This couldn’t have come at the better time… well, at least for what we want to show you. For the author, however, there is no good time for this kind of thing to happen. Just as our post covering the attack on L. Kirstein was done in two parts, we will be cutting this one into two as well. The first will feature screenshots we took of the author’s story and the second will feature screenshots of what the trolls did to her.
In our last post, we discussed GR’s recent paid-for HuffPo advertisements (here and here) making a very transparent attempt to woo unknowing and unsuspecting authors to the site. We also discussed Patrick Brown’s recent vomit-inducing message to KDP authors where he says:
Now, in these next two posts, we will show you exactly what savvy authors know about GR and why it is the best thing for their career to STAY AWAY from it.
So… without further ado, here’s Lauren’s story in her own words (see Canceling the Release of Learning to Love):
As for the link in the post above that tells the story:
So, you all see that? Even BEFORE the book was released, there were trolls (i.e. ) who were one-starring her book. Then, when , they attacked her to the point where she decided to cancel the book’s release and pull out of GR altogether.
This is like the gazillionth time we’ve seen this happen. However, this attack we noticed was particularly nasty and threats really were laid against Lauren.
Now, if you see people being threatened on GR, take screenshots and report it to the police immediately. These trolls (and Goodreads itself) need to be held responsible for the abuse that goes on there. Why? Because. As we showed you in our last post, when an author is attacked for something completely innocent, like asking a question, the author has no rights on GR other than to stay silent and let herself be at the mercy of GR management, who in most cases DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help the situation.
It is TOTAL BS.
This is why we get so f#*%^&! mad when we see BS like this, followed by the lies told by Patrick and the people GR has paid to push the site as a “terrific” book promotion platform for authors. This crap is just wrong and is precisely the kind of thing that savvy authors already know:
STAY AWAY FROM GOODREADS.
That’s all for today. Tune in for tomorrow’s post featuring screenshots of the actual attack, or at least what’s left of it.
« Goodreads Vs. Real Professionals The Attack on Lauren Howard, Part 2 »
This story is everywhere:
Derrick led an earlier attack against another author here
He is one bald, ugly little shit.
Yeah, he’s a little bitch, isn’t he? All you have to do is look at his friends list to see that he’s a member of the Amazon Fora Trolls. Notice some familiar names?
We got him on our radar now. He’s on our BBG list. I put him up there today.
These people have mental issues, there’s nothing else that could possibly explain their behavior.
I’ll say it again. THESE PEOPLE HAVE SERIOUS MENTAL ISSUES.
I looked at the shelves that the rats put this guy’s book on and found myself wondering what he did to be labeled a badly behaving author. But, of course, it’s Goodreads. It doesn’t really matter why. You can get on these creatures’ s__t lists merely by clearing your throat in their general direction. They’ll take that as yet another intolerable attempt by a creepy author to muzzle them, they’ll scream about how they can do whatever they want, and they’ll go berserk and start flinging their crap at the passersby outside their cages.
Good analogy, Karig! 😀
Poor Lauren, she has my sympathy. Will be more than happy to buy her book and review it on amazon.com. My advice to her, never give up on writing.
She needs to call the law.
I respect her decision to not release the book. It’s a shame she had to deal with this kind of abusive attack, but I do admire her for speaking out about it in public in order to let others know what’s happening on GR and how GR deals with these issues…especially with their best puppet of all time, Patrick, promoting GR. I’ll bet if Patrick opens his mouth wide enough we can see Jeff Bezo waving his fingers at the back of Patrick’s throat, because that’s how far his hand is up Patrick’s ass.
LMAO! Hahaha!
I wonder if it ever enters the trolls’ dim hate-befuddled little scorpion minds that their relentless attacks are making their targets sympathetic? We do not care that the trolls think of their targets as “badly behaving authors”, particularly when the trolls stomp all over someone and their never-published book merely for asking a question. These miserable stupid little cockroaches are making themselves look horrid; all of the sympathy and encouragement is going to their target, Lauren Howard. But I guess if the roaches spend all of their time in the Goodreads echo chamber, then they’re too busy convincing themselves that they’re making the world safer for “reviewers” to notice.
You’d think they’d realize that they’re behavior is creating a solidarity among those of us who are anti-bully. It’s only making the group of people who stand against them stronger.
From Derrick’s GR profile:
“I like flowers, and ponies and long walks on the beach.
I’m a soda’holic. I know how to handle a machete quite well.
The Zen Koan of Samurai Spongebob brings me back to my center, helped along by my Yoda pez dispenser. Porkchops.
And if you get to know me, you’ll find out which of the above is true and which is patently false.”
He likes ponies and porkchops. Or maybe not so much. We have to get to know him, his cheap tie, and his shiny head better in order to find out. Well. Isn’t that just darling. I’m slapping my knee and winking.
Pardon my snark, but I’m sure he can take it, especially if he can dish it out so well. You see, once you start to bash the way he did, you put yourself up on the block, so to speak, and you invite others to return the favor to you. And that’s part of how to deal with bullies…at least in my experience. And I didn’t even mention his taste in books.
That’s deplorable and totally unfair. Every time I think it can’t get worse, it does.
FWIW I think Lauren is doing the right thing delaying the release. As she says, she has to think about herself.
I’ve thought about it a little and I think she is doing the right thing. She’s not letting them win because they will never get a chance to actually read her book. Instead, she is going to change the title and release it under a pen name. Smart move.
So sad. Her attack was far worse than mine. It just goes to show you GR is not a place to promote books. They try to advertise that it is, but give Authors no support when something like this happens. I wished I had discovered STGRB before setting up an author account on Goodreads. The minute I read your guidelines for joining Goodreads and what we need to be aware of I would have bypassed that wretched site. If you are going to join that forum/site. Say nothin to anyone, keep your profile low and please don’t try to engage anyone in friendly banter. The site is useless to authors. I’ll stick to Facebook, Twitter and blogs that allow reader and author communication .
G.R. is absolutely NOT the place to launch anything!!!! Innocent as I was way back when, I actually thought as a reader I could participate there and learn something, you know, grow in knowledge…but was attacked brutally shortly after I joined the group. There are people there who are so crazy nuts that it’s impossible to enjoy your membership, and I do mean, NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, no matter what you say, the people at Goodreads will find something, pick it apart and go after you like a pack of wild dogs.
Wild dogs is the only description I give Goodreads.
There are good people on there as well as bad. I run a group of more than 4,000 people, and nothing like this ever happens with my girls. Mostly because they know if it did, then *I’d* be on them like a rabid dog!
Yes, this is true. There are some very good people on GR. It’s really a shame that the bullies ruin the experience for everyone.
Yeah, exactly. I’m an author and Goodreads is critical to my marketing plan, but I’ve been lucky because I’m in a position of some authority. I didn’t even know this kind of thing happened on Goodreads.
I’ve since befriended poor young Lauren on Twitter, and she is really the sweetest little thing. She’s had so much support since this came to light. She woke up to something like 300 tweets of support this morning, and even had messages of support from E.L. James and Jamie McGuire. If THAT doesn’t show that there’s some goodness in the GR community, I don’t know what does.
We knew about Jamie, but not about E.L James. Wow!
Awesome! I figure if we get enough of a riot going, we can make Goodreads (or Amazon) pay attention. We’re at 170 and climbing!
And yeah, that E.L. James thing rocked my socks right off. And hers, too. Can’t blame her.
The sad irony here is that Lauren wrote a book called Learning to Love and then went to GR with it and found nothing but hate. Maybe her next book should be called Learning to Hate. A book about the GR trolls and how they roll.
I’m so disgusted by what happened to that poor girl. Like someone else said, if she ever does release her book then I’ll buy it just to spite the trolls!
This needs to be stopped, though. Has anyone started a petition to Goodreads yet?
Isn’t that now the second book which was cancelled because of these bullies?
Also, I’ve started a petition to appeal to Goodreads to start taking an active role in their community. They’re owned by Amazon now, so if they want to keep that sponsorship, the last thing they want is negative publicity.
You rock, Scarmander! We’ll put this link on our sidebar.
Wow. I wasn’t aware stuff like this was happening on GR, but I don’t pay much attention to it. Makes me question whether to stay.
DISGRACEFUL.
For Lauren: I have learned from experience that one tool of bullies is to make their target feel isolated. I have read how you felt when you decided not to publish. I belong to five author groups and all five have posted your final blog. Other websites are making and taking comments supporting you. A petition is accessible online that will be sent to Goodreads requesting policy change. If you reach out to author contacts now I do not think you will continue to feel isolated.
I used to think GR was a pretty good site, it’s a shame to see bulling case likes this happening there.