Sour grapes? Damn right!

I've been vaguely following a former client's progress from the manuscript I edited, to the complaints about my not liking anything about her book or the writing, to her marketing strategy of making as many friends as possible; the blowing smoke up each other's arse behavior, to final publication with a no-name publisher, that, in my eyes, doesn't do anything different to vanity publishing.
The book has got already more reviews, of course most of them positive, as author buddies tend to do that to 'help each other', than my six books combined. Okay, not more, but definitely quite a few. I remember criticising the novel heavily back then, ending up hurting the author with my brutal honesty, but then, if I'm beating around the bush, the message may not get delivered. However, what winds me up is the 'lovely-dovely' approach of those reviewers. I keep thinking they either have no brain or just aren't brave enough to tell the truth, unlike the few unconnected reviewers, who seemed to have stumbled over the book and didn't like it one bit. They point out exactly what I pointed out back then, which means, most of my advice was ignored.
It's worrying that those authors, who can't seem to find fault in a story full of irrational actions, have probably published their books, too; I wouldn't expect those books to be readable. The self-publishing industry exists of a thick carpet of unreadable shite, and underneath this thick layer are some readable ones, and very few gems. Gems I kept missing.
Anyhow, back to my sour grapes. It annoys me immensely that if you speak up and voice an opinion, authors have nothing better to do than sabotage your books by writing negative reviews. Although I expected it to happen, because people are like that. And sure enough, the negative reviews started to come in when I began with my quest to shake the world of self-publishing to improve the overall quality. I suspect even a well-known review site couldn't resist to feel prejudiced. Ha! That arrogant bitch, who thinks she knows it all--let's give her something to chew on. (I hope you're feeling better now that it's out of the way.)
Good thing that I have another book published under a different name, so the book could be judged on merit. Unsurprisingly (to me) the book gathered mainly positive--some of them even raving---reviews. Which proves to me that I'm doing something right.
Believe it or not: I put a lot of effort in my books; to me, writing is pain. At least most of the time. If I have a burst of  ideas that need to get out, it's a wonderful and enjoyable moment, but they're rare. Very rare. I write to challenge myself, while entertaining my readers. Therefore I'm slow, carefully creating a plausible storyline, as well as real characters, in addition to keeping readers on their toes by adding some delicious surprises. And I have a mix of different beta readers who'd slap me straight if I'd presented them with something they wouldn't buy. It never happened so far, for I'm eliminating anything that doesn't make sense and rewrite it before they get to read the first draft.
End of January, the pain was too much for me and I had to stop writing and enter the longest break I've ever had. Perfectionism is a bully, and if I can't deliver a perfect story, I'd rather stop. Silly me, right? Might as well go and make tonnes of author friends and kiss their arses so I can write some shite novel that will get the positive reviews and sell, too.