EL James' Twitter Q&A - Hilarity Ensues

Just what I expected an E.L James Q&A to look like…
 
sk73 said:
I don't know... can admit that some had written some funny comments.
But I still thinks this is mostly sad and rather rude. This was an event to ask questions not a competition on who can write the funniest insult.

Don't really care how bad of a writer she is, how crappy these stories are or how much money she has made despite that.
Still thinks she should be able to have a Q&A event without having a hard time from people that don't like her or her stories.

/SK
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Personally I think it's naive to think that any successful / controversial author would be able to do something like this without catching some flack.
The comments highlighted by other media are certainly harsh in their critique but they are not abusive or overly vitriolic even if insulting (though I'm sure there were far worse comments which is an overall problem of the general attitude on social media, not just a concern for EL James vs. non-EL James fans). Just because it's a Q &A it doesn't mean that only flattery is allowed. To claim that she should be able to have one without these kind of comments is, as mentioned, to me very naive. Because, let's not forget, we are too reading media that are in fact high lighting the negativity. Meanwhile James has fans, the books have fans, and sell well, so certainly this little Q and A did not only garner contempt. I'm sure there were plenty of positive voices in the fray, but these were not the focus of this particular article.
 
I agree with @Taake James is aware that there are people out there who pretty much hate her and everything she stands for and will not waste an opportunity to call her out. I think it was a mistake - a BIG mistake - to have this Q&A on Twitter where literally nothing can be monitored to filtered.

There are loads of other ways they could have done this where James wouldn't have been subjected to the comments she got, where the question could have been filtered before they made it to a public forum - or even before they reached James herself. I think it was very stupid of her publicity team to do this.
 
Yeah I want to say that True Blood did some Q&As where anybody could submit questions but then there was someone passing on the "good" ones to the actors.
 
Lyri said:
I think it was a mistake - a BIG mistake - to have this Q&A on Twitter where literally nothing can be monitored to filtered.
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It depends on the purpose. There are a handful of news sites that paint her as the victim of internet abuse, Anne Rice, among others have come out in support of her saying that "Censorship by Troll" should not be allowed or condoned.

Maybe that was the whole point. To shift focus away from what a terrible writer she is, as that was the consensus of the book, to make the topic be about her and her mistreatment and 'abuse.'

I just don't believe anything isn't spin anymore. Not in this day and age. She is now painted as a hero, someone who kept the high ground, did not engage in mud slinging and still answered questions by her fans.

She could be martyred for this!
 
"I witnessed a woman being ripped to shreds on a public forum. Her crime? She had the audacity to write a book that was less than a literary masterpiece, get it published, and become a raging success."

"It was pretty ballsy of her to go the Twitter route. I appreciate that courage. E.L. James knew that the trolls would come trolling."

"Author E.L. James is being attacked and bullied and abused on Twitter. I'm shocked and I'm disappointed. How long are we going to put up with this kind of thing? Fortunately E.L. James is a very successful author, internationally famous, and backed by a strong publisher and millions of readers. But this is the same sort of abuse that cripples and silences many self published authors, young authors, and mid list authors, and make no mistakes, they are indeed attacked"

"If anything, it's been a brilliant move by her publicists. She was trending on Twitter around the world. TeamGrey wins this round, I think, in the end. She made new headlines and exposed her name to new eyes and that's what PR is all about."

Come on.. thats exactly why I think it was all a work.
 
Her entire career was made by PR, so I'm not surprised if this was an intentional stunt.

You know, Kim Kardashian is famous too - doesn't mean she has any talent.
 
I would REALLY like to know what she's going to do next. She's pretty much milked this, she's set for life, but there's still people out there waiting for the next thing she's gonna write. I'm not sure if she can write anything else.
 
@Lyri Oh she'll try and write something else. As popular as the Fifty books are, she's almost guaranteed to sell a decent number of books just by piggybacking off that success. I bet her publishers are pushing and hoping for another successful book(s).
 
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