1. Are you a regular visitor?

2. In one or two sentences, why did (or do) you visit ScrawlBug?

3. What is the most important thing ScrawlBug can help you with?

Answers on a postcard to… oh, hang on – just type in the comments, if you would be so kind!

The parent site, Writer Beware is a wonderful resource for the more book-oriented author: it covers the scammers, the fake agents and any other problems in the writing industry. Not only that, but it covers them extraordinarily well – just have a look at all the resources for the current Google Books goings-on and you’ll see what I mean. Bookmark it if you’re in the business.

Anyway, the article in question covers some news of authors who go postal online over bad reviews. The most recent of these was one Alice Hoffman. After a poor review of her current novel (which, I might add, I read and thought was neutral, rather than distinctly negative), she hopped onto Twitter and sent several messages. One began “Roberta Silman in the Boston Globe is a moron”, another said “Now any idiot can be a critic” and yet another posted the reviewer’s email address and phone number. “Tell her what u think of snarky critics” suggested Hoffman.

The other famous occurrence is Alain de Botton, who posted a comment on a reviewer’s blog and then expressed surprise that “it seems that I’m telling the world” when everyone read it.

The thing that surprises me here is not that vomiting vitriol at negative reviewers is so common (as you’ll see from Victoria’s post), but that these public outbursts happen at all. Some people need their mouths washed out with soap and water.

I’ve had negative reviews in the past. We all have. Anyone who writes online will get negative feelings at some point: it could be disagreement over an opinion, pointing to a factual error in an article or just simply saying that the content sucks. It happens. The important decision is how to react.

In my mind, the only way to react is to ask why the person thinks what they think. Discuss it with them. Correct errors or support your point of view and you’re in a debate, not an argument. By talking freely and politely, much more can be achieved – just look at the ScrawlBug post on bidding sites and the incredibly useful, helpful comments there. You’ll see what I mean.

And this is what I mean by “Be professional” – don’t rant and rave like a child who’s had their favourite dolly taken away. Be adult and figure out what’s wrong. Correct it, adjust it or agree to disagree.

Why? Well, if I had been a fan of Alice Hoffman, I wouldn’t be any more. That kind of childish pettiness incurs a total loss of respect in my book.

Let’s have a little poll:

One of the jobs I have at the moment is a one-off to produce five articles. Simple enough, right? Well, yes, apart from the fact that the subjects are all things with which I am completely unfamiliar. That’s not a problem in itself – it only becomes one because of my darned honesty and principles. I absolutely refuse to produce sub-standard crap that could have been written by a machine or is copied and pasted from half a dozen other sources to create some kind of Frankenstein article.

My buyer will get five articles that have been researched, are completely original and which are around the 700-word mark, instead of some half-English gibberish that just about manages 450 words, including the byline and title.

The up-side of this is great: I virtually always get comments from buyers along the lines of “really great”, “exceeds expectations” and other such loveliness. The down-side is that I’m effectively underpaid, because I’m doing more research and work for the pieces I produce than someone who just bashes them together between re-runs of American Idol.

So I have to ask you this: which is more important to you?