The Author’s People – Part 3

So it seems that we’re getting ready to say goodbye to the year of the wood sheep (the ram? the goat? can anyone actually tell me which one it is?) and say hello to the year of the red monkey. Unfortunately, at the “ripe old” age of forty-something, I’m finally starting to lose faith in horoscopes and astrological projections and year-of-the-anythings. You see, I read somewhere that 2015 was supposed to bring about large scale humanitarianism and an increase in overall kindness as we all basked in the warm glow of a year brimming in forgiveness and reconciliation. What do you think? Was 2015 all it was trumped up to be? I’m not convinced. Blame it on Tumblr and Facebook and the news in general, but I’ve seen a whole hell of a lot of negativity, destruction, and apathy this past year. Of course, that’s not going to stop me from hoping for the best in 2016. It sounds kind of cheery. Playful, at the very least. How could a little red monkey be anything but, am I right?

Before I get too far off topic, though, I should get to my point. For the last few months I’ve been wading through the topic of “The Author’s People”, and I’ve touched on quite a few so far: the Publisher, the Editor(s), Beta Readers, Cover Artists, and now (after a short break in December), I’ve finally come back to the concept to talk about Blog Sites and Reviewers.

But let me back up just a step or two to explain what’s going on in case you’ve stopped in for the first time. I get a lot of questions on social media about writing. How to, what to, where to; that kind of thing. I think that’s great. I love sharing the little bit of know-how that I have (it is limited, trust me) and I truly believe that helping one another is the only way to stave off some of the anxiety a new writer feels as they put those first few steps forward. I’m not an expert, but I’m also not a hoarder of information in the hopes to gain some kind of advantage. I don’t look at writing as a competition. There’s lots of room on the writing platform for all of us. So if you do have a question you’d like me to pick up on at a later date, by all means feel free to send it my way. You can catch me on all kinds of social media, or feel free to leave it here in the comment area.

Aaaanywaaay… as I’ve wandered yet again… this series of posts is meant as an introduction to the who’s who in an author’s life and what to expect from these whos. In other words, not just who these people are, but how these people help and what an author should be able to expect from their involvement. So. Blog sites and reviewers…

This particular post couldn’t have come at a better time. Not too many days ago I was messaged by an associate of mine who was having some issues with aggressive comments on a review they’d posted. This wasn’t the first time they’d had problems and I got the impression that they were full up to here (this is where I tap my forehead at the hairline) with the B.S. Now, I don’t run a blog site that does reviews and the only reviews I do myself are the ones I put up on Goodreads, so I can’t really relate to how a person feels when their opinion on a novel gets trashed or ridiculed. I can, however, broach the subject of what an author should expect from these extremely important people in our lives.

Reviewers

There is one thing and one thing only that an author should expect from a reviewer – an honest review – and that means whether the reviewer received the book as a gift from the author/publisher or whether the reviewer bought their own copy. That review might only be three words: I hated it. That review could end up being nothing but a dismal one-star with a note alongside it saying they would have preferred to give zero stars if they could have.

A reviewer is not obligated to like your novel, nor are they obligated to curtail their opinion if they didn’t like it. I once heard an author say that if somebody doesn’t have something nice to say, they shouldn’t say anything at all. Well, that’s not how this works. This isn’t Kindergarten and an author doesn’t automatically deserve an A+ just for their efforts. If a reviewer wishes to give an author a one-star review and the aforementioned three words of doom, that is their unquestionable right. They are not obligated to tell the author why (although it’s great it they do), or offer up constructive criticism as to how best to go about correcting the issues that made them dislike the novel in the first place. That is not a reviewer’s responsibility if that reviewer doesn’t want to make it so.

Does it hurt? Of course it does. Does it suck? Hell, yes. But there isn’t an author out there who doesn’t have at least one one-star review, or a DNF, or a review that’s the literary equivalent of tearing the pages of the book out one by one and setting them on fire. If, as an author, you don’t like negative reviews I offer you this bit of advise: Don’t read them.

Write because you love to write, publish because you want to share your words, but don’t expect everyone that reads the words to love them. Or even like them. A review is an opinion and everyone is entitled to one.

Hope for the best from your reviewers, be grateful for every purchase and every positive word, but do not expect them to be gentle with you. A reviewer owes an author nothing.

Blog Sites

Okay (imagine an author jumping into the post at this point), I can see your point with reviewers, Henley. But blog sites are different. I’m doing a giveaway! I’ve given them a copy of my novel, so they didn’t even have to buy it! I’m even writing up a post for this! All this stuff is going to garner them views and maybe even new followers! I’ve given them my time and my work. They damn well owe—

*holds up one hand, policeman-style*

Nope. No, they sure don’t.

Okay, in all truth there are a couple of things an author should/can expect from a blog site. If, for example, you have agreed to do some kind of promotional event on their site, you can expect to have your post released on the agreed upon date. You can expect them to fulfill any details on your *contractual agreement* (and I star this to make a point, as there is a big difference between a contractual arrangement and a favour). You can expect them to treat their followers with respect, as by doing so it makes you look respectful as well.

Does that mean if they accidentally overlook your post, or your advertisement, or your review, that the author should lose their mind and start freaking out? No. The owners of these sites have lives beyond the electronic pages of their blogs. Your novel is important to you, but their kid’s recital (or spelling bee, or soccer game) or their first date with the person they’ve been trying to get to know for the last year or that sudden, unexpected, but oh-so-very-necessary job interview they finally got is important to them. Mistakes are infrequent but occasionally unavoidable. Contractual agreement or not, they’re just people too. It most definitely does not mean they have to turn around and give you a good review. As an author you can hope that if a review site doesn’t like your book they don’t turn around and publish a bad review alongside your blog tour post. But you really can’t expect that either. It’s their site to do what they choose to do with it. Don’t sick your street team on them. Don’t put up a post telling your followers/readers to “get them.” That just makes the author look unprofessional and bitter.

So there we are – what to expect from reviewers and blog sites as an author. Oddly enough, there have been more “actually, you don’t get to expect anything from <insert title here>” than I expected there would be when I first started on this series. That being said, I can assure you that next month’s post is going to be positively fraught with expectations. 😉

What do you think? As a reviewer, as a reader, as a follower of one of the blog sites, do you have an opinion on expectations? I’d love to read it and chat about it with you so please, be sure to leave your comment and share it with me.

Until next time,

AF Henley <3

Henley was born with a full-blown passion for run-on sentences, a zealous indulgence in all words descriptive, and the endearing tendency to overuse punctuation. Since the early years Henley has been an enthusiastic writer, from the first few I-love-my-dog stories to the current leap into erotica. A self-professed Google genius, Henley lives for the hours spent digging through the Internet for ‘research purposes’ which, more often than not, lead seven thousand miles away from first intentions but bring Henley to new discoveries and ideas that, once seeded, tend to flourish.

Henley has been proudly publishing with Less Than Three Press since 2012, and has been writing like mad ever since—an indentured servant to the belief that romance and true love can mend the most broken soul. Even when presented in prose.

Henley’s newest release, Wolf, WY hit the market on October 21st and is now available for pre-order at your favourite online book retailer. Check it out on Amazon, or directly through LT3 Press.

For more information please stop by for a visit at afhenley.com.