Thread by @seananmcguire

A few people have asked today whether there shouldn't be consequences for bad reviews. And...no, there shouldn't. No one is obligated to like anything. An honest review shouldn't have "consequences," whether it's good or bad.

A cruel review, on the other hand, may come with consequences.

When I was just getting started, there was a reasonably prominent reviewer who specialized in reviewing urban fantasy, and ripping it apart in as cruel a manner as possible. They not only mocked everything...

...I wrote, they were one of the reviewers who went in for personal attacks as well, commenting on my weight, on the gap between my front teeth, on how they'd heard me sing at a convention and I'd been off-key at one point, on how ugly my cats were. They were vicious.

And this was when I was a wee babby Seanan, with functionally no social power! This reviewer made me, and several of my friends, cry, by attacking us as people, and not commenting on the work. And they were cruel over critical when they DID talk about the work!

Well, they wanted to be an urban fantasy writer. And they queried at least three agents I know personally (one of whom represents me). And while I never said "do not rep this person, I don't like them," they looked at their review site, saw how unwarrentedly vicious they were...

...and did not offer representation. So far as I know, this person has yet to be traditionally published. So there CAN be consequences, if you forget that there are real people on the other end of that review. In either direction.