Urban Fantasy series' discussion

For everyone out there who review the books they read, bloggers and goodreads reviewers alike, have you ever written a review and posted it on a social media website and then had an author respond to it? I recently saw a review that Karen Chance, who is a bestselling author, decided to argue with and I was a little shocked (I've pasted the link below). So, just curious, has anyone else had this happen?

http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/201...

(Make sure to read the comments)

I know you're asking about people who have posted reviews, but as an author that's been reviewed, I did my research before putting my books out into the world. There's a clear consensus that authors have to keep their opinions to their selves when it comes to reviews.

Arguing with reviewers is a quick way to piss off readers (which seems to be what's happening to Karen Chance) and that goes double when the reviewer in question actually liked the book and gave it a high score.

Furthermore, Fangs for the Fantasy pretty much doesn't let any social justice weakness in a text slip by in their reviews. It's one of the reasons their reviews are so good. It seems pointless to be cranky the reviewers did exactly what they set out to do.

I was a bit surprised and I don't understand why authors are doing this. I understand the inexplicable urge to defend something you put time and effort in but in the end it's counterproductive to call out the reviewer on his/her opinions. Opinions are ultimately subjective. Those authors are shooting in their own foot. Honestly if I see an author badly behaving towards readers & reviewers I will think twice before reading the author's books. I've been giving negative ratings/reviews to books from authors I really like just because I was disappointed in that particular book. So why are authors getting so defensive when they notice one single negative review. Why can't they take criticism with style? I know it's hard but I have more respect for an author who accepts criticism with flair and eventually takes that criticism to improve their future works, because that's how reviews & criticism works, than an author who accuses and calls out a reviewer. But in this case why the author should feel the need to start an argument on a four star review is beyond me. I agree with Anna concerning the Fangs of fantasy reviews. They are to the point and useful.

I admit I do appreciate interactions with an author I like but there are other social networks to do that. Besides most authors have blogs and facebook pages where they can freely communicate with their fan base.

I think I'm gonna disagree with everyone else here (with the caveat that I am an author). I will say that it is a bad idea to get defensive with criticism, but anyone who posts something publically is open to feedback, both author and reviewer. There's nothing wrong with a conversation.

I don't know who Karen Chance is, but I read the linked response as well as the original review.

1) Karen didn't ask for the review to be changed. She certainly didn't complain about the 4 star rating. In fact, she thanked the reviewer first thing.

2) She's not responding to a book review as much as she is responding to an allegation that she may be racist and homophobic, or at the very least that she failed to properly advocate for these people.

Personally, Fangs is making some pretty dumb assumptions. They state that all book characters are white unless specifically mentioned otherwise. I am sorry to say, but that's ridiculous. A white person might default a 'blank' character in their mind to being white, but a black person might default them to black.

Secondly, Fangs is using the fact that there are no LGBT characters as a black mark. Again, kinda dumb. If it's not applicable, what is the author supposed to do? ("The soldier drew his sword as the arrow ripped through his neck. The steel clattered on the floor. The man gurgled on his own blood, then collapsed on the floor. By the way, he was gay.")

In the end, I don't think she did anything wrong. Her tone was polite and she felt the need to clarify that she was sympathetic to hot-button political issues.

EDIT: I will add, though, that I just read all the comments on that page. I think both the author and reviewer aren't doing themselves any favors in the discourse! It's hard to keep things civil and not get defensive, which is why it's usually a good idea for authors to avoid responding altogether.

As an author, the only way to avoid criticism is never to write anything.

With that in mind, there's simply no point in responding to negative reviews. You aren't going to change the reviewer's mind, and other readers will think you thin-skinned or self-important. If someone's posted something on your website and addressed you directly, then by all means respond. But trying to police reviews of your work is pointless. Even the highest-rated books have *some* bad reviews.

I've never read any of Karen Chance's books, but I can understand, to some extent, why she chose to respond. To be accused of bigotry, even if only by implication, is not a pleasant thing; but nobody emerges with much credit from the argument that followed, least of all Ms. Chance.

If writers continually pander to what they believe is expected of them, or tailor their books to rebut criticisms of earlier work, then the standard of their writing will drop. Diversity is to be encouraged, but writers who shoehorn in minority characters for no other reason than to "fill a quota" will be accused of tokenism, and rightly so.

You'll never please everyone, that's for sure. Criticism is inevitable, so all you can do is be prepared for it and let it pass.

Good post, Nick. It seems we agree, but I think you put things more eloquently than I did.

Domino wrote: "Good post, Nick. It seems we agree, but I think you put things more eloquently than I did."

Cheers dude. It's an interesting debate, and one that comes up time and again. But in all the cases I've seen where an author has challenged a bad review of one of their books, they've always ended up looking the worse for it. However teeth-grindingly frustrating it may be to ignore criticism, a dignified silence seems to be the best option.

I agree.., I think she did more damage than good and the reviewers still think she's a racist.

JP wrote: "I agree.., I think she did more damage than good and the reviewers still think she's a racist."

That's exactly it. I think that most people reading the original review would have the reaction of "Well that's the reviewer's opinion, but I'm inclined to give Karen Chance the benefit of the doubt; if I read the book I'll make up my own mind". On reading her comments, though, they would be likely to decide that a) the reviewer was correct, and b) that they now won't bother to read any of Karen Chance's books.

All she succeeded in doing was entrenching the reviewer's opinion of her (I doubt she'll ever get a positive review from that website again) and alienating others who read her subsequent comments. In PR terms it was a spectacular own goal.

It seems like Fangs for the Fantasy has a pro-diversity mission that leads it to ask questions about who is and isn't represented in books. It asks these questions to make us think about issues we might otherwise not notice. I think it's a valid angle for the reviewer to take.

I have read and enjoyed Karen Chance's books even though they are as much PR as UF (or PR with a good plot), but she are not particularly good about representing a diverse population in her works. When people ask me for books with AA or minority protagonists, I never think of her books, nor does she come to mind when people ask for LGBT friendly books. I don't think it was purposefully that way, but it is true all the same. I'm still going to read the books, but it is a weakness.

On the broader issue, I agree that authors are better off not responding to reviews in this way. Instead, they may think about whether or not they want to address these issues in future books. They will ultimately use their professional judgement in deciding whether or not they want to make changes based on any review.

Feral wrote: "It seems like Fangs for the Fantasy has a pro-diversity mission that leads it to ask questions about who is and isn't represented in books. It asks these questions to make us think about issues we ..."

The unfortunate thing is that the review was almost entirely positive aside from the observations on diversity, and even those weren't in any way scathing. As you say, the website's mission is to look at books from a pro-diversity viewpoint so it would have been odd if they *hadn't* looked at that aspect of the book. The right response would, I think, have been to say to herself "I don't agree with those comments but hey, the book got a 4/5 rating so it's no big deal".

Regarding making changes based on reviews, I think that can be something of a slippery slope. Criticism is inevitable whatever you write, so my feeling tends to be that you should write what you want as you can't please everyone. If, for example, Karen Chance crams her next book with minority characters to answer the criticisms regarding diversity, she'll almost certainly be accused of tokenism.

I always want to apologize when I get a bad review, but the consensus is not to comment at all.

Don't. Ever. Respond. :-)
Neither side comes out with any points.

But I wonder what the conversation would have looked like if Chance had posted her response on her blog?

I agree with the don't respond or give a generic ' thanks for your opinion', but I have never figured out why everyone has to write PC. I'm not LGBT, so when I write, my main characters are generally going to be straight for the same reason they will be female--it's what I know. If 90% of the people I know WELL are a. White, b. Straight, c. Christian, and we are CONSTANTLY taught to "write what you know", wth are we supposed to do? Fake it? Then we get lambasted for writing bad characters.

Note: I have family and friends who are gay/lesbian/bi, at least one friend who enjoys cross-dressing for more than cosplay, friends and family both who are multi-cultural (tho' majority is Anglo-Saxon, I grant), and a wheelhouse of religious background from pagan through Buddhist, Muslim through Catholic. I've read the bible through, read some of the Torah and Koran (translated), and read mythology from around the world since I was in grade school. I still am not going to write a gay male character from the inside with any verisimilitude, because I am NOT a gay male. My bestie isn't and has never been a gay male, so I don't have that close a reference either. When I write about a gay male, it has to be observational, because that's what I know.

I DO have a bi bestie, which is close, but she can't give me the male perspective.

I've got a quite a few responses from simple retweets/tweet back, comments, and so on. I'm even in an acknowledgment section in someone's book! (Which was awesome.)

It's been fun and nice with most of the authors. I've had a few negative responses, but overall everyone has been nice.

I do feel sorry for Chance on this one. She seems to have fallen victim to the reviewers' particular prejudices - they were only seeing what they wanted to see, and weren't considering the setting of the book. Classic unfair review - but with the added poison that she's essentially being accused of being racist and homophobic, which are two of the worst things you can say about someone.

So, I'm not surprised that she responded to try to set the record straight. If someone called me racist and homophobic in public, I'd find it hard to keep quiet - I think most people would.

However, I think as an author, there's never a good way to respond to a review, however unfair it is, and whatever accusations the reviewer makes about you personally. As has happened to pretty much every author who tried to do the same thing in the past, the author gets savaged (sometimes justifiably!) and the whole thing just gets even more publicity.

There's a lot to be said for just letting things die a natural death; responding only serves to keep the issue going and ensure it reaches even more people - which is the exact opposite of what you want. Or, if it really is having an impact on your sales/life/etc, then get a lawyer.

I've never had an author respond to any of my reviews, but my husband has - and that didn't reflect well on the author either.