Here are a few comments I have actually seen floating around on some Wattpad books:
this book is a joke.
this is so horribly written.
your story is a complete cliche.
[character] is such a Mary Sue she's probably your self-insert.
...and so on.
My general stance is that you're going to get these sorts of one-liner, "unhelpful" reviews if you ever become successfully published, so that's just a heads-up for those of you with big writer goals.
When I review published novels, I can be extremely harsh. Not one-liner-review harsh as above, but I wouldn't bat an eye if I saw such a review myself. These books have been edited, proofread, gone through numerous beta-readers, and you (generally) pay to read it. It is a product and therefore its consumers have every right to (as rude or as unhelpful) an opinion as they can type up within a few minutes.
So if you are a published novelist and you whine about these types of one-liners in public, you'll get no sympathy from me. Go to your close friends, family, bitch to them in the privacy of your own time; that is completely human and understandable. I'd even commiserate with you that some people can be rude, indeed.
But if you get on the frontal attack and write passive-aggressive posts a-la Anne Rice, which directs all your fanboys and -girls to the "unhelpful" reviewer and unleash their mighty rage, then I'm probably never going to read your books.
On Wattpad however, I have a lot more sympathy.
Most writers here are new, young, inexperienced. They write for fun, for practice, and as a starting point. Plus it's free.
So when I see an obnoxiously rude comment, it speaks a lot worse of the commenter than it does the writer.
This does not mean that all negative feedback are obnoxious. Only the blatantly disparaging ones, like "please stop writing" or "you are such a crap author" -- which, fortunately, I have not yet come across.
This also does not mean that you should engage in such comments. Just click the "mute" button if they keep at it, or the "report" function if it gets aggressive.
Engaging in these comments, getting into a fight, going into the commenter's profile and retaliating by leaving negative feedback on their work (which unfortunately I have seen) just puts you in the same shoes as them. Anyone watching is going to be turned off by your behaviour; and perhaps will also turn them off your books. It certainly will in my case.
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De TodoThe rants and raves of a long-time book reviewer and blogger. Think you've got what it takes to be a writer? Think again. The industry is cold, brutal, heartless ... and it may just rip yours to shreds. Enter here for what works, what doesn't, and w...
