So, if you follow the news in the blogging community, you’ve probably heard about the heated posts and comments flying between author Sylvia Massara and the bloggers over at The Book Binge. If not, here’s a quick recap.
Rowena from The Book Binge posted a negative review of Messara’s work, prompting some heated debate in the comments section. An anonymous commenter, who many have speculated is actually the author, became particularly annoyed. Messara then wrote a piece entitled "Authors Beware of Unprofessional Reviewers" on her blog Authors Helping Authors. This post calls The Book Binge review unprofessional and trashy. (If you read Anon’s comments and then the author’s angry post, I think it’s pretty obvious that it’s the same person.) The Book Binge responded with the tongue-in-cheek post "Readers Beware of Unprofessional Authors."
In my opinion, Messara’s allegations about the The Book Binge being unprofessional are unfounded. She approached them about reviewing her work and was unhappy with Rowena’s opinion. But that’s all it is – an opinion. One reader’s opinion. I think this post by The Book Pushers summed it up pretty well. It all comes down to this: not everyone is going to like your book. The criticism may be painful, but authors always come off looking like fools when they try to argue with negative reviews. I really like the way author Ilona Andrews put it into words in her post "Yet More About Reviews." Her advice to authors? Say nothing. Well said, Ms. Andrews.
Update: Messara has since scrubbed her post of references to specific blogs. She did, however, leave in my favorite part which says, "Oftentimes, the people who set up these kinds of blogs have never written a thing in their lives, except maybe a grocery list." (WTF? Lol.) But thanks to the ladies at Book Lovers Inc., the original post is still up for all to see, illustrating the life lesson that once something is on the Internet, it never goes away. Ever.
Lesley's Reading Heaven 