Those nasty, rude one star reviews!

[Jean Henry Mead]

I placed some of my out-of-print books in the Kindle Select Program and the last time around Amazon.com gave away over 10,000 copies of one of my mystery novels. Although I'd had 4 and 5 starred reviews for the book, I got several nasty, rude reviews from readers who got the book free. I reported them as abuse but Amazon won't remove them. Has anyone else experienced one starred reviews? If so, how did you handle it?

[Jean Henry Mead]

B&N allows comments but this person just leaves one star and moves on to the next book. I've never seen that done before. I hope it doesn't start a trend. :)

[John Michael Brantingham]

A truly objectionable review is a sign that you're doing something right, in my opinion. You've upset someone with your art, and only the master can make someone really angry like that. Take Picasso -- he is a stylist of great genius, and no one sort of likes him. He is loved or hated. Hemingway was the same. Those elements of his genius that set him apart were also mocked and belittled, but if he didn't have a style to parody, then he wouldn't have been the master that he was. Love him or hate him you must admit that he was great.

Your freebie was good enough to reach into someone's soul and make that person rage. I'd say it's a sign that you're tremendous.

[Mark Young]

I just ignore it, Jean. Sorry you experienced this. I find that the more books I giveaway as free, the more nasty comments seem come back.

[Jean Henry Mead]

Well said, John! I'm certainly no genius, but it's a great way to look at the problem.