Let’s talk “fans”. Fans are awesome. Fans buy our books and read our stories and tell us they love us and we’re pretty, and fluff our egos. Fans enable us as writers to do what we do. I love fans. I am a fan of many, many authors.
Then there are the fans who are a little too…fanatical*. The ones that can’t believe someone wouldn’t absolutely LOVE their author (Seriously? What’s wrong with you? Are you crazy?). Fans attacking someone, personally and professionally, because they didn’t like a book an author wrote. God forbid if they leave a bad review for a book. Oh, the horror! I’ve seen it.
I fangirl. I do. I got all verklempt when I met Kristen Ashley in person. It was all I could do to speak full sentences when she was signing my books and not shout out “I love you so much!” While I’m flabbergasted when someone says they don't like her books, I think maybe they haven’t read the right series, because there are some of hers that I don’t like. If they keep saying they're not a fan, I say to each their own because there are authors people love that I don’t enjoy. What I don’t do is insult their intelligence, upbringing, sexuality (orientation or how much they may or may not be getting), or comment on their kids and family because that is WRONG.
I unfollowed an author because she sicced her fans on a Goodreads reviewer because the reviewer (who paid for the book), posted a critical review which pointed out errors, inconsistencies in the story, and a few other things. It wasn’t a bad review – it was a critical review.
This is bad behavior and NO author should be doing this. No fan should be doing this if the author asks them to. No author or fan should be encouraging other fans to comment, vote down, report, or otherwise undermine a valid and appropriate review. Now if the review is bashing the author, then by all means vote down the review or report it as abusive, but if it’s an honest, valid review … you have no right. None. Not as an author and not as a fan. That is someone’s opinion and they are entitled to it.
One of my favorite reviews of Half-Broke Heart and Locked-Down Heart, is a 2-star review. I know you’re probably thinking, “WHAT?” The reason I like it is because the reviewer is HONEST in her review. It didn’t work for her and she stated why. She didn’t bash me or the book and I appreciated her comments. I didn’t like them, but I appreciated them.
Of course I want everyone to love my books, but I also understand I’m not going to be everyone's cup of tea. Some of the most popular authors of chart topping, record breaking, best-selling books have bad reviews. I read them to make myself feel better when I get an especially bad review.
What? It's better than scarfing down a pint of Chunky Monkey.
If you’re at all connected to Romancelandia social media, you probably saw there was an issue (I don’t want to call it drama because many, many people were hurt by it) recently where an author had basically been running a years-long scam. What struck me most were statements made by several victims (and they are) who DARED to question or call out the author for inconsistencies and/or bad behavior and were subsequently attacked by other “fans” to the point where a few people shut down their social media because of the attacks. Some victims even had to seek counselling because of what transpired.
THIS. IS. WRONG. So wrong on so many levels. It should never, ever, ever get to this level.
If you are a fan who does this, STOP. If you've ever done this in the past, don't do it again. If you see another fan doing this, call them out. Report their behavior. Stop making, or enabling other people to make, Romancelandia a place where people don't want to be. We are better than that.
Authors are people. We have spouses and kids and pets. Some of us have full-time jobs; some of us work part time; some are able to write full-time. We are regular people. We are fallible. We make mistakes. We miss typos even though we’ve hired the best editors and proofreaders. No author should be put on a pedestal so high that they are elevated to god-like status to the point where fans attack other readers for not loving them. Not even Nora and KA (Sorry! I love you guys!).
Fans are great. Super fans are even better than great. They can help an author tip over from that point of buried obscurity to best-selling author. If you’re a Super Fan, make sure you aren’t blind to the humanity of the authors you love and don’t become a fanatic.
* A person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal