Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hey guys, I'm wondering if I can get some help. Is there a way to dispute or have reviews removed from a book on GoodReads? Someone in a fandom is doing revenge 1-Star reviews on anything negatively reviewed on their author page.

I know this because one of my books has been off the market a few months as it is going through a rewrite. It was originally going to be just two, but is now five books and there were plot holes. Since it's been off the market, I know for a fact they did not review or read my book and are just revenge reviewing.

I am not doing this with names involved or anything. Just curious as to if they can be removed or reviewed by staff?

Thanks in advance!

Unless the review contains a personal attack on the author, I don’t think they will remove it. For example if it is just rating, then it will just be considered a low rating.

It includes a personal attack regarding my intelligence. I just don't know if that's enough? I'm fine with it staying there if it has to, I just know it's a revenge review.

I also want to be clear that I am not the only author that has had personal attacks over message or revenge reviews. There are about seven of us that have been harassed about this one book by this one person and I see no other activity on their GoodReads page.

It sounds like no resolution has come from the other authors reporting this person, so I have a feeling I'll just have to bite my tongue and bear it.

Hi Kaylee,

I'm sorry to hear that. I did go to your profile and read the review. It is absolutely unprofessional and comes across as very personal. I would definitely contact Goodreads and ask them to review its contents as being defamatory and insulting. Hopefully, Goodreads will abide by their own rules of No Author, Reader, or Reviewer Shaming and remove it.

Good luck!

Mehry,

Thank you very much! I'll reach out to GoodReads. I'm more than okay with bad criticisms of my books. I've had plenty in my first few years as an author. I just know that since it's off market that they can't get the book anywhere.

I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that things get resolved.

I wish you luck, but unless they've changed, and I hope they have, they won't change it. I had one troll who posted such reviews for all my books, five on one day. When I reported it, I pointed out that no one is going to buy one of my books, find it's terrible, and then buy, read, and review four more. They came back and said the reviews stand since they didn't attack me, personally.

It's why I don't have any more of my books listed on the site.

Hi, Kaylee. I sympathize with your situation. I did experience some of what you're going through and I do hope Goodreads grants your request.

I started writing on free serialized websites and believe me, the vitriol is worse. And that's for free stories. But despite such immunization, it is still a disturbing and depressing situation. As the song in that vampire movie (Lost Boys) goes:

People are strange.

Did you have any unpleasant interactions with this person? Just wondering why they decided to target your books in particular.

Bruno,

All I did was post a review for their book. And I’m guessing it’s the author or a super fan of the author because the same user has targeted anyone else that’s posted a low rating for this particular book.

They finally stopped privately messaging me hate mail yesterday after I blocked them and reported them.

The comment they left had been just the beginning.

My internet at home has been wonky the last few days so I haven't been able to check in as much as I would like.

Kaylee, I'm sorry you're having issues. You can report the person leaving negative reviews to Goodreads, but don't expect anything to be done.

If they are, indeed, sending you hate mail, definitely report that. I could only find one negative review here on Goodreads and while it is harsh, I didn't feel the reviewer was attacking you, only your book and what they believe is your lack of skills. This happens to all of us. Don't take it personally.

Also, whether the book is still available or not is irrelevant to Goodreads. The one negative review I could find is on a book that still has the Kindle version for sale on Amazon.

At any rate, discussing negative reviews is against our code of conduct, so I'm closing this thread.