It had to happen; the dreaded one star review. Well I've been told you're not a 'real' author until you get one, so I was more than prepared for it. I read it and it turned out that the reviewer (Falco) didn't like the stories I'd chosen - fair enough, though slightly puzzling as I list the stories included in the book's blurb, so I'm not sure why would he buy stories he knew he wouldn't like? But it seems to go much, much deeper.
When you look through Falco's other reviews, an obvious pattern presents itself. He gives unfaltering 5 star reviews and utterly adoring praise to every single book buy a 'local' paranormal writer called Tom Slemen (bizarrely even comparing one of TS's books to Catcher in the Rye!), and utterly disparages any other paranormal author reviewed with harsh words, 1 star reviews and large plugs for Slemen's books. Not only that, but Falco has written a review on a Harry Potter book, which - yep, you guessed it - talks about great Tom Slemen is. Clearly a not-so-subtle advert for TS on a hugely popular page.
But there's more. There is a second reviewer called 'Cryptid Frank' who does exactly the same as Falco; strongly slating any books that seem to compete with Slemen's. 'Frank' and Falco even have the same writing style. A second account perhaps? In fact, 'Frank' has a review for Catcher in the Rye, the book Falco mentioned...
As said, I don't mind criticism (in fact, I welcome it as I'm still a very new writer), but this is rather malicious and dishonest. So anyway, does this go on a lot? And, does anyone have any advice about what to do, if anything? Please take a look and let me know what you think!
When you look through Falco's other reviews, an obvious pattern presents itself. He gives unfaltering 5 star reviews and utterly adoring praise to every single book buy a 'local' paranormal writer called Tom Slemen (bizarrely even comparing one of TS's books to Catcher in the Rye!), and utterly disparages any other paranormal author reviewed with harsh words, 1 star reviews and large plugs for Slemen's books. Not only that, but Falco has written a review on a Harry Potter book, which - yep, you guessed it - talks about great Tom Slemen is. Clearly a not-so-subtle advert for TS on a hugely popular page.
But there's more. There is a second reviewer called 'Cryptid Frank' who does exactly the same as Falco; strongly slating any books that seem to compete with Slemen's. 'Frank' and Falco even have the same writing style. A second account perhaps? In fact, 'Frank' has a review for Catcher in the Rye, the book Falco mentioned...
As said, I don't mind criticism (in fact, I welcome it as I'm still a very new writer), but this is rather malicious and dishonest. So anyway, does this go on a lot? And, does anyone have any advice about what to do, if anything? Please take a look and let me know what you think!
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