Market My Novel

I blogged recently about scathing comments of relatives toward reviewer Carol Buchanan, who wasn't fond of John Lacombe's Winter Games.

The situation was used to highlight a trend I've noticed with authors like Alice Hoffman who take reviewer bashing to a whole new level. I also reminded authors in How Big Is Your EGO? to tell relatives not to be destructive in comments toward reviewers who were just not into their work.

Being the freelancer that I am, I retooled the post - with short highlights of the Hoffman and Lacombe situations - for the St. Louis Book Marketing Examiner. (For those who don't know, freelancers often retool one article to fit several different markets. It is not unusual.)

It did not take fans of Lacombe long to target me in their comments. One using the same name - who left nearly the same comment at Self Publishing Review, as well as POD People and the Examiner page - accused me of launching an Internet attack on the author, reporting falsely that the author asked his relatives to leave the comments and demanded an apology. (You can read the pieces for yourself to see if you agree with his accusations.)

Today the author guest blogged at Self Publishing Review in response to the controversy surrounding the post. He had some really terrific things to say that authors should take to heart.

Yesterday, Buchanan and another reviewer, Steven Reynolds (who liked the book), talked about why reviewers have differing opinions. Henry Baum, who runs Self Publishing Review, promises the reviewer interview would be part of a series.

Check these out. Also, the post at POD People also has good things to say about reviewer bashing - and about reviewers.