A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: People Who Try to Undermine Your Book

 

It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic is about the unpleasant situation where someone tries to undermine your book. That someone can be a person you know or a complete stranger. They usually have a reason. Often, it is not a good one. And, gee whiz, it is hard enough to garner book sales without having an enemy out there working against you. That said, let's look at what these evil souls do to authors and why and what you can do about it. Some ways that "enemies" can undermine your book and its sales: They write a really bad review, totally panning the book, condemning it in unfounded ways, sometimes outright lying about it, and perhaps implying that you are not a very good person.  This is different from an honest review that criticizes some aspects of your book that could well be justified -- take your licks in that case and learn.  An example of this occurred many years ago for one of our books that was distributed through Library Thing, where authors get free books in exchange for reviews. We had published an otherwise well received religious book that had been praised by respected establishment reviewers like MidWest Book Watch. Library Thing chooses who "wins" the free book copies provided by publishers. Why on earth they thought that someone with the nickname "Happy Heathen" should get a copy of a deeply spiritual book to review is beyond me, but off the book went to Happy Heathen, who was very happy to tear it down in almost defensive and quite personal ways though s/he did not know the author at all. Not only did she do so on Library Thing, which is a relatively obscure source of reviews (one we no longer use because of amateur, unscreened reviewers like Happy Heathen and because many potential reviewers receive copies of the book and never write a review--LT does not enforce its own policy, but that is a gripe for a different post), Happy Heathen proceeded to put her review on Amazon and every other place that allowed her to put up a review. She was on a vendetta! As a result, one has to wonder if she truly was a "happy" heathen, did she protest too much and give the lie to her own self-image? One hopes that she did some day find true happiness, and would it not be consummate irony if it came from a religious experience? They badmouth the book. Remember, word of mouth is the best form of advertising. Good, kind words are helpful; negative ones meant to deter people from buying the book are not. They may do this in writing through social media or email. They may do this in person. Beyond just badmouthing the book, they actually encourage someone not to buy the book. For example, they might be together with a friend in a bookstore, and when they friend picks up the book, they may suggest it is not worth buying (perhaps in less kind words).  Why do they do this? Sometimes, something about the book strikes a raw nerve. In the case of Happy Heathen, one can assume that she likely has had bad religious experiences and now has a chip on her shoulder, which is exactly the way the review read to anyone with good insight and ability to read between the lines. Sometimes, they have a personal grudge. In this case, it would be someone who knows you. More often than not, it is a relative or so-called friend. Sometimes, it is a matter of jealousy.  In the case of friends who are also authors, putting you down can make these authors feel superior. This is especially true if your book is selling better than theirs. Or, it could be that you are better qualified than they are (e.g., perhaps you hold a PhD, and they barely finished undergrad school); this is the way they build their own faulty sense of self-esteem. Jealousy, unfortunately. in the US can be gender or racially motivated. A male may feel he deserves to have better book sales than a female counterpart because, well, just because. Similarly, a white male or female might feel he or she deserves to have better sales than a Black, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Latin, or Oriental colleague because, well, must because. There is no good reason for that sense of entitlement, but since it exists, authors can sometimes encounter it in unpleasant ways that attack their work. Related to jealousy is spite. Sometimes, you have an enemy who just wants to spite you for something you have done or on general principles, and your book then becomes a great target. Sometimes, it is a matter of personality; they put everyone down. (Of course, that implies that they are insecure and could benefit from counseling, but until they get it, if they do, which is unlikely, you and others like you will suffer.) Other times, it is a complete enigma. What can you do about it? Remediate. One bad review is not the end of the world if you have 99 good ones. One remediates a bad review with m any more good ones, and so the bad one gets lost in the mix. In the case of dear Happy Heathen, we paid for reviews when we otherwise might not have and actively sought out other reviews quickly, especially from respected reviewers (remember, Happy Heathen was an amateur, a nobody by comparison with the respected reviewers to whom we sent the book), Those other reviews, which were quite good, gave the lie to Happy Heathen at best, and at worst buried her review in a mass of good ones (and, of course, the stars averaged out much higher, making her review more or less meaningless). Complain. Yes, you can do that. We complained to Amazon about Happy Heathen for two reasons: (1) we knew she had not purchased the book from Amazon, and (2) her vitriol level was high, which is something Amazon does not like to see. Compared with the other reviews, Happy Heathen stood out as clearly an outlier. If you can make a strong case for removing a review, Amazon has been known to do so. Use them to advantage. There is an adage in the book business that a bad review is better than no review. I am not completely convinced of that, but it can get people talking about your book and reading it -- and others may not agree with the naysayer. Hope others can read through the lines just as you can. With Happy Heathen, for example, the bias was so clear, starting with the name, that a little survey we did suggested that readers did not take her review seriously. Don't sweat the small stuff. Sometimes, there is nothing you can do about the situation; it depends on the situation. If you can do nothing, then ignore the naysayer and keep on going. Consider it small stuff. Have a beer. This can help if there is nothing you can do about the review and you have thin skin. Do whatever it takes to help you calm down, accept reality, and move on. The bottom line is that while sometimes you can do something to alleviate bad review, sometimes there is nothing you can do. Figure it out, and take whatever steps are wise. Then, don't sweat the small stuff. Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Expect to have an "enemy" here and there (you may find ones you never knew you had) or just some nasty or jealous people to crawl out of their termite holes and try to turn your book into sawdust. Don't let them do that, and don't let them get to you. Remediate and relax. Read more posts about publishing HERE. The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 18 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.                                 Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter                    Follow MSI Press on Twitter, Face Book, and Instagram.