It takes thick skin to survive the vipers

I always look forward to opening my private messages on facebook, which are usually full of dudes with horrid pickup lines. Today, I found this little gem by Von’te Banks.

Really? Shoot your fucking self? I don’t think I need to go into how repulsive this is since suicide and depression are real problems for real people…and that families suffer.

Wait, it gets better.

So I clicked over to Amazon to find (s)he left 1star reviews on Books 2 & 3 but no review on Book 1. First, they aren’t verified purchases, so I’d like to know (if (s)he actually read the books) how she got his/her nasty little hands on my books. Second, (s)he’s only ever left two reviews – only on my books. I went ahead and took a screen shot just in case my little vixen decided to correct that error.

Now everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion and if you hate a book so much as to leave a 1-star review, that is your prerogative. However, his/her motives are unclear but her goal was clear.

Does this bother me? Hell no.  Clearly, this person has some issues. Telling someone to kill themselves is as low as it gets. Because these aren’t verified purchases and due to the fact that she forgot to blast Book 1.

But instead of being an asshat, (s)he just looks like (s)he has his/her own head up said ass. There’s no reason to speak to someone this way. There’s no reason to send an author a private message telling them to commit suicide. This is the lowest form of low.

If it’s publicity (s)he wants, I’ve just given it to him/her. If it’s an attitude adjustment (s)he needs well…

This doesn’t bother me because professional reviewers have given me 4 & 5 star reviews. This doesn’t bother me because I know my self-worth and some chicken-shit that sends me a nastygram then blocks me so I cannot reply is not the type of thing to break me.

It’s given me a good laugh Von’te Banks, (whose looking for a good cover artist for her own books.) I’m not going to get twisted in knots over your malicious private message. I’m not going to cry because of your malevolent words on Amazon. I’m going to wish you the best instead. I’m going to congratulate you on your attempt to publish a novel.Then I’m going to sit back and….