Hi guys!
I need to take a moment to say my peace about something I learned today. I write reviews when I get a moment and I am a published author. I also work a day job and spend time with my family. With that said I am behind in news. I am sure some of you already know where I am heading. The whole brew ha ha at Decadent.
Let me say this first. My opinion is my opinion. If I didn't like your work and I state reasons why I didn't like it, don't trash me. Its my OPINION. I am allowed to dislike things, I am allowed to like things.
As I was writing this afternoon, I got a phone call from my editor, informing me to be careful. She knew I reviewed books and was concerned for me. I appreciate her calling me and explaining the situation and I appreciate her honesty in this situation.
Her character, her editing abilities and her person came into question after a review was posted on her site. You see an author whose name I will not mention here because she has gotten too much publicity as it is, didn't like her review. Poor thing. Instead of taking the constructive criticism in the review to heart and using it the next time she penned a story, she went diva.
She kicked , screamed , holler and threatened. It didn't stop there. She brought in her publisher, who IMHO handled it all wrong. Instead of telling their author to slow her roll, and just take it as a lump in the road...to move on, they added to it. They went on a spree of lying, threatening and yelling just as much as the author, if not more so. They gave out information about the person/people reviewing the authors book. Then lied again, saying no we didn't. I think its because they knew they were breaking the privacy agreement we all know each site has. Thanks Decadent Publishing, for abusing our trust.
As to my editor...she is one of the reviewers for the site in question. I must say if this particular author would have actually done any editing of her story or stuck with Eirelander Publishing to begin with, she would had a wonderful story. You are not perfect, your story is not perfect. It needs editing, it needs tweaking and changing. If you are not willing to do the work to make your story worth its weight in gold, then this is not a profession for you. I write because I want to. I do it because it's fun. I don't do it for the money or the fame. As a new author I am still learning. When I see a debut story from an author-see them trash a review, it shows a total disrespect of everyone concerned.
Be grateful you have the opportunity to share your work and stop being a whinny brat because you got less than a glowing review. Shame on your publisher too. How dare you as a newbie in the game of publishing come out and pull this stunt. If your company is still here by April, I will be surprised. Your lack of ethics, decorum, respect, education and responsibility is your downfall. Instead of stepping back and letting everything lie, you perpetuated a child's tantrum.
As I close I want to direct you all to the FTC statement that has been on my site. I either am given a copy of a book to read or buy them myself. I use my real name in buying them and hope my privacy is always kept. I will be posting a review soon of a book I just read and I hope the author enjoys it.
Until then, see ya peeps!
Ash.