First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Mahatma Gandhi
It’s always great to see Victoria Strauss rattled. Recently she insinuated that The Write Agenda was behind a surge of 1-Star reviews of one of her books. This is not the first time that Victoria Strauss has been stressed about fake reviews. Unfortunately, The Write Agenda cannot take credit for this horribly devious act. However, we do enjoy the fact that Victoria Strauss would dedicate more digital ink to validate The Write Agenda as a worthy adversary . . . otherwise, she would ignore us . . . SHE CAN’T!
Upon reviewing Victoria’s latest attempt at writing, Passion Blue (“Passion Blew”), speaking of “[f]ake postive reviews,” the 24 Five Star Reviews are quite illuminating. Among the 24 Five Star Reviews who did we find? None other than Michael Capobianco! Yes, that Michael Capobianco . . . the notorious husband of Ann “A.C.” Crispin dishing out Five Star Reviews of Strauss’ Passion Blew! Just so you new authors are aware, Michael Capobianco is a former President of the SFWA. In addition, Capobianco also attempted to discredit our reporting of the SFWA’s Attorney, C.E. Petit, scandal regarding the John Steinbeck family (see below). (See John Steinbeck Family Defrauded by Writer Beware™ & SFWA Attorney: The 2007 Scam that Writer Beware™ Didn’t Report . . . Why?) Intrestingly, the Five Star book review of Strauss’ book by Capobiano is the only book review he’s ever submitted on Amazon (see below . . . click on the images to enlarge).
Now, it gets even more disingenuous. Reviewing the remaining 23 Five Star Reviews most have not reviewed any other books . . . just Strauss’ Passion Blew. As you page down further who do you find? Well, a Five Star Review from none other than . . . you guess it . . . Ann “A.C.” Crispin:
And . . . of course . . . Victoria Strauss couldn’t resist giving Ann “A.C.” Crispin a Five Star Review as well:
Granted they qualified their postings. However, as we stated in our A.C. Crispin is Begging for “Volunteers” to Write Reviews for Her Books posting, when you ask “friends” to write reviews about your book(s) . . . isn’t it disingenuous?
If their books were selling then the general public would be posting “genuine” reviews of their books . . . not fabricated (i.e. “fake positives”) reviews generated from “flying monkeys” at the behest of authors Ann “A.C.” Crspin and Victoria Strauss. Begging for book reviews? Oy! . . . the hypocrisy! Authors don’t beg for reviews . . . if the work is good the general book buying public will evaluate it on its own merits. Crispin, Strauss & Capobianco should know better.
Ann Crispin spent her time fooling authors and convincing them that purchasing her books (and Victoria Strauss’) was a ‘show of support’ for the not-for-profit thing better known as Writer Beware. Fortunately, she only fooled the under-educated author and the Kool-Aid drinking minions . . . a very small group of literary putzes.
– Anonymous
Victoria Strauss’ prose doesn’t need 1-Star reviews to prove that she is a flop as an author. This particular book was published November 6, 2012 and it has only 65 total reviews? Furthermore, it has a current Amazon Sales Ranking of 1,365,664 and the last 5-Star review was 7 months ago. Victoria Strauss lacks the competence as a researcher and is a literary underachiever. Why would anyone trust an author that has produced 8 novels that have flopped; she’s not a household name. Victoria Strauss clearly is a literary midget and her book sales prove that. Having Amazon.com remove 1-Star reviews will not change the fact that the real reading public (not people that she sucks in to buy her books) simply do not value her books. It doesn’t take a smear campaign to accomplish that . . . she accomplishes that all on her own. Amazon Sales Rankings are only one benchmark in measuring the success of an author and his/her book(s). We’ve never claimed that Amazon Sales Rankings are the exclusive resource; it’s a valuable tool and nothing more. More here.
Victoria Strauss has ran her own “smear” site and campaign via Writer Beware. Remember, it was The Write Agenda that exposed the scams perpetrated by Victoria Strauss and the Writer Beware Crew; which is more than sufficient for Strauss to loathe The Write Agenda.
You can’t “deny” that Victoria Strauss, A.C. Crispin & Writer Beware failed to report the publishing SCAM perpetrated by their own attorney. See John Steinbeck Family Defrauded by Writer Beware™ & SFWA Attorney: The 2007 Scam that Writer Beware™ Didn’t Report . . . Why?
You can’t “deny” that Victoria Strauss, A.C. Crispin & Writer Beware failed to prove that American Book Publishing was subject to a “police investigation.” Which leads one to believe that Strauss may have another hidden agenda. See American Book Publishing: No Case, No Criminal Contact & No Legal Action Taken.
You can’t “deny” the fact that Victoria Strauss and others were “non-vindicated” defendants in the Bauer vs. Glatzer case. See Bauer vs. Glatzer et. al. – Summary of Allegations Against the Named Defendants
You cannot “deny” that is was an embarrassment to have Victoria Strauss as a panelist at The 2013 ASJA Annual Writers Conference.
You cannot “deny” that Victoria Strauss should have been Disqualified from the First Annual Independent Blogger Awards: Questions of Eligibility Remain Regarding the Meaning of “Independent”
What exactly is it that drives people like Victoria Strauss to produce literary failure after literary failure? Colorsong . . . it’s an interesting title for an author that has only used shades of gray on her watchdog canvas and leaving truthfulness always in question. Victoria Strauss and Writer Beware do like to sing a lot. However, the “color” of their song never reaches into anything near to black & white.
“Nobody who’s never sold jack is going to be put under a deadline for anything.”
Anonymous
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