THE Group for Authors! discussion
Writer's Circle
>
Why does it seem like authors hate each other so much?
message 151:
by
Simangele
(new)
Mar 18, 2013 10:21AM
I am sorry you feel that way. I have not yet observed it. Personally I do not hate any author, my problem is that I have two jobs, I usually do not have enough time in a day to interact with pother authors as I also have kids and other things to do. but I am trying to support other authors where ever I can. www.simangelek.com
reply
|
flag
Thankfully, I've only run into a couple of authors that were hateful people. The majority I've met are so nice, all of us trying to help each other.As for trashing on someone, it's just so unprofessional, and I believe it comes back to bite them.
After coming across this thread, I went and read the reviews on Amazon for one of my books, SUSPICION, and here's what I found: The good reviews all sounded real. The few bad reviews were obviously fake, since it's inconceivable that the reviewers actually disliked the book.Kidding! Anything's conceivable. Look how many people support Rand Paul or Paul Rand or whatever his name is. I don't usually read Amazon reviews, so it was instructive. I did feel the urge to reach out and argue with the bad reviewers, especially one who said that SUSPICION kept her up reading all night, then gave it one star. But it's an urge easily suppressed, unlike the one for chocolate.
As for the main topic, I've been a writer and worked with other writers my whole career (I used to be a literary agent) and on the whole I find them amazingly supportive of each other's work--but jealous, too. Even great writers can envy attention paid to others.
Kevin wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I look at it this way: People don't hate me; they hate my writing. But as my book doesn't have feelings and won't respond to their insults, they try to make me the bad guy. Actual..."
I am glad you shared these comments. My novel is new so that I don't have the privilege yet of receiving too many of these types of reviews. However some of the comments in the reviews that I do have could be a cut-and-paste from the reviews you shared.
You put anything out in the public space, someone will put it down. Since I am new to the author world, I don't have much experience with this topic in context with the author world. However, I have had a public face in other activities and worked with well known people and there are those who put things down and create their own fiction about the target of their attack.
What I do is focus on the positive feedback that I receive. The good comments and thanks that I receive go along way. Specific comments, particularly if they are private on how I can improve, are good as well.
Kevin wrote: "I got contacted recently by an Audio Book publisher who told me they were interested in rights for my audio book. I told them I had the rights, and they said they'd get back to me....."K.A. wrote: Kevin - that's very weird. I would love to know what their agenda was - what were they hoping to gain? Obviously they must have been trying to get something. Are they on Predators & Editors? Or can you find them on the Internet & find comments about their services? I'm certainly curious and would like to avoid being scammed, myself...
I'm still wondering too who the Audio Book Publisher was. Can you say, Kevin?
Hi, Barbara! I found SUSPICION shelved on the "meow" shelf. I'm working on the theory that this has something to do with cats. Do you mention cats in the book, or am I being unintentionally dense this week?
Jon - I've moved the story over to my creative writing section. The title, for a lack of something better is "Dysfunctional". It was getting to disjointed in my blog , however we can input our ideas on the blog and I'll transfer them. If you run into Omar or Hannah or any of the other cast members let them know. And you are not dense in the classic sense of the word - but lead does come to mind.
Jon wrote: "Hi, Barbara! I found SUSPICION shelved on the "meow" shelf. I'm working on the theory that this has something to do with cats. Do you mention cats in the book, or am I being unintentionally dens..."Hey Jon. No, nothing at all to do with cats. There is a writer, a chaos physicist, a soccer coach, one dog, and the ghost of a school teacher, but none of them meow.
Barbara wrote: "No, nothing at all to do with cats..."Darn. It seemed such a plausible theory, too. I guess "meow" is one of those uber-intellectual backhanded slaps that I just can't figure out.
Jon
"meow" is a secret code developed by free masons to communicate with one-another while they worked - which makes me wonder why they are referred to as "free" when they charge so much.The meaning can be found in the fine print on the back of a bag of "Meow Mix". The secret to the meaning of the shelf is hidden in the ingredients.
Kevin wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I look at it this way: People don't hate me; they hate my writing. But as my book doesn't have feelings and won't respond to their insults, they try to make me the bad guy. Actual..."
I actually felt sick when reading your review Kevin. It isn't a review of a novel. It is a personal attack on your ability as a writer. (As you stated) I received a bad review for one of my novels where the reader didn't read the novel. She mentioned things like who has a name like that these days, and the name of the town was never mentioned. The town was mentioned. The names were based on my current nieces names. Hyphenated names. Trivial points. Anyhow, the review has disappeared.
It was here on Good reads. Where I thought you review books you find to be a good read, not a bad read. I believe if you haven't got something good/nice to say don't say it at all.
Also in general, I have found most writers to be wonderful and supportive.
I vote for bad and good reviews. I do them both.
Suzanne,How dare you! That's my cousin's name!
Seriously - ad hominem attacks mark the reviewer as a hack whose opinion may have been swayed by a week-long bout of dysmenorrhea or persistent nightmares about giant babies. These brave few spend their creative talents earning karmic points toward reincarnation. I pray they come back as wealthy philanthropists, and soon.
As for reviews from family and friends, I recommend you familiarize yourself with Dan Greenburg's "How to be a Jewish Mother". Then read what your family has to say.
Hannah wrote: "I vote for bad and good reviews. I do them both."Sorry that I can't agree with you; maybe?
All reviews should be good reviews. Let's put a little definition here. A good review helps someone decide if they should read a book. It should not be a slam job on someone's work. Also, a review should take into account the target audience.
A book intended for a wide age range may use simple language and characters. It would be unfair to say this in the context of slamming the work as too simple. The work may be simple by design.
Of course, there are people who try to get things published where the work is clearly not ready for publication. For a work like this, I would either not provide a review or write something to the effect that the it is an interesting first draft and you would like to see the work further developed.
At least those are my humble thoughts.
Well, a review is an opinion. I'm going to write a contructive one whether its good or bad. My voice needs to be heard.
Personally I find it much more helpful not to read my reviews, good or bad. I get too influenced either way. It's what Hannah says: one person's opinion, and people have exactly opposite opinions on the exact same things, which makes it very difficult to know how to react as a writer. I listen to my critique group, because I know where they're coming from and I trust their opinion of the book--and I have a chance to fix it BEFORE I put it out there! Then I cross my fingers and go for it and TRY TRY TRY not to read the reviews. My 2 cents.
Rosalind wrote: "Personally I find it much more helpful not to read my reviews, good or bad. I get too influenced either way. It's what Hannah says: one person's opinion, and people have exactly opposite opinions o..."Can you really ignore your reviews Rosalind? I'm utterly impressed with your self-control if that's the case. I could no more ignore a review than I could say no if someone offered me ice cream...it's just not going to happen. :-)
Me, too, alas—although I always intend to....
I am TRYING! Does that count? That is the goal. Also trying on the ice cream, LOL.
Richard wrote: "Rosalind wrote: "Personally I find it much more helpful not to read my reviews, good or bad. I get too influenced either way. It's what Hannah says: one person's opinion, and people have exactly op..."Me too, though in my case the analogy would be to chocolate. I have writer friends who claim they don't read reviews, but I classify that claim in the category of women who never age past 39. I'm actually waiting for early trade reviews soon on my upcoming book, A DANGEROUS FICTION, and just the anticipation has me chewing my nails.
On the whole the writers I've met have been reasonable, likeable types. That's not to say the nasty ones don't exist. Generally their nastiness is in inverse proportion to their talent- they're so committed to this pose of "being" a writer that they don't actually do any writing. It only takes a bunch of these unpleasant individuals to gang up to make a thoroughly toxic atmosphere.If somebody like that takes potshots at you, ignore them. A writer is somebody who writes, period. You're one whether you write haikus or some fifty thousand page epic. They must have very little going on in their lives to get their kicks by mauling other writers.
Most writers I have met on this site have been fairly decent people. The few authors I don't like are the ones who attack their readers, use sock puppets to swing their ratings and/or harass other reviewers, or authors who spam people with book recs/messages/friend requests. Hate is a strong word, though. I consider them a minor annoyance; one easily capable of being remedied through a few minor changes in habit and behavior.
I don't hate any authors, I respect the work they produce regardless of if it is of my own taste, we all have a story tell, some tell them better than others. promotion of a unknown book is so difficult I see no real problem with recommendations, etc. I am new to all this and haven't had one review yet, but people here in general seem lovely,opinions may not match but it doesn't cause friction at all.
I HAVE noticed that occasionally an author's works will be on someone's shelf that says something like -- never buy, author horrible person -- that sort of thing. I always wonder what that's about
Gosh Kevin, there really should be a way to protect authors. I hope someone knows how to help you.
Kevin wrote: "Have any of you ever had to deal with stalkers? And if so, how does one deal with these people? "sadly, the best way is to ignore them. if you give them attention, its the energy they feed off of.
why don't you flag whatever it is you're talking about and get a mod involved? I admit I don't know the situation, but if you're this upset, maybe there's a problem they'd like to deal with?
Google picks up every post made on Goodreads. It's not hard to follow by name if one is so inclined. Just FYI.
Kevin wrote: "I've been reading all your responses (and I thank you guys very much for them!) The one thing I don't do--ever--is blame other authors for my own failures. I blame myself that I'm not where I wan..."
sounds like you are being way too hard on yourself - relax and write and forget all the other bollocks
I have been totally impressed by how open and helpful other authors have been with me when meeting up at workshops, clubs, and book conferences. I've been to the San Francisco Writers Conference, a Ventura, CA workshop, and Bouchercon in Long Beach. At all three other authors were helpful and friendly. We're also members of Mystery Writers and Sisters in Crime and are blown away by the neat programs, the friendly atmosphere, and the open sharing of data.
So far its all good for me.I have lots of author friends. I just be nice to them and in turn they would be nice to me :)
I have to admit, on other sites on the net I've experienced a lot of attitude, as well. To the point I simply started limiting my interaction on forums. I'd just spend time reading what many authors had to say without actually participating in the discussions. I was told my lack of experience—I've only published one novel—invalidated my comments.This was never experienced here on Goodreads, but my experiences elsewhere made me skittish to participate pretty much anywhere.
I just recently published my first novel on November 1, and I want to thank those of you who share your experiences in publishing. Your advice continues to be incredibly beneficial to me, and the others out there who may be silent for any number of reasons.
Once the holidays have passed, I'm going to put together a post with the things I've learned publishing my first novel, in the hopes it helps someone else out there to not make some of the same mistakes I've made. And benefit from the things I did right. :-)
I have found other authors, even those writing in the same genre, have been friendly and helpful. However, I know that some have said that other authors are the sharpest critics and I have found the same a couple of times here on Goodreads.
John, that is so good of you to detail your publishing journey for us. Your book looks interesting, by the way.
I did run into a little "attitude" on the first forum I signed up for. It wasn't incredibly negative, one author was helpful, one offered to beta and never got back to me and the third told me if i didn't offer my betas something then I was barking up the wrong tree and to quit while i was ahead.As far as goodreads goes i haven't had anything but constructive feedback and support. I never even get on another site when looking for advice, betas/critiques, etc.
Remember that when you go on forums and whatnot on the web, you never know if the "authors" you're talking to are really professional. Thanks to self-publishing, everybody and their uncle these days thinks they're a writer. Having made my living writing for 25+ years, I've learned that true writers are just people, like everybody else. Some are nice, some are creeps. Don't worry about it either way, just talk to whoever interests you and ignore the rest.
Years ago, before I published, I went on Authonomy. I found the forums there to be full of spiteful bullying cliques. However, since publishing, my experience on here and on Amazon has been completely positive.
I've been a member of a writer's website for about 12 years now. I've made some great friends. A few of us used to meet three or four times a year in Camden and put the world to rights. But these were the exception. I left for several years because there were a number of people who were just bloody awful. They'd say things to you online that they'd never dare say face-to-face.More recently, I've gone back and I've even tried to encourage others to self-publish. For the most part I've been met with interest - and I'm certainly not the only member of this group to self-publish - but I've also met with a lot of negativity.
On the whole, although authors can certainly be a bloody precious bunch, I find them much more pleasant than a lot of the people on this writer's site.
People might not always like it, but personally, I think it's a good thing to play with a straight bat. I can't see the point in being deliberately nasty - life's too short but equally, everyone has their own opinion. :)
A straight bat earns my respect and I'm sure a lot of people would say the same. Good manners and understanding between authors should go a long way. But, another author in the same genre will often view us as competition. Or they can see our faults better than we can. I think people often point out in others what is actually annoying about themselves!
I attend a writer's group near my house. It's falling apart now and the venom in the back and forth emails are amazing. There's accusations of time-wasting, unprofessionalism, bullying, and lacking abilities. At first it was amusing to read the silliness at first, then it became sad. I go to so many meet and greets where it's an author love-fest. I've become friends with writers and I feel so inspired after time with them. Then I read those emails of that one group fall apart and it's sad.
I could say reasons that I think this is falling apart, but would make me part of the problem-wouldn't it?
I hope I can stay friends with most of those authors, but that group is broken.
Overall, the authors I've associated with have been very supportive and kind. But there's always gotta be that jealous kid in the playground who wants some other kid's shiny new ball.
I think it was Gore Vidal who said that every time a friend succeeds, he dies a little. We miss Gore Vidal and his drollery, but for another angle on inter-author interactions, take a look at the discussion I started, "Authors Helping Authors": it has really been uplifting - as is the spirit of Goodreads, altogether, wouldn't you say? Good luck, everyone!
I think all authors should encourage each other,and wish them good luck. It maybe that is the kind of person I am. I have four friends now on good reads and I wish the all the best. I have one that is also moving back to Nashville he is also a screen writer. I wish him all the best. So why do some of the authors feel like they are competing with each other. They should be glad when one of them have a best seller, who knows they may be next.
My experience is that authors are very supportive of each other. Maybe it varies with genre or something, but I know a lot of YA and romance authors, and they go out of their way to help each other.
I think that is the way it should be.
Unfortunately, I have seldom met another author that is supportive, kind, or not condescending. This is certainly true for me when it comes to online interactions (especially with the self-published).If you want to be an author then you have to expect the bad with the good. Whether you listen to either is really up to you. I write for myself and not an audience. If an audience exists then that is a bonus.
Authors are no different from anyone else. Not everyone is going to like what you like or hate what you hate and there will always those that seek to be the centre of attention.
I read all feedback, be it good or bad, but the only feedback I listen to is from the few that I can trust to be forthright in their opinions. Interestingly, only one of them is a writer.
Do you think all writers are like you? I am not trying to sound smart, I was just wondering if all writers really feel that way. I have friends who are writers and wonder if that is how they feel as well. I think being a writer takes a lot of talent, to come up with all the story lines, I wrote a short story and had a friend read it, it was the first time I try to write anything he said it was not bad, but need some work. Someone told me I should try and write. I am going to try my hand at writing again sometime. But I never knew writers felt like that.
