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When An Author Has Gone Too Far – Do Authors Have a Right to Call Out/Attack Reviewers for Negative Reviews? | Let’s Talk Bookish #4

Ruqs

Hey everyone, welcome back to another post participating in the Let’s Talk Bookish meme hosted by JR at Eternity Books. Today’s is about whether it’s okay for authors to respond harshly to negative reviews about their books. Surprisingly, I actually have mixed views on this one.

Sometimes when I read negative book reviews, I think they go a bit too far and are speaking harshly and even rudely towards the authors. Sometimes I think book reviewers forget how much love, work and dedication a book takes, and how it’s actually really hard to write one (as a writer for several years now, this is something I know first-hand!).

So even though a new author may be unable to write a book as good as some of your favourites such as The Hunger Games or Divergent or whatever else it may be, I think they should still be given some credit and respect for at least trying. Amazing authors aren’t born over night, they happen over a long period of trying – their first books aren’t going to be amazing, and that is to be expected. It’s only natural.

It’s always important to mention in a book you dislike that this “personally just didn’t work for you”. It’s really not nice to go around calling books “terrible”, implying that no one could like them. Everyone is different and everyone has different opinions, and when I read some negative reviews I feel like the reviewer fails to acknowledge this. It also sometimes conveys a sense of arrogance – like the reviewer thinks their opinion is more important than everyone else’s and that this book can be nothing but “terrible”.

In these cases, I think it is fitting for both the author and other reviewers even, to call out the reviewer who wrote the review and just remind them to be respectful. I think it would then be even more fitting if the reviewer then realised their mistake and apologised to the author.

Otherwise, I do realise that there are some cases where the author is the one who is just being plain rude in circumstances where that is completely uncalled for, and of course that is just completely unacceptable.

So these are my thoughts! What are yours? 🙂

Published by Ruqs

Hi there! I'm a teenage blogger obsessed with reading books and writing books (not that I've successfully managed to write a whole book so far, but... I'm getting there!). Ever since I discovered blogging existed, I've wanted to do it, but for some reason, I only just started my blog in October 2017... and and am now officially in love with it!

16 thoughts on “When An Author Has Gone Too Far – Do Authors Have a Right to Call Out/Attack Reviewers for Negative Reviews? | Let’s Talk Bookish #4”

  1. Pingback: Let’s Talk Bookish – When An Author Has Gone Too Far – Eternity Books

  2. I agree with you! We should always respect the author and his work. And they should respect the reader’s opinion too. The only time I really went mad is when the author had left so many inconsistencies and mistakes that it was just disrespectful for the reader.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I totally agree with everything you said! Sometimes, reviewers are just plain disrespectful and other times the author is wayyy out of hand. I love seeing positive interactions between an author and readers, but sadly sometimes it doesn’t go that way.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I agree with all your points! Reviewers sometimes tend to forget that author is a person with feelings who has spent so much time and effort writing a book. But then some authors take it a bit too far and they are also at fault, so it’s kind of a tricky situation that you have to be careful about.

    Great post and thanks for taking part again ❤

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Great point you’re making here! I wrote about freedom of speech and constructive criticism, so advocating the other side, but you’re totally right and I hadn’t thought of it this way! It’s super true, reviewers should always mention that it’s solely their personal opinion and should definitely not talk books down in order to prevent people from reading them! And yes, I also believe that every author should be given credit for actually being able to finish a book and get it published!
    However, I also feel like authors shouldn’t publicly call out reviewers (they should if the reviewer was rude!!), but not only for displaying their personal opinion in a business-like way!
    Awesome points!!!! Happy reading!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Thank you! Aw yes, I’ve been so horrendously behind on blogging and reading posts just with school starting and everything, but do know I intend to get to yours 🙂 Yes I agree with what you’re saying! Thank you! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Totally! I always try to focus on the positives in my book reviews – and not make a huge fuss about the negatives, just mention them gently as my personal opinion – as an author myself, I appreciate just how much work goes into writing a book, and know how hard it would be to have people be cruel about my precious stories!
    There’s constructive criticism – and then there’s just being plain mean!

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  15. Well said Ruqs. There is unfortunately a breakdown in civility these days. Offering an honest review is important and can even be useful to an author seeking to improve their writing, but it must be done respectfully and in a constructive manner for it to be helpful. Everyone these days are so quick to call out what they deem to be inappropriate but hardly take any look at their own behaviours or intentions. Authors and reviewers alike should maintain a certain level of professionalism and civility in their interactions.

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