Some time ago, a friend asked how much my publishing house would charge to sell her book club copies of my book, “Vikings, Vampires, and Mailmen.” She only needed about ten books.
I decided to be a nice guy, and made her a deal: if each gal in her club promised to donate five dollars to Little Hearts (a charity that helps kids with heart problems), and review my book on Amazon when they were done, I’d get her the books for free.
She agreed, but months later there were still no donations or reviews. I contacted her recently to make sure our agreement was still good, and she couldn’t have been nicer. She promised to get a fifty dollar check out immediately, and said that she’d have the gals post reviews.
Only one woman reviewed the book, and she tore it apart:
“This book has a lot of potential and a great title. The storytelling was hampered by poor editing and mechanics. The dialog was weak and the characters were flat.”
(2 out of 5 stars)
Obviously I was a little hurt, and a little angry. I mean, she’s entitled to her own opinion, and I don’t have a problem with someone telling me their honest thoughts. I can’t get better if people are afraid to tell me what they really think, right?
But not being able to properly spell the word dialogue in context (“dialog” is used when referring to computing/programming), while you post a review suggesting you know anything about editing? That’s just silly. It seems spiteful, which is what hurt. Here I was trying to do something nice for them and for a charity I support, and this person spent probably less than a minute to thank me for it.
I don’t mind two stars. Heck, I like feedback of all types. I bet anything that this clown claims to be a writer or editor though. It would actually be hysterical if she works as an editor, because in three lines she proved that she can’t even properly edit a book review. How can you criticize the editing of an entire 390+ page book if you can’t edit a three-line review??
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