The Greek Seaman

The Greek Seaman is a self-published novel by Jacqueline Howett, a United Kingdom-born woman who resides in Clearwater, Florida in the Tampa Bay Area. She described herself as an artist, author, and poet. In 2011 the novel and its author gained media attention when the author reacted negatively to a review of her book on an internet blog post.
The book is about a romance between Don, a Greek sailor, and Katy, his English wife. The two live on a cargo ship with an all-male crew from many countries. The two have to survive a conspiracy set against them.
Howett (born 1954), educated in London, came to the United States in 1989. In April 1993 she became a U.S. citizen.
Reception and internet controversy
Blog post and Howett's response
On March 16, 2011, an internet blogger named "Big Al" posted a review of the book on his blog, "Big Al's Books and Pals". Morgan O'Rourke of Risk Management said that the blog, which had been established three months earlier, was "little-known". O'Rourke said that prior to the incident at the blog regarding The Greek Seaman the blog "had never seen more than a handful of comments on any one post." Big Al said the plot was "compelling and interesting," but that most readers would not be able to finish the book. He said "one reason is the spelling and grammar errors, which come so quickly that, especially in the first several chapters, it's difficult to get into the book without being jarred back to reality as you attempt unraveling what the author meant." while O'Rourke characterized it as a "negative" review.
O'Rourke said that "BigAl’s blog wasn’t popular enough at the time to garner any sort of attention on its own and, besides, the review seemed fairly accurate" so if Howett had not responded in the manner that she did, no incident would have occurred. Jean Hannah Edelstein of The Guardian said "This week, she is one of the world's (or at least the internet's) most famous authors - but not, alas, because her literary genius has been recognised." Ben East of The National said that the author "was, for a brief while, an internet phenomenon for all the wrong reasons" and that even through "a hitherto unknown blogger criticising a self-published book is hardly an international news story" Howett had "answered back. In style." and therefore had become the attention of a news article. In another Twitter post, the International Institute of Modern Letters of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand used the incident as an example of "the perils of self publishing".
David Barnett of The Guardian said that "Reviewing's a tough business, and reading reviews of your own work is even tougher" and that because of the immediacy of the internet, a response to the reviewer not thought-out by the author could be sent instantly, while an author only access to pre-internet tools would reconsider after writing a hasty response and not send it to the reviewer.
Caitlin Dickson of The Atlantic said that the incident showed "ow to instantly lose credibility as a respectable, independent writer."
Legacy
The New Zealand play Nucking Futs, about a self-published author who deals with the problems of going viral over the internet, is based on The Greek Seaman incident.

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