by Charlaine

There’s something to be said for hitting rock bottom. As I was drinking my first cup of coffee Sunday morning, I was reading my favorite magazine,  Entertainment Weekly. I’ve been a faithful subscriber for many years, and I remember how excited I was when my name was in its pages for the first time, when Alan Ball began filming “True Blood.”

I was in the pages of EW again in the year-end issue: “Best and Worst of 2011.” My book, DEAD RECKONING, was designated one of the worst of the year, along with a book by the ubiquitous Kardashians and one by Snooki of “Jersey Shore” fame.

At first I really couldn’t believe it. Though I fully realized DEAD RECKONING was not a perfect book, I knew I’d read worse during 2011. Then I realized that the criteria must have been, “bad books by someone famous.” Still, it stung pretty badly, as you can imagine.

I was pretty philosophical about the experience until my inner insecurities began to plague me. Most writers have plenty of those, beginning with the suspicion that we are actually no good at all and that someday someone will discover this . . . no matter how healthy our bank account may be, or how brisk sales have been.

I was secretly hoping my agent would challenge the article’s writer to a duel. Then I realized that if anyone did that, it should be me, and I was feeling way too pitiful.

I hope I don’t experience anything more humiliating in my professional life. This kind of capped off a very eventful 2011 for me, because I’ve had a number of thunderbolts, both personal and professional. Next year simply HAS to be better

Comments

[sandrad]

Worst? what!!? you are a wonderful writer! You make me (and many, many others) very happy with your books and short stories.

[E.J. Copperman]

Don't worry, Charlaine--my book was WAY worse than yours! They just haven't heard of me.

[Dana]

I think we all tend to put a lot more weight on the bad reviews than the good. I'm not sure why, but one clunker seems to gainsay all the positive things, and that's just not logical. Charlaine, I hope you can remember all the millions of people you and Sookie have made happy over the years (me included)!

[Alex Adams]

Clearly--clearly--it was a typo and someone put you on the wrong list.

Regardless of the awful typo (for shame, EW!), you have the honor of being one of the nicest people I spoke to (albeit briefly) at WFC2011. And that's what I tell people whenever your books are mentioned.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Charlaine, I can;t tell you how inspirational this is. Yes, it sounds strange. But it is.

You are fabulous, wonderful, successful beyond anyone's wildest imaginings, and brilliant brilliant brilliant. And yet--some bozo at a desk decides to use their ridiculous power and make you unhappy.

If that can happen to YOU--queen of the world!--it makes us realize how silly so much of it is.
And Dana, yes--so bizarre that world-wide acclaim and adoration somehow are diminished by this one thing. Writers are funny people.

And I'm cancelling my subscription. Oh, wait, I don't have a subscription. :-)

[Charlaine Harris]

Thanks for the morale-boosting posts. There's no erasure of this very unpleasant thing; even saying, "But look at how many books you sell!" doesn't help. I'm very conscious of my good fortune, but I think all writers want respect, don't you? However, I do feel more philosophical about the whole incident now.

[Susan Neace]

I had read your mysteries even before you did the Sookie books. I gave Dead Until Dark to my daughter a number of years ago and she turned her friends and aunts and cousins onto the series, and now we all read and discuss them passionately. I read your blog on your website and on this website and I am been enormously pleased by your success. I am very sorry that it has led to EW making you a target. I assure you that your did not write the worst book of 2011 - I liked it and am looking forward to May for the next one. Please have a very happy holiday and I suggest you consider how Sandra Bullock dealt with winning the razzy award some years ago for worst picture.

[Kate Adams]

Frankly, I take panning by various "entertainment" publications to be a recommendation. I've had countless hours of enjoyable reading when I picked up something that some critic hated, and this latest example is more evidence that my theory is sound.

Remember: your book is in libraries and on people's bookshelves and is talked about and shared among friends. Entertainment Weekly ends up in the recycling bin or, if my cockatiel is looking bored, on the bottom of her cage.

Happy holidays!

[Donna Andrews]

Charlaine, never mind the duel. Send that poor reviewer a pair of reading glasses and a bullet-proof vest. he just might need the former, and sure as hell might want to wear the latter till this dies down in Sookiedom!

Seriously, I think a bad review of a book by a seasoned and talented author sometimes has more to do with the reviewer's expectations than the book itself. Did the book really miss the target, or did it hit dead center on a target that's very different from the one the reviewer had in mind? (Like the guy who reviewed one of my books on Amazon and clearly couldn't stand humorous mysteries. Dude, did you see the cover? Read the blurb? Sheesh.)

I remember when another very well-known writer--whose work, like yours, I adore--got a nasty, snarky review in a national publication. A little research turned up the fact that the reviewer was an unpublished novelist. Hmm.

Not suggesting your EW reviewer is similarly afflicted with the green-eyed monster. But we all carry around baggage, conscious and unconscious, and the fact that his baggage made him throw a book against the wall does not make it bad. Just not his cup of tea.

Alas, I have no EW subscription to cancel either.

[Elaine Viets]

Charlaine, do you really take seriously the opinions of a magazine called EW? Ew, you know better.
You've had a fabulously successful year as writer and guest of honor at major conferences and you'll be GOH at Sleuthfest in 2012. Now that's important.
But I know that one bad review hurts far more than 50 good ones -- and for some reason I always believe the bad things easier than the good ones.

[Lora in Florida]

Catching up on my reading...Charlaine, I read that article, and I always keep in mind that EW panned the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which is one of my Favorite. Movies. Ever. I can watch that movie again and again.

Sometimes I think in our microwave society we think everything has to be fast and furious. While "Dead Reckoning" may not be the most exciting of your books, I thought it was an important transitional book. Your readers are not disappointed; we love Sookie. We know your name; I can't even think of the name of the writer who panned you in EW....so there! :)