The Soapbox: On Authors, and Entitlement, and Magical Unicorns

This is gonna be pretty short because I think I've made it pretty clear that when people start these pointless and silly Authors versus Teh Evol Reviewer type battles, I'm going to side with Teh Evol Reviewers. Every time.

90% of authors are pretty cool people. But 10% of them subscribe to a really shitty attitude. Like, "Oh, I wrote this awesome book and these people are too stupid and jealous to get my genius!"

WRONG.

Reviewers can say whatever the hell they want about your books and that's their right because -- guess what -- THEIR REVIEW IS THEIR REVIEW. And once you release your book into the wild, it stops being your precious little baby.

And hey, maybe once in a while, a reviewer gets something wrong. They have a typo or they don't read until the end of the book or they say something that is completely irrelevant. Does that give you the write [sic] to correct them?

NO IT DOESN'T!

Does that give you the right to call them names?

NOPE!

Does that make them an inferior human being in any way?

WRONG AGAIN!

Authors need to be really fucking careful about what they say because they have a lot of people watching them. That's the price of fame. It makes things unequal. However much you FEEL like you're the victim, what you LOOK like is the bully beating up smaller kids on the playground to compensate for...whatever it is you're trying to compensate for.

You're more than a person, you're a brand. And if you are a brand that is unsatisfying (or outright hostile), you're going to find yourself a very unsuccessful brand.

Because -- and here's the thing -- however great you think you are, you're only as great as the people who buy your books and blog about you and support you MAKE you. Authors cannot be authors if they don't have readers. And if you treat your readers like shit, they will ditch your sorry, ungrateful ass.

It's important to remember that most bloggers don't get paid for what they do. They are doing this because they have a passion for it, and that's pretty fucking incredible, don't you think? I think so. You don't have to treasure every review that comes your way (although I do, and a lot of the authors I consider friends do), but you DO have to be respectful. And you can start by following your own advice -- if you can't say anything nice, just don't say anything at all. Thank your five-star reviewers, maybe, instead of taking them for granted as the status quo.

/soap box



/unicorn