Candace Sams Epic Meltdown

[flirtswithfan.livejournal.com]

Much has been said about Hamilton's "Dear Reader" blog but today on Amazon Candace Sams had the dubious honor of making that blog look like a love song. What started with one reviewer's one star post exploded into an awe inspiring, possibly career destroying event as Ms Sams took exception to almost everything almost everyone posted.

Calling posters stupid, comparing them to flies, insisting there was a vast conspiracy directed at destroying herself, Ms. Sams ordered posters not to buy or read her books and to burn them if they had a copy. Her editors at Love Spell came in for a share of blame too.

At last count replies numbered over one hundred and forty replies. Even Meljean tried to talk her down but Ms Sams seems to be past all hope of regaining any semblance of sanity.

If you haven't encountered the Sams Meltdown out there in Facebook or Dear Author , check it out on Amazon. It is by turns fascinating, horrifying, and sad,

Comments

[putana.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of her, but... this "Niteflyr One" is the author herself? That is actually irking me more than anything. I really don't like the fact that an author can sign up as themselves, be all friendly and nice and then have a fake account where they can pretend to be a "fan", hype things up, post 'scoops' or be a nasty person. Darla did the same thing for LKH :/ And EA Games did similar for The Sims 3 (completely random here, but just evidence that it is probably wide ranging), but on Amazon it is rather irritating for fans to find good works and get a real review.

[tenaya-owlcat.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God.

And it only took about three comments for the author to cite Harriet Klausner as a "real book reviewer". HK is the biggest sock puppet on the internet for reviews! I'm only on the second page of comments and I am astounded. O.o

[lucky-ninja.livejournal.com]

I must be completely incompetent, because I can't find this anywhere on Amazon. ;_;

[flirtswithfan.livejournal.com]

Just type in Sams' name for books and click on "Interstellar Feller", it is L B Taylor's review

[lucky-ninja.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[dkphoenix.livejournal.com]

That's... wow. A hundred pounds of epic crazy in a ten pound box.

Seriously, has this woman perhaps missed a few doses of her medication? If not, perhaps she should look into starting on a regimen, stat.

[flirtswithfan.livejournal.com]

Tokyogirl, thanks for the links.

[flirtswithfan.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I should add that Ms Sams has stated that she works with three law enforcement agencies and the Defense Dept. Her Amazon page says she has worked in law enforcement and belongs to a US Martial Arts team. Scary much/

[moonbeamdancer.livejournal.com]

I'm only on the second page and this woman is just sad.

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

Holy sheepshit!

This lady is off the map, and fresh out of batshit insane vaccine.

[lucky-ninja.livejournal.com]

"Because, that's the way the business works in some New York venues. Only the highest paid authors won't have their manuscripts ripped apart by some editors."

...oh dear. One of those, the ones who see editors as THE ENEMY. Always a bad, bad sign. Obviously, the finished product of high-profile authors speaks for itself. You have authors like LKH and Anne Rice who won't let anyone near their speshul sparkly golden manuscripts and subsequently readers find themselves reading shoddily-written, shoddily-plotted crap. As I understand it, authors like Neil Gaiman and Terry (someone...I can't recall if it's Brooks or Pratchett or someone else; I haven't read any of Gaiman's, Brooks', or Pratchett's work, so take the following with a grain of salt) LOVE LOVE LOVE their editors and work with them extensively, thereby seeming to produce awesome books.

With LKH and Ms. Sams here, you see the equally ghastly results of opposite ends of the spectrum. LKH speaks to fans through her minions and is sheltered from meen reviews from teh hatterz (granted, I gather Laurell's been interacting more with fans over Twitter recently) by her entourage; Sams responds to negative reviews by flying off the handle like a rabid thin-skinned hosebeast.

Echoing the general consensus here that this woman is some kind of special batshit crazy. Echoing the general consensus that even if I found this woman's books interesting before, I certainly wouldn't buy or even read them now.

[mystoflare.livejournal.com]

Seriously, why do some of these seemingly high-profile, upturn-nosed, popular authors (well, I can't personally say that of Candace Sams, never heard of her before, but...) seem to consider editors either the ENEMY, or some kind of rabid wolverine/tasmanian devil/whatever similar wild animal is native to the area out to rip apart their Precious Special Snowflake Works of Art? I don't get it :|

I suppose I'd be like Mister Gaiman. If I got a manuscript out and found an editor, I would love them, because I think editors and similar people looking at my material could only help me to improve and refine it, and maybe nail down exactly the demographic I'm aiming for. And if you're writing for other people instead of yourself (like some wanking authors seem to wish they were doing), wouldn't you want to get it out to people, especially if you know there are people who might enjoy it? Sure, some people won't like it, but they shouldn't matter if you're looking for an audience who does like your material. Shit happens, that's life, move on.

That being said, meltdowns like this are probably why some people steer clear of certain genres. LKH drove a lot of my friends away from the paranormal "romance"/paranormal thriller/urban fantasy genre with her batshit Dear Negative Reader rant, and it sounds like this Candace woman is going to make some people steer clear of the futuristic books.
But my GODS, the trainwreck of that thread and her rants is priceless XD

[brightlyiburn.livejournal.com]

Yay! Someone new to add to the Dear Negative Reader trope on TVTropes! It's been too long!

[maiskorn.livejournal.com]

Lolwut.
I love complaining about the editor. Lady, I don't care wether your editor or your cat or your mom wrote this book for you 100 percent, as long as you put your name on it and decide to get it published, people will think you're responsible for what is in the book. As they should! If it was rewritten to a point that you weren't satisfied with the end result, you should not have let it be published like that. If you did anyway, I assume you are okay with it, which means you lose the right to blame the editor.

where's her meltdown?

[cherose228.livejournal.com]

I can't seem to find the meltdown although I didn't have any problems finding the review.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAH, her books must be worse than "Talia Gryphon's"!

-,'-,'-,'--@

[flirtswithfan.livejournal.com]

Cherose-the meltdown is in the 140+ replies to L B Taylor's posted review. I checked and she's now saying someone threatened her or a friend of hers and she WILL press charges if Amazon tell her she can.

I still think she is a very real danger to herself and maybe to others.

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

Many, many times I have thought that adding a Comments section to reviews was the worst modification Amazon ever did. (Then again, from their POV I guess it boosts traffic. Sigh.)

[bubblefaerie.livejournal.com]

That is some serious crazy. There weren't half as many comments yesterday afternoon.

[alondra-del-sol.livejournal.com]

This is epic. The author is only digging herself a deep, deep hole. I particularly like how she is calling everyone else immature when obviously she's the one who has the major problem.

Okay I had to edit, because I read a bit further and wow...


When the reviewer (Taylor) could not keep the conversation between myself and her; discussing why she rated the way she did in a cogent, intelligent and calm manner, she apparently ran whining to a bevy of petulant children who then came back to defend her. Apparently, they can have opinions, others cannot. And their opinions must trump everyone else's. The 'discussion' if you can call it that became an attack where I, as the defending author, became a "bellyacher" and even "insane". I'd liken their collective attitude to Gestapo tactics, but I don't think anyone who left comments on the list on behalf of Taylor would know what I was talking about, let alone be able to spell it. One so-called defender of Taylor's hit-and-run tactics promised to never buy anything I've written. THANK YOU! Please don't EVER buy anything I've written. I write for equitable folks who are a little deeper than this...people who can accept that some reviewers 'need' to be questioned as to their strong-arm techniques. I asked readers who emailed me to stay out of the fray when they would have come to my defense, so that I would not appear the coward that Taylor has made of herself. The point of the entire experiment was this...It's so easy to hide anonymously behind the Internet and make nasty, snide comments about other people's work; work these individuals cannot do themselves, nor do they seem to have an inkling about the industry on the whole and what goes into writing a book. They could care less if authors, who usually make less than three figures a year off individual books, are harmed by these reviews. I could care less if anyone reads my title because I chose to draw Taylor out and expose her for the angry or even jealous sniper she apparently is. It may be that she has attempted to write a manuscript, along with some of her 'defense system', and could not do it. What's the next best thing? Attack those who can do something she/they cannot.

... I'm at a loss for words. I mean we've all postulated that LKH is off living in 'lala land' as far as being unable to face that her books are not the works off art that they appear, but...this is a new brand of crazy.

[alondra-del-sol.livejournal.com]

I read the whole thing, and it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Either she's brilliant and people are going to buy this book to see if she and it are as bad (or as crazy) as they imagine, or she has ruined her career in one train wreck of a stroke.

I am an aspiring author, and I can't fathom treating people like that even if they didn't like what I wrote. Of course then again I do workshops and trade critique, and by the sounds of it she never has.

I want to be beaten to a bloody pulp if I'm ever arrogant enough to think I'm above healthy critique.

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

I work as a copy editor. My third day at my present position, the staff writer comes over and is screaming at me in my cubicle because I changed what he wrote.

He got a talking to from the editor. He made a mistake, I suggested a fix, and things did get changed. The trick is to view the need to change as a challenge to improve yourself rather than screaming at people over things.

Also, always get an editor. Even professional editors who write should get someone else to edit. When it's your own work you often miss important errors because you know what you meant. You really need some feedback to truly polish any piece of work.

[mystoflare.livejournal.com]

When it's your own work you often miss important errors because you know what you meant. You really need some feedback to truly polish any piece of work.

This. 1000000%.

I believe unless you're one of those very VERY few people who can write at least 95% gold right out of your pen, you NEED an editor. You need at least several other people who aren't yes-men and aren't going to sugarcoat their critique of what they read to give your material a good hard look-over.
A writer who is either out to make money or writing it as a craft shouldn't have a total hissy fit when people tell them they need to correct things like spelling or grammar, or suggest changes to their books. I never believe editors and the like are out to sabotage the writer or turn their material into total crap, I think they're all in the same boat: make sure what goes to market is a product that people will like/enjoy and want to buy more of.
If you're writing for the craft as well as the money, I think it's like some artists. You can enjoy art enough to want to draw/paint/whatever, but if you have a temper tantrum that would put a three-year-old to shame (like some DA artists I've heard of) every time someone critiques your stuff (even in a kind or helpful manner), no one will want to help you improve. You won't improve, therefore, no one will want more of that product you're trying to put out. Acting like a rabid rottweiler whenever someone doesn't kiss your butt and tell you you're the most awesome thing since sliced bread could only make things worse.

[alex-lebeau.livejournal.com]

There's a trope for that? Hell, I was wondering why LKH hadn't made the Straw Feminist page yet.

[alex-lebeau.livejournal.com]

WOW. Someone should get this Fandom Wank.

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

It's on sf_drama so FW is probably NOT far behind.

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

Yeah--I mean, this thing is just riddled with hypocritical statements. She accuses the reviewer of not being able to take criticism....hi pot, this is kettle: you're black!

And then blaming her editor for just about ANYTHING that a reader might not like. Wow, sure hope her editor didn't see that, because that just about sounds like a reason to let her go!

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

I also find it hilarious that the author is convinced that the person who wrote the original bad review is somehow getting all her friends to come defend her.

AND that people have tagged the author's responses in the thread as 'non helpful' enough times for them to be hidden by default!

[cywrain.livejournal.com]

Wow.

This reminds me quite a lot of another instance, where a reviewer posted copies of extremely unprofessional emails that the publisher of the book had sent him following his giving the book a negative review.

Yes, it was quite a small and new publisher.

Full review and addenda available here:
http://www.librarything.com/work/8195717/reviews/43663685

[jamoche]

Incredibly small; a bit of googling seems to indicate that the "publisher" is also the author.

The author's site says "I started my own publishing company last year and this will be the first book to be published by Bronwen Publishing."

And the publishing company? Has exactly one author.

[bookgroper]

A-ma-zing. And even Neil Gaiman felt the need to tweet about it. I suppose this is one way to become (in)famous.

[runetraverse.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* I second the wanting-to-be-beaten-if-I-ever-do-this. Haven't even gotten a chance to read the meltdown yet, but critique is what INSPIRES PEOPLE TO DO BETTER! Why would you not want it?!?

[muffinkath7.livejournal.com]

Everyone is referring to Hamilton having a freak-out somewhere? Anyone have a link? Or are people just generally referring to her blog?

[runetraverse.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. GOD.

After actually reading the Amazon forum, my jaw has permanently unhinged itself to hang open in disbelief. Forget the fact that her whining and sniping at reviewers sounds both immature and unprofessional - HER POSTS DON'T EVEN MAKE SENSE IN CONTEXT!

No, really. I kept thinking I must be missing a review / posting somewhere and scrolling back up the page, because her replies rant about things that aren't even IN the original post. It was like the disjointed ramblings someone might post while on a drug trip. The fact that this woman is published - and apparently employed in law enforcement - just kind of boggles my brain.

*goes back to keep reading* It's like a freaking trainwreck - it's horrible, and you want to, but you just can't look away.

[kothithelegu.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you! That was so funny I couldn't stop laughing! I read all 25 pages! :)

Here is a link to LKH's Dear Negative Reader rant from 2006.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~mysticrider/LKH%20rant.htm

Here is Anne Rice's flameout from 2004.
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/anne-rice/amazon-incident.html

I think the general themes are attacking fans and expressing disgust with fan criticism.

[kothithelegu.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the links!

[flirtswithfan.livejournal.com]

I see that Amazon is deleting some of her posts. I know that at least two people saved them off somewhere so unfortunately for Sams this will never go away.

I've read all three now and I would still give Sams top spot. Rice second and lkh third. Lkh will always trail the field because she just is too shallow and can't produce a strong emotion.

[magdalen77.livejournal.com]

That's what confused me. It wasn't even a particularly vicious review and Sams acts like it's the worst and meanest review ever.

[slayra.livejournal.com]

Erm... I don't get it. Why is she mad again? O___O It's quite a harmless review, me thinks. Maybe the author should put all that... erm... fiery energy into trying to write a more satisfying book. Me thinks.

[hellozombies.livejournal.com]

"Show all unhelpful posts anyway" was my best friend for, oh, three hours last night reading this. Unbelievable.

[gwynethfar.livejournal.com]

She's a real person, so far as I'm aware. Of course, that awareness stems to another author I know who is pretty sure she's met her.

[gwynethfar.livejournal.com]

It's a symptom of, "I am an ARTIST" syndrome. The second a writer, no matter what stage of their career, forgets that they're working for a pay check and decides they're creating a work of great literature, they hop a train straight to crazy town.