Larissa Ione wrote:You know, when I first started out, my wish list would have been pretty similar to yours. Hell, I STILL wish I could have all 4 and 5 star reviews! I gotta say, that first bad review killed me. It was like being stabbed in the heart. I’d worked so hard on my big debut, spent money and effort on advertising and promo items…and on sending ARCs to reviewers…and then they tore the book apart. I. Was. Devastated. I even felt a little betrayed. I mean, if they’d just come to me first, I could have talked to them, explained why I wrote the plot this way or why I wrote the character that way…basically, I could have made them understand why their review was wrong. (Writing this paragraph made me cringe so hard.)
Several years and a many 1-star reviews later, I realize how incredibly young and foolish I was. Reviewers owe us nothing. Not a constructive critique, not a chance to explain ourselves, not a glowing review. They don’t even have to respect the book, the author, or the time and effort it took for us to write it. They took the time to read the book and write up a review, and for what? A free book? It’s a win for them if they LIKE the book, but if they didn’t, they just spent a lot of time slogging through a story they didn’t like when they could have been doing something better.
And so what if they didn’t like the book? Yeah, it sucks, but ultimately, your name is out there. Let’s say someone doesn’t buy your book because of that review. Later, they’ll remember your name but not the review. They’ll give your NEXT book a second look, because the name is familiar, even if they don’t know why.
As for the reviewer? Don’t send them your next one if you don’t want to. Or do what I do and send them the next one to show them that you really can write. Maybe they’ll like the new one. I’ve seen a LOT of reversals, people who hated the first book but gave the second one a chance and then they loved it. When that happens, it’s one hell of a reward. There’s nothing like that feeling of, “Hell yeah! I told you so!” But it won’t happen if you piss off reviewers, because they won’t give your next book a try.
And if their review really is super-snarky and “mean,” then the people reading the reviews will know that. But chances are that the review isn’t as bad as you think it is.
See, last year, I went back to that first bad review to see how much my perspective had changed. I was nervous, because that review really hurt. But when I read it again, I was shocked. Why? Because if I got that same review today, I’d be freaking thrilled. Seriously. That’s how NOT bad it was. It was 3 stars and critical, but compared to all of the 1 and 2 star reviews I’ve gotten since, it’s awesome. In fact, it’s positive enough that I’d say it’s closer to a 4 star review. And yet, 7 years ago, I thought it was a scathing bloodbath that was going to end my career before it even started.
Now, I understand that it’s ridiculous for anyone to tell you to grow a thick skin. You can’t just “grow” one. It takes time and a LOT of pain and scarring. Bad reviews hurt. Especially if they’re snarky or vicious or personal. I’ve had readers say I must be a terrible mother because of what I write. I’ve had reviewers say I’m trash and that my writing is trash, as well. Someone else said one of my books was derivative. I can’t tell you how many readers have said I’m going to burn in hell. One reviewer all but called me a racist. Those are the mild examples. I could go on and on, but if you really want to see the worst of them, they’re easy to find on Amazon.
I’d tell you not to read reviews, but sometimes you can’t help it, especially if the review is from a reviewer you sent a book to. Here’s the the thing: the reviewer is never wrong. I’m not talking about details…they may have gotten a fact technically wrong, but their interpretation of the story is never wrong (again, unless we’re talking about actual facts.)
Once you let the book go into the world, it’s no longer yours. Every word is open to interpretation. As an author, I strongly advise you to just let it go. If the reader read it “wrong,” then it’s very likely that you wrote the book in a way that left it open to “wrong” interpretation. And trust me, many reviewers do NOT take kindly to having authors trying to explain what they “meant.” If they want clarification, they’ll ask.
Just suck it up and take it as a lesson on what not to do in another book. I’ve got two books that I wish I could go back and tweak, just a little, because every now and then a reader will interpret something in a way I didn’t intend, and the reviews tend to be extremely harsh (Hell, I’m traumatized by the reviews, emails, and Facebook harassment I got for one book.) I truly think that in these cases, the readers are reading through a thick lens of personal sensitivity or bias that leads them to interpret my words in the way that they do, but the thing is, I could fix both items with just a couple of sentences. In these cases, the readers are not wrong, but neither am I. However, their interpretation is ultimately MY fault because I was not as clear as I should have been for those particular readers.
Now, if FACTS are wrong, reviewers really don’t mind being corrected. They want their reviews to be factually accurate. I will comment on reviews if they are factually inaccurate…although sometimes I let those go, too. Once, a reviewer made a mistake and claimed an event happened in the book that didn’t (they got two different books confused,) and that led to commenters really piling on the ridicule. But I was too afraid of the reviewer and the commenters on her blog to correct her. But generally, reviewers want to know.
There’s nothing wrong with asking a reviewer nicely to give you a heads up if the review is going to be negative (that way you don’t have to read it or link to it) or if you’ve got a promo planned at their blog. It’s awkward when the review is a bad one and then the next day you’re at the blog with a giveaway or something. But asking to discuss the review or asking for feedback is generally not a good practice.
I’m definitely not a believer in the saying, “Bad publicity is better than no publicity,” because honestly, I’m too sensitive for negative attention, but I assure you that reviewers talk, and if you leave a negative taste in their mouth on a personal level, it’s FAR worse than leaving them with a book they hated. Even if they don’t like one of your books, they’ll still give another of your books a shot, but if they don’t like YOU…they’ll never read you again, and they most certainly won’t respect you. Respect is earned, not by writing a book, but by letting reviewers do their thing how they want to do it. We don’t have to like those super-snarky, cutting reviews, but we have to learn to deal with them. Know where your line is…I don’t even respond to personal attacks anymore, unless they happen on my Facebook page or in an email. I will respond to incorrect facts or when someone accuses me of plagiarism or racism or something ugly, but otherwise, our books are fair game. (I’m also talking about reviews at review sites/blogs, not the general review at Goodreads or Amazon or something. Never respond to those unless you enjoy being the talk of the internet world…and there are people who really do thrive on that.)
We can wish for respect and nice reviews, but we have to face reality. Our books are not ours once they hit the marketplace, and a reader has every right to trash it, stomp on it, sacrifice it goat-gods, or whatever. It sucks, but that’s the game.
And keep in mind that reviews are, ultimately, not for the author. They don’t have to be constructive or nice. Reviews are for other readers. As a reader, when I see only glowing reviews, I don’t buy the book because I figure the reviews are all from uber-fans or family or hand-picked by-the-author reviewers. I made the mistake of buying a book like that once or twice, and the books turned out to be terribly written. It made me so angry, and I felt like I’d been scammed. Those authors are now in my “Never Buy List.”
So now I tend to read a few 5 and 4 star reviews, and then I move on to the 3 and 2 star reviews to get a more critical view of the book, because the things a reviewer might be critical of (too much sex, gay characters, asshole hero, etc.) are things that will make me pick up the book. You wouldn’t believe how many 1-star reviews I get for my Sydney Croft books that are screaming, “OMG, THERE’S TOO MUCH NASTY SEX!!!!), but then I hear from readers who say that those are the reviews that made them buy the book.