Summary for those who don't want to read Fandom_Wank: R. Malone published a crappy Twilight-ripoff sexy!vampire novel through a vanity press, and went postal on someone who wrote a negative review, sending her profanity-laden emails, complaining to her ISP to have the review taken down, posting screeds on book review sites, and creating sock-puppet accounts to add 5-star ratings to her book.
Rob Thurman is apparently a real author (i.e., her books have been published by actual publishers) who writes crappy Supernatural-ripoff urban fantasy novels, and is going nuts on her blog and Twitter, berating her fans for not buying her book when it will supposedly improve its chances of landing on the NYT Best Sellers list. Yes, she's actually publicly chewing out fans who bought the book on Monday because supposedly only sales figures from Tuesday on would count.
What happens to authors to make them lose their minds like this? I mean, I'm sure it stings to see a one-star review of your book, but how do you imagine that going on a jihad against the reviewer will improve your reviews, or your ratings? And seriously, where does Ms. Thurman get off thinking that her readers owe her that kind of fealty, or that they should put up with being scolded for buying her book on the "wrong" day?
I like John Scalzi's take on bad reviews much better.
Incidentally, I had never heard of John Scalzi or read any of his books before I came across his blog. He has since struck me as a cool, straightforward guy (even if he is peripherally involved with the lame suckage that is Stargate: Universe), so I purchased one of his books (Zoe's Tale) and so far am enjoying it a great deal.
Which brings me to my question: does what you think of an author affect what you think of their work? If you find out that an author is a raging asshole, or has political/religious views you consider loathsome, does it affect your willingness to buy their books?
In my case, the answer is yes. I don't do a background check on every author before I read them to find out whether they believe things I disagree with, but when an author makes a public ass of him/herself or reveals him/herself to be a nasty bigot (or an entitled jackass), well... there is a long, long list of books I want to read, and I'll never get to them all, so I'm not losing out by crossing assholes off my list.
Conversely, when I find out an author is Cool People, I'm more likely to at least check them out if I've never read them before.
Although R. Malone and Rob Thurman's behavior hasn't actually lost them a sale in my case, since I doubt I'd ever choose to read their books in the first place.
If you find out an author is an asshole, will you stop reading him or her?
Absolutely. Life is too short.
5(22.7%)
I might still read their stuff, but I'll avoid paying money for it.
10(45.5%)
I'd be disappointed, but I'd probably still buy their stuff if I like it.
5(22.7%)
For a few hotbutton issues, maybe, but in general, I separate the author from their work.
2(9.1%)
I don't care what sort of a person the author is and their views don't matter to me.
0(0.0%)