THE Group for Authors! discussion

Has anyone else had a series of 1 star reviews on their freshly released book? I spent so long trying to get the thing on here and just a week later one of my posts in this group has been hit with five or six very abusive comments threatening to kill and injure my family and then steal my book. They've all given one star reviews and are clearly spam, but it's just all so disappointing as I'm really struggling with all this anyway.

Anyone else had that?

Very sorry to see those posts, Paul. I've flagged them and hope you flagged them too.

It does happen. I had a whole series of bad reviews put up after a discussion where I must have upset someone but was able to have them removed as it was obvious the posters had not read my novel and were just being evil!!!

Plough on here as it is worth having an author's page and a good profile. Link it to your website. A lot of readers will take note.
Best wishes for the reviews. I'm in NZ so can't help.

Paul, I’m sorry that I don’t have the skill set to help you with your problem, but I’m writing because what happened to you shouldn’t happen to anyone, and there has to be a way to address it. It’s one thing to leave a one star review, quite another to threaten life. That should be looked into very seriously, and I hope you do. If someone out there knows how to reach Goodreads, please contact Paul.

Frances wrote: "Paul, I’m sorry that I don’t have the skill set to help you with your problem, but I’m writing because what happened to you shouldn’t happen to anyone, and there has to be a way to address it. It’s..."

Thank you ever so much Frances, I'm now getting my page bombarded with hateful reviews too, claiming my book is offensive and racist. It's about a dinosaur for goodness sake. Thank you for being so kind to reassure me.

P.D.R. wrote: "Very sorry to see those posts, Paul. I've flagged them and hope you flagged them too.

It does happen. I had a whole series of bad reviews put up after a discussion where I must have upset someone ..."

Thank you PDR, that's very kind of you. I had real hopes of getting this book to be popular but I think it's finished on here unless I can remove it.

I reported exactly the same thing to the site moderators and they were wonderful, took down the fake reviews and ratings so all ended well. Strongly suggest you do exactly the same thing

Paul wrote: "Has anyone else had a series of 1 star reviews on their freshly released book? I spent so long trying to get the thing on here and just a week later one of my posts in this group has been hit with ..."

Yes! That happened to me too, and it's actually awful. Your post actually made me thought that it wasn't just something to happen to me... Also, how this people get so free time to be reviewing books that had just arrived at the market?

Ian, when you have time, could you please tell me how to report something like this, and to whom? Thank you.

Paul wrote: "Has anyone else had a series of 1 star reviews on their freshly released book? I spent so long trying to get the thing on here and just a week later one of my posts in this group has been hit with ..."

Your post got me very interested in learning more about the nature of the hateful comments. But when I clicked on your name all I could find were children's books with no reviews. Perhaps the flagging by others got GR to remove them. I'm glad.

But any threat for life or limb should be reported directly to the police. Don't wait for GR to take care of your safety.

I and my latest novel have been subjected to a shower of 1-stars and hateful messages because I am Jewish and my newest historical novel deals with Israel (albeit set in France and the story takes place in 1969.) The attack has been orchestrated by an influencer on TikTok SIX WEEKS BEFORE THE BOOK'S RELEASE, so although there is a video proof of this call to bomb my book--and it is clear that these "reviewers" couldn't possibly have read the book, GR has refused to remove many of the hateful messages and certainly not the dozens of 1-star ratings.

Hi, I'm Crystal Clary. When I released my first book for some reason I also received a lot of one stars from people who could not spell. LMAO..... I believe they only wanted to lower my stars on Amazon.
so they could bring their numbers up. So much for being a normal human. Hang in there. They can not keep it up.

Publishing has really been attacked recently. These one star anonymous reviews, the hacking of literary agencies and publishers are bringing the industry to a standstill.

Just this week, I discovered a lengthy Russian treaties of some sort on my Goodreads page for THE WINTHROP AGREEMENT, and in order to remove it, Goodreads has removed my blog.

I have one reviewer who has written an extremely lengthy piece, which must have taken her a quite a long time to write. She has posted it on EVERY online book site, and attacks every aspect of my book, [which was edited by six HarperCollins editors!] If my cruel and envious older sister were still alive, I would assume she wrote it under a pseudonym!

Un-social media has become the ban of everyday life, period. It has changed the world and not in a good way. I long for the days when you sent your book around to magazines and newspapers. Maybe they reviewed it, maybe not. But when they did it was done in a professional and ethical manner. Reader reviews are often done in the same manner, but too many are not, haven't read the book, just want to slam somebody, and that's sick.

They're only interested in bringing an author's rating down. In the past few days my rating has gone down from over 4 stars to about 2.5. Most by people who had not even read the books.
They are scammers plain and simple - The best strategy is to ignore them.

I received threatening messages thru my Ask the Author section. I reported it to the Goodreads Librarians Group. They advised me to shut down that section of my profile which I did, and they removed that account. Any reviews that are threatening should be reported and they'll remove that account. I don't know what scammers get out of it.

Though one-star reviews are inevitable. Even bestsellers have them. They're disheartening. I'm glad we can self-publish because otherwise most of us wouldn't have books out, but there will always be trolls.

This is a copy of a comment left on myGoodreads Blog

Russell wrote: "I HOPE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE CANCER AND DIE HORIRFIC DEATHS LEE BITCH GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! WE WON'T REST UNTIL WE BOOT YOU OUT OF HERE. **GOODREADS** IS OURS AND NOBODY GETS A FREE RIDE HERE!"

Trolls. What's wrong with people? Report that account to the GR Librarians Group and it will be removed. I believe you can also block them. Good luck!

These people are just jealous because they lack the talent to succeed on their own. The last message I got from a Marge A appeared a few days after I got a five star review.

I write nonfiction crime, so I get ALL kinds of strange stuff. I have been threatened, notes in my mailbox, have to ask the cops to watch my house... I have had people tell me they were in love with me, or they "worship" my work... people who were friends with the perpetrators write me threats. The perpetrators themselves have threatened me. Yeah, crime gets the interesting ones!
I also have the above people have their friends write crap reviews. Inmates have access to the internet via their loved ones.
And then there are... people needing meds. One of my reviews on Amazon read simply: "No, a puppet devil." I have no idea what that means.
People are STRANGE.

And yet we all keep writing. I've been told my books did not answer their questions about: Why the mail was late, how they made a mess in the kitchen or even why their cat left the planet. Nothing to do with my work.
I'm proud of you'all for continuing with your work. I know, that doesn't really help and still, each time I read and connect with the concept story or even the author (in some odd way) I'm so deeply pleased I keep that moment and mark it in yellow. (Horrors, I do highlight in my books.) I, as a fellow writer and scribe, am grateful for you.