Authors Who Behave Badly

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

I'm sure we all have encountered (or heard of) some authors who are just so immature and protective of their books they stoop so low they'll do some pretty nasty things to their more critical readers.

Do you guys remember any Goodreads scandals involving authors like these? Comment so we know who to avoid!

(view spoiler)[this is random and I hope it's okay I made this topic, but I like discussing stuff like this :3 (hide spoiler)]

[Jordy]

I've never head about authors like this.... This is really fascinating, I would love to know some authors who are like this.

[Maya]

Yeah me too.

[[deleted user]]

I've never heard of that

[Erin, Director of Fun and Games]

I have never not once heard of an author who has behaved badly

[Rachel]

I've heard of the one with Kiera Cass!

[[deleted user]]

Oh I actually remember some thing a bout her

[Erin, Director of Fun and Games]

What happened

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

She got mad that a user posted a negative review of The Selection, so she and her publicist (who publicly badmouthed the user on twitter) made all of their friends go on Goodreads and like the positive reviews so they would show up at the top - that's in short.

(view spoiler)[I also think her publicist was so mad at the user that she found their private information (address, real name, phone number, etc.) and shared it publicly, which I know happens a lot when authors or similar personalities get mad at a Goodreads member. It's freaky D: (hide spoiler)]

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

I know too much about icky authors for some reason

[[deleted user]]

Yeah she can't do that. I mean I personally loved that book but the author doesn't sound so great

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

Honestly, I don't mind people who liked the book. In my opinion, you can like the book without liking the author. I just don't want to offend anyone who liked The Selection - you just need to know what they did, which was pretty immature.

[[deleted user]]

Yeah it was

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

I think there was another author who attacked a negative reviewer through goodreads PM and called her horrible things... but I can't remember their name....

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

Ah yes! Leigh Fallon!

[[deleted user]]

What'd she write

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

Carrier of the Mark... it's not as popular to know about as The Selection, but I somehow found out...

[[deleted user]]

Huh well she still shouldn't have blown up like that

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

There are also several self-published authors who troll their reviewers. Or even people who haven't read their book.

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

LittleMissBookworm(lauren) wrote: "Huh well she still shouldn't have blown up like that"

And yeah...

[[deleted user]]

Wow

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

I know, right?

[Rachel]

Amee wrote: "She got mad that a user posted a negative review of The Selection, so she and her publicist (who publicly badmouthed the user on twitter) made all of their friends go on Goodreads and like the posi..."

I find that to be a bit trashy and sneaky...

[Rachel]

Amee wrote: "There are also several self-published authors who troll their reviewers. Or even people who haven't read their book."

True... I mean that's the bargain you're in for when you become an author. Some people are bound to dislike your book.

[Rachel]

It's how you handle it that shows what you're truly like.

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

Miss Perfection (Rachel) wrote: "Amee wrote: "She got mad that a user posted a negative review of The Selection, so she and her publicist (who publicly badmouthed the user on twitter) made all of their friends go on Goodreads and ..."

Same... it's so unprofessional. They're adults, for crying out loud! Even teenage authors behave better!

[[deleted user]]

Exactly but that's part of being an author! Just because one specific person doesn't like your book doesn't mean that other won't read it and like it

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

Miss Perfection (Rachel) wrote: "It's how you handle it that shows what you're truly like."

I agree. If you have some sense in you, you will take the negative review and use the criticism to improve. Besides, the review she got so mad over wasn't even trashy, it was well-written and had constructive criticism.

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

LittleMissBookworm(lauren) wrote: "Exactly but that's part of being an author! Just because one specific person doesn't like your book doesn't mean that other won't read it and like it"

Exactly! Kiera Cass has MANY loyal fans who loved her books, she should focus on them and not the people who didn't. Or at least admit that she did something wrong and try to improve as a writer.

[Erin, Director of Fun and Games]

Wow

[[deleted user]]

I know

[Erin, Director of Fun and Games]

I have one question, why

[[deleted user]]

Because some have a temper problem or are worried that that single reveiw will label their book forever

[Alba]

I'm surprised that happened on Goodreads. I know some terrible stuff has happened on a different site geared toward authors (I'll leave it nameless). In one instance, an author got upset by what the other authors were saying on a thread and went to all their books on Amazon and wrote scathing, horrible reviews. It happened multiple times with this author until they had to ban him from the site. Sheesh. Talk about unprofessional!

[[deleted user]]

Wow!

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

That's just so unbelievably immature, I can't

[[deleted user]]

Ikr?!

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

I mean, if you can't take criticism, why the heck did you throw your work out into the public?! Everybody knows that nothing is perfect, and it's stupid for someone to assume that they, out of all people, wrote the perfect book that will please every single person in the world.

[[deleted user]]

I heard Orson Scott Card is a complete idiot...I agree.

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

Well, now I know who to avoid!

[Riya]

I only know of the Kiera Cass thing which is terrible!!

And Orson Scott Card is just a really intense guy who's homophobic and extremely Mormon and very passionate about this stuff...so definitely not my thing...

[[deleted user]]

Wow

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

Riya wrote: "I only know of the Kiera Cass thing which is terrible!!

And Orson Scott Card is just a really intense guy who's homophobic and extremely Mormon and very passionate about this stuff...so definitely..."

Homophobes are definitely people I do not support.

[[deleted user]]

Yeah

[Juliet]

Wow is right. :o I have never heard about Keira Cass doing that! The more I think about it, the more angrier I get. I still like her series but geez, somebody doesn't take critism lightly. What a horrible thing to do!

[Rachel]

I literally just looked up "badly behaved authors" and loads of articles came up! Apparently it is a huge thing!

[Rachel]

I literally just copied and pasted this from the comments of one article;

"The author John Donoghue an indie author of Police, Crime, 999 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Police-Crime-... rather than leaving nasty comments goes about putting one and two star reviews on any author that dares to give him a negative review or competing book. He currently has 200+ five star sock puppet reviews on his book and is a real nasty piece of work. If you dare comment you get some smart remark from an account that is not his own of course. As soon as a one star review is posted it is quickly followed by several five star reviews to cover it up and loads of unlikes of course. The reviews themselves are worth a read and you can tell have been written by the same hand.

A review is a personal opinion and this sort of large scale manipulation makes the whole review process worthless and is harmful to all authors traditional or indie. So this sort of page is needed to uncover those that think they can game the system and fool the buying public."

I cannot believe any author would do this!

[electra, Champion of the Challenges]

It is a pretty big issue, especially among indie authors! And, wow. That's just sad. I don't see the point of sock puppet good reviews, honestly; what good is it to an author if all the positive reviews they have aren't truly honest? That just goes to show writers these days care more about the money than sharing their stories with people :/

[Maya]

Wow I can't believe it. With singers and actors, yeah, but authors? No. You want criticism so you can make your next book that much better. Wow, I thought they were more mature then that.

[[deleted user]]

That's an issue