Steph Sinclair > Status Update

Definitely. Very sad. It's like they read the Anne Rice guide to responding to criticism.

And the fact that the agent jumped in. Like, wow. I'm very disgusted right now.

*you
Dammit. Typo in my status. I should just go to bed now. Lol.

Palice, I'm shocked.

Two agents, actually. Brendan and Suzie. Both comments completely missed the mark in almost offensive ways.

It's like a hush campaign. What is it with YA now and days?

Vi wrote: "Two agents, actually. Brendan and Suzie. Both comments completely missed the mark in almost offensive ways.

It's like a hush campaign. What is it with YA now and days?"

Suzie Townsend?

Yup. Though I'd scramble that name unless you want her invading this thread. Google alerts and all that.

Her comment is on the third page. Check out the whole thread.



If you dare.

Her account was deleted.

Ah. I have further thoughts on the matter, but for now, I'll refrain from voicing them.

Btw Suzie deleted her account!

ETA: lol Steph you beat me :)

Vi wrote: "Btw Suzie deleted her account!

ETA: lol Steph you beat me :)"

Lol, hilarious.

What will her 1,141 friends do without her?

Wow. Just....huh?

She had a lot of books shelved too. I don't understand how that one review and the subsequent comments could make anyone delete their account.

What a bizarre turn of events.

It is very bizarre, and almost funny in a really sad way.

Lol! That is hilarious!

THT, I just love your Google-Fu skills!

The sad part is, you'd think as an agent, she'd want to stay on goodreads to help promote her authors' books.

I just found out about this thanks to Wendy-Darling & The Holy Terror. I'm not good at posting links but for those who haven't seen, this is the blog post where I read about the event (with handy screen caps) http://bookphilia.tumblr.com/post/152...

I find this just *GRRRRRR*, but I don't know the whole story beyond just that one blog. Can anyone fill me in?

What's even more entertaining about all of this is I remember Lauren DeStefano responded somewhere, not on the direct topic, to the 'Be Nice' thing before her book ever came out saying she would appreciate any and all criticism. I pre-ordered her book because of it, I read her book because of it. I only gave her three stars because her book had some shady world-building and I thought she was the type of author who would do better next time. Now I'll never know because this isn't the first borderline thing she's said about goodreads. I guess the reviewer freedom thing was fine as long as it wasn't negative comments about her half-assed books.

I can't believe the agent deleted her account over this one thing.

However I did discover some very nice (re: reasonable) authors to put on my to-read list.

Sometimes, I wish there was an "agreeably dislike" button, where I could show my support for someone's status even though I don't actually like what's being shared. A friend had a horrible day at work? I don't want to 'like' that status, but I want to show my support for his/her bad day.

Basically, I am in agreement over how messed up all of this is (and how insane these authors are being), but it still feels weird to 'like' it.

*clicks like button anyway*

I look at the like button as a way to put it in my feed so other people will see it pop up and join the discussion... Otherwise I have liked some truly horrible things.

Well, I know that's how most people use it. It's how I use it, too; it just makes me feel bad sometimes when I think, "I wonder if people think I actually like this ..."

Geez, guys. I go away for a few hours of sleep and wake up to 39 email alerts from GRs. Time to turn those puppie off!

I was so upset about Lauren Destefano in particular. I really was looking forward to her book, but after I had time to sleep on it, I will be removing her from my TBR pile. I have way too many books to read and far too little time.

Me too, about Destefano. I was looking forward to it despite its apparently shoddy world building because I heard her prose was beautiful. It was always teetering on whether or not I would buy it but her attitude helped me decide to take it off my rather large to-reads list.

Her prose is very lovely, but I'm sure there are other authors more deserving of my time.

Skyla (Happy Go Lucky and Lost in Books) wrote: "My question is this, if you don't like someone's pre-review of you book why did you read it in the first place?

(You know because a lot of authors say "If you didn't like the book why did you keep..."

Oh, c'mon. You know that only applies to us lowly readers/reviewers. Not the almighty authors!

Adam 'Archer' wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "Skyla (Happy Go Lucky and Lost in Books) wrote: "My question is this, if you don't like someone's pre-review of you book why did you read it in the first place?

(You know because..."

Oh, Archer. 'Be nice!' *wink*

Adam 'Archer' wrote: "Hey. I'm always nice...

Yeah that sounds lame even to me lol.

How about I'm always honest lol"

I happen to think being honest is being nice. What good are we if all we do is slap each other on the ass yelling, "You're so awesome!" Where is the growth in that?

Stephanie wrote: "I happen to think being honest is being nice. What good are we if all we do is slap each other on the ass yelling, "You're so awesome!" Where is the growth in that? "

Stephanie - I agree with you 100% here. I learned this at my day job and apply it to my writting. It's not fair to tell people they are doing well if they are not. That robs them of the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. I know that when I put my first novel out it is going to get bashed. I am going to try to do as much as I can to make sure I don't put out a crappy book, but it's my first one. I'm going to make a lot of rookie mistakes. I think GoodReads is going to keep me humble and help me see where I messed up. The issue is if i can't learn from my mistakes and 3 books later i'm doing the same thing. I hope that's not the case, but I know GoodReader's will let me know if it is.

Brandon, the world needs more writers/authors like you. I just wish some would understand that hating a book does not equal hating the author. Sometimes I feel really bad about giving harsh reviews to debut authors, but when I see how wonderfully some take the criticism (Julie Cross, Karsten Knight, Hannah Moskowitz, ect) it makes me want to especially support them. That is how you win your readers, even if they dislike your book.

Now, that's just rude.
Let reviewers have an honest of what you do. It might help you with future books.
And she deleted her account?! Why do I find this so awfully funny? XD

(Oh, and btw, how do you write a normal status update? I'm still new with this. )

It was a bit comical when she deleted her account. Lol.

You add a status update on your feed page on the right hand side under the book statues. It's called general status.

Is this shit happening on a cycle? I'll go get the beers and munchies.

Ceilidh wrote: "Is this shit happening on a cycle? I'll go get the beers and munchies."

It's like, "Really? Are we due for yet another shit storm? So SOON?"

Stephanie wrote: "It was a bit comical when she deleted her account. Lol.

You add a status update on your feed page on the right hand side under the book statues. It's called general status."

Thanks, Stephanie. X3

http://i40.tinypic.com/33tifdh.jpg - some ppl still refuse to get it. Oh well.

Vi wrote: "http://i40.tinypic.com/33tifdh.jpg - some ppl still refuse to get it. Oh well."

Yay, another author I no longer feel inclined to spend my hard earned cash on.

Two. Hawkins writes Hex Hall. I'm taking that off the list. Shame.

Vi wrote: "Two. Hawkins writes Hex Hall. I'm taking that off the list. Shame."

Moulton's already not getting any of my money.

The funny thing is, how can authors rail about what a hellhole goodreads is and still use it to market their books?

Yeah, I think what angered me most is that Hawkins and Moulton are basically calling Kira an asshole (or saying that she was acting like an asshole). For what? She articulated how she felt about the anti-feminist sentiments in the passages she laid out in the review. Apparently if you don't sugarcoat everything or maintain some sort of mindless fangirly tone, you're an asshole?

Wow, yet more authors on the shitlist. Smh.

Wow, where are their thick skins? Do you think Stephen King goes around calling people who don't like his books assholes? Do you think Shakespeare had a problem with the naysayers? Do you think Jane Austen would have done that?

Adam 'Archer' wrote: "Lissa wrote: "Wow, where are their thick skins? Do you think Stephen King goes around calling people who don't like his books assholes? Do you think Shakespeare had a problem with the naysayers? Do..."

WIN.

Damn. I think even Stephanie Meyers handles her criticism better than these people do. And that's saying a lot, seeing as half the literary population just about despises her writing. Goodreads is for reviewers and people who love to read, NOT for authors to bitch about/to their fans.

Hey, I actually had to work today so I couldn't dig around on twitter. Will someone keep a running tally of all of the authors who act like assholes?

Kthanxbai

The Holy Terror wrote: "Hey, I actually had to work today so I couldn't dig around on twitter. Will someone keep a running tally of all of the authors who act like assholes?

Kthanxbai"

The list is getting so long!! It's hard to keep up.

Stephanie wrote: "The list is getting so long!! It's hard to keep up."

I actually think this might trump the "Be Nice" fiasco.

Seriously.

Adam 'Archer' wrote: "I don't know... Isn't this essentially an extension of it because it started effectively when Dan said he'd like to see less venom... which came across, IMO, as "be nice""

Good lord.

You're ... you're right.

It never ends.

So did this start with someone bagging Goodreads or eviscerating a reviewer for being critical?
Isn't that the point of a review...constructive criticism?

Adam 'Archer' wrote: "It started as an author coming onto a review of a book that wasn't his and asking for "less venom" from the reviewer"

That's a nice way of putting it. The author essentially trolled a review for several days, got his agent in on it, and then took it to twitter where a whole slew of authors decided to jump on the bullying bandwagon. Comments ranged from Goodreads being a hellhole, worse than 4chan to directly calling the reviewer an asshole.

She was not an asshole. She was angry and concerned about how feminism was being portrayed in fiction meant for young girls. She handled the whole thing with a great deal of maturity and grace, including direct interactions with the author. She has decided to read beyond the sample to see if the character is eventually redeemed. I don't think there was a better way for her to handle the situation.