Emily Griffin review drama

[boiler717]

Did you guys see this? I didn't see it posted but maybe I missed it. I'm shocked.

coreyann.me/?p=141

The blog post has lots of screen shots and explains the full story. Long story short, there was a comment war on Amazon between Emily's husband and a fan. Then Emily pointed out another negative review leading to the reveiwer receiving death threats. Crazy.

[Deleted]

Dude, I am in the middle of Where We Belong after taking a long hiatus from Emily Griffin because I agree her work after Something Blue wasn't all great. Now I almost regret paying full price for it (though I like it so far). Her husband is ridiculous.

[lemondrop]

Wow! That's messed up. I've actually never read any of her books and had no intention of doing so, this makes me think I've made the right choice.

FTR, I don't think EG's posts about not being #1 weren't that bad. They were just a little whiny, though.

[Pippin]

Wow that's crazy. I've never heard of this author and after seeing how unprofessional they all acted I will be avoiding her in the future. I don't think there was anything wrong with any of those reviews and they certainly don't deserve to be treated like that. I personally hate when authors get involved on Facebook and stuff it's just so easy to make someone made and things just spiral out of control.

[lemondrop]

Also, while EG wants to just drop it, what she really should have done is asked her followers to stop sending people death threats. That would have been the decent thing to do. Not responding to it implies that she agrees with their actions. Then she could have been done with it.

[BravoBravo]

Wow, what a bunch of nutters!

[specka]

I read about this the other day and of course Stop the Goodreads Bullies picked up on it and was all over it. Have you guys been following any of that? It's gotten completely ridiculous and out of control on both sides.

[lemondrop]

What is Stop the Goodreads Bullies? I haven't heard of that.

[specka]

stopthegoodreadbullies.com. It was amusing for a while but eventually it just makes your head hurt.

[GilliC]

If she (EG) really wanted to drop it, she should have done so. Writing a long paragraph about how you've done all you can and want people to just drop it is not dropping it. It's trying to have the last word.

I had actually been considering a few of her books, but honestly? I don't think I could bring myself to do it. There are so many writers out there who would love for anyone to read their books. I've even seen authors of self-pubs who are genuinely grateful for critical reviews on Amazon, because it's valuable feedback that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

A couple of 1-star reviews are not going to damage EG's career. In fact, I'm always skeptical when there are only 4 and 5 star reviews, because I wonder if all the readers knew the author or felt indebted for receiving a review copy. Not everyone is going to like something!

[frlcb]

Eh, I know her in real life and she is not crazy, despite how this makes it seem. It definitely spun way out of control.

And it is not Griffin, there is no r in her last name.

[GilliC]

Is her husband crazy? Because he certainly comes across as a bit high strung in all that.

She mostly just seems insecure. And maybe just a little bit entitled.

[frlcb]

No he isn't crazy either, I think he had a weak moment and he took it too far. I actually would not use either insecure or entitled to describe her, she is actually quite confident, and I think that comes across on her FB page and turns some people off. She is also very open about her family and their life on her page and she has had people criticize her for the way she spends money, but she has done well and her husband is also successful. I don't disagree that the whole thing came across as nutty as hell but it isn't actually who she is so it is weird.

[Deleted]

Wow, I was so close to buying her new book in the store tonight. I'm glad I didn't. She sounds like a huge, whiny baby and I think it's incredibly obnoxious to complain several times about not being #1 on the NYT best seller list.

[ChillyMcFreeze]

I'm a fan of her FB page. I never thought she came off as entitled for wanting her book to do well. Why wouldn't she use a platform to ask thousands of people to buy her book? I think some people have an over-romanticized idea of author humility.

The Amazon thing made her husband look stupid, not her IMO. She did request that her fans not bully reviewers. But she gets plenty of negative feedback directly on her FB page, and she tends to handle it well.

[PinkSquirrel]

I don't judge her post about wanting #1 nearly as hard as I'm judging the rest of it. My eyes may have bugged out of my head. Her husband was wrong and she just made it worse by releasing the troops.

[duckduck]

Wow. I didn't make it through the whole thing; what a drama-fest.

Authors are certainly free to share what they like and how they like, and I get that a social media presence that is "real" as opposed to strictly promotional is smart from a marketing perspective. And there have always been unfavorable reviews and authors and readers who reacted poorly to them. But a lot of the flame wars that have been popping up lately are unprofessional from the author's camp and just ridiculous from the readers'. And death threats? Someone else's opinion of a book that you didn't even write is THAT big of a deal in your life that you want to end someone else's over it? How did we get here?! It's insanity.

I've never read any of E.G.'s books and certainly don't know her as a person. I'll take the PPs word for it that this isn't an accurate representation of the author or her husband. But I really hope that authors will start learning from situations like this that there are times when you need to be a professional and go express your disappointment, frustration, or anger privately with a spouse, friend, etc. instead of putting it out there on the web.

ETA: And by expressing disappointment to a friend or spouse, I meant in a venting session that stays in the room, not that the spouses and friends should then be hopping on the web on the author's behalf. I'm sure it's well-meant when they do, but the effect is almost always detrimental.