‘Congratulations, you’ve been trolled!’

Ok, so these aren’t words I ever hoped to read, especially in an e-mail, but when one especially observant reader spotted a brand-new review on my Amazon.com page for Invisible, they decided to get in touch.

By the time I logged on to my laptop and called up the right page, you can guess what I was thinking.

‘OMG! Does someone hate my book so much they’ve completely trashed it?’

I’ve been braced for this eventuality since the day I published the first five books, so you can imagine how my heart sank!

When I eventually found my reading glasses and got the right page open, I read my new review with bemusement.

The reviewer wasn’t actually reviewing my book, but the product page on Amazon. They’d given me a two-star review, because, apparently, I had a sentence in the book synopsis which contained more than one ‘and’, which in the opinion of the reviewer (who constantly quotes what she was taught in elementary school), is something of a cardinal sin.

(If any of you haven’t read the review yet, you can go and have a look, by following this link; Invisible page – Amazon.com )

Now, unfortunately, since that review was posted, another reader went onto the Amazon.com page and left a 1* review. She said that she couldn’t finish my book as she didn’t like the way I wrote, and hated my characters. This was my first 1* rating, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt! A lot!

But I’ll be perfectly honest, and tell you I have absolutely no argument with the 1* lady. We all like different things in a book, and I totally respect her opinion. I sincerely hope that she finds a book more to her liking quickly, so she can forget all about her disappointment in my book.

My feelings towards the 2* lady are a little more complicated.

Am I angry? Nope! ( I probably should be, but that would involve a lot more negative energy than I’m prepared to expend on her.)

Am I frustrated? Yeah, a little bit. But I’m frustrated with Amazon, that they  allowed a negative review against my book, when the reviewer made it obvious that she hadn’t even read the book, just the product page. But as this apparently doesn’t break their ‘rules’, they won’t do anything to take it down.

Am I chuffed? (That’s ‘pleased, excited or happy’ for my non-UK readers.) Hell, yes!

“Why?” I hear you yelling at your laptops/tablets/MAC’s/PC’s/mobile phones, or other internet accessing gizmos of your choosing.

Well, I’m so glad you asked me that!

It’s because when I went in to have a look at who else this person had trolled, I found that she’d also had a pop at some really great authors, people like Melody Anne, whose books I have on my own Kindle.

What fantastic company to be in!

Now, Ok, they are authors who already have the benefit of hundreds of positive reviews, so it doesn’t negatively affect their books quite as much as it does mine.

But when I consider how long they’ve been publishing books, and that I’ve only arrived on the scene in the last year, I’m thinking it’s quite an achievement to be lumped in the same category as them, for any reason.

Besides, look at the amazing reviews I’ve received already, from the likes of Elize, Waymon, Debbi, Julia, and Voracious Reader on the Amazon. com site, and Pru, Emma, Von, June B, Happy Neds and Jade Erica on the UK site (sincere apologies to those names I’ve missed, but the list is too long to name everyone), plus all the lovely reviewers/raters on Goodreads and Smashwords.

I am so damn grateful that there are such wonderful people out there, who are willing to take the time to let me know how much they enjoy my books, and not just by leaving reviews, (which are absolutely fantastic, by the way) but by e-mailing me directly, or sending messages through my contact page on this site. Hearing from readers is my second favourite (book-related) thing, after writing my books!

And as anyone who has e-mailed me will attest, I reply to every single e-mail individually, and count each and every one of you as my new friends!

So, thank you to those of you who have already been in touch and let me know what you think of this review. To quote one of my truly wonderful new friends, it’s “Hogwash! Ignore it!”.

I’m going to go one better.

I’d like to thank the Troll, sorry, the lady, for her review.

She’s galvanised my small, but growing band of ‘new friends’ into contacting me to offer their (often humorous) opinions and their support, and they’ve shown me exactly how much love and kindness there really is in the world.

That makes me the biggest winner, every day of the week!

She’s also reminded me that it’s been a while since I posted on this page, in particular, to let everyone know how much I appreciate you getting in touch with me, not just about this review, but generally.

So, here I am to say thank you, all of you! From the bottom of my heart.

Anyway, if it’s all the same to everyone, I’ll get off now, as I’m currently working on book 9, where I’m quite sure you’ll find more than a few sentences with two ‘ands’ in them! Just the way I like them!

I’ll be back over the weekend to let you know what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks, and give you an update on the next book.

Lots of love and best wishes,

Beth

xx

 

PS. Thankfully since these reviews were posted, two more 5* reviews have appeared, so I’m feeling a little bit less neurotic about everything now, although I still have to brace myself every time I check out the Amazon pages.

 

PPS. For any of you who might be unsure of the definition of a Troll, I found this more than adequate explanation on-line, which I thought I’d share with you;

 

TROLL – Definition

A person who posts malicious or inflammatory comments on the internet, with the intention of garnering attention to pander to their own insecurities and inadequacies, just because they can, and especially when they know the host site will take no action to remove their posts. Said posts are usually deliberately inaccurate, or include content specifically chosen to inflame, incite or provoke readers into leaving outraged replies.

A Troll measures success by how much negative activity they provoke.

A Troll fails when they are ‘outed’ or ignored.