Katerina's Reviews > A Price for love

They do?
How interesting...

Katerina, I just wanted to make you aware that this author is linking to your review on her GRs blog and calling you nasty names. I've already reported her and the blog, but you may want to do so, as well, since it's your review she's linking to.

Judith-Victoria wrote: "No nasty names mentioned. Only a link for readers to know the current psychological study on those who troll. To be called a troll would be bad enough, but to have a psychological review of those who do it called serious names is for the protection of the public. If you don't want to be put in that category, then don't troll. It's really not as much fun for the rest of us as it is for those who do it. If GR curtails my activity and not yours, then it will prove some of my opinions of those managing the site. Some were the very culprits in the past, but still linger. This was only a matter of time in coming. ..."

The tags on your blog are 'psychopath' and 'troll'. You also name her two friends who commented on her updates. You accused her of not even reading your book, being mean, and personally attacking you.

As for me, I haven't rated or read your book. Only reported your behavior, which is against the rules of this site. You may want to take a look at the author guidelines before continuing to do these things.

Sorry, but reading a book and not liking it is not trolling.

Posting blogs linking to random reviewers, commenting on negative reviews calling people trolls, and making baseless accusations on unrelated threads is a lot closer to trolling than anything this reviewers done.

You may want to look at that article again and see how it applies to you.

Have a good day, Judith.

eta: Judith's comment in its entirety.

Judith-Victoria wrote: "PROOF TROLLLS STILL EXIST ON GOODREADS!"

This review is ABOUT the book!?? So why is she called a troll and pyschopath? I'm just amazed.

Judith-Victoria wrote: "An honest review, even a bad one that tells why it was not liked and gives some suggestions would be welcome. Thank you for the warning. You are such a sweet person for caring so much about authors who point out personal attacks masked as a review. It makes it a dishonest review and shows the reviewer for what she is. I don't have to call anyone a name. The tags are in reference to the article. Since I am in the psychological field I am only one who has suggested that internet trolling be added to the DSM as a personality disorder. I think the article suggests that further research will prove that it is. I'm only warning the public and anyone who thinks personal attacks on others, in the guise of a work (be it book or other types) are fun. Best of luck to you. ..."

It's not dishonest. It just hurt your poor little feelings. There's a difference. She does say why she didn't like it. She doesn't owe you a book report to help you learn. She's not your beta reader or your editor.

Sorry, Ms. Douglas, but if your book is even half as badly written as your posts, she was being kind.

Eta: it's not a personal attack and no matter how many times you say it, that's not going to change the facts.

Your blog post IS a personal attack. I assume your warning people using your own actions as an example of what not to do then?

I don't know how much of your profile is visible but she should see that your ratings and reviews are all over the place--high and low and in the middle because you are honest! And as for not possibly being able to read that much--quite a few of your books are NOVELLAS and it is possible to read more than one 70 page novella a day. I'm so mad on your behalf, Kat. Being called a troll is a serious accusation.

Shannon, I just mentioned on the other thread Ms. Douglas trolled this morning complaining about this review, that I have read twice as many books as Katerina. And half the books I've read in the just last ten years are not even listed here.

She's grasping at straws to support her conspiracy theories b/c she can't handle the fact that someone thought her book was awful. And is likely right on the money with that assessment, judging by the sample.

Im not sure if it's you, but she also mentions a Shannon in her blog post. You may want to take a look if you haven't already and flag it.

Oh, and Ms. Douglas seems to have opened herself some sock puppet accts to add her book. That's against the rules, also, and has been reported along with the rest of your trolling.

I saw it, and it is me. I've never flagged before and am hesitant to, but the more I think about it, the more I'm outraged for Kat (yeah, I know she called me one, too, but this is about Katerina's review). I'm going to do it and I appreciate that there are other readers out there who are taking exception and action.

Judith-Victoria wrote: "I didn't open them, it must have been you. And thanks for all the attention you are giving the book. Money couldn't buy this. Didn't you know negative sells?"

If you have to name-call and make accusations against people to sell your book then you are a sad, pitiful creature.

Judith-Victoria wrote: "I didn't open them, it must have been you. And thanks for all the attention you are giving the book. Money couldn't buy this. Didn't you know negative sells?"

Holy crap. Woman you are fifty kinds of cray cray. Accusing Tina of your sock puppets? I have now saw everything. Good grief.

Judith-Victoria wrote: "I didn't open them, it must have been you. And thanks for all the attention you are giving the book. Money couldn't buy this. Didn't you know negative sells?"

Yes, I opened sock accts months ago or longer in preparation for this.

Trust me, this is not the kind of attention you want and if you think making a fool of yourself helps you sell books? You are even further gone than I originally thought.

Hope your master marketing plan works out well for you.

Shannon wrote: "I saw it, and it is me. I've never flagged before and am hesitant to, but the more I think about it, the more I'm outraged for Kat (yeah, I know she called me one, too, but this is about Katerina's..."

No problem, Shannon. Neither one of you deserve to be attacked this way. ESP, not b/c an author got her feelings hurt or thinks negative attention will help her sell books. Nobody should have to put up with that.

Gavin wrote: "You would think the reading progress Katerina made with the book was proof enough that she actually read it (and struggled). Authors who are too touchy about negative reviews (especially ones who h..."

Oh, Lord. Is she pumping the crazy on fb now, too?

Judith-Victoria wrote: "No nasty names mentioned. Only a link for readers to know the current psychological study on those who troll. To be called a troll would be bad enough, but to have a psychological review of those..."

I took a look at your overall sales stats on Amazon--looks like your psychoanalytic skills are on a par with your ability to write & sell books.

Sorry for the negative attention Katerina.

I read this comment on the author's blog post: "And look at her page. Who actually reads that many books?" and clicked on Katerina's profile in curiosity expecting to see that she's rated 9000 books or something. I was very surprised to see that the number of books read is 367.

I'm sorry but the idea of an author thinking that is an outrageous number of books for someone to have read is both scary and hilarious. The idea of authors thinking they can churn out "books" when they're not even avid readers themselves is depressing.

This HAS to be a plea for attention. I mean, if you look at your GR page and see there are only 21 ratings of your books maybe you think ANYTHING would be better than being completely invisible. Even bad publicity means some people have at least heard of you, right? Honestly it's almost enough to get people to feel sad for you.

I have also flagged her blog post and will be adding her to my speshul snowflake shelf.

To dear author, this is not the kind of negative publicity that gets you more readers, this is the kind that gets you droves of one star and no star ratings and a number of new reviews pointing out in great detail all your mistakes (remember, you asked for it). Good luck in your campaign to change any of our minds about you and your writing.

Thanks to all of you for your kind support, my fellow readers!
I am overwhelmed....Wow!

I don´t plan to flag or even report the author to GR, because I think this is a tempest in a teapot...
Some people need to grow a thicker skin instead.
My review is my personal opinion; authors can call me names if they feel the need to; they can be upset for as long as they like, it won´t change anything!

Sorry you had to deal with that, Katerina.

Good news is, looks like her blog post is gone. :)


ETA: sigh. Blog post is back up, without Katerina's review link, which has been replaced with a little more of the cray-cray, and the requisite STGRB link...

There is nothing to be sorry for, Miss M!

I always thought this would only happen to readers of YA and NA books...the authors of this genre seemed to be more of the sensitive plants when they read their one star ratings...
I was wrong! Obviously...

Miss M, it looks like they deleted it and she reposted another version. In this one she's advising authors (authors who don't like negative comments :snort) to keep everything and flag any derogatory posts for the GRS LIBRARIANS!

Yes, the librarians. It's disturbing to me how many authors run around this site causing drama and complaining about the way others use it, but have no idea what a GRs librarian actually does or bother to read any of the guidelines. The entitlement is amazing.

Here are a few snippets from her new blog post...

(view spoiler)[ "If you are being abused be sure to be non-responsive, flag all negative, derogatory and defaming statement for the GR librarians, and keep a separate copy cut-and-pasted in a file on your computer for reference if ever needed.

If it spreads to Amazon, the owner of this GR site, be sure to include copy and pasted statements to prove your complaints.

Don't get upset or be afraid. Don't give up writing. Don't take the lies personally.

Remember, these are sick individuals who need help. Their joy at harming and/or defaming others is an illness. Anyone who finds an author's statement funny or laughable is very sick. Authors pour their life blood into their books. For someone to attempt to damage that in any way is a serious symptom and should be regarded as such. Mean people do exist, sometimes disguised as kind, well-meaning individuals.

There are a lot of good people on Goodreads and it is a difficult job for the librarians to monitor everyone to find out who is and who is not causing problems. It has to be reported. Only if it proves ineffective is it time to move on to another site and talk to someone else about it." (hide spoiler)]

Katerina, it seems that no genre is safe anymore. They're branching out. ;)

As a side note: just in case you weren't aware, other users/authors aren't notified if you flag or report something to customer service. Ever. I told her b/c she annoyed me and I thought warning her might make her think twice about what she was doing. Otherwise, she wouldn't have.

Nobody is obligated to report or flag anything, obviously, but if you choose to, it's between you and GRs staff. You also don't get in trouble for flagging or reporting something you honestly believe to be inappropriate or against TOS.

Sorry again that you had to deal with this nonsense. :(

TinaNicole ☠ Le Book Nikita ☠ wrote: "Miss M, it looks like they deleted it and she reposted another version. In this one she's advising authors (authors who don't like negative comments :snort) to keep everything and flag any derogato..."

TinaNicole,
Yeah, I noticed the update right after I reposted...
Seems to me, 'Goodreads Authors' who abuse their status should have their blogging privileges revoked for at least a year when they harass reviewers. Eh...just a silly reader, though.

Miss M wrote: "TinaNicole ☠ Le Book Nikita ☠ wrote: "Miss M, it looks like they deleted it and she reposted another version. In this one she's advising authors (authors who don't like negative comments :snort) to..."

Well, with any luck she'll either knock it off or keep breaking the rules and GRs will ban her.

Maybe this is my 'illness' shining through, but it makes me giggle to think of her sending stuff and complaining to random librarians. lol

Thanks for the info, TinaNicole!

And there is really no need to apologize for someone else´s behavior!

Everything except this line of dialogue has been deleted. I promise never to say a word to anyone in the future on any site, especially this one. You attackers are merciless, but it was deserved to an extent.
Katerina was right about the off-scene family being named Brady. It was such a minor part of the story, written so many years ago, and any name could have applied, that I didn't remember it. I do apologize to her for that. I had already marked the review as liked so I can't do it again.
I still feel personally attacked, but none of you are friends so it shouldn't matter and it never will again. Goodreads is not my favorite site. It proves my opinion of the negative aspect so many on this site possess. That's very sad. But it's a sad and messed up world, except where I live, in my stories.

Judith-Victoria wrote: "Everything except this line of dialogue has been deleted. I promise never to say a word to anyone in the future on any site, especially this one. You attackers are merciless, but it was deserved ..."

You posted in several places about this review and this reviewer, calling her and others mentally ill, among other things, and you're mad that people heard you? Uh, okay.

I'm glad you apologized to Katerina, she deserves it. But I'm truly amazed that you'd have the gall to try and put blame for your behavior on anyone but yourself.

Judith-Victoria wrote: "Everything except this line of dialogue has been deleted. I promise never to say a word to anyone in the future on any site, especially this one. You attackers are merciless, but it was deserved ..."

Before this morning, relatively few people on Goodreads knew you from Adam--certainly nobody came looking for you. Within a few short hours you trolled a member's review page, wrote a GR Authors blog claiming she and other reviewers have mental issues, and, in one of the most populous author-reader groups, you posted, again, attacking a specific reviewer and threatening to report reviewers to a notorious doxxing website.

Just exactly WHO was under attack?!

Still, I guess your apology is better than the old PMS excuse...

Judith-Victoria wrote: "Everything except this line of dialogue has been deleted. I promise never to say a word to anyone in the future on any site, especially this one. You attackers are merciless, but it was deserved to an extent.

Katerina was right about the off-scene family being named Brady. It was such a minor part of the story, written so many years ago, and any name could have applied, that I didn't remember it. I do apologize to her for that. I had already marked the review as liked so I can't do it again.
I still feel personally attacked, but none of you are friends so it shouldn't matter and it never will again. Goodreads is not my favorite site. I do resent the snooping on my other sites and bringing them into it. It proves my opinion of the negative aspect so many on this site possess. That's very sad. But it's a sad and messed up world, except where I live, in my stories."


RE: bolded text... Pot, once again meet kettle. And this from the person who admitted on open thread to following (dare I say 'stalking'???) more than one reader.

FML... yeah, some things really are sad & messed up. Including your weasel (non-)apology.

ThreeRs (Got Logic?) wrote: "...If negative sells, why are you so upset about this review?

Sense? This "author" does not make. ..."

Tru dat. But sadly, not so surprising in such incidents...

Only what I expected. Nothing will be good enough.

Judith-Victoria wrote: "Only what I expected. Nothing will be good enough."

Oh, the woe is me... *shocked*

Judith, of course it's what you expected! You made a complete arse out of yourself. Threw around incredibly ridiculous AND insulting things whilst having your tantrum. THEN you apparently don't have the balls and/or maturity to come up w/ a simple, sincere apology.

Frankly, I'm not surprised by this. At all.


(Heh. I mentioned somewhere that I'm cranky today, right? Not even worth shelving her books.)

You've enjoyed every minute of this. Be honest. Communications ended. Now, talk behind my back.

This is where she gets to play the victim and when she goes to that site she'll only show her half-assed apology and everyone being big meanies for not falling all over themselves to accept it. Conveniently excluding everything she's done to get to this point.

I want to thank all my supporters, every single one of you!
THANK YOU!

I still think that goodreads is a wonderful place for readers and authors to coexist!
And I am sorry to see that some authors only enjoy the reader´s company when they hand out the five star ratings...

Way to go with the passive-aggressive behaviour, self-victimisation, so-called apologies that look more like underlying insults, tantrums, and "la la la I'm not listening to you anymore" reactions.

Yes. Very professional. Not trollish at all. Only readers can be called trolls, after all.

*rolls eyes*

Katerina wrote: "I want to thank all my supporters, every single one of you!
THANK YOU!

I still think that goodreads is a wonderful place for readers and authors to coexist!
And I am sorry to see that some authors..."


Well said, Katerina. This is a great site with so many awesome people, readers and authors alike, it's a shame some people let their own insecurities get the better of them.

I'm sure that it's hard to maintain professionalism when the work is so personal, and I get that negativity FEELS personal in these cases. I know that trolling and sock-puppets are a problem for some and should be taken seriously. BUT, in this case I hope the author learned a lesson about thinking before she reacts. Calling the reviewers integrity into question when she so obviously is legit was the absolute wrong thing to do. I think lessons can be learned all around from this.

Very unprofessional review. Ignore.

Whose review? Katerina's? In which case I'd like to point out GR is a site for readers to catalogue their books. Sure, some of them also post reviews on their blogs, and have a larger presence on the web than others. However, no author should expect they write reviews on a professional level. This is not a reader's job; it's not even a job at all.

Gary wrote: "Very unprofessional review. Ignore."

I am sorry it doesn´t meet your standards, Gary!
But I haven´t figured out how to post animated gifs yet.

Katerina wrote: "Gary wrote: "Very unprofessional review. Ignore."

I am sorry it doesn´t meet your standards, Gary!
But I haven´t figured out how to post animated gifs yet."

Haha! Brilliant, Katerina!

Gary, I'm sorry to say you may have a hard time finding any reviews on this site that are professional.

Seeing as how they're not allowed and will be removed and all that.

Good luck is your search, though. Do let me know if you find any. :)

Gary wrote: "Very unprofessional review. Ignore."

I wouldn't take anything 'Gary' says too seriously. The only contribution he's made to this site in a year is to like several positive reviews of this book. Today. So, he probably just doesn't understand how it works here. O.o