This just in:
Okay, so this is going to amaze all of you, but Stephanie, one of the notorious GR bullies, just wrote a showing the world how she and her friends humiliated another blogger/reviewer and then created a major shitstorm, blaming an author for everything. She actually believes that an author went to the trouble of creating a bunch of fake profiles to trick her and her pals into reviewing her book.
Sorry, Steph, but you got that backwards. Your blog isn’t badass. It’s just ass bad. Delusions of grandeur are clouding your judgment here. How do we know this? Because no one is going to be this desperate to get their book reviewed on your crap blog.
Okay, so… how did this all start? It’s a long story, but it boils down to this: a reviewer befriended Steph on GR. It appears that this reviewer was doing her best to make friends, innocently assuming the people (i.e. GR bully trolls) were honest and trustworthy. (Cough! Cough! If only we’d been there to set her straight, poor thing.)
Then, Steph set her up:
The scene in the book that Steph mentions was a fabrication:
Melody didn’t know that she was being set up. She was just trying to fit in. I think many of our blog readers who’ve once been friends with these jerks can relate.
And then… and then… Steph doesn’t stop there. She accuses an author of being this blogger/reviewer who is trying to befriend her just so she can get her book noticed by the trolls at Cuddlebuggery. I know, OMG, right? In fact, she accuses the author of making multiple fake accounts (hmm, gee, where have we heard about this before? Oh, I don’t know, maybe from every single bully attack we’ve ever documented on our blog). And she makes these accusations based on… nothing. She notes a few reviews, likes and comments, but there is no solid evidence that this reviewer is an author pretending to be a reviewer. It’s absolutely insane.
So, you’re probably wondering, why is there no evidence? Because Melody is not an author. She is someone completely different.
So then, the accused author calls her out and Steph says:
She’s right about only one thing here:
“After all, everyone knows Goodreads is full of meanies who are out to get authors.”
Wow, you’ve come along way, Steph! We’re glad you could finally admit that.
Anyhow, we checked this author’s page on GR and it appears as if she’s no longer there. We’ve heard from a few people that she deleted her account and left, like so many authors do when they’ve been attacked for some stupid-ass reason that the bullies make up.
Moral of the story:
You don’t have to do ANYTHING at all to get targeted and attacked by the GR bullies. You just simply have to be a GR member.
It’s because of shit like this that so many people are fleeing Goodreads. As one our blog readers said:
Just another reminder to all publishers, authors and everyone else. Don’t create Goodreads accounts. Don’t use Goodreads. Don’t invest in Goodreads. Don’t advertise with Goodreads. Don’t give them your money or time and don’t give the website any credit what-so-ever. It’s a sewer site that breeds trolls and promotes harassment with an accepted, negative atmosphere. You don’t want your books or name associated with any of that.
Facebook and Twitter is a much better source of advertising and social interaction to connect with readers and authors. Time spent on those social networks will grow your brand and expand your audience. Time spent on Goodreads is a risk, let me emphasize that, A RISK, not a reward. People need to understand that.
Amen.
