(no subject)

[coraa]

Has anyone ever seen a situation where an author defended themselves in the face of a less-than-positive review, where it came out with the author looking better than if they'd refrained from involving themselves?

I've seen authors involve themselves in positive discussions without problem. And I've seen authors say neutral things like 'Thank you for your review' in response to negative responses without problem. But I can't think of a single example of a time when an author has attempted to defend themselves from, or refute, a negative review, where the author has not come out looking measurably worse.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I thought that author did over at Smart Bitches yesterday.

I saw a bunch of people say "Now I'm going to buy your book just because of your awesome response to the slam review."

[samhenderson.livejournal.com]

Linkie?

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Linkie!

http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/pregnesia-by-carla-cassidy-guest-review/

[ckd]

I didn't read that as defensive or an attempted refutation, though; I read it as engaging with the review (which was roughly "plot, bleh; cheesiness, awesome!") and embracing it.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

That's exactly why it worked!

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is an interesting interaction. It does seem to be true that if you can reply to a negative review with grace and humor, and without defensiveness, that it will go over quite a lot better.

Of course, that's a great deal easier said than done. I'm pretty sure I'm not that gracious!