Popular crime writer calls on Goodreads to 'protect authors from online abuse'
Don't judge a book by a cover – or before it even has a cover. Writers are being reportedly bombarded with negative reviews on Goodreads before proof copies have even been circulated yet. Worse still, the site is allegedly failing to remove them.
Crime author Jo Furniss recently called out Goodreads for not doing more to prevent this kind of negative 'review bombing' before their novels have even been released. As a popular book review site, Goodreads, which is owned by Amazon, is a go-to for many deciding on their next read. But Jo claims they aren't doing enough to "protect authors from online abuse '.
Jo told The Bookseller: 'A lot of authors share the soul-destroying experience of seeing their books trashed before they are even available to genuine readers. Worse, like me, they feel they are given no protection by one of the biggest platforms in the industry.'
In a comment piece written for The Bookseller, Jo claimed that her upcoming thriller, Guilt Trip, had a two-star rating on Goodreads – despite not being published yet. She added that no advance copies had been sent out either.
After feeling compelled to respond to the anonymous reviewer, Jo claimed that they then complained about the comment. This prompted an email from Goodreads advising authors to "refrain from confronting users who give their books a low rating". Her own comment was subsequently removed.
While she emphasised that she 'doesn't care about one petty review', she expressed frustration over the fact that a 'troll' was being given more protection by Goodreads, and claimed their actions constituted a form of 'online abuse'.
Jo told The Mirror that she attempted to follow up her complaint over their behaviour. In her email, she informed Goodreads: "I replied to this rating because I believe the reviewer to be fraudulent — this particular book (Guilt Trip) is not yet published or available to be read. It is not possible that this is a genuine review." She claimed that the user had targeted all of her novels with poor reviews, while posting no other reviews of works by other authors.
She received a reply from Goodreads saying that they would investigate the issue, but claimed that no further action was taken. However, the review has since been removed after The Bookseller contacted Goodreads, as reported by The Bookseller.
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Romance author Milly Johnson also revealed to The Bookseller that she had a one-star rating for a book that hadn't even been looked over by her copy editor yet. But when she complained to Goodreads, they allegedly responded saying that the reviewer had 'a perfect right to predict if they'd enjoy it or not.' The Mirror reached out to Milly for comment.
Goodreads has been associated with the phenomenon of 'review bombing' in the past. In 2023, The Guardian reported that some authors were avoiding using the site due to "mean-spirited" reviews.
One of the most notable scandals emerged when writer Cait Corrain was dropped by her publisher after admitting to writing negative reviews about rival authors with a fake account, as reported by The Guardian.
That same year, Goodreads pledged to counteract issues like review bombing, such as the ability to 'temporarily limit submission of ratings and reviews on a book during times of unusual activity' that go against their guidelines.
The Mirror has reached out to Goodreads for comment.
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