Negative reviews.
As an independent, first-time author, you will likely be relying heavily on friends and family to be your first readers. They’ll probably tell some of their friends, and you’ll slowly get a few of your books out into the world. As your first batch of readers is predominantly one or two degrees of separation from you, they’ll be a softer audience than the ice-cold tundra of the general population; they’ll be more likely to offer you 5-star ratings and glowing reviews. You’ll wonder if they even read the book. As for strangers? Well, as we know, one of the hardest parts about finally getting the courage up to put your book out into the world is knowing people will read it, judge it, and – potentially – not like it very much. And because they don’t know you, and they’re effectively anonymous, they can be as brutal as their conscience will allow.
Every so often, you’ll go and check on your reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, wherever you’re selling your book. Hopefully, someone’s left something nice to say; maybe even something so nice you can use it in some marketing. And this is a really exciting moment because, as a percentage of readers, people who leave an actual star rating are rare. Those who make the effort to leave a written review exceptionally so. So when you discover someone has taken the time to write a review that is less than overwhelming praise for the thing you have put more of your soul into than anything else in your life, well, it can feel pretty crushing.
But, take heart, dear reader. For I have experienced this very thing and have some advice for you. Once you pick yourself up off the floor, dry your eyes, and take your computer back out of the bin, let’s try and take the emotion out of the situation and see it for what it is: feedback. Just because someone didn’t place your book in the top five novels they’ve ever read and immediately petition Penguin to add it to their orange Penguin Classics catalogue, it is not the end of your writing career. Do not pull your book from the shelves just yet.
Because how many best-selling novels have you read that just didn’t grab you? Maybe a friend recommended the latest whodunnit knowing ‘you will love it’, but you barely made it halfway before closing it for good. Writing is art, and art is inherently subjective. Anyone who reads knows the deal: you choose a book based on a recommendation, reviews, media hype etc. and sometimes you love it. But sometimes you don’t get what the big deal is. Maybe you don’t even finish it. Because life is too short and there are too many books to be stuck in the pages of a boring read.
As you accumulate reviews, you’ll likely start to see a pattern. Perhaps they loved your characters, the world-building, or your general writing style. Perhaps, in the case of non-fiction, they enjoy the way you break down complex problems into lamens terms that’s easy to digest. Then, you’re just as likely to have someone say you oversimplify things and it didn’t feel credible. You can’t please everyone. Specific feedback will become common to a number of the reviews. Take that as gospel and ignore the outliers that didn’t like your book because the protagonist has the same name as someone they hated in school. Of course, if your feedback is consistently negative, it might be worth listening to that, too.
Back to negative feedback. If you’re lucky, the review will be well-articulated, reasonably objective, and you can take the knife out of your chest for long enough to breathe and take the feedback on board – free advice that may even help you become a better writer. I paste my recent 3-star review below for reference.
(Yes, I’m aware that 3-stars isn’t exactly a 12% on Totten Tomatoes, but after a string of 5s, it felt like a 12% on Rotten Tomatoes.)
3.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read that will appeal to a young adult audience.War of the Sparrows features the 'Desert Rats' battle for Tobruk and Alexandria during World War Two. Ten years after the end of the war Frank Miller is back home in Melbourne but still plagued by memories of his time in the deserts of North Africa and the secret he learned from a dying colleague. The secret is buried among photographs and documents hidden in the attic of the family home. When his daughter discovers these, her 'gift', the ability to 'see' and 'feel' events associated with an object, comes in to play. The secret is thus revealed to his daughter and, together, they plot a way to expose the perpetrator of an unsolved pre-war child abduction and murder.
The scenes set in war torn North Africa are plausible. The revelation that a man, regarded by his colleagues as a hero, was in fact anything but, is also handled well. For me, the paranormal aspects of the tale could easily have been a turn off. That they were not is a testament to the author's accurate portrayal of the teenaged daughter. I also feel that the book glosses over the mental health issues often experienced by combatants upon their return to normal life. Overall, an enjoyable read that will appeal especially to a young adult audience.
And there it is. A few days after feeling the initial sting of a bad mark on a test you thought you nailed, it’s actually not a terrible review at all. Take the feedback, use it if it feels accurate for your next book, and move on.
The other trick I found, is to go and look up reviews of your favourite books. Check out the lowest rated ones and see that even the most universally loved books have their critics. I guarantee you one thing: @Graham34778589 didn’t stop your favourite author writing.
