Advice - In The Form Of Rants

OMGGG CAN YOU READ MY STORY SENPAI <3<3<3

What do you guys think this chapter's about?

Well, it's about what not to do on stories!

Wow Akemi, like we didn't expect the title to be so negative. It's always 'don't do this' or 'don't do that you bloody doughnut'.

I don't care! You people know I'm the daughter of a Negative Nellie and Pessimistic Peter, so you should expect this!

Anyway, if you've ever received a comment along the lines of the title, I know your pain. It's happened on both of my books before. Therefore, this became my first rule when reading someome else's book.

Do not, unless it is made for that purpose, advertise or ask the author to read your book, on their comment section.

The reason why is simple: it's rude, disrespectful (you're basically shitting on the author's work) and embarrassing.

It's rude and disrespectful because the book isn't intended for that purpose. The author has probably spent a large amount of time trying to write, proof and refine their story so it's suitable for Wattpad and their target audience. But... you're ignoring all that to advertise your own story. It's like telling them the work they spent trying to find a way to convey their story, making characters/cast, finding resources and more was all for you to advertise on.

I'll tell you this: before my favourite 2 dedicated readers found that I'd published my second book, the first comment I got was an advertisement. It wasn't as straight up as the title, but it was still one. I was pretty embarrassed to be honest, because I felt as though they didn't really care. It's like my work wasn't even worth reading...

Literally, if you're that desperate to get your book read, check the Community Events book. It has a chapter dedicated for that purpose. Plus, you can enter a mini #ABA2017 competition with rewards.

The next point is don't bring your fandom into everything, unless it's a fanfiction to do with that fanfom.

Again, it's the same as the response above. But, instead, it can be embarrassing for an author. Because they might want to write something that is respected in its own right and not compared to anything else.

The other day, I was reading an older book that was written sometime between 2012 and 2014. But, the author got swarmed by 'The Fault In Our Stars' comments, just because it was a sad story. The author complained about these comments (because there were so many) and asked that people just stop- he hated being compared to it. Not only that, but people in the comment section were talking about things unrelated to his story entirely: there were long threads which only talked about TFIOS and anything else sad, rather than his story.

But, I'm pretty sure you can see the issue, so I needn't explain anymore.

The next rule is... don't try and start a fight, especially with the author.

I don't think I really need to explain this, but you look like an asshole. Enough said.

My last fundamental rule of commenting is... don't be oversensitive or petty.

This goes for both the authors and commenters. If someone offers you criticsm (not roasting or shitting on your book) you need to use it to advance. But, if you see something you don't like and you know you won't in a book, don't comment about it. If you're reading a book with swearing and you don't like it, don't comment about it. It's so small and uncalled for. But if the swearing is excessive, then it makes sense.

For example, I received a complaint about swearing in my book within the first 5 or so chapters. There are like, 3 swear words there. Still, I recieved a comment on how someone hated the language I used, despite the fact that it was rated mature back then. You walked into a book rated mature and complained about something that small? Talk about petty.

Anyway, have you broken any of the rules above? If so, did you think it was okay to do so at the time?