Friday, March 23, 2012

What do you do when you get a bad review?

Now, I'm not an expert at all of this. I'm very new to being an indie author. But, I have gotten my fair share of bad reviews before I pulled my book from Amazon. When I first started in August, I thought all I needed to do was write the book and do some basic editing and I would be set. Boy was I wrong. After getting a few bad reviews, and a ton of comments about the lack of editing and flow in the book, I pulled it.

With every bad review, I allow myself 5 minutes to wallow in self pity. Once my time is up, I go back and reread the review a few times to see if what the person is saying has merit or not. I've learned a lot from my bad reviews, I've taken the criticism for what it is. It's a way to make my story better, and why wouldn't I want to do that? I think for me, with grammar and all the crap that goes along with that, I'm terrible. I know I'm terrible, which is why I like to have a bunch of critique partners read my book before I'm going to send it to the editor.

With every bad review you get, you have to take in consideration personal opinion. Not everyone is going to love what you write. Some people might even hate it. But, that's ok, you don't have to please everyone. So, to all my fellow author's out there, keep your chin up, this too shall pass. Happy reading and writing guys :)

4 comments:

  1. Great advice! Applies to every part of life too!

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  2. Awesome advice! I've received a couple of bad reviews, but I've also written some. I feel badly, but I think I'm extra picky because I expect certain things to be in there and when they're not, I get disappointed, especially if it's a book I had high hopes for. I try to learn from my bad reviews too and just expect that not everyone is going to like my book. I commented on a review of someone else's book the other day on Goodreads that was an attack on the author's appearance. I think personal attacks are totally uncalled for and have no place in reviews. I think as authors we should have each other's backs because it's bad form to comment on your own reviews. The reviewer kept her 1 star rating and removed her review, thank goodness. It was just plain mean.

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    Replies
    1. I know, some people are mean just to be mean. I've found that especially on Goodreads, the reviews are a little cattier.

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