![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Read an interesting article at lunch time on NY Times - How Review Bombing Can Tank a Novel Before It's Published
It's mainly about the Reviews on Good Reads, although it also discusses Amazon reviews. (Now that Amazon owns Good Reads, I'm not certain there's much difference, if there ever was?)
I'm not positive - but I think this was the situation that Joyce Carol Oates was complaining about on Twitter several weeks back. She was annoyed that Elizabeth Gilbert pulled back the release date of a book - because nitwits on Good Reads were reviewing it before it had actually been released. And I remember thinking, WTF?
Cecilia Rabess figured her debut novel, “Everything’s Fine,” would spark criticism: The story centers on a young Black woman working at Goldman Sachs who falls in love with a conservative white co-worker with bigoted views.
Listen to This Article
But she didn’t expect a backlash to strike six months before the book was published.
In January, after a Goodreads user who had received an advanced copy posted a plot summary that went viral on Twitter, the review site was flooded with negative comments and one-star reviews, with many calling the book anti-Black and racist. Some of the comments were left by users who said they had never read the book, but objected to its premise.
“It may look like a bunch of one-star reviews on Goodreads, but these are broader campaigns of harassment,” Rabess said. “People were very keen not just to attack the work, but to attack me as well.”
In an era when reaching readers online has become a near-existential problem for publishers, Goodreads has become an essential avenue for building an audience. As a cross between a social media platform and a review site like Yelp, the site has been a boon for publishers hoping to generate excitement for books.
But the same features that get users talking about books and authors can also backfire. Reviews can be weaponized, in some cases derailing a book’s publication long before its release.
“It can be incredibly hurtful, and it’s frustrating that people are allowed to review books this way if they haven’t read them,” said Roxane Gay, an author and editor who also posts reviews on Goodreads. “Worse, they’re allowed to review books that haven’t even been written. I have books on there being reviewed that I’m not finished with yet.”
Rabess, who quit her job as a data scientist at Google to focus on writing after selling her novel to Simon & Schuster, worried that the online ambush might turn people against her book.
“I was concerned about the risk of contagion and that readers and reviewers would dismiss the work without ever really engaging with it,’ she said. “I felt particularly vulnerable as a debut author, but also as a Black woman author.”
Despite some accolades — her novel landed on some “most anticipated” books of the summer lists and was a Good Morning America “buzz pick” — it had a sluggish start. After its June 6 release, the book sold 1,000 hardcover copies in its first 10 days, according to Circana BookScan.
Established authors have also been subjected to review bombing campaigns. Earlier this month, Elizabeth Gilbert, the best-selling writer of “Eat, Pray, Love,” received hundreds of negative ratings on Goodreads for her forthcoming novel, “The Snow Forest,” which is set in Siberia in the mid-20th century. In her case, reviewers weren’t attacking the book itself, or even the premise — a Russian family seeking refuge from Soviet oppression in the wilderness. Critics objected to the fact that Gilbert had set the book in Russia while Russia is waging war on Ukraine, and lambasted Gilbert as insensitive to the plight of Ukrainians.
Gilbert’s response stunned the literary world: She swiftly responded to critics and announced that she was postponing her book, which was slated for publication in February from Riverhead. Riverhead hadn’t even printed advance review copies yet.
Gilbert wasn’t the first author to delay her novel when faced with a tsunami of criticism. The young adult authors Keira Drake and Amélie Wen Zhao postponed publication of their novels after facing criticism on Twitter and Goodreads that their depictions of fantasy worlds were racially insensitive. In 2019, the young adult novelist Kosoko Jackson canceled his debut novel, a love story between two teen boys set in the late 1990s during the Kosovo War, after drawing withering critiques on Goodreads.
The comments were interesting. Most were your run of the mill: author's shouldn't review their own books, I don't publish because of this nonsense, etc...
But this one kind of stood out. (I did not read more than ten of the comments - there's 965.)
My daughter self published her first novel, a murder-mystery, and has sold something like 2500 copies between online sales and sales through local shops. It's rated 4.2 on Goodreads and 4.5 on Amazon, with 90% of the reviews coming from people who do not know her and (based on comments) have actually read the book. She was a bit worried about angering someone with the story and possibly being cancelled. But the worry was small.
That is not the case for her second novel. Her second novel is an adventure fantasy that mashes up people and cultures and religions from all over the world. It's set in a landscape with animals that are clearly African. The core social units are tribes. And she's a privileged White girl. Let the alarm bells ring.
She's reached out to all manner of social influencers and self appointed and academically anointed experts who opine on issues related to race and culture, from TikTokkers to professors of anthropology. Some are people who have publicly said, "ask me, I'll tell you if you're ok." She's reached out to hundreds (yes, really). Those few who have responded have basically said, "Good luck." No one wants to venture an opinion that might get them cancelled.
This second book is fantastic. It's deeply original and honors the spirit of life. She's done the best she can to address sensitivities but she will not be able to control how the book is perceived once it's published. The comments will come, like them or not.
What I found interesting about this comment and most of the others is the growing irritation, ambivalence and exhaustion most people feel towards "cancel culture". They are tired of being afraid to publish their art for fear of being "cancelled".
[I apparently can't discuss this topic without going into lecture mode, so will refrain.]
ETA: Will state - that there are a few rules regarding reviewing, critiquing and writing that should be adhered to:
* Don't read reviews. Or discussions of your book in others spaces that aren't your own. And do not hunt them down. Ignore all reviews.
* Do not send reviews or criticism to a writer (fanfic, traditionally or non-traditionally published) unless they request it. Also once a work is published and out there? They really don't care about your critique. The time for critiquing is over. Do not send them this information - it's rude.
* This does not mean that you shouldn't leave a review of the work, or review it, or even critique or discuss it in your own space - but don't do it in theirs. Or tag them on social media alerting them to it.
* Remember it's all subjective. There's always going to be someone out there who hates what you wrote, and someone who loves it, and someone who is ambivalent. Do not take it personally. Their review is ultimately about them not your work, and their experience or perception of it. Reviews and discussions are in a way a compliment - it means your work played enough with their heads to inspire comment for good or ill.
2. It's hot down south, so sending cool thoughts to the folks who live in the Southern United States, where the temperatures have been in the mid 100s for the past several weeks now. Note 111 degrees in New Orleans is the equivalent of 100 degrees C in London, by heat index. There are areas in Arizona and Texas that are hotter than Death Valley.
The heat index measures not just temperature, but how hot it really feels outside by taking into account humidity as well. (Heat index forecasts are typically accurate for the next day, but become less reliable as they project further into the future.) If you’re in any of these major cities, here’s what you can expect:
* In Houston, the index is forecast to peak at 111 degrees this week before falling to 106 by Sunday. [ Youngest Aunt kept cool on a Bike Ride in Dallas, TX - by soaking a shirt and wetting her hair.]
* In New Orleans, the heat index will hit 111 degrees today, climb to 115 by Thursday and remain above 110 for the week.
* Jacksonville, Fla., will peak at 106 degrees today on the index and gradually climb until it hits 109 this weekend.
* In Bakersfield, Calif., the heat index will climb above 100 on Friday.
When the index measures anywhere from 103 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit, experts label it as dangerous heat. Such temperatures carry a higher risk for cramps and exhaustion as well as heat stroke, particularly after exercise or long stretches in the sun.
The heat has already resulted in tragedies. On Saturday, a 14-year-old hiker fell ill and died at Big Bend National Park in Texas as temperatures reached 119 degrees Fahrenheit. His 31-year-old stepfather crashed his car and died while seeking help.
The two may not have been the only heat-related deaths in Texas last week, my colleagues Jacey Fortin and Mary Beth Gahan reported. In Dallas, a postal worker collapsed and died while on his route during an excessive heat warning. Officials are investigating whether the heat was a cause.
A hotter normal
This week’s heat is likely just the beginning. Meteorologists predicted a hotter-than-normal summer this year, particularly in the West, Southwest, South, and Northeast. El Niño, a Pacific weather pattern, could send global temperatures even higher.
Climate change is one reason for the rising heat. Summer temperatures have steadily increased over the past three decades. A warming climate will push those temperatures higher, resulting in more and worse heat waves, wildfires and other extreme weather.
It is too late to reverse those trends for the current and next few summers, but you can take steps to protect yourself. For one, watch for dangerous heat in your area and respond accordingly: Stay inside, drink enough water and avoid direct sunlight or outdoor exercise.
Here's a cool Interactive Heat Tracker
No complaints, NYC is wonderfully mild and in the 70s and 80s. Texas is boiling as is most of Florida, and I'm reminded of why I don't live in Kansas any longer. Although the middle of the country is mild in comparison to the South.
3. Making my way through the Moonlighting Oral History - which is kind of boring, however - it does remind me of how good a lot of the 1980s television series were - and how 90% of them most likely would not hold up today. They don't date well.
Moonlighting certainly doesn't date well. It aired during the platonic romantic detective duo - who flirted but never quite consummated until the series ended. Mainly because the idiotic male show-runners didn't know how to write a successful romantic relationship. It can be done. Mad About You managed it, as did The Thin Man, with Nick and Nora Charles. Also, I Love Lucy, and various others over time. If they can't pull it off - it's a failing in the writers, not the audience or show.
Also Moonlighting didn't end because of that. It ended because Bruce Willis' movie career took off, and Cybil Shepard didn't get along with half the cast. (I don't think that's in the oral history - but it is more or less common knowledge.) Also, it had a lot of dialogue, and the writers burned out.
They can't effectively rerun it - for the same reasons daytime soaps can't be rerun - they don't own the music rights. Moonlighting used a lot of pop music, and it's impossible to pull it out. Now, daytime soaps rarely use pop music or music, probably because they want to be able to rerun episodes. A lot of dramas on television are careful with music as well now, for much the same reasons.
4. Still in reading slump. I'm craving something. I do not know what it is.
I think I want an angsty fantasy romance...but can't find it. I could always just write it on my own. I often just do that.
Oh, speaking of writing, and criticism...someone left a rave review of a film review that I wrote on Ao3 - and had forgotten to take out of Ao3.
While rave reviews are appreciated? This one was...well, spam? It was left by someone applauding my "fanfiction" and how I'd managed to make the characters feel real and really got across the relationship of Charles and Magneto in X-Men First Class.
That's nice, except, it wasn't a fanfic, it was a film review of X-men First Class.
They then went on to tell me how they had a posting platform that could give my fanfiction the audience it truly deserved, and I could sell it and market it more broadly.
I wrote back that it was film review not fanfiction. And laughed at them.
Clearly a marketing bot.
But every time one of them reacts to a film review - Ao3 follows up about a month later with a request to remove the post, because it's not a "transformative" work. Ao3 apparently has a lot of issues with how they are monitoring their site. At any rate - I deleted it before they got the chance to ping it. No worries - it's on SquidgeWorld and buried somewhere in this archive.
It's mainly about the Reviews on Good Reads, although it also discusses Amazon reviews. (Now that Amazon owns Good Reads, I'm not certain there's much difference, if there ever was?)
I'm not positive - but I think this was the situation that Joyce Carol Oates was complaining about on Twitter several weeks back. She was annoyed that Elizabeth Gilbert pulled back the release date of a book - because nitwits on Good Reads were reviewing it before it had actually been released. And I remember thinking, WTF?
Cecilia Rabess figured her debut novel, “Everything’s Fine,” would spark criticism: The story centers on a young Black woman working at Goldman Sachs who falls in love with a conservative white co-worker with bigoted views.
Listen to This Article
But she didn’t expect a backlash to strike six months before the book was published.
In January, after a Goodreads user who had received an advanced copy posted a plot summary that went viral on Twitter, the review site was flooded with negative comments and one-star reviews, with many calling the book anti-Black and racist. Some of the comments were left by users who said they had never read the book, but objected to its premise.
“It may look like a bunch of one-star reviews on Goodreads, but these are broader campaigns of harassment,” Rabess said. “People were very keen not just to attack the work, but to attack me as well.”
In an era when reaching readers online has become a near-existential problem for publishers, Goodreads has become an essential avenue for building an audience. As a cross between a social media platform and a review site like Yelp, the site has been a boon for publishers hoping to generate excitement for books.
But the same features that get users talking about books and authors can also backfire. Reviews can be weaponized, in some cases derailing a book’s publication long before its release.
“It can be incredibly hurtful, and it’s frustrating that people are allowed to review books this way if they haven’t read them,” said Roxane Gay, an author and editor who also posts reviews on Goodreads. “Worse, they’re allowed to review books that haven’t even been written. I have books on there being reviewed that I’m not finished with yet.”
Rabess, who quit her job as a data scientist at Google to focus on writing after selling her novel to Simon & Schuster, worried that the online ambush might turn people against her book.
“I was concerned about the risk of contagion and that readers and reviewers would dismiss the work without ever really engaging with it,’ she said. “I felt particularly vulnerable as a debut author, but also as a Black woman author.”
Despite some accolades — her novel landed on some “most anticipated” books of the summer lists and was a Good Morning America “buzz pick” — it had a sluggish start. After its June 6 release, the book sold 1,000 hardcover copies in its first 10 days, according to Circana BookScan.
Established authors have also been subjected to review bombing campaigns. Earlier this month, Elizabeth Gilbert, the best-selling writer of “Eat, Pray, Love,” received hundreds of negative ratings on Goodreads for her forthcoming novel, “The Snow Forest,” which is set in Siberia in the mid-20th century. In her case, reviewers weren’t attacking the book itself, or even the premise — a Russian family seeking refuge from Soviet oppression in the wilderness. Critics objected to the fact that Gilbert had set the book in Russia while Russia is waging war on Ukraine, and lambasted Gilbert as insensitive to the plight of Ukrainians.
Gilbert’s response stunned the literary world: She swiftly responded to critics and announced that she was postponing her book, which was slated for publication in February from Riverhead. Riverhead hadn’t even printed advance review copies yet.
Gilbert wasn’t the first author to delay her novel when faced with a tsunami of criticism. The young adult authors Keira Drake and Amélie Wen Zhao postponed publication of their novels after facing criticism on Twitter and Goodreads that their depictions of fantasy worlds were racially insensitive. In 2019, the young adult novelist Kosoko Jackson canceled his debut novel, a love story between two teen boys set in the late 1990s during the Kosovo War, after drawing withering critiques on Goodreads.
The comments were interesting. Most were your run of the mill: author's shouldn't review their own books, I don't publish because of this nonsense, etc...
But this one kind of stood out. (I did not read more than ten of the comments - there's 965.)
My daughter self published her first novel, a murder-mystery, and has sold something like 2500 copies between online sales and sales through local shops. It's rated 4.2 on Goodreads and 4.5 on Amazon, with 90% of the reviews coming from people who do not know her and (based on comments) have actually read the book. She was a bit worried about angering someone with the story and possibly being cancelled. But the worry was small.
That is not the case for her second novel. Her second novel is an adventure fantasy that mashes up people and cultures and religions from all over the world. It's set in a landscape with animals that are clearly African. The core social units are tribes. And she's a privileged White girl. Let the alarm bells ring.
She's reached out to all manner of social influencers and self appointed and academically anointed experts who opine on issues related to race and culture, from TikTokkers to professors of anthropology. Some are people who have publicly said, "ask me, I'll tell you if you're ok." She's reached out to hundreds (yes, really). Those few who have responded have basically said, "Good luck." No one wants to venture an opinion that might get them cancelled.
This second book is fantastic. It's deeply original and honors the spirit of life. She's done the best she can to address sensitivities but she will not be able to control how the book is perceived once it's published. The comments will come, like them or not.
What I found interesting about this comment and most of the others is the growing irritation, ambivalence and exhaustion most people feel towards "cancel culture". They are tired of being afraid to publish their art for fear of being "cancelled".
[I apparently can't discuss this topic without going into lecture mode, so will refrain.]
ETA: Will state - that there are a few rules regarding reviewing, critiquing and writing that should be adhered to:
* Don't read reviews. Or discussions of your book in others spaces that aren't your own. And do not hunt them down. Ignore all reviews.
* Do not send reviews or criticism to a writer (fanfic, traditionally or non-traditionally published) unless they request it. Also once a work is published and out there? They really don't care about your critique. The time for critiquing is over. Do not send them this information - it's rude.
* This does not mean that you shouldn't leave a review of the work, or review it, or even critique or discuss it in your own space - but don't do it in theirs. Or tag them on social media alerting them to it.
* Remember it's all subjective. There's always going to be someone out there who hates what you wrote, and someone who loves it, and someone who is ambivalent. Do not take it personally. Their review is ultimately about them not your work, and their experience or perception of it. Reviews and discussions are in a way a compliment - it means your work played enough with their heads to inspire comment for good or ill.
2. It's hot down south, so sending cool thoughts to the folks who live in the Southern United States, where the temperatures have been in the mid 100s for the past several weeks now. Note 111 degrees in New Orleans is the equivalent of 100 degrees C in London, by heat index. There are areas in Arizona and Texas that are hotter than Death Valley.
The heat index measures not just temperature, but how hot it really feels outside by taking into account humidity as well. (Heat index forecasts are typically accurate for the next day, but become less reliable as they project further into the future.) If you’re in any of these major cities, here’s what you can expect:
* In Houston, the index is forecast to peak at 111 degrees this week before falling to 106 by Sunday. [ Youngest Aunt kept cool on a Bike Ride in Dallas, TX - by soaking a shirt and wetting her hair.]
* In New Orleans, the heat index will hit 111 degrees today, climb to 115 by Thursday and remain above 110 for the week.
* Jacksonville, Fla., will peak at 106 degrees today on the index and gradually climb until it hits 109 this weekend.
* In Bakersfield, Calif., the heat index will climb above 100 on Friday.
When the index measures anywhere from 103 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit, experts label it as dangerous heat. Such temperatures carry a higher risk for cramps and exhaustion as well as heat stroke, particularly after exercise or long stretches in the sun.
The heat has already resulted in tragedies. On Saturday, a 14-year-old hiker fell ill and died at Big Bend National Park in Texas as temperatures reached 119 degrees Fahrenheit. His 31-year-old stepfather crashed his car and died while seeking help.
The two may not have been the only heat-related deaths in Texas last week, my colleagues Jacey Fortin and Mary Beth Gahan reported. In Dallas, a postal worker collapsed and died while on his route during an excessive heat warning. Officials are investigating whether the heat was a cause.
A hotter normal
This week’s heat is likely just the beginning. Meteorologists predicted a hotter-than-normal summer this year, particularly in the West, Southwest, South, and Northeast. El Niño, a Pacific weather pattern, could send global temperatures even higher.
Climate change is one reason for the rising heat. Summer temperatures have steadily increased over the past three decades. A warming climate will push those temperatures higher, resulting in more and worse heat waves, wildfires and other extreme weather.
It is too late to reverse those trends for the current and next few summers, but you can take steps to protect yourself. For one, watch for dangerous heat in your area and respond accordingly: Stay inside, drink enough water and avoid direct sunlight or outdoor exercise.
Here's a cool Interactive Heat Tracker
No complaints, NYC is wonderfully mild and in the 70s and 80s. Texas is boiling as is most of Florida, and I'm reminded of why I don't live in Kansas any longer. Although the middle of the country is mild in comparison to the South.
3. Making my way through the Moonlighting Oral History - which is kind of boring, however - it does remind me of how good a lot of the 1980s television series were - and how 90% of them most likely would not hold up today. They don't date well.
Moonlighting certainly doesn't date well. It aired during the platonic romantic detective duo - who flirted but never quite consummated until the series ended. Mainly because the idiotic male show-runners didn't know how to write a successful romantic relationship. It can be done. Mad About You managed it, as did The Thin Man, with Nick and Nora Charles. Also, I Love Lucy, and various others over time. If they can't pull it off - it's a failing in the writers, not the audience or show.
Also Moonlighting didn't end because of that. It ended because Bruce Willis' movie career took off, and Cybil Shepard didn't get along with half the cast. (I don't think that's in the oral history - but it is more or less common knowledge.) Also, it had a lot of dialogue, and the writers burned out.
They can't effectively rerun it - for the same reasons daytime soaps can't be rerun - they don't own the music rights. Moonlighting used a lot of pop music, and it's impossible to pull it out. Now, daytime soaps rarely use pop music or music, probably because they want to be able to rerun episodes. A lot of dramas on television are careful with music as well now, for much the same reasons.
4. Still in reading slump. I'm craving something. I do not know what it is.
I think I want an angsty fantasy romance...but can't find it. I could always just write it on my own. I often just do that.
Oh, speaking of writing, and criticism...someone left a rave review of a film review that I wrote on Ao3 - and had forgotten to take out of Ao3.
While rave reviews are appreciated? This one was...well, spam? It was left by someone applauding my "fanfiction" and how I'd managed to make the characters feel real and really got across the relationship of Charles and Magneto in X-Men First Class.
That's nice, except, it wasn't a fanfic, it was a film review of X-men First Class.
They then went on to tell me how they had a posting platform that could give my fanfiction the audience it truly deserved, and I could sell it and market it more broadly.
I wrote back that it was film review not fanfiction. And laughed at them.
Clearly a marketing bot.
But every time one of them reacts to a film review - Ao3 follows up about a month later with a request to remove the post, because it's not a "transformative" work. Ao3 apparently has a lot of issues with how they are monitoring their site. At any rate - I deleted it before they got the chance to ping it. No worries - it's on SquidgeWorld and buried somewhere in this archive.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-29 01:27 am (UTC)A friend who wrote a series of books - recently asked folks to beta her work via FB. She sent her query letter and books to everyone who offered. Which was about 30 or more give or take. Of that group? Only one person, who taught creative writing for a living was willing to take a look at it. They only looked at the first three books.
And, from my own experience online? It's not always a good idea to ask folks you meet on social media to do it. My friend actually found a really good friend that she'd known for over twenty years to do it. So it wasn't some random person she met on social media. There's lots of risks involved. I did that. And it ...well, one person was kind of helpful. The other was not.
So, the poster's daughter may well have done just that. I think she's being honest, just possibly exaggerating a bit. It's painful creating a piece of work - and not being able to share it, and when you do having the internet rip it apart. And let's face it folks are hypocrites - if someone were to go to something they created and rip it apart, they'd be upset too. And it always happens to them. Always. The Universe likes to throw us on the opposite side of our own arguments constantly. It has a wicked sense of humor.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-29 01:36 pm (UTC)What seems much more likely to me is that she was asking strangers to do a great deal of work for free. If she legitimately reached out to hundreds (yes, really) people, there's no way that she was using her networks of people that she knows. It takes hours or even days to read and respond to someone's work, and on top of that, you know in advance that the feedback you'll provide will be about emotionally sensitive topics that the author might be quite defensive about.
To be honest, I see red flags in her mother's description of her book. Nothing about the daughter herself, but it seems like the potential issues will be baked pretty deeply into the entire premise, which is another reason to give it a pass: It's not like saying "Oh, this is an Igbo name, but your character is Yoruba," but something that might require the author to make substantial changes to address.
It's painful creating a piece of work - and not being able to share it, and when you do having the internet rip it apart.
Sure. It can also be difficult to find a sensitivity reader if you're not able or willing to pay for it. I just do not think that this description of even sensitivity readers being afraid to read because of cancel culture is in good faith.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-30 02:40 am (UTC)I don't know. There's 965 comments to that article. This was just one of them.
It's more than likely a rant - or venting by a very frustrated parent. The comment is by the mother, not the writer. So it's not a frustrated writer venting, it's a frustrated parent venting about her daughter's work. From her perspective - she's arguing in good faith, I think. But she's upset. And it is a rant. Do you argue in good faith while ranting? I don't. I have a tendency to exaggerate at times. But I don't think that at the time.