Seeing way too many "worst of lists are mean" posts. You do realize that when we're talking about the worst books of the year, we're not saying these authors are trash people. Not saying anything about the author at all. Not tagging the author either. (Unless you're an asshole.)

If you're an author and don't like seeing those lists, you can mute the words here on twitter. If you choose to watch them and dread seeing your book, that's on you. Saying people shouldn't post negative reviews because you don't want your feelings hurt is ridiculous.

There will always be people who don't like your book. It's inevitable. You don't need to go looking for those reviews though. If you do look for them and see a negative review as an attack on you, you're really not understanding that the reviews are for other readers.

Personally, I will always post negative reviews. If I didn't like something, I want to tell my audience why. If someone sees my negative review and realizes that something I didn't like is something they'd love that's great. Glad I could help you find something new.

I find it impossible to be 100% positive all the time. I don't have the energy for that. I'm not posting negative reviews to be mean though, and most other people aren't either. We're posting them to be honest. I know I don't trust a reviewer who likes everything they read.

Along the same lines, I'm turned off from reading a book if all I see are positive reviews. Something seems off about that.

If you're the type to say negative reviews are mean, think about it this way. You're shopping online for a product, and you read the reviews before you decide to buy it. One product has a lot of negative reviews because it doesn't work as advertised.

Is your first thought that the reviews are mean? Or that they're helpful in deciding what to spend your money on?

(if you do think they're mean when they're saying that the product broke easily or wasn't as advertised, that's a level of unawareness I can't deal with.)

Negative reviews of books, or restaurants, or idk...blenders, or literally fucking anything help people decide what to spend their money on. Saying less than positive things isn't inherently mean, or rude, or whatever. Honesty is not always unkind.

ANYWAYS I won't be responding to anyone saying that they're actually mean and here's why. I've said my thoughts several times today. I'm going to go work on my own WIP so I can get published one day and ignore reviews because they're not for me