One Thursday (and only one) With Erin
“Erin? Who’s Erin? I didn’t even know MacGregor Literary HAD an agent named Erin,” you might be saying. I actually started just about a year ago, but have been keeping a low profile where the blog is concerned while I learn everything there is to know about the business in preparation for staging a coup and re-naming the agency “Buterbaugh Literary.” I’m almost ready to put my plan into motion. In the meantime, thanks to Amanda for letting me fill in today! *Step one: replace Amanda– Check.*
With all the outlets clamoring for authors’ time and attention when building a social media presence, it can be easy for authors to get into the habit of constantly feeding their Internet pets- Tweet four times, update Facebook status, post new blog, chime in on Goodreads discussion group, engage, engage, engage! While it’s true that you have to make regular appearances at any of these places for them to be truly effective in building your platform, I’ve noticed a negative side-effect of the “feed the Internet” mindset among authors: namely, a lack of good judgment when it comes to responding to both positive and negative feedback/commentary at their various Internet watering-holes. Your responses to reviews and comments have the potential to seriously derail your PR train, so take a look at some of the scenarios in which authors tend to sabotage themselvesย and see how your response practices measure up!
Responding to reviews:
-Don’t respond to negative reviews.
This is hard. I’m a person who always likes to have the last word, and when a bunch of strangers who don’t know you and don’t seem to understand your book begin to post lackluster reviews to Amazon or to Goodreads, it can be extremely tempting to provide an explanation or defend an aspect of the book the reviewer dislikes. I saw this recently on Facebook; an author posted a link to an online publication’s review of her upcoming book, and the review, while very polite, made reference to a couple of issues presented in the book on which the reviewer disagreed with the author, and pointed out a few areas where the reviewer found room for improvement. Not a rave, but not a horrible review; nothing personal or devastating or mean-spirited about it, but the book’s author commented on the post where the review appeared and defended herself on every front, saying the reviewer had “misunderstood her” on a few issues, quoting parts of the text to prove to the reviewer that certain criticisms were invalid, and maintaining that some of the other areas found wanting by the reviewer were the result of conscious choices as a writer. To someone who’d never read the book, met the reviewer, or met the author, the author came across as insecure and unprofessional. A review is an opinion piece, not an attack against which you have to defend yourself, and hijacking the comments to justify your choices as a writer or to try and make the reviewer retroactively like your book better by explaining it is inconsiderate and ineffective.
-Think twice before responding to a positive review.
It’s only polite to say “thank you” to someone who posted a good review of your book, right? It might seem like good manners to respond to a positive review, but for a reviewer who doesn’t know you, having you show up in the comments section can be a little uncomfortable, even if you’re just thanking them for a good review. It can cause readers to assume a bias on the part of the reviewer– the author thanked him for the good review, does that mean it was written as a favor to the author?– and wrecks the comfortable feeling of anonymity that fosters honest reviews. This is especially true on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads, where most reviews are not written by professionals in the industry, but by regular readers/fans: they may have loved your book, but that doesn’t mean they want to be your internet buddy. Book reviews are written for the benefit of other readers, not for that of the author, and an author who makes a big deal out of good reviews can give off a bit of an Oscar-acceptance-speech vibe- they already gave you the award, you don’t have to thank each individual person who voted for you! The exception to this is when thanking people who did write their reviews as a personal favor- friends with blogs, authors you traded reviews with, etc. These people will usually make reference to their relationship with you in the review, i.e., “SET IN STONE is the debut novel of my good friend and writing partner Gary Morningside.” In these cases, it’s completely appropriate to post a brief thank-you, either as a comment or as a post on your site– “Thanks to Rick Waverly at the New England Book Collective for reviewing SET IN STONE!” Your best response to a positive review is to post a link to it on your Facebook page or blog so as to get as many people as possible to read it.
Responding to comments:
The internet has gone a little nuts with interactivity. There are hardly any social media outlets without a comment feature where users can dialogue with each other and respond instantly to new content. People can comment on your blog posts, Tweets, Facebook statuses, YouTube videos, and, in most of these places, they can comment on other comments. As an author, you have to be especially careful with how you interact with people in these forums. Having a firm policy in place regarding how and when to respond to comments could literally save your career.
-Comments on your blog
Comments made directly to your blog or Facebook posts are usually the most personally relevant and the most openly friendly. Blog comments tend to be made by regular readers who’ve read your blog for awhile, like what you have to say, and feel comfortable engaging with you. The way they see it, you started the “conversation” by posting a blog entry; their comment is an indication that they’re engaged and willing to talk back. Responding to comments on your Facebook page or blog is a great way to build relationships with your readers– to thank them for reading, to comment on things you have in common, and to show that you appreciate the time and attention they’re devoting to your posts. Depending on the amount of comment traffic you get, you may not be able to respond to every comment, and in fact, you probably shouldn’t– a page full of rubber-stamp “Thanks for commenting!” responses from an author devalues that response very quickly. Three or four personal responses per post, evenly distributed between regular readers and first-time commenters, make every visitor to your site feel more significant because they see that you are actively engaged with your readership and responding thoughtfully.
-Negative comments
Negative comments about you or your work can show up anywhere: your blog, a blog that links to yours, a book trailer on YouTube, a Goodreads discussion board, a review– you get the idea. YouTube is a shining example of why users shouldn’t necessarily have the option of responding publicly to everything posted to the Internet– pick a video at random and take a look at the first page or two of comments. No matter how non-controversial the content is, nearly every comment thread contains political rants, racial slurs, personal attacks, debates on religion– your basic smorgasbord of potentially offensive remarks. Because of the personal and informal nature of most comments, you may be more tempted to respond to a negative comment than you would a more formal post, such as a review; after all, you reason, people comment because they want to dialogue, so it’s fine for you to engage. So, you respond to a few negative comments, justย to clear up a misunderstanding on the commenter’s part, or to assert yourself when you’re being bullied in a thread– I mean, if you don’t defend yourself, those negative comments could wreck your image, right!?
Wrong.ย This kind of thinking is responsible for thousands upon thousands of stupid, pointless, winner-less Internet fights, and nine times out of ten, the best move for your career is to WALK AWAY from negative comments.ย If you don’t have a thick skin and a whole lot of self-control, the Internet comment monster is going to chew you up and spit you out.
You may remember the Applebee’s receipt debacle from a few months back. Long story short, an Applebee’s employee compromised a customer’s privacy by posting a photo of a receipt on which a customer had given a really lame religious excuse for being a crappy tipper. Internet-commentland got riled up for a bit, as it does, with people criticizing and name-calling on both sides, and the whole thing would have gone away and been forgotten if not for Applebee’s complete and total self-destruction on their Facebook page. R. L. Stollar, news editor at the Eugene Daily News, wrote a fabulous and comprehensive synopsis of the whole train wreck, but it boiled down to some poor Applebee’s PR rep using the company Facebook page to argue with and attempt to pacify thousands of individual commenters- for every one defensive response to a comment, a hundred more ridiculing the company’s actions flooded the thread. Though an extreme example, the Applebee’s events still serve as a warning against what can happen when one well-intentioned, level-headed person attempts to force the Internet at large to play fair– it’s not going to work, so your best bet is usually not to play. (Note: if you are lucky enough to find yourself on a comment thread where everyone is being civil, dissenting opinions are being presented without name-calling, and people are offering cyber-hugs to their enemies, by all means, engage– I’m not saying such an environment is nonexistent, just very, very rare. Like, unicorn-rare.)
Finally, remember that there are always going to be a few people with horrible grammar whose sold aim in life is to sit at home and tick you and the rest of the Internet off. Don’t let negative reviews or comments scare you away from smart social media use, and don’t let one jerk with a third-grade grasp of punctuation get under your skin. Keep going with what’s working well for you, continue to take advantage of every opportunity to improve, and, as always, don’t forget to make time to WRITE, because a great platform is pretty dang worthless without a book to sell. ๐
29 Comments
In negative comments i picture Shirley MacLaine as ‘Ouiser Boudreaux’ in Robert Harling’s play/movie. Miserable old so and so’s that never had a good word to share in their lives and live to snipe or be snipers on everyone else’s parade. But from the 1980s film WAR GAMES trying to teach a computer how futile war is comes the answer. ‘Strange game. The smartest move is not to play.’
If it really irks me I’ll copy and paste their rant into a private MS word online journal and respond there. Write what I want to say and get it out of my system but it stays locked forever in my journal. And maybe someday when my files are willed somewhere some archivist or friend or family member will stumble across them and get a good laugh. Just like that scene from Cinema Paradiso and the reel of film left to Toto of all the kisses edited from all those films of 40 years. The trick is to keep them private and not respond to the sender.
Thanks for these insights, Erin. I’m still chasing that elusive novel contract, but I’m taking notes… don’t retaliate, don’t explain, don’t engage the trolls.
Reviews on hosted sites like Amazon or Goodreads feel like the host is providing distance between the reviewer and the author, and I definitely see why an author shouldn’t respond in comments there.
Reviews on an individual blog speak more directly, without an intermediary to support the reviewer. The few times an author comments on my review of his/her book, it’s always a brief, professional thank you. As a reviewer, I don’t feel like he/she has invaded my space, but nor do I hold my breath hoping authors will visit. I hope my readers think it’s a treat for them, like brief author visit.
As a reader, I’ve always thought a polite author comment on a blogged review was a sign of professional courtesy in a busy world where most authors don’t have time even if they wanted to comment. A well-said acknowledgement will boost my respect for an author, and yes, if they commit any of your no-nos, it’ll lower my respect.
Was the misspelling of “sole” as “sold” in the post meant to be tongue-in-cheek?
Nope, unfortunately– just a typo resulting from fat fingers, too-quick proofreading, and d and e’s proximity on the keyboard. ๐
Thanks for the excellent post. You indirectly answered my question, which is how to respond to endorsers. Sending them flowers might not be appropriate.
If you plan to take over MacGregor Literary, I’ll miss seeing Chip in a kilt.
I hope to meet you at CCWC.
Thanks for reading, Bonnie, glad you found it useful! And don’t worry; we’ll still bring Chip out in the kilt at conferences; you’ll be able to get your picture taken with him for $10, like a mall Santa. I’d love to connect at CCWC, looking forward to it!
Great post, Erin! You’ve certainly given me food for thought when I reply to comments on Facebook and my blog. Thanks!!! ๐
LOL. Taking over MacLit and renaming it Buterbaugh Literary. Better watch it, or this year, I won’t be so nice again about your appointment schedule at CCWC. *winks*
Seriously, though, this post is an excellent one. Thank you for being blunt about the social media interactivity and how to engage in a professional and polite, yet also approachable, manner that will enhance your platform and not destroy it.
And I loved your closing line about making time to write. THAT is the key, after all. Without a book, a platform isn’t worth much.
Hey, now, didn’t you swear some kind of an oath to use your appointment-scheduling powers for good and not evil? ๐ Thanks for taking the time to read the post, I’m always happy to be blunt when it’s called for! Looking forward to seeing you at CCWC~
Dear Chip and company, I have a question about grammar and punctuation which has nothing to do with the worthy content of this post. For the past three posts apostrophes and commas have been equal – all placed at the lower line of the letters; and spacing has been nil or erratic. Is this my computer? My connection? Your mobile device? Or am I completely in the dark about new punctuation trends?
Hi Cherry- we’re trying to figure that out (and by “we,” I mean “people with much more knowledge of technology than I have”). The posts look normal on my computer, viewed in both Safari and Firefox, but another ML member said she was having the same issue you described. I think I can safely say, however, that it is not a new punctuation trend!
Ditto. It looks fine on my computer screen, and it’s all correct when I go into the WordPress site to look at the raw text. I don’t know if that means it’s your device or the translation of the text on several systems, Cherry.
Update observation. Chip’s posts are coming through fine. Amanda’s (and friends) have apostrophes on the line.
This is a great reminder… just walk away ๐
Erin, thanks for the great advice here. It’s so natural to want to defend ourselves. It’s a lose-lose to try to do so on the internet. Yet another reason for writers to develop a thick skin. Thanks for your insights!
I’m glad you found it worthwhile, Jeanne, thanks so much for taking the time to read a post that turned out to be much longer than I thought it was going to be! ๐
Thank you Erin. This was a flood of great advice.
Isn’t she great?
I think that this is especially true when using comment forums like Disqus. People are easily able to look at your posting history and may see two sides of your personality coin.
http://forthisisthetime.blogspot.com
That’s a great point, Esther, and something a lot of people don’t consider when commenting on dissimilar sites– if you rant and call names on one site and play the professional, polite author on another, someone will eventually connect the two and draw others’ attention to it. Thanks for adding to the conversation!
Welcome to the blog Aman–uh–I mean Erin. Great article and very timely. I’ve seen some of this come up lately and have been in discussions with authors about how to deal with them. Now I have all the perfect answers!
Terrific advice, well annotated, as well as a good read. I hope you will take your own advice and ‘make time to WRITE’!
Enjoyed reading this, Erin!
Excellent advice, Erin! This post is a keeper. ๐
Blessings,
MaryAnn
So glad you’re here, Erin! Great post. Did you write it because you just saw me thank a reviewer through Facebook. You did, didn’t you. Darn.
Haha, Laura, I saw your post about an hour after the blog was posted, and I thought, darn, I could have used her as a real-life example of how to thank a reviewer through Facebook instead of making up Gary and Rick! ๐ Way to already know all the advice I have to offer; thanks for taking the time to read it anyway!
Erin, not to replace Amanda, but I’d suggest Chip give you his space anytime you want it. Your advice is sound, and you didn’t offend anyone with it (at least, not that I can see). However, I’d suggest you not wear a tartan skirt to the ACFW Gala, or there might be trouble.
Haha, I’ll let Chip continue to wear the kilt in the company, Richard. Thanks for reading!
Great advice, Erin. “A review is an opinion piece, not an attack against which you have to defend yourself” So true!