kate_sherwood (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kate_sherwood) wrote2012-07-19 04:57 pm
kate_sherwood) wrote2012-07-19 04:57 pm
a quick note on reviews, bullying, etc.
It should go without saying.
But, as recent nonsense has shown us, it apparently doesn't. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, save yourself hours of aggravating reading and don't ask!)
So, for the record, speaking as an author: Reader reviews are interesting. Reader reviews are useful. Reader reviews are occasionally truly touching and gratifying, and sometimes quite painful. But, mostly, as an author: reader reviews are none of my damned business.
I appreciate positive reviews and have made several good online friends because of them. Negative reviews can really sting. But that's not the readers' problem, it's mine.
Readers write reviews for themselves, for their friends, for a circle of readers with common interests, for strangers... it's none of my business if you're writing reviews in order to please your pink Martian overlords. The one person the reviews are not for is me.
So, positive or negative, formal or flippant, benign or cruel - your reviews are not a form of bullying. I appreciate the time you've taken to buy (hopefully) and read my book, and however you want to express your thoughts on that book is absolutely up to you.
Like I said, it should go without saying.
But, as recent nonsense has shown us, it apparently doesn't. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, save yourself hours of aggravating reading and don't ask!)
So, for the record, speaking as an author: Reader reviews are interesting. Reader reviews are useful. Reader reviews are occasionally truly touching and gratifying, and sometimes quite painful. But, mostly, as an author: reader reviews are none of my damned business.
I appreciate positive reviews and have made several good online friends because of them. Negative reviews can really sting. But that's not the readers' problem, it's mine.
Readers write reviews for themselves, for their friends, for a circle of readers with common interests, for strangers... it's none of my business if you're writing reviews in order to please your pink Martian overlords. The one person the reviews are not for is me.
So, positive or negative, formal or flippant, benign or cruel - your reviews are not a form of bullying. I appreciate the time you've taken to buy (hopefully) and read my book, and however you want to express your thoughts on that book is absolutely up to you.
Like I said, it should go without saying.
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(Anonymous) 2014-03-26 05:56 am (UTC)(link)