WWWIII: Reviewers vs. Authors, Part Two #facepalm
I’m baaaaaccccckkkkk!!!
Yes, despite what Mark stated in a previous post, I decided there is no way in hell I’m going to stop RANTING. As long as I have stuff to rant about, it’s going to continue.
And I don’t care what ANYONE has to say about it.
If you didn’t see my last post on the “WWWIII” issue, click here. No emails today, but we're still going to pick up where I left off.
I was told by that ridiculously close-minded and self-important author (that "special snowflake") I talked about in my previous post, that being an author and being a blogger/reviewer was a conflict of interest.
Yeah, that's what I said.
How many authors do you know that don't own a BLOG or website? I don't know ANY. It's almost a requirement nowadays. And in that forum, authors (operating as bloggers and sometimes, reviewers) are allowed to rant, rave, review and say whatever the hell they want. And they do. And there's NOTHING wrong with that. It's your right, and I say to my fellow authors and bloggers, don't ever let anyone try to dictate to you what you should be advocating or try to make you choose sides. Be your own person and make up your own mind. If more of us did that, there wouldn't be a war at all.
But to continue...
I think the author just wanted to justify choosing sides and ganging up against the opposition, supporting their semi-radical claims, twisting our words to go against their views, and falsely accusing Mark and I of "author-gagging" and all kinds of other stupid shit, including bullying, which I don't condone or participate in.
The battle was brought onto Masquerade Crew territory when we first received an email from this author attacking my How NOT to Piss Off a Blogger rant, and now the author wants us to be quiet because it's not quite working out the way they thought it would. Now they feel attacked and bullied, but they brought the fight to US. And we defended ourselves. Fiercely. And will continue to do so.
See, they thought we would bend over for them. They thought we would back down and be quiet. They thought we would hush up and join their picket line.
They most certainly found out that neither Mark nor I are intimidated, especially by someone sitting in their house robe on the other side of an electronic correspondence. Nice try. You fail.
Authors, I love you and you know I do. How many of you have I dealt with in the course of the year and a half I've been the Crew Review manager? Hundreds. I've dealt with hundreds of authors and NEVER have I been so repeatedly insulted (or insulted AT ALL) and accused of so many fallacies in the course of a few days. And all by ONE author. Yes, I am a blogger. Yes, I am a reviewer. But I am an author first and I always will be. And I will always have your back too. My track record with the Crew proves that.
Authors, you are always free to say WHATEVER YOU WANT. Stick up for yourself, confront reviewers, do whatever the hell you want. I don't care. Just know, not everyone is going to just accept your stand because you're making one. Some bloggers/reviewers will, and some will not. That's the nature of the industry, despite what some fools may think. Again, inform yourself and make up your own mind. Don't just listen to anything from anybody, including me. Do your homework. Do your research, and then make your stand. At least then, you'll know that you're staying true to yourself, and you're not just some puppet for a supposedly "greater cause".
Yes, my initial rant was harsh. I never said it wasn't. If it upset you, that's really too bad. I apologize for nothing. Why are you so upset? That's the question you need to answer. Bloggers, reviewers, and authors alike mostly enjoyed this post and found it entertaining and pretty damn truthful. I don't even think most read too much into it. It is also one of our most popular posts EVER.
I was told that I was "threatening" authors with retaliation from book bloggers. No, I wasn't, and most people with common sense know that. As a follower of the Crew (who is also a lawyer) commented, it was a warning, not a threat. I never said I was going to be the one to retaliate, not once. Nor did I say it was "OKAY" to do so. I just put it out there that there was a chance it might happen and that you should be damn cautious of it. Anyone who thought otherwise is an idiot. We know there's at least one.
I will continue to defend my rants, my Crew, and myself. I am not scared to stand up and say what's on my mind. Sorry if YOU are. And the rants shall continue...for as long as we want them to.
On the out, I say let's just can this garbage and try our best to get along with each other the best we can. There are some out there who live for keeping up mess, such as this author, and those are the people you should avoid. The email exchange between them and us has gotten quite nasty (because I don't take false accusations lightly AT ALL), but it's over now as every email from this author will from now on be IGNORED.
I am proud as hell to be a part of the Masquerade Crew. I adore Mark (and his wife Sarah who keeps him from going completely cray-cray) and I hope we are in business together for a long, long time. We will never stop supporting authors. We will never stop backing book bloggers. We will never stop reviewing and promoting all the awesome books out there.
Anyone who is against this can stay the hell off our site. Deuces.
