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Daily Mirror
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Goodreads faces backlash as authors speak out on 'homophobic reviewers' and trolls
The popular social book reviewing website Goodreads has been hit with criticisms after it's latest controversy found 'homophobic reviewers' and trolls were panning books before they had even been released The popular book-reviewing website Goodreads has come under fire once again after authors have criticised it for not cracking down on homophobic reviews, trolls and "review-bombers". For those unaware of the rise of Goodreads, the website and app is a mix between a social media and a traditional reviewing platform where anyone can rate, review and share their thoughts on their latest books. The platform also allows readers to get suggestions from millions of other users - similar to Letterboxd for film reviewing. After being bought by Amazon more than a decade ago, the platform has exploded in popularity. It is now thought to have more than 150 million members, as reported by The Guardian. Despite its quite civilised concept, Goodreads has not been without controversy and its fair share of criticism. And now some top authors have hit out at the platform for not offering protection to authors who have been the victim of "notorious homophobic reviews". Speaking to The Bookseller, crime writer Jo Furniss said: 'A lot of authors share the soul-destroying experience of seeing their books trashed before they are even available to genuine readers. Worse, like me, they feel they are given no protection by one of the biggest platforms in the industry. What is Goodreads doing to protect authors from online abuse?' Another author who wished to remain anonymous told the magazine that many reviewers give books a one-star review before even advance review copies have been given to a publisher. They added: "One such reviewer [...] is notorious in the sapphic/queer-author community for giving thousands of sapphic/queer books one star. A number of sapphic authors have complained to Goodreads about him and unfortunately, they have never taken action." One such reviewer known for piling on one-star reviews of queer books is simply known as Charles. With an average rating of 1.09, the reviewer has left more than 8,200 one-star reviews with queer book authors even coining the phrase "Charles'd" whenever he gets around to review bombing a new queer book. For more stories like this subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Weekly Gulp, for a curated roundup of trending stories, poignant interviews, and viral lifestyle picks from The Mirror's Audience U35 team delivered straight to your inbox. However according to Johnson, Goodreads allow people to review books even before they have read it, she claims the platform told her: "The reviewer had a perfect right to predict if they'd enjoy it or not." This seems to be a common theme, with one author hit with a negative rating after a reviewer mistook their book for a film under the same name, while another received a negative review before he'd even written the last two chapters. In each instance, they claim that Goodreads stood by the review and refused to remove their comments. There are some Goodreads rules for rating books. They read: "We will not tolerate abuse of our ratings system, such as rating the same work more than once for the purpose of inflating or deflating the book's average rating. Multiple ratings we determine to be abusive will be removed. "Reviews that are harassing or threatening, or that contain hate speech or bigotry. These will be deleted outright and anyone posting them risks being removed from the site." Help us improve our content by completing the survey below. We'd love to hear from you!
Daily Mirror
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Popular crime writer calls on Goodreads to 'protect authors from online abuse'
Authors have called out Goodreads for failing to remove negative reviews of their novels before they've been released yet - with claims that it constitutes "online abuse" Don't judge a book by a cover – or before it even has a cover. Writers are being reportedly bombarded with negative reviews on Goodreads before proof copies have even been circulated yet. Worse still, the site is allegedly failing to remove them. Crime author Jo Furniss recently called out Goodreads for not doing more to prevent this kind of negative 'review bombing' before their novels have even been released. As a popular book review site, Goodreads, which is owned by Amazon, is a go-to for many deciding on their next read. But Jo claims they aren't doing enough to "protect authors from online abuse '. Jo told The Bookseller: 'A lot of authors share the soul-destroying experience of seeing their books trashed before they are even available to genuine readers. Worse, like me, they feel they are given no protection by one of the biggest platforms in the industry.' In a comment piece written for The Bookseller, Jo claimed that her upcoming thriller, Guilt Trip, had a two-star rating on Goodreads – despite not being published yet. She added that no advance copies had been sent out either. After feeling compelled to respond to the anonymous reviewer, Jo claimed that they then complained about the comment. This prompted an email from Goodreads advising authors to "refrain from confronting users who give their books a low rating". Her own comment was subsequently removed. While she emphasised that she 'doesn't care about one petty review', she expressed frustration over the fact that a 'troll' was being given more protection by Goodreads, and claimed their actions constituted a form of 'online abuse'. Jo told The Mirror that she attempted to follow up her complaint over their behaviour. In her email, she informed Goodreads: "I replied to this rating because I believe the reviewer to be fraudulent — this particular book (Guilt Trip) is not yet published or available to be read. It is not possible that this is a genuine review." She claimed that the user had targeted all of her novels with poor reviews, while posting no other reviews of works by other authors. She received a reply from Goodreads saying that they would investigate the issue, but claimed that no further action was taken. However, the review has since been removed after The Bookseller contacted Goodreads, as reported by The Bookseller. For more stories like this visit The Gulp or subscribe to our weekly newsletter for a curated roundup of top stories, interviews, and lifestyle picks from The Mirror's Audience U35 team delivered straight to your inbox. Romance author Milly Johnson also revealed to The Bookseller that she had a one-star rating for a book that hadn't even been looked over by her copy editor yet. But when she complained to Goodreads, they allegedly responded saying that the reviewer had 'a perfect right to predict if they'd enjoy it or not.' The Mirror reached out to Milly for comment. Goodreads has been associated with the phenomenon of 'review bombing' in the past. In 2023, The Guardian reported that some authors were avoiding using the site due to "mean-spirited" reviews. One of the most notable scandals emerged when writer Cait Corrain was dropped by her publisher after admitting to writing negative reviews about rival authors with a fake account, as reported by The Guardian. That same year, Goodreads pledged to counteract issues like review bombing, such as the ability to 'temporarily limit submission of ratings and reviews on a book during times of unusual activity' that go against their guidelines. The Mirror has reached out to Goodreads for comment. Help us improve our content by completing the survey below. We'd love to hear from you!
