Does Goodreads do enough to protect authors from trolls?
Platforms that benefit from authors’ work should act fast when things turn nasty.
It is months until the publication of my next thriller, Guilt Trip. The novel is not available anywhere yet. Not even advance review copies. So, why does Guilt Trip already have a single two-star rating on Goodreads?
That was my thought process when I skimmed over the title recently while on Goodreads doing pre-publication admin. I’m not a masochist; I don’t usually linger over bad reviews. But a mystery intrigues me, so I clicked.
The “reviewer”, Benji, had posted a one- or two-star rating on every one of my nine book listings, including the foreign editions. Benji, apparently, read my novel, Dead Mile, in English, Dutch, German and French – despite hating it so much that it deserves a one-star rating in all four languages. You have to admire Benji’s rigorous research. Benji does not rush to judgement.
At that point, I assumed Benji was a bot. A troll bot. And I let my irritation make a rash decision; I replied to Benji’s rating on Guilt Trip, saying: “This book is not yet publicly available for review.”
I know, I know; don’t feed the troll. But I thought my response was calm and factual, a signpost to real readers that this is a fake review. Benji hasn’t read this book, they can’t have done, it wasn’t out there in the world when their rating was posted.
Then I realised something more concerning: Benji has no followers and has only ever reviewed my books. It seems that Benji set up an account just to run a personal vendetta against me.
At this point, I stepped away from the keyboard. It’s weird, I want no part of it. I reported the user to Goodreads administrators (for harassment, which contravenes their review guidelines) and moved on, expecting that to be the end of it.
But Benji, as we have noted, is thorough. Benji complained about my comment. So, I received an email from Goodreads, which read “we ask that authors refrain from confronting users who give their books a low rating [...] your comment has been removed”. That was on the 8th May. I followed up on my report of their behaviour and got a reply saying Goodreads will investigate. I followed up again and got no reply. I have heard nothing since. [The review has now been removed after The Bookseller contacted Goodreads].
Guilt Trip is now available for pre-publication reviews – it has decent ratings at time of writing – but Benji’s two stars are still there for all to see.
Benji has no followers and has only ever reviewed my books. It seems that Benji set up an account just to run a personal vendetta against me
Continues...
Read More
I’m far from the only author targeted by review trolls. A discussion on an authors’ Facebook group this week saw scores of writers reporting their as-yet-unavailable books being low-starred on Goodreads. Worse still, complaints from authors, agents and even publishers prompt no action from the site to remove fake reviews. It is not a new problem either. The Bookseller reported in November 2023 that Amazon (which owns Goodreads) had revealed “changes to prevent ‘review bombing’”, including more customer service staff and procedures to prevent spamming that targets individual authors.
In my case, you might be thinking: “It’s only one rating – who cares?” You’re right. I don’t care about one petty review; it’s no more than a gnat bite on the thick skin you need for this business. But I do care that, as an author, I don’t get the same protection as this troll. Their actions are a form of online abuse. When Goodreads fails to respond to reports of harassment from members against authors, they let the abuse continue.
Also, book ratings do matter. Otherwise, why are we all here? One friend who writes crime for a major digital imprint was advised by an editor to retire a long-running series because the average rating for the most recent instalment slipped below 4.2 stars. So, every keyboard-licking troll who fires off a volley of one-star ratings for their own strange and probably sad reasons has the power to affect a writer’s career.
Let me make it clear: I am not talking about real-reader reviews. Genuine readers are welcome to slate my books on Goodreads or Instagram or BookTok (just don’t tag me, folks). Bad reviews are part of the job and I wouldn’t be writing anything interesting if I didn’t get some. But the likes of Benji are trolls. Authors are not fodder for trolls. And platforms that benefit from our work should protect us, not them.
