PSA: Authors Read Your Comments (Even if you never see them reply)

I think that there are a lot of people who, because of the anonymity of the Internet, think that they won’t get noticed when they post comments.

But let me tell you, us authors? We see that stuff. And let me just say, it can really get under our skins.

Look, I don’t think it’s malicious in 90% of cases. In private, between friends, I’ve disparaged the art of others (I.e. random books that we’d all read or something), and there’s nothing wrong with that. I have no objections to that, and I think that’s how a lot of people see it when they post comments on RR.

The problem is that it’s not the same. The authors see these comments and it destroys their self esteem. I’ve seen in the author discords how people get really, really upset over insensitive comments.

I’m not against criticism, I’m not against critique. I’m just asking for readers to ask themselves, “hey, would I deliver my thoughts this way to a stranger if I met them in real life?”

Let’s lift each other up, not tear each other down.