When #BeKind gets forgotten and Narcissism strikes again...

The recent tragic suicide of UK TV celebrity Caroline Flack has had a series of repercussions, many of which, sadly, will probably be forgotten about and will fade away within a week or two. The same thing happened after the death of Princess Diana and has driven Harry and Meghan to step aside from royal duties.

I'm talking about media harassment. Much of which has come from the newspapers (I use the term 'news' somewhat scornfully) and 'celeb'  magazines in particular. Many hairdresser salons, GP waiting rooms etc are now removing these type of magazines that proclaim things like 'we reveal the truth about XXX of Eastenders'. I'll not miss them, I never read them anyway.

You could argue that these high-status celebs know what they are letting themselves in for, should learn to take the rough with the smooth etc. But what about the nastiness, the trolls, the plain vindictiveness that abounds on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram etc? The spite that can be generated on these platforms is, sadly, unbelievable.

The #BeKind initiative that came in the wake of Ms Flack's tragic death has not lasted long. Nor, alas, will it be noticed by the dedicated troll or  narcissist. Whatever happened to 'if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all?'

But there is another element to this nastiness, and it is aimed not at high-profile, high-paid celebs but at ordinary people who have the only intention of entertaining or informing. Most of this group are not widely known outside of their own field, most earn a moderate income (if they are lucky - most don't, some earn not even enough to be in profit). I'm talking about authors.

To sell books - be they fiction, nonfiction or poetry we rely on word of mouth and reviews. OK not everyone will like our books  it would be a very dull world if we all liked/disliked the same things. Some books, let's be honest, are not very good - and I don't just mean self-published/indie - there are more than a few really bad traditional/mainstream books published. 

I've been in this writing business for well over twenty-five years now. Reviews used to be confined to the specific 'book' magazines or the designated slots in newspapers or magazines (I was on the USA Today best seller list for The Forever Queen) But now we have Amazon and Goodreads (plus a few others) where anyone can leave a comment. Any comment. Good or bad. Or plain nasty.

Amazon has weird rules, however - the powers that be will quite happily refuse to remove what is very obviously a comment written with the sole intention of being nasty, while a decent fair review will be zapped for no apparent reason. (I recently had a tousle with Amazon because they kept rejecting genuine reviews from the review blog I founded, Discovering Diamonds. I've still no idea why... but I think I've solved the dilemma). Also on Amazon, unless you meet a certain criteria (no idea what it is) you can't post a review or comment for a book that is available to be ordered in advance but is not yet published. These books are distributed either via the publisher, author or Netgalley as ARCS (Advanced Review Copy) specifically for the purpose of obtaining early reviews.

Goodreads, however, will list a comment or review even if the book is not available yet.  Which is fine - until the trolls gleefully creep out from beneath their slimy stones.

These often very nasty, highly vindictive 'reviews' usually carry a questionable motive: to undermine the author.

The premise of these 'let's trash the book' is disguised as 'the research is poor', 'doesn't know how to write', or for historical novels 'don't defame the dead' (I'm sorry but Henry VIII was a wife killing ba*std. His daughter Mary was a vindictive cow.) (I could name others but you get my gist.)
I have received hate mail in the past regarding my Arthurian trilogy - apparently I'm destined for Hell because I dared to make MY Arthur a non-Christian and I've therefore defamed God. A) I don't believe in God or Christ. B) The Arthur of the Christian-based Medieval stories never even existed so I don't suppose that God is worried about a fictional character be he pagan or Christian.

Many of these negative comments are just plain silly ('The book's about battles. I don't like battles.' So why on earth read a novel that has for it's tagline 'The story of events that led to the Battle of Hastings'?

My favourite negative comment, though is 'All this book does is advertise candy. It is a bad influence on children.' (The 'candy in question was Turkish Delight, the book - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.)

These sort of things are to be laughed at. The danger comes when a troll deliberately sets out to shred an author's reputation and confidence, especially if the book in question is a new release.

It isn't necessarily the wording of these 'reviews' but the motive behind them that I question. What motivates these people to totally trash someone's hard work? Revenge? Jealousy? Simply doing so because they can?

The difficulty is, what can we, as authors do about these sordid attacks on us? The answer is... nothing. We receive the platitudes of 'Take no notice', 'laugh it off', 'ignore it' - but these vindictive comments linger like giggling malevolents in the background, they erode - in many cases - an author's already fragile confidence. They stand out in bold upper-case in the mind and gnaw away, leading to depression, an inability to write anything else and even suicide. 

Constructive criticism is acceptable, even welcome - we need to know where we're going wrong in our writing, but it doesn't have to be put in a sneering, snide way. There is a HUGE difference between constructive and destructive. Blatant public assassination is the latter. Destructive nastiness is unwarranted and often, plain baffling. Of what help to a writer or reader is outright vindictiveness?

So think about the #BeKind campaign. 'Do unto others' and all that. Yes be honest, if you don't like a book, feel free to say so - but do it courteously and truthfully. If there's typos just say 'there are several typos, maybe another read-through would be useful?'  or 'I'd suggest a re-edit to pick up some of the missed bloopers,' or even simply, 'the author has obviously put her heart into writing this novel, but it wasn't quite for me. Lovers of this type of Regency Romance will probably enjoy it though.'
You don't have to trash an author in the process of writing a review. .

Well, not unless you're a narcissistic troll.

Those who can, write. Those who can't, leave derogatory reviews about those who can.

One final thing I want to query ...  some of the known trolls run online review sites. A few are blatantly nasty,  their 'About' pages are full of hate-speech and foul language. 'Don't send me your f***** rubbish...' or 'don't send a book if you're a failed f****** vanity writer'.
Why on earth would any sane, genuine, respected, talented author actually WANT to send a book to people like this for a potential review? 

If you don't like a book, return it (yes you can do that even on Amazon) or burn it, or shove it in the bin - but why, why why, continue to read it in order to post a distasteful review?

I always remember one woman who came into the library where I used to work back in the 1970s. She plonked a book on the counter and announced in a loud voice: 'This book is full of disgusting language. I've read it through twice and crossed out every offensive word."

I really shouldn't have laughed...

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