Yes, there really is a Goodreads profile* with 14,495 ratings... and all 1-star!

This curious state of affairs was spotted by a vigilant author who was disturbed to receive a 1-star rating when all of her others were much higher.

I have to admit, this would probably have passed me by. I get quite a few 1-star ratings, especially from readers who object to the present tense!

And, actually, there is a certain masochistic frisson in reading a hostile review.

Of course, it’s a great honour when a reader takes the trouble to write a glowing tribute – it’s what keeps you going when you get stuck with 20,000 words still to go, or find a gaping plot-hole with no apparent way of filling it. Positive reviews provide momentum.

But critical reviews provide direction. Following a couple of stinkers, I completely rewrote the first Skelgill novel. I thought the reviewers had a fair point. (And now it gets much better reviews on average.)

And at a lesser level, minor complaints and gripes help to smooth the rough edges. As a result, although my characters cuss and canoodle when the moment is right, virtually none of this happens in public, where it might cause offence.

As for the prolific (and anonymous) 1-star rater on Goodreads, there has been speculation that this can’t possibly be a real person – it must be a robot that is up to some online trickery.

But maybe it really is just another masochistic aspect of literature, this time on behalf of a reader?

* read more on this thread – you can find the phantom profile with a bit of sleuthing: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...