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org), a lot of innocent people have been hurt. First of the victims, and greatest of my concerns, is the reviewer, thinking that after praising my work, I could send her a rude email. The fact that she might assume such a thing has been extremely upsetting to me on more than one level. Second to be hurt by this course of events, myself, frustrated that a mistake could lead said reviewer to assume I would treat her rudely, which I did not, and then the fall out done to my reputation as an author.
The word “proof” has been thrown around a little too loose and fast in this entire situation in my opinion. Please note I am not upset with the reviewer. If anything, I am so sorry (even though I am not responsible) for the fact that she did something nice and was unnecessarily hurt. However, those associated with said review site have crossed a line and accused me of wrongly hurting this reviewer, exposing my name, and painting me in a negative light. Where was their proof?
Damage has been done. Readers have rallied and added me to their “do not buy” list, because they are offended by these unfounded accusations, which I have disputed, with opposing evidence, since the moment I understood the situation resulted from the reviewer emailing the wrong Lydia Michaels. In addition to my argument, the review site administrators received numerous messages from outside sources, some testifying that it is not in my character to treat a reader/reviewer rudely, others providing the site administrators with the public information proving I am not the owner of the “.com” site/email. Unfortunately, they exploited the situation with uninformed assumptions and created an authors worst nightmare.
I’ve thought long and hard about this situation. I am, for lack of better words, sad that it has come to this point. When I saw the raving reviews posted by the reviewer were removed, I was heartbroken, because it told me how deeply she was hurt and how much she still believed I was responsible for her pain. Let me be clear, this is not about obtaining a review. This is about clearing my name that has been wrongly dragged through the mud. Like I said above, there are two victims here, the reviewer and myself. The administrator of the review site overstepped and did something ungrounded and unwarranted in my opinion, thereby influencing others to think unkindly of me when I have been nothing but kind. The operator of the “.com” site/email was an unknowing player in the situation, but played a part none the less. For there is nothing worse a reviewer can be told than, “Please do not contact me again. I have no interest in your opinions.” That is exactly what the owner of the “.com” email responded when the reviewer accidentally emailed them instead of me. There is no denying how hurtful that must have been to read after she showered me with such praise and we shared such friendly correspondence prior to that email sent by an outside player in this mess whom I have absolutely no association with.
Writing is my livelihood. These accusations have negatively influenced the source that puts food on my table. The women that administer this review site also have to make a living, which is why I have decided not to disclose their names or the name of their site. From here on, their site shall be referred to as “Review Site” in order to maintain their privacy. The reviewer that reviewed my work will be referred to as “Reviewer1” and the other operator of Review Site shall be referred to as “Admin2”. For the sake of privacy their email/site addresses will also be blocked, but I will disclose all other emails since this is, in fact, a case of mistaken email identity.
I would also like to bring it to everyone’s attention that this dispute has been resolved between the “Review1” and myself and she has withdrawn all accusations. We are in agreement that I did not act unprofessionally or rudely at any time during this stressful situation.
For those of you that need further proof, beyond that of my genuine character which you witness bits of every day online, here you have it:
I originally contacted “Review Site” using a form on their site, asking if I could submit an ARC for my new release. The following is a screenshot of their spreadsheet used to catalogue review request, which the information appears to be added manually by a human being like any other spreadsheet.
(This screenshot was provided by “Review Site” to settle this dispute. Personal information not pertaining to this dispute has been censored to protect the privacy of uninvolved parties.)
[Note that the above email entered is correct [.org], which is the book I originally contacted Review Site about, book 3 in the series I was submitting for review]
[Note that this email was entered incorrectly [.com]. This ARC was only offered to Reviewer1 after she emailed me at Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org, which you will see below. This entry is for book 4 of the series, which Reviewer1 requested from me after reading my submission of book 1,2, and 3]
The first contact I had in response to the above-mentioned form was sent to me at Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org on February 7, 2014 from “Reviewer1”. Here is the correspondence from that day:
On Feb 07, 2014, “Reviewer1” “Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com> wrote:
Hi there!Thank you so much for contacting us to review Chaste {McCullough Mountain 3}!This book looks amazing and “Admin2” and I would love to review it. I do have a question though. I see that it's #3 in a series. Is it a standalone book or should we read the first two as well?Thank you!“Reviewer1” “Review Site”
On Friday, February 7, 2014 12:43 PM, "Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org"
publicist@lydiamichaels.org> wrote:
subject: Re: “Review Site” Review Request from: Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org <publicist@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Feb 7, 2014 01:43:05 PM to: <“Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com>
Hello “Reviewer1” and “Admin2”,
Thanks for getting back to us! Chaste is indeed the third book in the series McCullough Mountain. The McCulloughs are a wild Irish family living in a redneck town. They speak freely and curse entirely too much, but are incredibly comical. Chaste features Kelly, the rake of the family. Book one (Sacred Waters) features Colin, the oldest son off to become a priest and book two (Skin) features Finn, the ordinary son who falls in love with an extraordinary (overweight) woman from Philadelphia. If you are interested in reading the series from start to finish, we'd be happy to send you an ARC for each. Please let us know if you're interested and which formats work best for you.
Thank you!
Publicity Department
Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org
Feb 7, 2014 01:51:15 PM, “Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com wrote:
Okay - I must read the whole series! It sounds wonderful!
“Admin2” and I would need mobi formats sent to:
“Admin2” - “Admin2”@Admin2email.com
“Reviewer1” - “Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com (or just respond to this email).
Thank you SO very much. I cannot wait to read them all!
(And I will review each one of course!)
“Reviewer1”
Feb 7, 2014 01:58 PM, "Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org"publicist@lydiamichaels.org> wrote:
subjec: Re: “Review Site” Review Request from: Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org <publicist@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Feb 7, 2014 01:58:48 PM to: <“Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com>
Hi “Reviewer1”,
Here are mobi's for each. The order of the series is Sacred Waters, Skin, Chaste.
Enjoy!
Publicity Department
Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org
Feb 7, 2014 02:03 PM, “Author Lydia Michaels”Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org> wrote:
subjec: ARCs per “Reviewer1”'s request for “Admin2” from: Author Lydia Michaels <lydia@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Feb 7, 2014 02:03:28 PM to: <“Admin2”@Admin2email.com>
Hi “Admin2”,
I'm sending 3 ARCs per “Reviewer1”'s request for McCullough Mountain. The order is as follows: Sacred Waters, Skin, Chaste. Thank you and enjoy!
~Lydia Michaels
www.LydiaMichaels.org
Called to Order
Calling for a Miracle
Destiny Calls
White Chocolate
All for You
To Catch a Wolfe
Chasing Feathers
Breaking Perfect
Sacred Waters
Apr 27, 2014 12:01:30 PM, “Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com wrote:
Hi there!!
I just read Sacred Water and am almost done with Skin - OH MY WORD they are such amazing books!!! I can't thank you and Lydia enough for allowing me to read an review them!!!
I will review each individually and will send you the links as soon as my posts are live!
I have the first 3 - are there more to the series that are already released? I'd love to finish them and make one giant post on the blog featuring all of them!
“Reviewer1”
“Review Site”
http://www.facebook.com/”Review Site”reviews
April 27, 2014 11:13 AM, "Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org" publicist@lydiamichaels.org> wrote:
subject: Re: “Review Site” Review Request from: Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org <publicist@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Apr 27, 2014 12:13:40 PM to: <“Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com>
Hi “Reviewer1”!
Thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying the McCulloughs! Yes, there are 4 total, at the moment, and the 5th comes out in May. I should have an ARC for the 5th book in the next ten days. I'm sending you FAKING IT now, book 4. When you finish that, check back with me to see about the ARC for book 5 FORSAKING TRUTH, and if I have it I'll be happy to send it. (FORSAKING TRUTH, Luke's story, is my favorite!)
Happy reading!
~Lydia
Publicity Department
Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org
Apr 27, 2014 12:58:30 PM, “Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com wrote:
subject: Re: “Review Site” Review Request from: Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org <publicist@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Apr 27, 2014 04:05:27 PM to: <“Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com> Me again!!!
I'd like to share my first two reviews with you - well I'd love to really share my review for Skin as I cannot tell you how much that book meant to me.
I'm working on a blog post for all 4 of them now but here are the review links from Amazon.
Sacred Waters – (LINK REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)
Skin – (LINK REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)
Again, thank you SO much - there aren't words to tell you how much Skin meant to me
“Reviewer1”
“Review Site”
http://www.facebook.com/”Review Site”reviews
Apr 27, 2014, 04:05 PM, “Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org”Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org> wrote:
Wow, “Reviewer1”... That just brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for such a lovely review. Truly. I absolutely adore when SKIN touches home with a reader. I know it hit home with me, more than I ever expected. Currently, SKIN has made it to the final round of the RONE awards, which is a HUGE honor and I hope it wins for the simple fact that I want to get that message to as many Mallory's as possible. I'm a Mallory too :)
Have you seen the trailer for SKIN? It's full of real life Mallory's. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkQykfjYUqM
After writing SKIN so many readers expressed their Mallory-ness to me I started a private group called Loving YOU Every Day. It's full of Mallory's of all sizes who struggle with learning to love themselves in the skin their in. If you'd like to join us (we all follow different routines and regiments, but the support and inspiration is incredible) send me a PM on Facebook and I'll add you.
I want to thank you again for loving my stories and characters. If anything, I'd call McCullough Mountain the realest series I've ever written. FAKING IT and FORSAKING TRUTH are also quite realistic and touch pretty deep. I hope you enjoy them just as much.
Take care,
Lydia
Publicity Department
Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org
Meanwhile, “Reviewer1” contacted me on Facebook via private message. Here is a copy of our correspondence:
Sunday 6:19pmHi Lydia - it's “Reviewer1” from “Review Site”. I hope it's okay that I sent you a friend request. I'd love to join the group that you mentioned! Thank you so much “Reviewer1”
I also wanted to inquire about purchasing a signed copy of Skin from you. Is that something you do? This is one I HAVE to have on my bookshelfMonday 11:32amHere is my blog post for all 4 books!! You're an AMAZING writer Lydia!! (LINK REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)
It was at this point that I was at the bus stop, waiting for my daughter, using my phone to check Facebook…
Then I saw the post with a picture of the response from Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com (NOT ME!) that upset “Reviewer1”.
(Screenshot provided by “Review Site”. Personal information has been blocked.)
Here is a close up of the image “Reviewer1” posted above where you can clearly see it was from Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com (Not me).
I was sick the second I saw the screenshot of this email (That I did not send!) and thought perhaps I was hacked. As I couldn’t rush home to my computer in that second, I zoomed in on the email, not believing my eyes. Then I noticed the email was not from me, but the owner of Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com. I immediately commented on the Facebook post explaining this to “Reviewer1”, but I was upset and perhaps did not explain it properly. As you can see from the above emails, “Reviewer1” and I never corresponded through any “.com” email. We only corresponded through MY emails (.org) and Facebook. I simply don’t have a “.com”, nor do I have any ties to the owner of www.LydiaMichaels.com. The “.com” was already taken when I became an author and thus I was limited to purchasing www.LydiaMichaels.org, which I own and manage via Vista Print. The only emails associated with my website are Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org and Publicist@LydiaMichaels.org(which I use for promotional purposes only).
To prove my point further, the owner information for www.LydiaMichaels.com is public and available for you to check:Domain Name Registration at Joker.com with comprehensive Domain Control Panel and Reseller API
The information linked to LydiaMichaels.com, which you can verify at any time, I will not disclose publicly, as I do not wish to violate the owner’s personal information. However, if you need the proof, feel free to search it. It’s there for the public to see. The owner of that site/email resides in the UK and you can find everything down to the phone number if you need the proof.
(This information was provided to “Review Site” by an outside party without my knowing, because they were personally offended by Review Site's accusations on my behalf. I did not know they sent this information until after the fact, but I am grateful for their research and concern on my behalf.)
As soon as I returned home and situated my daughter, I contacted “Reviewer1”. I did this immediately because her feelings, wrongly hurt by no doing of my own, weighed on me and were a top priority. I contacted her again via Facebook:
Monday 4:15pmThank you so much for so many sweet reviews, “Reviewer1”! Wow. And I wrote back to your post regarding the not so nice email you received. Sorry that happened. It wasn't from me. LydiaMichaels dot COM is actually owned by a baby in the UK, well, her family. In 2006 she was an infant, so I guess she's not a child now. I am at LydiaMichaels dot ORG. My email is all dot org as well. I feel terrible that you got that message and thought it was from me, especially after how generous you've been with your kind opinions about my work. Trust me, lol, I care very much about my readers' opinions and would never send something like that. I hope you didn't get too upset thinking that was from me. Have a better day. ~Lydia
“Reviewer1”I was and still am very confused. While you and I were communicating through the other email address, I went back and looked and the Faking It review request came from the .com address...it is still on our spreadsheetIt makes no sense that you'd send that, I know, so I just had/have no idea what to think
Lydia MichaelsThat's so odd. I'm confused too. I assure you my email and website is all through "org" I just emailed the Lydia that owns the .com and asked her to please (in the future) simply say she is not the author so emailers that mistakenly contact her are aware. I don't know if this person will care, but I explained how upsetting it is for my reviewers to be told I don't care about their opinions. I just feel terrible about this confusion. I'm going to call my email/web provider now and see if there is any way my email correspondence could show as .com
On April 29, 2014 I sent the following email to Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com because I was still very upset that this happened to an innocent person who goes out of their way to share opinions and help authors like myself. I was extremely bothered by the tone of the response she received from Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com and worried other readers might mistakenly contact this person as well.
Apr 28, 2014, 04:21 PM, “Author Lydia Michaels”Lydia@LydiaMichaels.org> wrote:
subject: Email mishap... from: Author Lydia Michaels <lydia@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Apr 28, 2014 04:21:49 PM to: <lydia@lydiamichaels.com>
Dear Lydia,
My name is also Lydia Michaels and I am an author. Today, a reader notified me about an email she thought I sent, but she mistakenly emailed it to your address. I'm sorry for this confusion. This reader is actually a reviewer that had nothing but lovely things to say about my work and it was quite upsetting for her to get an email stating I did not care about her opinions. This is of course no one's fault, but I was wondering if in the future you might just reply to any email mistakenly addressed to you that you are not Lydia Michaels the author. My email is Lydia@LydiaMichaels.ORG. I know this is a lot to ask, but I assume you may actually get quite a bit of mistaken mail meant for me.
I hope you understand. I'm sorry for all the confusion and any trouble this has caused you.
Sincerely,
Lydia Michaels
Romance Author
www.LydiaMichaels.org
Please confirm receipt of any attachments. Thank you!
I wanted to let “Reviewer1” know that I took the initiative to clear up this misunderstanding, but she had removed our friendship from Facebook. I was even more upset to see that she removed herself from the group I invited her to join, where she would have seen evidence of the person I am and assumedly realized I would never write or speak rudely to one of my readers. I love my readers and it hurts me to think one could assume I’d treat them rudely, especially in such an undeserved way.
When my husband came home I was very upset. I decided to reach out to “Reviewer1” one last time and show her that I contacted this other email holder.
subject: Fwd: Email mishap... from: Author Lydia Michaels <lydia@lydiamichaels.org>
sent: Apr 29, 2014 08:17:11 PM to: <“Reviewer1”@Reviewer1email.com>
Dear “Reviewer1”,
I wanted to let you know that I contacted the other Lydia Michaels (the one that owns the dot com address) and explained the situation to her. I also spoke to my email/web site provider to see if there is any way our addresses could have been crossed and they assure me that is impossible. I don't know what correspondence you have from the dot com Lydia because it doesn't include me. The only correspondence I have with you is throughpublicist@LydiaMichaels.org
I tried to contact you via Facebook to give you this information, but I couldn't reach you. I understand that you're upset. All I can do is give you my word that the Lydia that contacted you through the dot com address was not me. I'm only through dot org. If you go to www.LydiaMichaels.com you will see the site is in no way associated with me. I find it devastating that this other Lydia was rude to you and possibly others that mistakenly contacted her.
I won't contact you again, but I just wanted one last time to express how sorry I am that this happened. You did something so nice and I truly appreciated every word you wrote regarding my work. Your review of SKIN made me cry. Below you will find a forward of the email I sent the dot com Lydia. She did not respond to me.
Sincerely,
Lydia Michaels
Romance Author
www.LydiaMichaels.org
Please confirm receipt of any attachments. Thank you!
------------Forwarded message------------
From: Date: Apr 28, 2014 04:21:49 PM
Subject: Email mishap...
To:
Dear Lydia,
My name is also Lydia Michaels and I am an author. Today, a reader notified me about an email she thought I sent, but she mistakenly emailed it to your address. I'm sorry for this confusion. This reader is actually a reviewer that had nothing but lovely things to say about my work and it was quite upsetting for her to get an email stating I did not care about her opinions. This is of course no one's fault, but I was wondering if in the future you might just reply to any email mistakenly addressed to you that you are not Lydia Michaels the author. My email is Lydia@LydiaMichaels.ORG. I know this is a lot to ask, but I assume you may actually get quite a bit of mistaken mail meant for me.
I hope you understand. I'm sorry for all the confusion and any trouble this has caused you.
Sincerely,
Lydia Michaels
Romance Author
www.LydiaMichaels.org
Please confirm receipt of any attachments. Thank you!
However… it was in this time that “Admin2” took it upon herself to accuse me publicly.
Their public post, which later divulged my name gained over 50 comments, most of which had readers outraged and rallying not to support me as an author. The post was written as follows:
“REVIEW SITE”/ “Admin2” April 28 “FYI, the way an author acts matters. If you're rude or condescending I will not be promoting you or your books on my page or blog. I will ask that “Reviewer1” not do it either.
Sometimes I feel like people think this, promoting, reviewing, sharing, etc is something we HAVE to do. It's not. We do it because we love it. We love books and authors and reading. But we aren't…for lack of a better term authors' "bitches". We deserve respect for all the things we do. And if we don't get it, we certainly won't give it.”
Later, this post followed from “Reviewer1”:
“REVIEW SITE”/”Reviewer1” April 28 In regards to the rude author thing...
I'd like to thank everyone for their support and loving comments. While I'm not over what happened, I'm still very confused by it all, I've chosen to stop thinking about it.
So - to all the fans and authors who have commented - love you all
~ “Reviewer1”
p.s. I'm still not comfy disclosing the name of the author - I just have a bad feeling about it (I'm unsure why). “Admin2” is the opposite and feels that you all should know - so she has named the author in a previous post.
And then this was posted by “Admin2”
“REVIEW SITE”/”Admin2” 6 hours ago This is the last time we will be addressing this issue.
In regard to the rude author issue: This whole thing has been EXTREMELY difficult and upsetting for “Reviewer1”. But we're trying to get past it. Some people, though, are making that impossible. I understand the fans of this author wanting to come to their defense, I really do. But I would hope that you all know that we wouldn't accuse someone of something, especially an author, if we didn't have good reason to do so. And it's gotten ridiculous and a bit tedious for me to keep having to explain the facts to people and ultimately have them backtrack or avoid the issue.
Here are the facts. After posting (5 star) reviews for their books, “REVIEWER1” received a rude e-mail from this particular author.”[THIS IS FALSE, Reviewer1 received a rude email from the owner of the .com email address] “Said author and their fans claim it couldn't be them because the author has a different e-mail address. We might have accepted this and let the issue drop if we hadn't received review requests for this author's books from BOTH the author's "real" e-mail address and the e-mail address Reviewer1 received the rude e-mail from.”[Also NOT TRUE. I originally submitted a review request via a form on the review site, not email at all. They copied my information into a spreadsheet and obviously made an extremely detrimental typo.]
“When the facts are presented nobody seems able to come up with a excuse or reason for this. Now, we are fully ready to accept that we were wrong and issue a public apology IF someone can explain to us how or why this happened. But so far, nobody has been able to do that. So, unless or until that happens, we are done with this. After everything she's already been through with this, I hate seeing my admin and friend getting upset on a daily basis because people won't let it go. And I won't put up with it anymore. We will be ignoring any further messages about it and I will not hesitate to ban people if I think it's necessary.”
So here are the facts requested…
One, I never sent an email from Lydia@LydiaMichaels.com. How could I? I don’t own that email.
Two, the original request for review was submitted via a form, NOT an email at all as “Review Site” has claimed. When I asked them to produce this email, they sent me a copy of a man made spreadsheet, which they entered the data—incorrectly added. A simple mistake which I and Reviewer1 have paid a price for.
Three, helpful outsiders provided the Review Site with the name and credentials of the owner of www.LydiaMichaels.com [Not Lydia Michaels the author], which should have been proof enough, yet the accusations did not cease and desist as they should have.
And finally, Reviewer1 has since corresponded with me, when I mentioned that the slander they are creating and false accusations they are making have continued long enough, and if the situation is not resolved I will be forced to contact my lawyer. We got to the bottom of the misunderstanding and she has publically apologized, but I believe the situation is too complicated for those passing by to understand at a glance.
Reviewer1 did, however, message me privately on Facebook once the issue was put to bed, and for that I am thankful.
about an hour ago“Reviewer1”“This has ****ing killed me. (Excuse my language) I have literally shed tears over the whole thing. I NEVER EVER EVER wanted you to be named. If you look at the page and see, I said that multiple times. I can't control “Admin2” though. And for that, I'm sorry. This is my personal apology. I have one written for the page but I wanted to talk to you as a person and not as an author”
My (Lydia Michaels, the author) final thoughts…
In the end, I have also shed many tears over this. It is quite clear that “Reviewer1” and myself are the only ones making apologies, yet we are the two victims in the matter. So, while I am a big enough person not to slander the “Review Site” I will say this.
Yes, reviewers are essential to authors, and the respectable authors out there know this and treat them with the well-earned esteem they deserve. However, in defense of authors everywhere, reviewers should perhaps be reminded that we, too, are people. Yes, you review for your “love of books” and owe us nothing. But never forget, we write for our love of the readers.
Sincerely, Lydia Michaels (THE AUTHOR)
PS:
My heart goes out to “Reviewer1”. I believe she is a kind and genuine person who has suffered along with me through this confusion. Even after all is said and done, I hope we maintain a friendship, as I love all of my readers from the bottom of my heart.
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Sarah :)
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May 04, 2014 09:38PM
What a nightmare for you!!
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