I’d like to talk about expectations. I’ve been seeing comments about authors trashing other authors lately. I haven’t personally seen a post trashing anyone recently, but if my colleagues are talking about it, I’ve no doubt it’s popping up somewhere. One of the author’s I’m newly acquainted with made an excellent point, she said if you’re an author you’re no longer a private person you’re a public figure now. You may not feel like a public figure, I certainly don’t, but it’s true, you are in the public eye the moment you publish a book.
As a public figure you have to be careful what you post publicly. I’m not saying you should be dishonest or become a character. I’m saying anything you say can and will be used against you, so take care not to disparage anyone’s reputation. Defamation is a real thing; it can be used to file a civil suit against you and a court can order you to pay damages if your comments caused harm. Not to be confused with slander, which is a criminal offense.
But you shouldn’t avoid making negative comments solely to avoid a lawsuit. It can damage your reputation, and your career if you become known as the person with a bad attitude against other authors. I’m doing an author event with eight other authors, and I’m super excited about it, but if they heard me tearing down other authors, they wouldn’t want to include me. I would miss out on a great opportunity to promote my books. I am hoping to have a short story of mine included in an anthology with nine other authors. If I was trashing other authors nobody would want to include me, I’d miss another wonderful opportunity.
Not only could you lose opportunities, but you could ruin relationships, collaborations, groups, and promotional projects if you gain a reputation as someone who always has something negative to say. More importantly, you could be destroying your own happiness. If you spend time putting others down, that means you don’t feel good about yourself. When you’re happy with yourself, you want everyone to be happy and you work to lift others up and help them do better. If you feel the need to trash others, spend some time examining why that is, why do you feel the need to be negative about other’s work? Does it make your work better? Does it make you happy?
I read a terrible story about an author who was struggling to get a top spot in the ratings. Apparently, she saw the author in that spot as her only obstacle. She went on a rampage of destruction making fake accounts and writing bad reviews for that author. She trashed that author all over the internet in her attempt to gain that top spot. She got caught. She publicly apologized, but she is ruined. Her name is trashed. All of her pen names are tainted, she’s been exposed as a fraud, liar, and cheater. Nobody wants to publish her, work with her, or buy her books now. Don’t be like that person. If you earn the top spot with your writing, you’ll get it. If not, that’s okay too! Keep trying. But don’t ever try to get ahead by putting others down.
The other way we have expectations as authors is from our readers. We expect them to read our books and if they like them, post reviews. We expect other readers to see those reviews and buy our books and post their own reviews. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. Some people don’t realize how incredibly important it is for them to post a review for that author. Other readers have the best intentions to post them and get sidetracked. Again, we can’t berate readers when they don’t live up to our expectations. All we can do is kindly request their review and hope for the best.
On the other side of this expectation is the poor review. What if they do what you ask and they take the time to post a review, but it’s only two stars? What if they didn’t connect with your story the way others have connected with it? You can’t grill them about their review, they’re entitled to their opinion, even if it makes absolutely no sense to you! Everyone has different tastes, and they may not have connected with your characters for whatever reason. You can’t send them a DM and demand they explain themselves or change their mind. You may want to, but you can’t! Remember, you don’t want to ruin your reputation as a public figure now.
I’ve spoken about this before, but in case you don’t recall, when I did my ARC campaign for Force of Corruption, I sent out over 140 ARC copies. I gave clear instructions about my expectations, which is super important. I specifically requested they post their honest reviews without any spoilers. I also asked if they planned to give it three stars or less if they would kindly wait until a specific date to post the review so that my algorithm wouldn’t be damaged. Everyone wholeheartedly agreed to my expectations. I also requested that they let me know if they had any issues with the book, such as typos, missed trigger warnings, or just couldn’t read it for whatever reason if they would please let me know.
I heard from three readers who just couldn’t connect with my writing style, they didn’t like my first-person present tense style. One person decided to DNF. I was not upset in the least by any of these responses to my book. Why? Because they did what I asked and communicated with me about the issues. I don’t begrudge them their taste or opinions in the least.
Only one ARC reviewer earned my ire. This reviewer posted a very unflattering and mean-spirited review on their social media before the date I asked them to wait until. But even that was fine because it wasn’t a review on Amazon or Goodreads. The only issue I had was their post was filled with spoilers. (It’s not nice to ruin the suspense in a suspense novel) Still, it was fine because it was only their social media, and they didn’t have much of a following. Then they wrote me and confirmed what date they could post their one-star review. I thanked them for checking and let them know the date. They posted their one-star review first thing that morning, it was full of spoilers. I didn’t care about the stars, but I was upset about the spoilers. Thankfully the platform they chose has a box to check if you’re posting spoilers and they checked it, so it doesn’t just pop up without warning for other readers.
This reviewer did not meet my expectations. I could’ve written them and complained about the spoilers, but that’s not me. I gave them guidelines of my expectations and they didn’t follow them, that’s not on me and what good would it do to berate them after the fact? Not only did I not hunt them down with my torch and pitchfork, (yes, I have a torch, don’t ask), but I had told all of my ARC readers if they posted a review and sent me a screenshot of it, I would enter them in a drawing for a gift card and bookish items. This reviewer sent me a screenshot, and I entered them in the drawing. I do my best to follow through on my promises and keep my word. Now, I won’t deny I was happy when their name wasn’t the one the arrow stopped on when I spun the wheel, but I didn’t think it would be right not to enter their name when they posted a review and sent the screenshot.
When we write what’s in our hearts and work tirelessly to put out a well written and edited book, we have the expectation that people will read it and like it. We expect our friends and family to read our work and support us. We expect other authors to follow through when they say they’ll read our book. The problem is we’re expecting people to do what they should or what they say, and we’re forgetting they’re just people and they mean well, usually, but they may not live up to our expectations. We can’t attack them because of it, and especially not in public.
My husband wrote a business book, he compares business management to playing football. You’d be surprised at the number of similarities between the two, one of my favorite examples from his wisdom is when a team hits the field ready to make a play. If nobody, say a coach in football or a manager in business, has given them a plan that outlines the expectations or the goal, how can the team be expected to execute a successful play? If the quarterback doesn’t know he’s supposed to throw the ball and the receiver hasn’t been assigned a route that leaves them open to catch the ball, how can they ever reach the goal?
Be clear with your expectations for others. Don’t assume your second cousin is going to read your book because they mentioned they like to read at Thanksgiving. Manage your expectations of yourself. Don’t put too many expectations onto readers. Don’t put unrealistic expectations onto other authors, they may over commit or have different priorities than you. Don’t let others failures to meet your expectations ruin your happiness. Chalk it up as an experience and move on.
Of course, I wish people would always live up to my expectations, but it’s just not realistic. As a new public figure, I need to keep in mind that I can expect someone to disappoint me. But I’ll also be happily surprised by those who go above my expectations, and those are the people I want to stick around. I’ve been very fortunate to meet some wonderful authors who work to lift up their colleagues and I’m happy to know them.
I try my best to be especially supportive of my fellow indie authors. I believe there’s plenty of readers for everyone to find success. We should all be in each other’s corners and strive to exceed the expectations of our readers and colleagues every day.
If you’re an author or a reader, please join my group on Facebook, ENChanting Reads-- authors are welcome to post their books and projects. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2168181030058548/?ref=share
Here’s a link to register for the FREE virtual author event:
https://facebook.com/events/s/readers-break-the-internet-onl/797504215772748/
As always, thank you for reading!