Support for Indie Authors discussion

I need your guidance in how to handle a situation.
I provided a copy of my book to some one for a review. After she started it she emailed me to say she didnt like it. I politely told her thats okay and asked her not to write a review. She also asked me if I wanted her reasons, I declined her reasons. I thought that was the end of it. She had already indicated on Goodreads that she only read 80 pages of 416, that is less than a quarter of the book, this was when she emailed me to say she didnt like it. I thought she was being courteous to tell me that she didnt like it as I had given her a copy.

A few days after I asked her not to write a review and I thought that was the end of it, a few days later she emailing me to say she rated it. A rating in my view is tantamount to a review.

If that wasnt enough .... she also went a step further and wrote there on my review page "If anyone would like the reasons for my star rating, I am happy to give my opinion about this book." This basically is inviting the public to ask her what she thinks about the book. I asked her to remove her invitation to the public and the rating, she insists that she is not removing it. Let me make it clear that it is not case that I want her to write a good review just because I gave her a copy. My issues are:

1. She read less than a quarter of the book (80 pages of 416) to rate a book on less than a quarter is disingenuous and mischievous in my view, and borders on being dishonest.

2. She told me she didnt like it ....so I asked her not to...yet a few days later she goes there and insists on rating it. I thought she told me that she didnt like because she was returning the courtesy as I gave her a copy VERSUS she buying one.


3. If she had bought a copy then I would not dare ask her not to review and rate it, BUT since she got a courtesy copy I figured she could return the courtesy and not rate it coupled with the fact that she didnt read even a quarter of the book.

This leads me to wonder if she is being malicious and using controversy to promote herself and her own website. It may be a way for her to drive traffic t her website.

Any guidance from anyone?

The book in issue is TJ's Last Summer in Cape Cod

If you gave her a copy in exchange for an honest review, she needs to at least state this per FTC compliance. If she has not added this disclaimer, you may contact Goodreads and let them know that the review is misrepresented. However, she has the right to post her thoughts, even negative thoughts, regardless of whether she fi ished the book or not.

My recommendation is to let it go and not engage further. Doing so can be a detriment to you as an author and is generally frowned upon by Goodreads.

You may not like my answer, but she is entitled to rate and/or review even if she got a free copy. I am betting that she got it with the assumption that she'd give an honest review. That's how it usually work.

You mentioned that not having read enough and rating it is dishonest. In my humble opinion, asking a reviewer NOT to rate/review a book because they didn't like it is just as devious and maybe that is why she is reacting this way.

My advice would be to forget about it and let it go. It's only one rating, one person's opinion.

Thx ladies... my point is if she contacted me and said she read less than a quarter and wasnt liking the book, i was of the view that she was merely telling me that she wouldnt be completing it, so i thanked her and said no problem and then asked her not to review it primarily because she didnt read it. She also asked if I wanted her reasons and I declined. So I am wondering if she felt offended when I didnt take her up on her to give me her reasons, why she posted there asking the public to contact her for her reasons.

In that context I think she is being mischievous and malicious and possibly using me to promote her website/ her own agenda.

GG...not reading as much as a quarter of a book and then rating it in my view is mischievous.

Reading a quarter of a book especially 80 or so pages in my opinion is enough to decide you either like it, hate it or it's rubbish.

Take all opinions as people's opinions and try not to let it bother you or draw you in difficult situations.

Just my 2cents!

She asked me if I wanted her reasons and I declined and then she went live to ask the world to contact her for her reasons... its the manner in which she did it, seems malicious......so its not the rating but the malice she exhibited.

A lot of people that write reviews like to state why they don't like it or like it, others like to engage with other potential readers and offer to give them the reasons privately as to not skew some ones opinion before they read it. The rest just post why they rated/reviewed directly on the review. Just the way they do it.

Ben.....She asked me if I wanted her reasons and I declined and then days later she went live to ask the world to contact her for her reasons... its the manner in which she did it, seems malicious......so its not the rating but the malice she exhibited.

As I said my issue is not her rating so much as the malicious manner in which it was done....I would not rate or review a book if I have not read it in its entirety.... whether I liked it or hated it.... its just being honest in my opinion.

Just as an FYI... This is a public forum. Goodreads groups are open for all to see, so please be mindful of this. Complaining or making baseless accusations regarding a reviewer's intent can be seen by anyone, including the reviewer. This is the reason that 10 times out of 10, we shut down or delete threads like this.

Mischievous? Literary tastes are highly subjective and everyone has a right to his/her opinion. i, personally, have never gotten to the end of a book before deciding if it was good or not. To be honest, it doesn't matter if it was 80 pages or 380 pages in - plot and pace etc can improve as the book progresses but other red flags such as poor grammar, syntax errors, clumsy dialogue, flat backstory, shoddy world building, plot holes, thinly drawn characters, hyperbole etc etc can be evident within the very first chapter. I am not saying this was the case with your book, of course. I haven't read it. I'm just pointing out that it is entirely possible to feel that way 80 pages in.

As for you asking her not to review it that is certainly your right but it is equally her prerogative to rate or review as she pleases. If we only posted reviews of books we thought were amazing reads people would soon lose faith in the review process.

I am quite surprised you did not want to know her reasons for not liking your book. As an author, would you not want to know possible ways in which to improve your craft? Constructive criticism is what makes us better at what we do. is it possible that your feelings were hurt and you failed to handle it properly or put things in the best light? Usually the best thing to do when dealing with reviewers is to thank them for their time and keep it moving. It simply is not worth it to lose sleep over one bad review. Read the reviews for E.L. James' 50 Shades books and you will understand. Were she to worry about negative reviews she would not have enough time to enjoy her millions!

These are just my opinions and I hope you continue to write and do what you do because you love it. Best of luck to you.

She did indicate in her email that it is not the type of books she likes.....NOTE though that I didnt say she reviewed it.....I said she rated it which is tantamount to a review.

Thx Tara....your response is well reasoned for the most part. Cheers

Christina...read again what I wrote....those are not accusations.

Garfield wrote: "GG...not reading as much as a quarter of a book and then rating it in my view is mischievous."

80 pages is actually not too bad. Never forget that it is their time and if they can't go further, they just can't. I have a reviewer who only read the free sample. He didn't like it and wrote his review around the few pages he read. It was his right. I'm not saying I was happy he didn't like it, but his reasons were valid and I've learned from it (and changed things too).

Like Tara said, I'm quite surprised you were not curious enough to accept her offer to let you know why. I would gladly accept such offer.

Christina I realise that you are the moderator, but I didnt call any names.... nor said anything disparaging....as i said its not the rating is my issue BUT the manner in which it was done.

One way to look at the situation in my view is that.... we should encourage reviewers to be fair by not rating or reviewing a book just by reading less than a quarter.... I certainly wouldnt do that to anyone....whether or not I liked the book. Thats the respect I would give to my Goodreads colleagues.

Thx GG....another reasoned response....

Maybe I should comment that although its their time....but since they have not spared the time to complete the book, they should not rate or review whether they liked it or not....just my view....maybe I say that as I would not do that to anyone as I would feel less than honest not giving them the benefit of seeing the book to completion....maybe it's my training why I always feel that I should be fair to others.

Someone once told me that because my book had a family member committing adultery (even though that was not the lead character in the book) she didnt like it because her husband committed adultery and it brought back bad memories for her. I sympathized with her and told her I appreciated her honesty that she would not review it. Does that make it a bad book?

Garfield wrote: "She asked me if I wanted her reasons and I declined and then she went live to ask the world to contact her for her reasons... its the manner in which she did it, seems malicious......so its not the rating but the malice she exhibited."

Claiming the reviewer had malicious intent is a baseless accusation and I am kindly asking that you refrain from making comments like this for two reasons:

1- it is against our rules of no negativity and no calling out of individuals for specific behavior that you do not agree with

2- it is again in your best interest to refrain from making comments in a public forum that could lead to relaliatory behavior by users who may see this as bad author behavior. We have seen this happen all too often. In almost all situations, not only does the author find themselves with a sudden influx of one star reviews, but further engagement usually leads to Goodreads removing the author's profile status and banning them.

We don't want to see bad things happen to authors, which is why we have rules. Please abide by them.

Garfield wrote: "Christina I realise that you are the moderator, but I didnt call any names.... nor said anything disparaging....as i said its not the rating is my issue BUT the manner in which it was done.

One wa..."

i Garfield. Just popping in to say this is all meant to help. Others have said that it's best to chalk it up to nothing more than it is: one bad review. Tomorrow's a brighter day with the potential for other readers who might enjoy it. Everyone has their reasons for doing what they do. Headaches arise when we try to make everyone fit on the same tiny tugboat of opinion. Also, it'll sink. Let's all stay dry and positive, shall we?

Good night, good day, good evening.

Christina does Goodreads have a system to deal with that kind of influx as you discribed it? As that would be negative and malicious. Why would Goodreads castigate an author because they felt soemthing was done in a context that seemed disingenuous...again I a not arguing over the rating but the manner especially when less than a quarter was read.... so doenst Goodreads have a policy on that? Not having such a policy in my view leaves the flood gates wide open for persons to be disingenuous and mischievous and as you just said .... a situation can arise where an influx of 1 star rating....which Goodreads doesnt seem to be able to hal, if or when it happens.

So the reviewer is allowed to do that and if an author speaks about they become the villain

Thx Quoleena.....I am not having a headache on it at all....i have very good reviews and ratings there

Garfield, truly, it's best to leave this one alone. I've seen viral happen on GR too. It's best to let it lie and give it up to a night of perspective and thoughts on the big picture.

I have never seen this topic discussed on Goodreads before, maybe i missed those but thank you for your responses, greatly appreciated, ... . so my question...if someone rates or posts a review for a book and reads less than a quarter....how can that be a review or a rating for the book when a book consists in my view of a collection of pages bound together....unless when we select a rating there is space to elaborate and have a disclaimer that "I did not complete the book but read some of the pages" because if it seems acceptable to write a review or rate a book without completing then a lot of mischief can result.

Thx again Quoleena....I was only trying to get a discussion going....wasnt thinking of anything more as I didnt mention the person's name who rated the book or any such thing. I didnt see anything wrong with getting feedback from the Goodreads family.

Just a pointer - you may have not mentioned the person's name, but you did name which book it was and what she said in her review. Two clicks on Goodreads has just told me her name - so let's not pretend this is all anonymous.

It also notes under her review "unfinished" so people reading the review know she didn't get through it. Plus, I highly doubt anyone is going to message a single reviewer for her to go through her reasons about what she didn't like. In some ways, perhaps this is her being courteous, rather than laying out what she perceives as faults for all to see.

Take it on the chin, look at it in context of other positive reviews, and move on - that's my advice.

Garfield wrote: "I have never seen this topic discussed on Goodreads before, maybe i missed those but thank you for your responses, greatly appreciated, ... . so my question...if someone rates or posts a review for..."

When an author puts his or her work out there, they should know that not everyone will like it and they should accept it. No matter how many times you ask the same question, I am afraid you'll always get the same answer. It is not well seen to call someone malicious.

You can take it up with Goodreads if you don't agree with their politics but debating it here won't do any good. On the contrary, it can only do harm.

In the spirit of saving you some headaches with things you might say and regret in the morning I think I will go ahead and close this thread.