Should authors criticize other authors? Being an avid reader of Kindle horror books, this is something I've struggled with. When I encounter a badly written book, as a customer I am mad something so abysmal has been released and marketed, and want to save others from wasting their money. However, as a writer I don't want to seem like a hypocrite or cause any bad blood, nor bring about any negative karma.
I recently finished reading a book which had an OK plot, yet the writing (specifically the dialogue) was awful. Obviously I'm not a prude, but when so much of the book relies on stringing together swear words, it shows a real lack of maturity, care, and professionalism; making for a groan-inducing, eye-rolling, bad reading experience.
Because I noticed F-bombs appearing far too frequently, I converted the book to RTF, then opened it in Word to find out just how many times one occurred. The result: 302 times in a manuscript 100 pages long; that's an average of more than three times per page. What's worse is sometimes it wouldn't be used for a page or two then suddenly get clumped together 1-2 times in every sentence in one paragraph, as if the writer was aware it had been a while and had to make up for it. That was just the F-bombs, there were of course numerous other choice words in between those. On top of that, the characters were unlikable, doing terrible things that made absolutely no sense.
The book was bad, really bad. Others should know to avoid it and I'm quite sure the author intentionally relied on swear words, trying to be edgy, so he deserves the poor criticism and dip in sales. Yet here am I, an author who made mistakes (and did his best to correct them) and has a tendency to write some pretty vulgar stuff, so who am I to criticize? Are authors truly justified in criticizing other authors, impeding their success? Should we do it, or shrug things off assuming the unsuspecting readers are on their own? What is there to protect authors from other authors who have a grudge brought about by a poor review?
This brings up another issue, what of all the readers and critics giving horribly written books good reviews? Many of the Kindle books I've read and thought were bad, even riddled with typos, received positive reviews from not just typical readers but critics from online horror sites and such. Has the public, and those who inform the public with their opinion, become so accepting of lazy, careless writing?
I admit my stuff is out there, ridiculous, and far from mainstream; however, I try to make my books as good as they can be on a technical level and spend months researching the subject matter. No reader should expect anything less from a writer regardless of price. If an author does not care about his work, readers should not either. Unfortunately, it seems times have changed. In too many cases the readers are caring more than the writers, but good writers who try to do something about it may end up being labelled a hypocritical, self-promoting villain. How does an author work towards making the field better by making horribly written books seem less appealing to the public without making things worse for their own self?
