Latest WTF Moment in the Publishing World...

Well, I think the day has finally come where I’ve seen and heard it all. I know, who would’ve thunk it! Oh now, take it easy grammar Nazis. The spelling error and improper English was purposeful and as you read on you’ll see why.

It would seem that an author who I didn’t much care for before has taken his condescension to new levels. For years I’ve considered this man to be arrogant, self absorbed and quite frankly full of himself. But, hey… who am I to judge? Not everyone is going to get along in life and that’s just the way it is. Besides, he and I aren’t neighbors and our paths rarely cross. Especially since I removed his posts from my Facebook newsfeed. Uh oh…did I just admit that out loud?  I won’t even get into the knowledge that my observation has shown he tends to come down on women more than men. Nope, not going to mention that at all. Oops. I think I just did. Anyway, it would appear that this “author” has taken it upon himself to offer up not just a review with comments that seem somewhat irrelevant and prove him to be uninformed. He has gone so far as to send back to the author a copy of her book in .pdf format, fully edited by him. Umm… crazy man does what?! Who does that?! Well, apparently this man does. In his ‘editing’ he goes on to school this author on her failed writing style. Here’s where I, as a fellow author, have a problem. Allow me to explain…

This author has a total of three books published, at least according to his Amazon Author Page. In his two sentence bio there are punctuation errors and sentences that aren’t quite…how shall we say, proper? Failed writing style, perhaps? He has three books released, which all appear to be self published. Out of those three books, he has only one review which is a 4 Star. This is in stark contrast to the author he attempted to school. She also has three books released. All of which are published with Siren Bookstrand, a publisher who knows the erotic romance industry and puts their authors through several rounds of edits. On Amazon her three books have an average rating of 4.6 out of 8 total reviews. So, at first glance it would appear that this author is doing something right, even if her unsolicited editor/reviewer thinks so or not. After I heard about this situation, I decided to take a look at his particular review of her book. And let’s just say I was shocked by what I found….

As you’ll notice, in the very first sentence of his review he points out that he enjoyed the story, but vampires aren’t his cup of tea. Umm…then why’d you buy it? What he neglects to mention in his review is that he purchased book 1 in this series and according to another Goodreads review, he read that one as well. So, if the title and blurb weren’t enough to clue him into it being a vampire story, wouldn’t the first book in the series have cleared up any confusion he had over plotlines? Anyway, let’ also take a look at another part of his review. He mentions the vampire’s bight. Umm… vampire’s what?? No, that’s not a misspelling. He actually wrote it as bight, and not bite. Unless the vampire is also a sailor, or someone who just likes to tie rope, I can only assume that this is an error made by the reviewer. Eeeks! Has the teacher made a boo boo? Now, don’t get me wrong I know we’re all capable of typing a word wrong. However, wouldn’t you think that someone that was arrogant enough to send back a published book to the author complete with his editing notes and suggestions would know the proper use of the words: bite, bight? Well, I guess not. It must be one of those, do as I say, not as I do things.

Some of you may be wondering why I have removed the reviewer/name of this man from the above graphic, or why I have not made one mention of his name or books in this post. The answer to that my friends is quite simple. I flat out refuse to give this man one second of fame for his arrogance and self righteous behavior.

Now, since I’m a big believer in seeing things from a positive perspective I will say that not all bad has come from this experience. You see, not only has his actions solidified my opinion of this man, proving that his arrogance wasn’t just something I suspected, but it is an actual fact. This has also made me want to buy the book in question! And I invite you all to do the same!!! So, go on and pick up any of Lynne St. James’s wonderful books at Bookstrand. You won’t regret it! The girl can really tell a story! *winks* 

Until next time, my friends. And puhhleeeease remember to be kind to one another. The publishing world may seem like a giant sea, but it can become really small pond if you start picking on your own kind.