Authors Behaving Badly: Jacqueline Howet (Followup)
This is a follow-up to July's Authors Behaving Badly: Jacqueline Howett.
In May the author posted an "apology". I use italics, because the long winded post with random highlighting and colored font is primarily finger pointing and poor excuses than a heartfelt apology. She blames everything but herself: the reviewer, her circumstances, her newness to the internet, etc.
"If you read her most current blog entry," wrote Well Read, "you will see a quick 'apology' if you can even call it an apology and then she goes back to pointing fingers at the blogger, blaming his review on being “new” to the blog world. I wonder if she knows how to pronounce the world denial?"'
She also deleted her frothing, curse laden comments on Al's review site, though we all know the Internet doesn't forget. Plenty of sites, including this journal, have copied and pasted enough of her comments that anyone who Googles her name can find them. People on Amazon, though, also found her apology lacking, as did this blogger:
And not a single word of it is truly an apology for her immature and disgustingly unprofessional behavior. She posted the entry I linked to on May 6 (last Friday). She has a couple of other posts that mention the bad review, but the May 6 post is clearly her explanation post. And her explanation? It’s not her fault.
At different points in the post she blames stress, being a new writer, and being new to the world of blogs. She also blames BigAl for being a new reviewer. Before I tackle her first three explanations, let me tackle the last one: When she said BigAl was a new reviewer, I went back to his blog and looked at his sidebar. He has only been reviewing books since January, but when I clicked on his “About” link, the bio states that he has been a reviewer of some stripe for a number of years. So, yes, he is new to reviewing books, but he is not new to reviewing. Ms. Howett writes that BigAl, rather than give her a bad review, should have given her tips on how to improve her writing.
This is not, nor has it ever been the job of a reviewer. [...]
Now, moving back three points, I want to speak about Ms. Howett’s given reasons for being astoundingly unprofessional and crude. Ms. Howett claims that stress, being a new writer, and being new to blogging and social media Web sites are to blame for her inappropriate behavior. To those excuses, I can only say this: Nut up. Being new to being a published author does not excuse being unprofessional. Being new to blogging and social media does not excuse unprofessional behavior. Being stressed does not excuse unprofessional behavior. And pretending as though you’ve learned something as you scatter the blame to everyone and everything but yourself does not excuse unprofessional behavior.[...]
Being “new” and being “stressed” are not free passes. Posting letters of encouragement from people who say that professionalism is stupid does not show that you have come out the better person. Taking a month-and-half to write a blog post that is your supposed apology does not make your excuses come off as any more rational or thought out than if you’d posted them the day after. [...] We are, I expect, supposed to feel sorry for her and her need to write her post. I do not. I feel annoyed that a grown woman cannot take responsibility for her actions, and I feel angry that her unprofessionalism has given her anything that resembles a leg up.[1]
The above blogger summed up my feelings well, so I'll just end this post with some bits from Howett's apology, should it end up deleted as well one day, though chances are she'll just modify it to add more "poor baby" emails that prove how good and right she was and how evil the rest of the internet is.
My thoughts are in blue.
I would like to say, I am so sorry, really, that you all had to hear me swear in public online. I usually don’t like swearing. So here you have it, my viral apology. My public acting out was a mistake. And I don’t want to be seen as a trend setter, or as I’m hearing lately, it’s now the fashionable in thing for writers to do, to drop the F- bomb.
Time to get your facts right- read on!
The issue was never about a bad review, it was about a format matter, but for some reason got blown out of perspective. And then the reviewer tweeting our conversation; well, rightly so, made me feel I was being attacked. Now go and blog about that!
And looking back, where were all the lovely people online offering to help in a friendly manner with a few spelling and grammar mistake's. Since then and then, I’m sure, many of you are wondering, so, I’m going to put this up for you to gather what you will from it, and then I’m moving on from this subject. There are a few things I need to say first, concerning my mishap with Big Al, and what propelled in that moment in time. But really, it was all a misunderstanding on both our parts, I would say. And yes, I was wet behind the ears as a newbie writer who was just learning the tech world of blogging and FB. Twitter, well, I hadn’t got that far yet. Any ways, I am a slow e-mail kind of girl, and have been accustomed to conversing with everyone I deal with politely via e-mail. I would also like to say, I know am not the greatest at grammar [...]
Note she says it's "both our faults", thus shifting the blame from herself.
Al, I came to realize, was a newbie reviewer, but who was use to lots of open attention via an Amazon forum which is not my scene, due to my reserved manner. And he likes operating via twitter etc., I don’t. And so now I came to realize after reading some other reviews on his blog, he had given some author five stars in spite of the grammar and spelling mistakes that he had presumed were corrected since. Again I was wet behind the ears about the ARC copy in publishing. So now I’m thinking, how does he know the author corrected the grammar, do they talk via twitter? So I’m thinking his talking to some authors he reviews via twitter. His not talking to authors like me via e-mail, I’m living in the stone-age Tec world. Well that pushed another button. I imagined all these little pups around his feet begging for twitter attention.(Please, don’t take any of it personally). [...]
Here she takes it personally and imagines she's being slighted, but it's still not her fault. She's just new and made a mistake. BigAl should have realized that, I suppose.
what happened next was at the blog, and you all read that, but what sent me ballistic was the fact Al the reviewer, decided to throw up snippets of my book online, without my permission. When I asked to go e-mail with our talk, he said, “well lets see what the rest of the world thinks of your book shall we, and let them decide about your grammar shall we?” So he hits the tweet button, or loudspeaker button for the whole world to hear. I already told him previously to go e-mail with our conversation. I’m a private person. Oh -no! He just hit another button in me. Reviewers are not suppose to behave this way.
So, I’m thinking, Al, thrives and feels comfortable in the lime
-light of forums. He is forgetting this is now blog land, which he has just started up on. As a reviewer, he can’t expect any author is going to appreciate that move. When he hit the loudspeaker, saying, ‘lets see what the world thinks of your writing, shall we?’ and then tweets the world, he has no right to do that, none what so ever!. Oh- yes, that was my going ballistic moment. --- Yes, so what followed…?
It's called "fair use". A reviewer quoted small parts of her work as an example, and she claimed it was crossing a line and reviewers should not do so. How dare someone talk publicly about her work or quote it in an attempt to make a point. HOW DARE HE!
Really? REALLY?
A month later: Wisdom, I would like to say, I’m not a hater of anyone, as I love people too much. My God forgives me, so I forgive my haters. It doesn’t matter if they don’t feel that way; I at least, in my forgiving, am set free.
Copout.
Through all this viral stuff, I had a International radio station who wanted me on- to debate, and one other who wanted to interview me on this concept, how writers have every right to speak up and defend their work, and another with how writers should stick up for writers, and not reviewers, where so many might be sucking up to them, in hope to get a better review when its their turn. Well, anyway- this is the latest stuff.[2]
Then comes a long long string of "people have said I'm right" examples that were the nails in the coffin for me. I'll stop here because nothing is learned from it. The supporters have blinders on, proclaiming complete support and condemning the "other side"; these are the kind of people I ignore, because they are too absolute in their support.
Oh, she may claim she's over it and she doesn't care and she now has a great bad and good list of people and the fame may help her, but we know the truth, and so do the majority of the people who matter: writers, editors, and publishers... at least the sane ones.
In May the author posted an "apology". I use italics, because the long winded post with random highlighting and colored font is primarily finger pointing and poor excuses than a heartfelt apology. She blames everything but herself: the reviewer, her circumstances, her newness to the internet, etc.
"If you read her most current blog entry," wrote Well Read, "you will see a quick 'apology' if you can even call it an apology and then she goes back to pointing fingers at the blogger, blaming his review on being “new” to the blog world. I wonder if she knows how to pronounce the world denial?"'
She also deleted her frothing, curse laden comments on Al's review site, though we all know the Internet doesn't forget. Plenty of sites, including this journal, have copied and pasted enough of her comments that anyone who Googles her name can find them. People on Amazon, though, also found her apology lacking, as did this blogger:
And not a single word of it is truly an apology for her immature and disgustingly unprofessional behavior. She posted the entry I linked to on May 6 (last Friday). She has a couple of other posts that mention the bad review, but the May 6 post is clearly her explanation post. And her explanation? It’s not her fault.
At different points in the post she blames stress, being a new writer, and being new to the world of blogs. She also blames BigAl for being a new reviewer. Before I tackle her first three explanations, let me tackle the last one: When she said BigAl was a new reviewer, I went back to his blog and looked at his sidebar. He has only been reviewing books since January, but when I clicked on his “About” link, the bio states that he has been a reviewer of some stripe for a number of years. So, yes, he is new to reviewing books, but he is not new to reviewing. Ms. Howett writes that BigAl, rather than give her a bad review, should have given her tips on how to improve her writing.
This is not, nor has it ever been the job of a reviewer. [...]
Now, moving back three points, I want to speak about Ms. Howett’s given reasons for being astoundingly unprofessional and crude. Ms. Howett claims that stress, being a new writer, and being new to blogging and social media Web sites are to blame for her inappropriate behavior. To those excuses, I can only say this: Nut up. Being new to being a published author does not excuse being unprofessional. Being new to blogging and social media does not excuse unprofessional behavior. Being stressed does not excuse unprofessional behavior. And pretending as though you’ve learned something as you scatter the blame to everyone and everything but yourself does not excuse unprofessional behavior.[...]
Being “new” and being “stressed” are not free passes. Posting letters of encouragement from people who say that professionalism is stupid does not show that you have come out the better person. Taking a month-and-half to write a blog post that is your supposed apology does not make your excuses come off as any more rational or thought out than if you’d posted them the day after. [...] We are, I expect, supposed to feel sorry for her and her need to write her post. I do not. I feel annoyed that a grown woman cannot take responsibility for her actions, and I feel angry that her unprofessionalism has given her anything that resembles a leg up.[1]
The above blogger summed up my feelings well, so I'll just end this post with some bits from Howett's apology, should it end up deleted as well one day, though chances are she'll just modify it to add more "poor baby" emails that prove how good and right she was and how evil the rest of the internet is.
My thoughts are in blue.
I would like to say, I am so sorry, really, that you all had to hear me swear in public online. I usually don’t like swearing. So here you have it, my viral apology. My public acting out was a mistake. And I don’t want to be seen as a trend setter, or as I’m hearing lately, it’s now the fashionable in thing for writers to do, to drop the F- bomb.
Time to get your facts right- read on!
The issue was never about a bad review, it was about a format matter, but for some reason got blown out of perspective. And then the reviewer tweeting our conversation; well, rightly so, made me feel I was being attacked. Now go and blog about that!
And looking back, where were all the lovely people online offering to help in a friendly manner with a few spelling and grammar mistake's. Since then and then, I’m sure, many of you are wondering, so, I’m going to put this up for you to gather what you will from it, and then I’m moving on from this subject. There are a few things I need to say first, concerning my mishap with Big Al, and what propelled in that moment in time. But really, it was all a misunderstanding on both our parts, I would say. And yes, I was wet behind the ears as a newbie writer who was just learning the tech world of blogging and FB. Twitter, well, I hadn’t got that far yet. Any ways, I am a slow e-mail kind of girl, and have been accustomed to conversing with everyone I deal with politely via e-mail. I would also like to say, I know am not the greatest at grammar [...]
Note she says it's "both our faults", thus shifting the blame from herself.
Al, I came to realize, was a newbie reviewer, but who was use to lots of open attention via an Amazon forum which is not my scene, due to my reserved manner. And he likes operating via twitter etc., I don’t. And so now I came to realize after reading some other reviews on his blog, he had given some author five stars in spite of the grammar and spelling mistakes that he had presumed were corrected since. Again I was wet behind the ears about the ARC copy in publishing. So now I’m thinking, how does he know the author corrected the grammar, do they talk via twitter? So I’m thinking his talking to some authors he reviews via twitter. His not talking to authors like me via e-mail, I’m living in the stone-age Tec world. Well that pushed another button. I imagined all these little pups around his feet begging for twitter attention.(Please, don’t take any of it personally). [...]
Here she takes it personally and imagines she's being slighted, but it's still not her fault. She's just new and made a mistake. BigAl should have realized that, I suppose.
what happened next was at the blog, and you all read that, but what sent me ballistic was the fact Al the reviewer, decided to throw up snippets of my book online, without my permission. When I asked to go e-mail with our talk, he said, “well lets see what the rest of the world thinks of your book shall we, and let them decide about your grammar shall we?” So he hits the tweet button, or loudspeaker button for the whole world to hear. I already told him previously to go e-mail with our conversation. I’m a private person. Oh -no! He just hit another button in me. Reviewers are not suppose to behave this way.
So, I’m thinking, Al, thrives and feels comfortable in the lime
-light of forums. He is forgetting this is now blog land, which he has just started up on. As a reviewer, he can’t expect any author is going to appreciate that move. When he hit the loudspeaker, saying, ‘lets see what the world thinks of your writing, shall we?’ and then tweets the world, he has no right to do that, none what so ever!. Oh- yes, that was my going ballistic moment. --- Yes, so what followed…?
It's called "fair use". A reviewer quoted small parts of her work as an example, and she claimed it was crossing a line and reviewers should not do so. How dare someone talk publicly about her work or quote it in an attempt to make a point. HOW DARE HE!
Really? REALLY?
A month later: Wisdom, I would like to say, I’m not a hater of anyone, as I love people too much. My God forgives me, so I forgive my haters. It doesn’t matter if they don’t feel that way; I at least, in my forgiving, am set free.
Copout.
Through all this viral stuff, I had a International radio station who wanted me on- to debate, and one other who wanted to interview me on this concept, how writers have every right to speak up and defend their work, and another with how writers should stick up for writers, and not reviewers, where so many might be sucking up to them, in hope to get a better review when its their turn. Well, anyway- this is the latest stuff.[2]
Then comes a long long string of "people have said I'm right" examples that were the nails in the coffin for me. I'll stop here because nothing is learned from it. The supporters have blinders on, proclaiming complete support and condemning the "other side"; these are the kind of people I ignore, because they are too absolute in their support.
Oh, she may claim she's over it and she doesn't care and she now has a great bad and good list of people and the fame may help her, but we know the truth, and so do the majority of the people who matter: writers, editors, and publishers... at least the sane ones.