aprilhenry

I've already promised myself I will never respond to a negative review. If I ever get published, that is. ;)

Seriously though, it's such a bad idea. It never ends well for the author.

It can never end well. The best you can hope for is neutral.

OMG there is just so much I want to write here...you cannot imagine.

Ooh, I wish you would. Can you friend lock a reply? Probably not.

Unfortunately, no. :)

There is no way an author can come out of this sort of thing looking good, no matter how unfair the review. Even if you are totally in the right, you end up looking ungrateful and petty.

I hope I have the grace to just ignore bad reviews, if I am ever lucky enough to get a book published.

It is so hard. You want your book to succeed so much.

But anything you do on the Internet doesn't ever really go away.

It takes strength of character. Not just to ignore them publicly, but ignore them privately.

Emily needs to put a muzzle on her husband. I can see there being some serious marital issues in that family now! I am now very grateful that my husband doesn't know Kirkus from a cuckoo clock and basically stays out of my writing life. He gives me the much-needed perspective, that one review on Amazon or Goodreads doesn't amount to a hill of beans.

But this is a great illustration of how drama gets stirred up on the internet. Both sides kept on stirring and stirring the pot... it takes two to wage a war. If they wanted the drama to cool down, all they needed to do was walk away.

It is so tempting to engage - but it's better not to.

yikes! and all those screen captures!!!

...i guess deleting is just an illusion

It is! There is no erasing. Unless you are lucky.