Here’s a chilling tale from fellow writer Anne R. Allen:

“As some of you know, I broke my own rules recently and let my inner Atticus Finch speak up at an ill-advised moment. (Never try to reason with rageaholics: you’re only volunteering to be their next fix.) A legal team who monitors online hate groups informed my publishers I’ve been marked to be targeted with negative reviews and other harassment. And it’s happening

So please, anybody who has read and enjoyed the humor of the Camilla Randall Mysteries, if you could take the time to write a genuine review on Amazon — I desperately need your help. It would make all the difference. Only a couple of sentences are necessary and all that’s required is to be an Amazon customer. Waking up every day to a new nasty review by some “reviewer” who only repeats what other negatives has said and has never reviewed anything else gets pretty discouraging. It may be why I’m having such a tough time healing from this surgery.”

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I feel a great deal of sympathy for Ms. Allen. I’ve occasionally been loud-mouthed about my own political views online, and frankly, when you’re trying to market yourself it isn’t always a good idea to share one’s views.

If you’re interested in learning more about Ms. Allen’s situation, I recommend starting with her blog:http://annerallen.blogspot.com/

Besides this story, she also offers sound advice for writers. If you’re interested in checking out her books, here’s a link to her Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Anne-R.-Allen/e…

It appears as though she’s been able to mitigate any potential damage to her reader ratings, as I saw very few negative reviews of her books on Amazon. Even so, it’s chilling to know that there are people in the world who will mount a character assassination campaign against you because they don’t agree with your views. Important lesson: NEVER FEED THE TROLLS!