Are You Secure Enough to Take the One-Star Challenge?

It all started last week, when John Scalzi posted some of his one-star Amazon.com customer reviews, which describe his novels as “very slow, very boring, really not very interesting” and “just fluff and dreck.” And that’s okay, he says: “I am not under the impression that, alone among all writers who have ever existed, I will be the one whose work is universally acclaimed,” he wrote, “nor am I under the impression that when readers who feel burned by work are offered an avenue to express their displeasure, that they will rather prefer to stew privately.” He also completely rejected the Deborah MacGillivray approach to bad reviews—instead, he invited other authors to post their worst reviews “and then, you know[,] get past them.”

Naturally, mayhem ensued.

So far—unsurprisingly, given Scalzi’s fan base—most of the authors participating hail from the science fiction/fantasy community, but crocheting handbook author Kim Werker is playing along too, conceding that someone out there believes “the projects [in Teach Yourself Visually: Crocheting] are ugly and I would not want to learn from this book.” But will the fancy lit’ry writers join in the fun?

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