(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

[(Anonymous)]

I had dropped Rice's vampire series till she went uncool and defended a new character. I figured that if she cared that much about him, she had probably written the book sincerely, with fresh material, rather than just stamping out a new clone for profit.

So her uncoolness made me more likely to read the book, and other recent books in the seriews.

/houseboatonstyx/

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I guess I just don't think that 'sincerely' or 'with feeling' necessarily means 'good.' Sometimes it means 'without perspective.'

But I suppose a defensive reaction does indicate that the author is less likely to be phoning it in, which is something.