Warnings:
Just so you know, much of this is a rant, quite simply because I’m trying to officially and completely express my thoughts regarding my experiences and research findings of book troll world. I call it officially “The Book Troll Underworld.” If you don’t already know about it, you’ll soon learn about it through this post. If you don’t like rants, feel free to breeze through this one or to just turn away altogether, because it’s about to get serious (ugly), but also somewhat humorous. Well, at least I humored myself.
Intro:
As I mentioned in the previous Troll Readings post, a troll reading is when an individual reads a book or another piece of written work only for the purpose of finding faults or anything at all that can be twisted and turned into a fault. The intended goal of that individual is to post what is called “a trolling review.” You can read that troll readings post here. This is my 2nd trolling readings post and also my final post on these scandalous beings because I find the whole topic of them tedious, tiresome, time-consuming, and overall boring. Moving on with the post: This particular book troll, the individual who’s the subject of this troll readings post, is something else entirely, quite different from the troll reader I wrote about previously. It turns out that this troll reader is even more special, being that she’s a published author but also an individual who was officially banned from GoodReads for her trolling behavior against other authors and their books (more on that later). The following is her GoodReads page, but you won’t find any of her reviews there because, like I said, she was banned from GoodReads. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1311222.Linda_Hilton As I also mentioned in my first post regarding troll readings, the reason I had started the page was to bring attention to the issue of troll readers, not only to expose the specific trolls that went out of their way to sabotage my book but to also bring attention to the issue of book trolls altogether. Book trolls are still prevalent in the book reading and writing communities, and as such, they’re a serious problem to the literary industry as a whole.
To make it clear, and you’ll understand this more if you’ve read my first troll readings post, I’ve had no desire to write about every book troll that attacked my book. They’re trolls, after all; not much more to say than that. Instead, I’ve written these posts specifically about the ones who went out of their way to purposely stifle the growth of my book’s audience by not only posting lies about my book on Amazon and Goodreads but also in some online blog post or another. I call these particular trolls the lowest of the barrel, the most shadiest of all the trolls, because they’re willing to lie and twist factors around as a means to destroy and deter anyone who’s interested in reading my books. Like I said, they’re the lowest of the lowest. So, these particular two book trolls I talked about in these posts, not only were they unscrupulous in their character when reviewing my book, they also posted their sham reviews onto their public blog or website. I planned to make this a series on my blog, but as I eventually and continuously saw them for the bitter and miserable individuals they are, I got bored with the whole topic of them and dealing with them. I had become desensitized, but the fact of the matter is, they’re still causing damage to the book publishing industry and the reading community. So, again, I continue with this post not only for the purpose of exposing these two trolls so that other writers are aware of them, but also to show that book trolling hasn’t gone away. It’s still prevalent today in the book review communities and on individual blogs and websites. Another problem with the issue of book trolls is that authors, especially indie authors, are getting scammed by individuals who are claiming to be “editors,” “sensitivity readers,” and other sorts of “experts” that can help their books to become successful. In actuality, what they’re really paying for is for their books to not be attacked by trolls. I won’t be the one to research this in-depth, because these posts are enough to bring light to that hidden problem. But if you happen to do research on this topic, I still have the emails where I was contacted by various individuals to pay for book reviews for my ARC book when it was on NetGalley. I declined, and soon after that (within a month), my book was hit with a trolling attack. Just think about that for a moment—authors who expose their books to the public (such as on NetGalley), are prone to being targeted by book trolls, for the purpose of making them pay for “good reviews”, in other words, for those authors to make a payment so that their books aren’t targeted by book trolls. All these issues, and more, is why book trolls are such a problem.
So, I officially begin with Troll Readings #2.
The link to that sham book review, the troll reading review that’s the subject of this post, is on BookLikes at the following page:
http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post/2012590/the-wrythe-and-the-reckoning-everything-wrong-and-nothing-right. Beware of spoilers, both on this individual’s blog page and also in this post.
Notice the title, where she wrote “and nothing right.” That’s book trolling clue #1. (More on that later.)
So, this troll reader’s name is Linda Hilton. In trying to understand her background, what credentials she refers to for her reasons of putting herself onto some expert pedestal in writing world, I did some research on Google. After some time, I eventually found her books and some other content she had written, mostly content specifically encouraging trolling behaviors against authors and their books. As of now, on her BookLikes blog, she has nothing posted in plain view regarding her background. So, initially, upon reading her trolling review, I had no idea that she was an author. Being that she had written a trolling review of my book, a review where she makes herself out to be some sort of expert, I was very curious about her writing credentials. As I read more of her posts, I became increasingly eager to learn about her credentials, particularly because of her pompous attitude that she presents in her posts when ridiculing authors (especially indie authors) and their books. So, upon searching for her on Google, that’s when I found out that she’s an author, but only that, she’s also a book troll who was officially banned from GoodReads.
How do I know it’s the same person, the same Linda Hilton who was banned from GoodReads, because the following is posted on her BookLikes page (link below). At some point, if you can’t find it through the following link, search “Legacy of Honor booklikes.com” and click on Google images.
http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post/1827659/unpublished-fuck-you-jimmy-thomas
(Notice the hypocrisy in her blog post, on how she seeks compassion regarding her issues with her book but has repeatedly and unfairly bashed the books of other authors who likely didn’t have any of those issues, including myself. In this post, she explains more about her book ‘Legacy of Honor.’ She says that the book didn’t do well when it was published decades ago, in other words saying that it didn’t sell. So, she basically has a different cover now and the book is perhaps supposed to do much better this time around. That’s all fine. I’m not a hater. However, again, notice the hypocrisy in her seeking consideration but then not giving the same consideration to other authors when reviewing their books. If this isn’t a great example of a troll reader, I don’t know what is. In fact, if this book troll isn’t a great example of a trolling-author, I don’t know what is.)
The following is a quote she posted, as an author, on her GoodReads page:
(Consider that the trolling reviews she had made previously on GoodReads for other authors’ books were removed when she was banned from the site. She could still be there for all we know, under a different name.)
“People aren’t reading self-published authors because people can’t even get past the poor quality of the samples. They aren’t reading books they don’t want to read.” ― Linda Hilton
With such a quote, her books must be to rave about, right?
Please do take a look at her GoodReads page, to get a glimpse of how much of an expert she apparently is at writing books and teaching about them. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1311222.Linda_Hilton
Notice a similar title? (It’s Legacy of Honor.)
Also, look closely at the avatar in the image on her GoodReads pages. It’s the same one that’s on her BookLikes page.
Here’s another link, regarding that book, and in this link, she raves about indie publishing and expresses dislike for traditional publishing. But yet, she’s made a hobby out of bashing indie authors as though she’s still hoping for that traditional pub contract with the top traditional publishing companies. http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post/1625280/when-an-editor-turns-the-book-of-your-dreams-into-a-nightmare-and-won-t-let-go
(The hypocrisy is unnerving. Notice, too, in the comments, how they talk badly about editors. I recommend taking notes on that (copy and paste), and beware not only of book trolls but also of so-called professional editors who in actuality can’t write a decent novel on their own. If they haven’t published a book or short story that you can read, I recommend steering clear. Keep in mind, her issues with editors was through traditional pub. One wouldn’t expect for there to be such the issue with traditional pub, but look at there. Anyway, it’s all about editors having and showing adequate credentials, and also being genuine. More on that later.)
In reading some of her posts on her BookLikes page, several of them sound more like “Well, I didn’t succeed as an author, so why should you or anybody else?” This is when I realized more than before that there’s indeed a group of authors who are bitter at not having succeeded the way they thought they would, and as a result, in their bitterness, they go about trying to prevent other authors from succeeding.
My other point through making this post is that the reading audience and authors, in general, need to stop perceiving book reviews from blogs and other websites as though all of them are genuine and credible reviews. Sure, most of them are probably genuine, but are they all? I realize that most authors who request reviews for their books don’t know that some of the reviewers are book trolls, but I strongly feel that we must research a book blogger/”professional reviewer” before just blindly trusting their review or requesting that they read and review our books. Again, as I mentioned before in previous posts, I don’t recommend paying for book reviews, but it’s of course each author’s individual decision. Just know there are scammers out there and also vultures. Paying for Kirkus Reviews is a different topic entirely. Though I haven’t enrolled for the Kirkus Reviews opportunity, I do think that organization is credible for the most part.
I was so disappointed when I learned that this book troll is an author from the 1980s/90s because I have a few favorite books from that time period and even look up to some of those authors, but not this one. “How could she?” I thought. A fellow author turned into a book troll, working against other authors? It’s disturbing, and I do hope the writing industry police cracks down on these individuals because enough already. Book trolls are a downpour on the joys of book publishing world. For myself, I’ve learned to steer far away from the places where they roam.
And the bad reviews/ratings for her book on Goodreads likely weren’t from book trolls, being that she’s one of them, and most of her books were written decades ago. Regardless, it seems as though she had trouble getting her trolling friends to give those books tons of “good reviews.” Just as I had suspected to be the case, this individual is one of the trolls who, despite her self-proclamation of being an expert in the writing field, didn’t do so well with her own books in the publishing industry. So, it’s as though she has now made a career out of bashing authors, especially indie authors, many of whom have published books that have grown to become major successes in the book industry. Read the following article of hers where she ridicules authors and also encourages trolling behavior (including from authors): http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post/1089362/why-you-need-one-star-reviews-yes-you. In this post, she’s basically admitting that she’s a book troll. She might as well be admitting to purposely digging for flaws. So, where regular readers would focus on the story and the characters, these trolls seek out any flaw they can use to bash the author and his/her book, and when they can’t find substantial flaws, they make them up. It makes one wonder which books they don’t troll. Oh, it doesn’t stop there in that article. This trolling business of hers goes deep, and it’s strategic. From what I’ve read, this was a common practice of hers on GoodReads and likely also on Amazon. It’s like beyond her obvious damages, she’s also teaching would-be trolls to be the best trolls they can be, including throwing one-star reviews as often as they feel like doing so onto newly published books. This might just be one of the worst book trolls I’ve ever discovered in book troll world, and to be honest I haven’t dug very deep for them. I knew something was off when I couldn’t find a single official book blog of hers, or any social media links on her BookLikes page.
It turns out when Amazon and GoodReads were doing their troll purge some years ago, she was one of the book trolls that got banned from GoodReads during that time. Considering the trolling climate there now, just imagine what it would have taken to get banned from there years ago for trolling behavior. This is why when searching for her account on GoodReads, there are no reviews from her. I suppose they were all deleted, being that some of them were found to be in fact trolling book reviews. She mentions having been banned on several of her BookLikes posts, including the following (of course claiming that she wasn’t a book troll on GR despite any evidence that was found proving that she was): http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post/1037178/the-ban-hammer . The following post on STGRB (Stop the Good Reads Bullies) also makes a mention about Ms. Hilton being banned from GoodReads: http://stgrb21.rssing.com/chan-49043477/latest.php. Here’s another post of hers where she’s bashing an author, and this time it’s Nora Roberts. She’s degrading her for having stood up to book trolls – http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post/1102293/dear-nora-roberts-bite-me. In this post, she’s expressing in an obvious manner that she’s a troll sympathizer, and as most of us already know, troll sympathizers = trolls. And being a Nora Roberts fan, this irks me on more levels than one. The fact that she’s bashing Nora Roberts, when they both published books in the 80s and 90s, speaks volumes on her problem of jealousy and bitterness. Here’s another post where she talks briefly about Nora Roberts – http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post/1849600/it-never-seems-to-make-any-difference. In this post, like in several others of hers, she makes herself out to be some kind of hero who’s saving the world from imperfect books (not problematic books mind you, just other sorts of books), but it’s all a rouse to get others to overlook the fact that she’s been behaving as a troll. I’ve become increasingly turned off to some aspects of the book publishing industry, but now especially this side of it—book trolls who actively look for trouble because they can’t deal with their own lack of success in book publishing. Just how many of these book trolls are bitter authors who can’t stand for other authors to succeed, especially those who have published independently? Here’s a link where this individual exposes an author for having allegedly paid for book reviews (just imagine that for a moment—her intentions) – http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post/929105/is-this-another-amazon-goodreads-and-fiverr-reviewer. As I said before, beware of paying for book reviews, partly because there are trolls searching for trouble as evidence to ruin books, and they’re especially looking for corrupt authors. I’ve realized more and more that there’s a whole group of these “author trolls,” who are continuously looking to damage books. Who else would take such time to sabotage other authors’ books, infringing upon their potential success? Again, beware; there’s a whole group of them.
I read a brief amount of Ms. Hilton’s book Legacy of Honor. Being that she presents herself to be an “expert” at writing, I thought it must be an educational gem that the book reading audience has missed out on. Well, let’s see: She starts off with a prologue, fine enough, it’s her choice to do so. Genuine readers don’t care how an author chooses to write his or her books as long as the story is on-point and the book is of quality. They understand that authors are human beings and each has a unique voice and writing style. But being that she attacked my book and claims to be a book expert, she automatically made her own books open to critique. However, that’s not what I’m about to do, because I don’t care to. Unlike her, I’m not a book troll. The only books I review are the books I like and though I haven’t given any bad reviews for books, the only ones I would even consider giving less than 3-stars to are problematic books, those books that encourage evil behaviors such as domestic violence and the perpetuation of rape culture. I will say this though, the prologue of her book is so long, and I felt almost like if I don’t read it all I would be missing something in the story, and the reason is that she gave away so much information in those beginning pages. That’s not what a prologue is for. It’s literally supposed to be an introduction to a story, such as to give the audience an impression of what’s happening in the setting (the environment) during that time period.
Another reason for a prologue is to include important information that isn’t directly stated in the story, such as if the story is based on an actual true event because otherwise, the audience would consider the story to be entirely fictional. Here’s an official definition of what a prologue is: “Some works of literature start with a prologue (pronounced PRO-log), a short introductory section that gives background information or sets the stage for the story to come. The prologue is usually pretty short, maybe a few pages (five minutes or so in a film). But it may be the most important section of the story, and if readers skip it they may be lost for the entire story.” https://literaryterms.net/prologue/. Though that definition seems to imply that a long prologue of a few pages can be placed at the beginning of any story, keep in mind that her book Legacy of Honor is supposed to be a romp novel, a bodice ripper. Such long prologues are for literary novels and science fiction or fantasy works. I mean there’s dialog in her prologue. Overall, in my opinion, I feel she failed on that part, and that’s just the beginning of the book, all considering that she’s apparently an expert writer and her book was published by traditional pub. Go figure. And this is why indie pub is here to stay, because in terms of quality, does it really make a difference? Not really. Humans will be humans, flaws and all. It’s all about crafting an awesome story with excellent characters. Putting your dependence on editors to craft an awesome story for you, doesn’t work, because if they could write such an awesome story they would probably just write it for themselves and would instead be well-known successful authors instead of merely editors sitting behind a desk critiquing someone else’s work.
Hold on a minute. I need to go on a side rant for a moment, but I’ll get back to Troll Reader #2 shortly after that.
We appreciate editors well enough, but some authors in writing world really need to stop putting them on such a high pedestal. Would they be able to edit your book in the first place if you hadn’t written it? No. We’re the ones who craft the stories, some of us taking years to complete our tales. It ticks me off especially because many of the book trolls in the publishing world claim to be editors (because anyone can do so), and they go about recommending their “professional” services to unsuspecting authors. Yet, the big question is, where are their well-received books? Where are their credentials? Enough already. One of the shills of self-proclaimed editors (really a book troll–one of the two book trolls I wrote about here, who had attacked my ARC book with insults after having not read but a small amount of the content), when I responded to her innocent-sounding attacks on GoodReads, regarding her defending her trolling behavior on my book, she made a statement similar to the following “Yeah, I wouldn’t have written it that way.” (Clue number one that an individual is a narcissist is: “excessive interest in or admiration of themselves.”) Imagine a book troll sounding perfectly innocent so that others can imagine she is, but in actuality, the individual is a blatant narcissist and exhibits corrupt behavior. I’m convinced this individual is that sort. (By the way, she blogs at rhondawithabook.com. So, if any trolls are reading this, feel free to go there now and support her page, so that when you comment in her blog posts in which she’s defending her trolling behavior, all of the authors who read those posts will know that you, too, are a troll. You’re welcome.) I almost died in laughter when I read her statement on GoodReads (not realizing at the time that she’s very likely a narcissist, narcissism being an actual mental illness).
Actually, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to barf or LMAO when I read her statement, but I was definitely nauseous and in disbelief that someone who barely read a book can for one: pretend to have read enough of it to make a 1-star review on GoodReads (even when she didn’t know what happened in the story or what it was about), for two: go as far as writing a sham review blog post about that ARC book—basically telling people not to read it when it’s officially published, and three: claiming to be an editor on her blog but clearly doesn’t understand unique author voice, and four: put themselves on such a high pedestal when they have nothing to show on their public profiles that they deserve it. This is an individual who doesn’t have a single published book that she’s showing off on her blog, but yet she seems to think that she’s qualified to say to an author who completed a novel “I wouldn’t have written it that way.” Excuse me, BOOK TROLL, I don’t give a shite how you would have written it, because guess what? It’s not your damn story. It’s not your damn book. It’s my story, my book. I crafted every sentence that is there within those pages just the way I wanted to, crafting each of them carefully so, and I want every sentence to stay precisely where it is unless I choose on my own accord to change it. Thank you very much.
Also, book troll/trolling-reader, have you ever heard of something called “unique voice?” How about “author voice?” Google it, and Google it. How about “written for the time period?” Google that too. So, because this individual and others like her claim to be “editors” on their blogs, I’m supposed to feel comfortable enough to dish out cash to them so they can “edit” my novel? They should be required to pass some sort of exam and obtain a certification in order to claim they’re an editor, and in addition, have some actual work of their own to show for their credibility. I’ll stick to the recommended professional editors instead, thank you. Do I want my characters to sound like narcissists? No, I don’t, unless they’re villains. So, then why would I have someone with a self-righteous, narcissist, pretentious mentality edit my novel the way they would have preferred for it to be written, when in addition to having some sort of morality disorder they themselves don’t have a successful book on the market? What sense does that make? [Oh, anyone who’s reading this, if you think I’m exaggerating about her having a narcissist mentality, at least in regards to authors and their books, please do take a look at the following posts on her blog, just so you get a glimpse of the narcissism: here and here. I was never into the Harry Potter books because some of the content is against my faith, but to say that those books weren’t well-written, who are you to say that? Where are the books that you’ve written and published successfully? What books that are now-successful have you worked on? Like I said “narcissism.” It’s not difficult to get a BA in English. In addition to taking the general courses, all you have to do is read the books you’re assigned and analyze them. Also, getting a degree with a major in English doesn’t automatically qualify an individual to be an editor.
If you’re claiming to be an editor for fiction, you should have experience writing fiction and also show samples of some of the work you’ve done. Can a person who enjoys listening to piano music but can’t play a single tune, teach another person how to play piano? Nope. It’s also like someone getting a degree in music composition, but they can’t play an instrument or sing to save their life, but they feel they can teach you how to play an instrument and also sing. Okay. Again, trolling reviewer/so-called “editor”, where are the novels you’ve written or worked on? Where are your short stories that have raving reviews? Non-fiction writing in blog posts and such isn’t quite the same. My biggest disappointment in dealing with these book trolls has been expecting to find some awesome story of theirs that they’ve written, but when I look, what do I find? Nothing. “Oh, I’m working on this and I’m working on that..” they say on their blogs/websites. But months later, where is it? Since you’re such the writing expert, you should have whipped up a novel by now and it should be in bookstores all over the country. This particular individual wrote what sounds like a cute picture book (having found an audio of it on her blog, here). Great. Good for you for having completed a narrative work. But if you can’t write a novel, hun, sit down and be quiet with your ridicules and criticisms about authors and the stories they’ve written when you can’t seem to write a decent one and get it published. I could easily find faults with your preschooler picture-book story, but unlike you I’m not a book troll, and so I won’t be writing about it here or anywhere else for that matter. And this is supposedly a professional editor? Okay. Do yourselves a favor, authors, make a list of who the professional editors are in this industry and hold on to that list. Get references from other authors whose books have done well, or just look in the credits of some of the latest well-reviewed indie-published books. Most of these book trolls who go about claiming to be professionals and getting into the “editing business” likely do so either while writing their own “will-be-excellent-novel” or after having failed to get their books published by traditional pub.
Here’s where she admits to not having the skills to write a book — “Writing a book is really hard. I’ve never been able to do it.” https://rhondawithabook.com/2019/12/12/i-am-not-on-board-lets-talk-about-authorial-intent/ So, let me get this straight—you can’t write a book but you can edit them and critique them as if you’re some sort of writing expert? Okay, like I said, authors, beware of book trolls, especially those ones who seem like innocent reviewers but in actuality have a desire to abuse their power and sabotage your book at their free will. Avoid also those trolls who are selling “editing” and other “professional” services, because they very well may ruin your great story. By the way, in that post, she’s referring to my book, still trying to justify her trolling behavior. And what she’s basically saying in regards to “not focusing on author intent” is that she doesn’t focus on the story or the characters when she’s trolling books. I guess she never heard of reading between the lines. So, what she focuses on when she has her book-trolling pants on is finding flaws. Where there are none, like as for the other trolls, she’ll just make them up as it suits her. (Some lie easily like they’re drinking water, and others twist and manipulate with their speech so their lies don’t seem so obvious, but no matter what they’re lies and the trolls always get caught). Again, it makes one wonder which books they don’t troll. When confronted for their trolling behaviors (even when you make a comment about them in a completely separate section), they love to say that the author “attacked reviewers”. This is another indication that it’s a troll. This statement is what they say when they’re confronted, even when they’re confronted indirectly. It’s all part of their M.O. They all make the same basic statements in this regard, which indicates that they’re very likely all part of the same book trolling organization. On GoodReads they love to provoke authors whose books they’ve attacked, just so the author can respond harshly, and just so they can then turn around and say: “You see, she’s an “author behaving badly.” That’s precisely what they all say or imply when they’re caught and exposed. All this corrupt behavior is what they do, and it’s exactly why they’re rightfully referred to as “book trolls.”
Here’s an example of another author who experienced a troll attack on their books: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8146489.Dylan_Saccoccio. If you read through the posts for Saccoccio’s book, it’s apparent that he was being provoked. Then, the trolls try to sound innocent as if they’re the victims. Notice also that some of the trolls are authors themselves. It’s beyond disturbing, but book trolls severely lack shame and empathy. In regards to “RhondaWithaBook”, I’ve taken a screenshot of her statement on her blog (where she basically admitted to not having the skills to write a book), just in case she decides to remove it after reading this. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, some of these trolls make a living from scamming insecure authors into paying for good reviews. If you’ve noticed a sudden influx of bad reviews for your book after having had mostly good ones, then soon afterward you received an email promoting some book reviewing service or another, chances are you’re being conned. It’s a problem in book publishing world, and the book patrol agencies have yet to crack down on it. In the meantime, I’ve learned to view sham book reviews for what they are—ill-intentioned. You have to ask yourself, What are the intentions of the person writing this review? Is the story problematic and a bad influence? Are there major plot holes (and if so, are they stated in the review)? Are the characters mentally weak individuals? Are they cardboard characters? Let me tell you something, if they don’t touch on any of those concerns, or on any of the other main factors of constructing a worthwhile story, chances are it’s a book troll. They expose themselves without realizing it, and some are more pathological at lying than others. Now that I’ve learned to weed them out, I can go to any fiction book page on Amazon, and soon enough I’ll be able to determine who the troll readers are and who the genuine readers are. It’s all about the intentions and quality (not the length) of their review. And remember, they tend to lie and are willing to do so in order to sound credible. Only the genuine readers will know the actual truth about that story. So, I’ll tell you this to ease your mind—don’t be surprised if you receive a trolling review (or even several), because these days it’s the norm to receive them, especially for indie authors. Like I mentioned before, they found my book because I had posted it on a major platform (NetGalley).
Again, I refuse to place “editors” in general on such a high pedestal, but particularly individuals such as this book troll who placed herself onto it all by herself without any substantial evidence to show her credibility, including her self-proclaimed excellent editing skills for novels. Did the fans of Fifty Shades complain about how EL James wrote her novels? Nope. They focused on the story and the characters, and along with that they understood and appreciated why EL James wrote the story the way she did, including the words and the sentences she used. Her editor clearly isn’t a narcissist and allowed her freedom of author voice and writing style. Good for her! What if EL James’s editor had completely changed her writing style and author voice? Would the story have been as interesting? Some of these self-proclaimed “editors/writing experts” have very little clue as to what fans look for in a story and also what the writers’ intentions are, and they don’t care. Professional editors know and consider those factors; they understand them. That’s the main difference between the two sectors of editors. The fake ones, or self-proclaimed ones are so focused on their entitlement (their need to have power and validation) that it completely goes over their heads what regular readers look for in a story and also what the authors are conveying in their narratives. What these troll editors do care about is prestige, any prestige they can get, because they can’t seem to get it from writing and publishing books. Some of us serious authors have studied writing from the experts and know it more than those fake or inexperienced editors do.
Some advice to writers, write the story to the best of your ability (precisely the way you want to) and afterwards, when you’ve done that and you’re happy with it, hire a professional editor (an adequately experienced editor who has compatible credentials) to do the minor things (things you should already know anyway because you’ve extensively studied the art of writing from the real experts). There are tons of books out there available for studying writing, but hire professional editors anyway because they should have more experience than you do. But those particular ones (the fake ones/pretentious ones) who don’t understand “unique author voice” and “author writing style,” no. Absolutely not, at least not for me. They’ll slash much of the goodness out of your content because they don’t understand it and they don’t care to, unless of course, you’re fine with that. Like that trolling reviewer said, “I don’t care about author intent.” Chances are those particular pretentious editors (usually having no credentials that indicate their “expertise” in that profession) are likely power-hungry bitter individuals who feel entitled because they failed at getting their own stories published by traditional pub. Then, they’re too proud to publish independently, because they likely bragged about getting their books published by trad pub to their friends and family. Well, for many of us authors, we chose indie pub first and foremost and didn’t bother to submit our manuscripts to traditional pub. These particular individuals, now bitter and envious, place themselves on such high importance in the publishing industry because how else can they compensate for feeling that they’ve failed? Imagine the shock of having a BA in English, but you can’t seem to get that book you wrote some time ago published by any traditional publishers.
Overall, there are real professional editors out there, and if they’re truly experts at what they do, there should be credentials listed for them that indicate so. And if they advertise “editing for fiction books,” they should have credentials for editing fiction books. Simply saying that you’re an “editor,” that alone doesn’t make you a credible one. Even if you have an English degree, that doesn’t mean you’re qualified at editing or that you’re efficient at writing a novel. I think it’s imperative that authors request samples of the so-called editor’s work, and to also make a list of other criteria to look for. Otherwise, how can you trust that “editor?” How else are authors supposed to know if that editor’s writing voice is compatible with theirs, or if they have the same ideas about the principles of life as they do? All those things matter and they can improve or ruin a story. Imagine the low moralities of book trolls, all along with their bitterness, uppity superiority complex, and ridicule towards other authors and their books. Now, imagine them editing your novel. With their issues of jealousy and low integrity towards other authors, can you really trust them to do a good job with editing your book? What about a narcissist, can you imagine them editing your book?
In conclusion of this segment, I recommend to authors, know what you’re looking for when searching for an editor. If you don’t particularly like writing prose, then look for an editor who can help you with that concern. If you do enjoy writing prose and have studied it, and you value your unique voice and writing style, then avoid those particular editors who are so power-hungry they want to highjack your novel and change it so it sounds more like it was written by them, all just so they can brag to their friends about how terrible your writing was but they saved it with their “expertise” editing skills. Again, I suggest avoiding so-called editors who bash authors and their books. Quite simply, they have an ego problem, and that alone is an indication that they probably suck at the job of editing and also at crafting worthwhile stories. I wouldn’t be surprised if all or most of these book trolls would clinically be diagnosed as narcissists and psychopaths if they sought psychological examinations. Like I said, I only recently realized that the book troll who unfairly attacked my ARC book is very likely a narcissist. I’ve read some of her blog posts, something I hadn’t done until I wrote this post, and I’m convinced that she’s a classic example of a narcissist. So, yay, narcissism—another problem for us authors to be aware of when dealing with these trolls. You can search for professional editors on credible writing websites (such as TheWritingPenn.com and AllianceIndependentAuthors.org), and ask for their credentials and also what their ideas are about editing authors’ works. Again, ask yourself, are you confident about your novel being worked on by that particular editor? And if you’re reading this post and you’re one those fake editors/book troll editors, I say to you write your own damn book and perhaps also study some aspects of storytelling that you clearly haven’t learned, because if you had, perhaps you would be a happily successful published author by now instead of a book saboteur/corrupt book reviewer who’s trolling indie authors’ books and being obviously jealous of famous authors.
Here’s a statement from another author who has experienced trolling behavior of her book, and unsurprisingly her experience sounds very close to those of other authors, including me. Keep in mind, she made this post back in 2014. Unfortunately, not much has changed since then regarding trolls in book world.
“Oh yeah, I’m the victim of Troll Reviews. Right now, her attention on my book is at the top of Amazon’s reviews–not to mention, contains a few spoilers; however, when you read the review, then read the book (should I be so lucky as to land a reader now), you’ll notice that Ms. Curl skimmed the book, and took out various highlights.
Pfff.
What if we writers did the same–skim-write? Most of us treat our craft VERY seriously!
Trolls don’t care what damage they wreak, nor the amount of work a writer has put into their craft. Like the article states, they simply want to see their name, to uplift their very mundane lives.
Old rule of thumb: those who can’t, critique.
Thanks for posting this. I’ve shared it on Twitter and my own FB.”
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1947639-troll-reviews
That statement (and also the responses to her post) just about sums it up with the book trolling issue. Beware of anything added there in 2020 (from book trolls), because as of writing this post, every comment there was from 2014.
Alright, exhale.
Back to “Troll Reader #2.”
In regards to the long prologue of Hilton’s book, it’s no wonder she berated the minor preface that I wrote in my novel (TWARE, Book 1). Not even understanding why I had written the preface in the first place (being that it’s connected especially to book two, and fans will understand that), she just assumed some ridiculousness and went on with it. It’s like she was so insecure about her overly long prologue that she went about focusing a bunch of her attention onto my two-sentence preface, all with suggesting that I don’t know what a preface is. Yeah, because that’s the hard part of writing a novel series, learning what a preface is all about. With her ridicule of my preface, she only indicated that she herself doesn’t understand the difference between a preface and a prologue. A simple search in a dictionary for those two words would have informed her of the simple facts. Overall, what a twilight zone of a book troll this individual is. All these book trolls are twilight zones of their own and they’re all part of one huge disturbing twilight zone in the publishing industry. Why don’t they just focus on writing their own damn books and publish them independently, instead of being so bitter and conceited about traditional pub? What good is it being published with a traditional publishing company if your books don’t sell well, or, like a few traditionally published books out there, they get terrible reviews even for the story itself? Aren’t traditional publishing companies supposed to be the experts of publishing? Aren’t they supposed to market your books for you so they get plenty of sales? I don’t understand what the deal was with her novels, but perhaps she didn’t obtain publishing with one of the top traditional publishing companies and instead found some startup pub that ended up not promoting her books. (I don’t know; I’m just speculating.) However, if so, then what was the point of publishing with a traditional pub company? Just so you can say that you were published by “traditional pub?” How strange. No, really, how strange and miserable. And for you to then go and attack authors who had the desire and courage to publish independently, how dare you? As indie authors, and some of us already do, we must think of indie pub like indie music. How awesome is indie music? It’s far better than most of the toxic tunes that are played on the radio waves these days. Indie books are the same, giving the artists the freedom to be their complete creative selves. No middlemen to cut corners for the sake of book sales. What an indie musician wants to write in their song, goes into their song. What an indie writer wants to be in their book, goes into their book and it stays there. Grammatical errors and other such nonsense errors are no longer such an issue as these pretentious, conceited, book trolling traditional-pub wannabes are making them out to be.
These book trolls have an ego problem, and that’s why they declined and continue to decline indie publishing. They fail to see the value of it because they’re so stuck on the idea that only traditionally published books become successful or deserve success. Well, it’s their loss, and I refuse to let it be my problem. Book trolls are a major problem, but we must succeed in our author careers regardless of them. I chose indie pub on purpose, and I’m sticking to it because I like the freedom it gives me, thank you very much. You book trolls who were rejected by the top traditional publishers need to wallop and wail in your misery someplace else, on your own accord, instead of expressing it through the act of attacking our books. Stop trying to bring down indie books and authors who had the courage and felt the freedom to publish independently. I’m sorry for you that you had already told everyone what an awesome writer you are but then got rejected by traditional pub. Why are you taking it out on other authors? At this point, after having read several posts of hers where she’s bashing authors and their books, being so unjustifiably conceited in her posts about them/us, I found her to be so dreadful that I ultimately got bored with the idea of making this post. I imagined that she’s a bitter older woman who’s overly miserable because her writing career didn’t take off the way she wanted it to (or like she had told others it would) in the 80s/90s or even now. One can imagine for a moment that perhaps it did, but the reality of it is if her books had done well way back then, they would be readily available on Amazon and in other bookstores today, all with plenty of great reviews accompanying them, just like is the case for most successful books that were written during those time periods.
As I mentioned before, I write these “troll readings” posts (this being the last of them) because it helps me to mentally get rid of the toxicity they’ve thrown into my personal book world. I long to be only on the happy side of writer life and author life. So, these are my personal rants to do the following: 1. expose them once and for all sort-of-speak, 2. inform authors to be aware of them (because I feel a responsibility to), and 3. to then keep it moving forward to happier pastures, so I can continue with writing my books. I’m done with discovering book trolls. I now know enough about them, more than I had ever learned before or imagined I would learn, and I’m moving forward with my writing life, going passed all their ridiculousness. Their behaviors are incorrigible and the more I’ve read about them, the more I’ve realized that they’re very likely scammers and/or bitter authors who lack sufficient talent in writing. They all seem to be would-be-author or once-upon-a-time-I-was-an-author-but-it-didn’t-work-out-so-I’m-vehemently-upset sorts of individuals. Thus, for the most part, they’re angry trolling authors who actively go around trying to prevent other authors from being successful in their own author careers, unless of course the authors pay them for “good reviews.”
Like I said before, I consider these individuals to be the underworld of writing life and publishing life. Seriously, I think they’re at the bottom of it if there is such a thing. My advice to the author-trolls: just change your author name, write a new book, and publish it independently. Most importantly, stop being the snobs you are about indie publishing, and for the love of humanity, stop stomping on authors’ books and on authors’ careers. You only make yourselves look like the villains you are. Just because you have fellow trolls helping you by posting comments on your blog posts and other social media content, it doesn’t help you because they too are trolls. Visitors to your pages can see that, you know why? Because troll-sympathizers=trolls. If a book is problematic and teaches toxic behaviors, that’s one thing to talk about it for that reason. But you trolls reach and you twist and you lie, and it’s downright evil. In the case of authors who have paid these trolls for book reviews, it’s likely that the authors were unsuspecting and thus thinking they were simply getting publicity for their books, when in actuality they were helping to further continue the sham profession of book trolling for the purpose of making money off of insecure authors.
I do think sometimes these troll readers do post genuine reviews, so as to keep their page looking credible, because otherwise who would give them free arcs for book reviews? I imagine that publishers tend to look on their blogs to see what sorts of reviews they give to books. (In case you didn’t know, on NetGalley, authors have two options: They can either select who reads and reviews their arc books, or they can just make their ARC books available to everyone. That’s what I had done, made my ARC book available to everyone.) Either way, it doesn’t matter much which option you choose, because regardless when ARC books get placed onto review sites, they’re being exposed to book trolls just as much as they are to the genuine reading audience. Each author has to decide for themselves, whether to put their arc book out there, but it helps to know this information before you do. It’s difficult to know who the book trolls are because on the surface they appear as genuine readers or professional reviewers, but in general, avoid any reviewer who bashes authors on their blogs or other social media channels. As I said, an author writing hurtful content in their book (content encouraging detrimental behaviors) and a reviewer ridicules them for it after reading that book, isn’t the same thing at all, but even then the reviewer is supposed to focus on that toxic content not on being hateful towards the author of it. That’s a key characteristic of a book troll, how easily and shamelessly they can mock and bash authors. Non-book trolls are genuine through and through and can’t be bothered with that nonsense.
So, for the most part, I feel strongly that book trolling is a strategy that’s utilized in the scheme of getting authors to pay for good reviews and whatever other “professional services” the trolls claim to provide for a fee. Again, they all tend to make themselves out to be experts (because how else would they convince authors and publishers), but rarely do they have any books to show they are. The other suspicion is that some of the book trolls are industry plants from traditional publishing, being paid to discredit the indie book publishing industry. Hence, this author talking badly about independently published books, all while her “traditionally published” books didn’t do so well. There are far better ways to market a book than to pay these sheisty individuals for book publicity. If you’re looking for book publicity, there are actual book publicity companies that actively work to get you interviews for your books, etc. You do have to research them extensively, though, in order to avoid the scammers, but there are some reputable ones out there. It can be costly, depending on several factors, but overall, reputable book publicity is a fun part of author life. If you’re a writer/author, just be cautious with who you seek book reviews from, but don’t be surprised if your books get into the hands of book trolls. There’s much corruption in this industry, and until book review sites increase their standards for book reviewing, the writing industry will likely deal with this issue for a while longer.
So, continuing on to the actual trolling review, being that after discovering that she’s a trolling author I increasingly became bored with the idea of analyzing her sham review, I decided to post commentaries on only a few of the statements that she made. (This is one of the values of ranting about trolls. After a while of having made these rant posts, I’ve gotten quite bored with the issue of book trolls altogether. My author skin is much tougher, and I’ve literally moved on past them. But if I can be of any help to improve the atmosphere for authors regarding the book trolling issue, please do let me know. Book review sites need to upgrade their standards to weed out book trolls, and I’ll be exponentially happy when they do. Until then, no more arcs will be available for my books on any of the review sites. The only other way I would ever post my books on any ARC review sites, is if I, myself, can personally delete the sham reviews that are posted by book trolls.)
The analysis begins on this individual’s trolling review of my book The Wrythe and the Reckoning.
Again, here’s the link to that post. It opens in a new window for your convenience. http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post/2012590/the-wrythe-and-the-reckoning-everything-wrong-and-nothing-right. Reminder: Spoilers Alert! Beware of spoilers both on her blog page and also in this post—my commentary. Also, take note of the troll sympathizers who are in the comments of her posts, and beware of them too.
Here it is.
Notes: I skipped over the part where she was bashing me as an author. That’s what book trolls do (they unjustifiably ridicule and degrade authors), and they love to lie in their corrupt statements to get their points across, because otherwise how could they justify trolling the author and his/her book? Overall, the portion where she’s bashing me speaks volumes about her, not only regarding the fact that she’s a troll-sympathizer and therefore a troll herself, but it also shows her inner character and her intentions for her trolling review.
Part 1:
In regards to: Her statement in the title “and nothing right”
Me: You wish! As I mentioned previously, leaving out any valuable qualities about a book is the first clue that the reviewer is trolling with their review. Book trolls exaggerate and lie in any way they can that’s possibly believable. Then, genuine readers read the stories and find out the truth for themselves. Book trolls don’t want to give the impression that there’s anything good or worthwhile about a story, because they think they’d be encouraging readers to read it if they did so. If they do say anything good about it, it tends to be very general and wouldn’t incite the potential-reader to be interested in reading it. But no worries, I’ll tell you what this book troll and several of the other book trolls who attacked my novel won’t tell you. My book series, The TWARE Saga, is strongly about women’s rights, and slavery and abolition—problems that occurred heavily in the United States during the 1800s, which is the time period of the story’s setting. So, it’s a teen/YA love story set in the mid-1800s of North America. The story shows the heroism of the abolitionists, including of the two main characters who are also abolitionists. But oh, “teen abolitionists” they won’t dare mention any of that in their sham reviews. Instead, lies and more lies to sway potential readers away from reading the story, not caring at all that they’re keeping readers from reading a valuable book. Again, beware of book trolls, but especially those who are bitter trolling authors.
Part 2:
In regards to: “And then there’s “The Preface.” I quit after reading the first paragraph of the preface.”
Me: Seriously? The preface is literally two sentences. There’s only one paragraph, which is two sentences. As I mentioned before, someone (book troll) must be feeling very insecure about her overly long prologue that’s in Legacy of Honor. All her talk of my preface and nothing explaining her extra-long prologue for her novel. In addition, as I mentioned before, I wrote the preface for a reason (as most authors do), and readers of both novels in the TWARE series will understand it perfectly. For an example preface in a well-known teen/YA novel, search “preface in Twilight.” Then, compare it to the one in my novel The Wrythe and the Reckoning. See the similarities? But you don’t see Ms. Book Troll criticizing the preface in Twilight, do you? Are the prefaces exactly the same? No, because they’re two different stories written by two different authors. (And why did Hilton find it necessary to lie? Oh, yeah, she’s a book troll.)
Book Troll: “But Dickens provided a true preface to his work, and added subsequent commentary on subsequent editions;”
Me: Oh, brother, she must have really been feeling insecure about that prologue of hers. All this attention on my little old two-sentence preface? Wow.
By the way (as mentioned previously), here are the definitions of “preface” and “prologue.”
a preface:
1. “the introductory remarks of a speaker or author” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preface)
2. “a preliminary statement in a book by the book’s author or editor, setting forth its purpose and scope, expressing acknowledgment of assistance from others, etc. an introductory part, as of a speech. something preliminary or introductory.” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/preface?s=ts)
3. “A preface or proem is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work’s author.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preface)
a prologue:
1. “the preface or introduction to a literary work” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prologue)
2. “a preliminary discourse; a preface or introductory part of a discourse, poem, or novel.” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/prologue?s=t)
3. “A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος prologos, from πρό pro, “before” and λόγος logos, “word”) is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prologue)
“Leland, however, seems not to understand exactly what a preface is — and probably doesn’t understand what a prologue is either.”
Really? Because that would be difficult? Definitions posted. Moving on.
“The brief paragraph quoted above is the entire thing! It’s not the beginning of the book; it’s her statement of her own journey. As a writer? As a person? It’s just not . . . right.”
Again, really? (By the way, these trolls are the biggest drama queens I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. At this point, I was so bored with her trolling review that I didn’t want to continue with this post. But I continued on anyway because authors and will-be authors need to know about them, specifically their MOs.)
Part 3
In regards to: “In the text, there’s no indication when the story takes place. In the spring, yes, but of what year? 1800? 1820? 1850? 1859? 1875? 1919? 1680?”
Me: Even though I stated the time period in the description/back of the book (“Mid-Nineteenth Century” and “Mid-1800s”), you didn’t know what the time period was? Okay. Well, I’ve made it easy for you, Ms. Book Troll. In the second edition of TWARE Book #1, I’ve added dates. (That’s the luxury of being indie pub.) By the way, how many authors post specific dates inside of their novels? Please, do tell me where are the dates posted for Twilight (a well-known series in the teen/YA genre)? How about for Pride and Prejudice, another well-known series in the YA genre. Regardless, you were fully aware of what the time period was. The name of at least one specific politician was written (maybe you skipped over that part while digging for potential chaos), and I spoke of the Irish Famine (maybe you skipped over that part too). Part of the joy of reading is connecting events and historical facts presented in a novel to the actual dates in real life, without being told specifically of those dates. But instead of doing that, you just decided you would dig for trouble, something you can twist and turn for your sham review, because why? Oh, yeah, you’re a book troll. Next.
Part 4
In regards to: “It has a table! And side benches! And a backbench with a window! Sounds more like a Class A motorhome than a “wagon.”
Me: But I wrote that it’s a wagon. So, why would you imagine a motorhome? Oh, yeah, you’re a book troll. And a table and benches in a wagon, what do you think, that after all the research I did for the novel, I just ignored the part about researching for the specifications of wagons during the 1800s? Because, yeah, that would be the difficult part. And because yeah, they wouldn’t sit on benches in a wagon, they would sit on what exactly for a prolonged period of travel time? Even someone who learned about The Oregon Trail in high school can imagine benches in a wagon. But you, oh no, you had to imagine a “Class A Motorhome”, because why not? You’re on a rampage to sabotage the novel, so hey, let’s just make the readers imagine a Class A Motorhome with benches. And yeah, it’s really difficult to make seating cushions for benches, because why? So, are you underestimating the intelligence of people during the 1800s? Are you implying that people of the 1800s didn’t know how to sew and stuff sewn pockets of fabric with other material? Because, if so, sorry to break it to you, there were cushioned seats for living rooms even way back then. You claimed to be some sort of expert at novels that were written during the 1800s, so how did you forget that fact? Alright, for the moment let me just pretend that by reading novels that were written during or for that time period, you’ve somehow learned all there is to know about those eras. So, let’s consider why, after reading several novels that were written during that time period, you wouldn’t know that there was cushioned seating even way back then. You know why you wouldn’t know it from reading those novels? Because they likely wouldn’t have stated it, because it’s unnecessary information. It’s one of the parts of a novel that is implied due to the time period, but it can be officially added if the author chooses to add it. What exactly were you thinking with this part of your sham review? Everything about this segment points fingers at you as a troll reader and also at your lack of knowledge about the habitational circumstances of the 1800s. Regardless, just for funsies, the following is an image of a wagon with benches and also a table (more on your table comments in the next post).
https://oregontrailcenter.org/the-wagon
Wow, considering that I stated they didn’t bring any of their furniture along on their journey, it would be really difficult to have a small wooden table in their covered wagon, would it? Is that what you’re implying? So, in the above image, they could fit a stove, a chair, a wooden barrel, a headboard, but my novel’s family putting two benches in their wagon, wow, how dare they? For an expert reader, which you claim to be with your pompous, know-it-all attitude that you present in your blog posts, Ms. Troll, your imagination is severely lacking. Oh, but no worries, I found an image for you. It’s posted just below.
https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/explore/hoofs-wheels-transportation-west/
I spy in my little eye a bench. By the way, covered wagons and coaches had varying seating capacities. As stated in the description for the above image, “The front passenger is actually sitting in the driver’s seat; thus, the seating capacity of this vehicle is not very large.” So, quite simply, some wagons and coaches were small and some were large. Thus, Ms. Troll, a large family would very likely have what when traveling to a far off location? Oh, that’s right, a large wagon.
In regards to: “The narrator’s brothers are playing marbles at the table. How does one play marbles on a table in a moving vehicle? Especially a vehicle that’s probably traveling over unpaved, uneven country roads.”
Me: Not even a short table, huh? There would be no way of stabilizing a small table, is that what you’re implying? Again, your imagination is severely lacking, Ms. Troll, and you’re not well-informed about some of the facts of that time period. Try doing some adequate research. Kids in the 1800s played marbles, you know, and there are several ways of playing marbles, not merely rolling them along a surface as you probably seem to think they only did. That’s something you could have easily Googled. Also, not all roads were bumpy in the 1800s. People had determined the best routes to take when journeying to their destinations, and you know what they would have considered? How rough the terrain was. And guess what? You don’t have to pave all roads in order for them to be flat. Ever heard of something called “a plain?” How about “a flatland?” How about “a prairie?” How about the roads of a countryside? Ever noticed the flatness of a grassy lawn? Are grassy lawns first paved in order to make them flat? No. Now, imagine a large area with grass covering it. (And you do realize that grasses don’t grow thick everywhere on flat land, don’t you? Most lawns in the yards these days are thick due to fertilizer having been added. Are natural grasslands in the wild regularly mowed?) Now, imagine that there’s a road, a long trail running through a grassy plain. Is that really so difficult for you to imagine? Oh, perhaps it is if you’re a book troll digging for things you can twist and turn into something troublesome. (You do realize that the book contains an actual story, don’t you? Guess what? Regular readers don’t focus on the minute details like book trolls do, because they’re focused on what? The actual story. When they do focus on those tiny details that are presented in a story, it’s for added fun. But do they dig for trouble? No, they don’t, book troll.)
Anyway, book troll/trolling reader, have you not seen some movies from that time period? Were the roads in the Pride and Prejudice movies paved? No. Most of them, if any at all, weren’t paved. But yet they traveled on them as freely as they wanted to, taking various routes and all, didn’t they? But oh, I don’t see you complaining about the coaches they traveled in and on what roads they traveled on for that story, BOOK TROLL. So, what do you think, that I wrote a historical novel without doing sufficient research? I guess you, too, missed the part where I mentioned having spent years researching and writing the story. But that’s okay. You’re a book troll, and no one really cares what you think about books, except for your fellow book trolls. Nevertheless, didn’t you ever consider that I knew there would be readers who would research the content that I posted in my novel? I knew there would be, but I had no idea that they would be mostly book trolls looking for anything at all that they can turn into toxic dirt. Also, you do know it’s not a biography, don’t you? The story is based on some true events, but it is a mystery-fantasy romance. (By the way, to the general readers of this post, I mention Pride and Prejudice as a reference because all these book trolls seem to refer to that book when posting about romantic novels written during that time period. I love Pride and Prejudice, it’s one of my favorites, but for the sake of literature appreciation, there are other romantic books out there that were written during that same time period. For the book trolls to be so “well-read”, as they claim to be, they sure do seem to be lacking in a collection of romantic literature from that time period. In addition, many people seem to know The Pride and Prejudice novel and also the movies. So, anyone can easily refer to them as a reference, including for this commentary.) And, book trolls, don’t try to say that European terrain is very different from American terrain. Not having it.
Here are a few images of roads that are unpaved and yet, they’re not bumpy for covered wagons and coaches to travel on.
http://myamericanodyssey.com/the-long-hard-walk-tramping-westward-on-the-oregon-trail/
http://jspruiell.weebly.com/7th-grade-texas-history-webquest.html
So, Even a pasture covered in grass is flat enough to smoothly drive over in a wagon. Occasionally, rarely, there were rough patches, but were they everywhere? No. And by this time, haven’t the humans living in the various territories of New England and elsewhere determined the most comfortable routes of which to travel by wagon and coach? Yes. Maps, maps, maps, and more maps. Ever hear of them? They existed back then, Ms. Book Troll, didn’t you know?
Part 5
In regards to: “Bottom line: This is a book that should never have been published simply because it’s so poorly written. The author needs to strap on her skates, take a few falls, find a coach, and start over again.”
Me: Ms. Hilton, the most experienced, and yet the most jealous and most bitter book troll of them all, I encourage you to remember those words that you wrote. I also recommend taking your own advice for your own books, or perhaps you were talking about your own books in those last statements. If so, my mistake. Ms. Bitter Trolling-Author, neither you nor your fellow book trolls are the gatekeepers of book publishing. Our indie books will shine on despite your lies, despite your corruptions. I forgive you for your vileness towards my book and my author persona. And just so you know, your jealousy and bitterness exude heavily in your posts of hatred towards other authors, and I genuinely hope that someday you find the peace and happiness you need so you can value being an honest and decent person instead of a bitter, lying troll.
Conclusion:
I think the verdict is in, folks. Drums ROLLLLLLLL…..BOOK TROLL! It’s been frustrating dealing with these individuals because they truly are toxic beings. However, being that they easily lie, because those are the shady sorts of individuals they are, their sham reviews are quite easy to analyze and expose. (This one even had the nerve to rewrite one of my sentences, and she failed miserably at it. I almost died laughing as I read it. I’m still laughing, LoLLLLLL. I couldn’t bring myself to write about it here, because visitors to her sham review will easily see it for themselves. Oh, man, LoLLLLLL. That sentence she wrote doesn’t represent my character at all, or even the story itself. Lina wouldn’t talk that way, and if Ms. Hilton new the character at all, she would know her voice and where her focus was during the entire story. By the way, a sentence like that is what is called “fluff”. Adding unnecessary or uninteresting information to a story is “fluff”. Fluff is what some novelists do to increase the word count of their novels when there isn’t much happening with the plot to fill an entire novel. Well, quite a lot happens in my story, Ms. Hilton. So, I didn’t feel the need to add any of your fluff. The only value in that rewrite is that it increases the word count. Overall, and disturbingly, it shows the signs of a conceited, elitist, shallow-minded character, which my character is not. From that rewrite alone, being that she doesn’t know the main character at all, I can tell that she didn’t read much of the story. She probably read the first few pages (if that) and then rumbled out some silliness to exemplify her trolling behavior. (Well, you showed your very best of book trolling, Ms. Hilton, and yet you failed miserably. Anyway, visitors, you have to read that rewrite for yourselves if you care to because I don’t care to post it here. At this point, it would be frivolous to do so, and I’m done with critiquing her corrupt review. Oh, my, these trolls, LoLLLL. I just can’t.)
Overall, I would have preferred to be writing, reading, watching movies, or doing other fun and happy activities, but instead, due to my book having been attacked by these bitter and miserable individuals, I spent a large amount of my time constructing this post and the other. The awesome thing is though, now I can move on. I feel free from them. Now that I’ve gotten those bitter beasts out of my personal space, I can carry on happily with writing my stories. Again, the main purpose of my constructing these “troll readings” posts was to inform the writing community (and also the reading community) that book trolls are out there and are a prevalent problem. In other words, I felt a responsibility to inform you to be aware of them so you’re not so easily deceived by them. I ask that you do not harass Ms. Hilton. Even though she’s earned it with her years of hatred towards other authors and her book trolling behaviors; that wasn’t the intention of me making this post. Instead, I advise you, writers/authors, to study this issue at least briefly and use what you can as a learning experience, so that you can tread lightly in book world, especially avoiding troll breeding grounds and specific trolls whenever you see fit to. Also, a reminder, take note of the troll sympathizers who are in the comments of Ms. Hilton’s posts and also those in the comments of other trolling reviewers’ posts. Beware of them all. Furthermore, just by having read this post, if you didn’t already know about book trolls before, you now know the MOs of those trifling creatures. Thus, you can spot them much easier when reading book reviews (or any other reviews posted by trolling reviewers). However, now that book trolls have been exposed yet again, they might alter their MOs a bit. So, look out for that too. Several articles are posted below, some of them from other authors who have encountered book trolls and then wrote about them to inform other authors, basically as I’ve done here. I posted only a few, but you can find plenty more articles on the issue of book trolls, especially by searching “Goodreads trolls” on Google.
End of “Troll Readings #2”
Again, this is my final post regarding troll readings. I’m done with these wenches conniving individuals. I’m moving on to the happier, more peaceful pastures of writing life/author life. Not turning back onto those treacherous roads again, unless it’s absolutely beneficial in some way to the overall writing/author community. If it’s a legal matter regarding book trolls, I know my author rights, and thankfully there are agencies and lawyers to deal with such issues. Book Two of The TWARE Saga will be out this November 2020. Much love and take care. Keep shining, keep writing.
YML
Here are several helpful links for learning more about the book trolling issue
(This list includes those mentioned earlier in this post. You can also search “book trolls” and “good reads trolls” on Google):
– “ON TROLLS AND FAKE BAD REVIEWS”
https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2014/07/on-trolls-and-fake-bad-reviews.html
– “Trolls on the Internet and Negative Reviews”
http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/2017/12/trolls-on-internet-and-negative-reviews.html
(Notes: It amazes me how similar our author experiences are in regards to dealing with these trolls. I realized it’s because the trolls all have the same intentions and MOs.)
– “Goodreads – a Breeding Ground for Book Trolls”
https://www.matejaklaric.com/blog/goodreads-a-breeding-ground-for-book-trolls
– “Goodreads trolls getting you down? My personal story, but also a solution!”
https://readthebloodybook.com/2015/06/22/goodreads-trolls-getting-you-down-my-personal-story-but-also-a-solution/
– “Goodreads Sucks and is Not Worthwhile”
https://www.thewritingking.com/goodreads-sucks/
– “Bad Book Reviews | Why Goodreads Reviews Are the Worst”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93RA7h56NVU&t=231s
– “Why It’s Time To Stop The Goodreads Bullies”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stop-goodreads-bullies_b_1689661
(Notes: This article was written in 2012, but it shows just how bad the trolling problem has been in the past years.)
– “Anne Rice Signs Petition to Protest Bullying of Authors on Amazon”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/04/anne-rice-protests-bullying-amazon-petition
(Notes: Keep in mind this article was written in 2014. Even though Amazon has cracked down on the problem of anonymous troll reviewers, trolls do still roam and post malicious reviews on Amazon. They just do it more politely these days, including by using what appears to be a genuine username.)
– “Anne Rice Defends Authors from Online Bullying”
https://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/anne-rice-defends-authors-from-online-bullying
(Notes: Consider that this article, too, was written in 2014, and again, though there have been crackdowns on both sites, trolls do continue to run rampant on book review platforms, and especially to post sabotaging reviews on both GoodReads and Amazon.)
– “Authors, Readers Band Together to Stop Goodreads “Bullying” (Though this post was written a while ago, not much has changed regarding GR bullies since then.)
https://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/authors-readers-band-together-to-stop-goodreads-bullying
– “Amazon’s New Review Rules: Should Authors Be Worried?”
https://annerallen.com/2016/10/amazons-new-review-rules-should-authors-worry/
– “Amazon Book Review Policy Demystified for Authors”
https://www.authorimprints.com/amazon-book-review-policy-authors/
A Few Helpful Organizations for Authors:
(If you’re a writer and have experienced scams from shady companies or any corrupt behaviors at all associated with being a writer or publishing your book, you can report it to the following agencies. These agencies work to inform other writers on these issues, on a much wider scale, and in some cases, they can also provide you with information or legal services to remedy your case.)
– Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) –
https://www.ibpa-online.org/
– Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) –
https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/
– The Authors Guild
https://www.authorsguild.org/
– National Writers Union
https://nwu.org/
https://accrispin.blogspot.com/
Some of My Favorite Quotes Regarding Trolls:
“Trolling is a cyber-crime, and if you are caught for it, you cannot run away by saying that it is your opinion.” Nora Fatehi
“I just ignore the negative people and trolls. They stop bothering you when you don’t acknowledge them; it suits me just right.” Mithila Palkar
“If the person needs avocados, then I’m not going to deny them avocados because some troll decided I use avocados too much.” Antoni Porowski
“People that are not happy in their offline life tend to turn to trolling to fill the void.” Franchesca Ramsey
“Trolls live in their own pathetic bubble, and it’s called Twitter.” Ana Kasparian
**Let the trolls steep in their own misery. Keep writing, keep shining.**