Support for Indie Authors discussion

Not sure if this is the right folder...

But a reader has asked a question about a provocative review another reviewer left for my own book. They have put the question in the “Reader Q&A” section.

Is it okay as the author of the book to answer this question? Or does it look bad to do so?
The review is quite accusatory and provocative.

They say it’s never a good idea to answer negative reviews.

Its not answering the review itself, someone asked a question about it. The original review said it had soft pornography in a children’s book, but they also state that they never read it, only the back blurb (as stated in their review).

Another reader is asking why they said this. The question shows at the top of my book’s page. Any idea what I should do, if anything? (PS there are innuendoes in the book, like in Disney films, but not soft porn.)

That’s a hard one. I might want to answer too, but I’m not sure if I would. I know how hard it is not to answer. I had an actual review that said my story had soft porn lol. It did not, and I didn’t feel the need to answer. But the reviewer read the whole book, so that was appreciated.

If the accusation about soft porn was written in a review by someone who stated they didn’t even read the book, maybe you can report that review at least?

I agree with what Leah said in message 4.

At the same time, you mention innuendoes like in Disney films. Bringing Disney into this is kind of odd.
Disney's colors are clear and bright. Your cover is dark and sufficiently murky so that I'm not sure what exactly is in the middle.
Also, Disney names are more or less just names, but yours is named Harlot. (maybe it's a French 'ot' and pronounced Harlow), but it doesn't read that way.
Also, mentioning two characters she runs into that have carnal ideas?

Come on. Maybe it all gives in inaccurate impression but it does give an impression.

Okay, I believe I've found the particular review. To be honest, it's likely to be written by the kind of people you just can't win against. I would not bother.

Tomas wrote: "Okay, I believe I've found the particular review. To be honest, it's likely to be written by the kind of people you just can't win against. I would not bother."

Ya, I won’t. I was just unsure if I should clarify things for the new reader in their question about the book.

M.L. wrote: "I agree with what Leah said in message 4.

At the same time, you mention innuendoes like in Disney films. Bringing Disney into this is kind of odd.
Disney's colors are clear and bright. Your cover ..."

No, the book does address prostitution and has situations where characters are trying to do the main character harm and other instances (it contains double meanings). Yet, it is not pornography, at least not to me. I suppose someone can look at a Walmart catalogue and think it contains pornography in the clothes section, but to others it is definitely not. It depends on how you look at things and your intentions of translation of what you want to see/read.

It looks to me like you need to clarify who the intended audience is. At the end of the book description you say it's "An absurd children's book for adult's..." [sic] but some of the reviews are calling it a children's book or MG, even while they acknowledge parts they questioned. Your author page says you write "Children's" but that your "stories are not for children" and are "controversial."

Disney might have some suggestiveness in their films, but lots of parents still complain. If you write a book that appears to be a children's book and yet your description says "does the knight and his sword simply want to greet her [Harlot]?", that sounds like the kind of suggestiveness more common in adult sitcoms. If children are not your audience, you're going to get poor reviews as long as it's unclear to potential readers (that's what the 1 star reviewer is complaining about).

The more I think about it the question might not be if you should respond but if you should be more plain in the book description about who the intended audience is. Just my thoughts.

J.S. Green wrote: "It looks to me like you need to clarify who the intended audience is. At the end of the book description you say it's "An absurd children's book for adult's..." [sic] but some of the reviews are ca..."

Ya, true. I have made it a little clearer but the thing is, it is for adults and children.

Can you get a friend to answer it for you? (like people answer questions on a product in amazon) Not sure if this is possible, but you could just have someone pop in there, "I read the book and it isn't porny at all," and just end with that. Just a thought.