Writing « Robin Writes

Yep, as a writer—or a human being—we’re all called upon at times to deal with the pettiness of daily life. Sometimes, that can seem ever present, ever constant, and PUBLIC. The truth is that it’s really none of those things.

A couple weeks ago, I received an email from that strange site, Goodreads. The one that is supposed to be about readers sharing their opinions of books but has, sadly, become a huge advertisement. I was pretty excited a couple years ago, when I finally created an account there. But then . . .

First, Goodreads allowed someone who had NOT read my first book, Reduced, to rate and review it. It was pretty obvious that she hadn’t read the book, and so I complained; I was positive this was someone who had been bashing me personally, on and off, for a few weeks before the book was released.

Goodreads removed the review, but not the rating. I complained a second time when someone marked a book as having one star AND as on his or her “to read” shelf. How can you rate a book if you haven’t read it? Again. Goodreads finally got back to me and said that some members “rated” books as to how BADLY they wanted to read them. Um, okay. Whatever.

Once, I had “librarian” status there; then it disappeared. Goodreads never could tell me why, they just kept saying to re-apply; never heard anything else.

And every time I log on, I have at least 25 invites to “events” in which I have zero interest. Online “events.” Ugh.

So, not a fan.

Back to the email, and the point of this whole thing: Goodreads said that I had to “disclose” that I had published some books, according to the FCC, any time I rated or reviewed them. I had not done so. My bad. If anyone wanted to know WHO I was, they could click on my name and go right to my profile. It says there, in plain English, that I own Rocking Horse Publishing. Duh.

[I could also add a comment about how the US Government concerning itself with book reviews is just plain ridiculous, but that’s probably better left for another day and another topic.]

So this morning I have a message from an author about an anonymous blog post talking smack about RHP and the author and me. It was related to this “disclosure” mess, but led back to a review on Goodreads that was POSTED OVER A YEAR AGO.

The reviewer had said there were “errors.” I asked if she could send me a list, so they could be fixed. Truthfully, there were a few, but mostly it was formatting. The problem was that she didn’t SEND me a list, but added her response to the review thread itself. I was astounded, and pointed out, nicely, that I had expected a PM.

Here’s where it gets weird: someone else recently added to that year-old thread and said I shouldn’t have complained. Complained? I was just surprised that the reviewer had posted publicly instead of PMing me. And again, A YEAR AGO. I’d forgotten all about it.

And THEN—someone anonymously blogged about the thread. What? Zip back up to my title: Idiocy.

Here’s the thing: give it all five minutes of your time and move on. Consider the source—in this case, anonymity, a janky website, and something that happened A YEAR AGO. In Internet time, folks, that’s like a decade.

Oh, and Goodreads? If someone wants to know who I am, tell them to click my name. Look me up on Facebook, or Google, or Twitter, or wherever. And anonymous bloggers? Get a grip; you’re really not that important. Especially when you’re “anonymous,” your Goodreads profile is “private,” and you have nothing better to do than troll around, looking for something to cause trouble.

Why, then, am I writing about you? To show everyone how ridiculous you really are. And to laugh at you. Yes, I said that. And I’ll stand by it. We used to have a word for you, but I’m sure it’s no longer PC to use it: shit-disturber.

Writers, there are a lot of these folks hanging out online—I suspect they used to hang out in their mothers’ basements before the Internet came along. Now we have to deal with them. Yay.

The Internet is a funny place. Place? Is that even a correct term? I think so. Because it’s, you know, everywhere. So anything you say or do can end up . . . here.

Most of the time, it’s harmless. In fun. But even those things can backfire. You have to always be conscious that what you say may offend someone—and I’m not talking about strongly held beliefs, I’d never ask or expect anyone to compromise those beliefs. For example, say you’re against some politically charged topic; you don’t have to tell someone that “maybe you’re right,” but you can also refrain from calling that person a dumbass.

Other things to avoid, as your author persona, are Debbie Downer posts, rants and raves, whining, complaining, etc. And cussing. Do *I* do these things sometimes? Probably. Doesn’t make it right. What I suggest, however, is that you have a separate page, or account, depending on your choice of social media, ONLY for you as an author. It should be public, to where any potential readers can find you, and it should be welcoming to all—all kinds of people read, after all. You can save the more personal stuff for YOUR page, and set the privacy however you wish.

Sure, someone might make the connection, but you’d be surprised how many won’t. I’m still stunned by people who message me about the bookstore, or RHP, or even my books and who are totally clueless that these are all connected. Stunned.

All of this is particularly important if you write kids’ books, even YA. You simply can’t blog about “stupid people” or curse like a sailor or post pics of yourself in a leather bustier. Not that I’ve seen that last one, I assure you! As an author, you’re in the public eye—if you want to sell books.

Get an extra account/page and post whatever you like on your personal site. But tone down the rest on your author page—focus on your writing, your books, press and interviews, and anything connected with those things, like animal rescue or bullying or whatever “thing” is related to those.

Pay attention, too, to news items or interviews of other authors—particularly as their books relate to yours. If you write romance, for example, connect with romance authors and share links. You post theirs, they’ll post yours. Think of your author page as a place where READERS look for information. If you’re a children’s author, and you put up a blog post bitching about something, you’re going to lose readers. Parents will see that and question your ability to relate to children—not to mention wonder about the appropriateness of your book for those children.

Think before you post—and/or make sure that you separate your personal life from your professional one. This applies to being out in public, like grocery shopping, for instance, or a letter to an editor, or a phone call, and so forth. Stay true to your brand. As I said in my marketing book, dress—or in this case, behave—like the team owner, not one of the players.