{"id":1519,"date":"2022-01-15T23:39:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-16T04:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/?p=1519"},"modified":"2022-12-19T15:13:35","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T20:13:35","slug":"on-bad-book-reviews-and-the-authors-big-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/on-bad-book-reviews-and-the-authors-big-mistake\/","title":{"rendered":"On Bad Book Reviews and the Author\u2019s Big Mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image by athree23 from Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For some reason, the topic of bad reviews and appropriate responses is a contentious one on Twitter right now. I keep missing the big fights, but I\u2019m stumbling over a lot of messy aftermaths. It\u2019s been like walking into a bar right after a huge brawl has taken place and everyone\u2019s holding cocktail napkins to their bloody noses. Something about authors making fun of their bad reviews, maybe?<\/p>\n

Anyhow, back in the early 2000s when I was spending time on the Absolute Write Water Cooler in anticipation of resuming my fiction writing, I read a lot about the Author\u2019s Big Mistake.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Author\u2019s Big Mistake? Responding to bad reviews. Don\u2019t do that\u00a0ever<\/b>, the experienced writers said. Reviews are not for the writer; they\u2019re for other readers. You\u2019ll just look like a butthead if you show up and get all defensive. And if the reviewer has a lot of friends, you\u2019re liable to find yourself in the middle of an Internet pile-on, which is never a fun place to be. As the cool kids say, never be the Internet\u2019s main character. In fact, writers shouldn\u2019t even respond to good<\/i> reviews, said the wiser heads. Good or bad, they aren\u2019t for you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The only times when it\u2019s not a mistake to respond to a bad review? If the reviewer is talking about a completely different book while mistaking it for yours, or if they give away a huge spoiler. In those circumstances, it\u2019s OK to contact them and point out the mistake or ask if they\u2019ll edit out the spoiler. Politely<\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That all sounded fine. And then last year Tidepool<\/i> came out and I had to put it into actual practice. Whew. Seeing as I\u2019m old and jaded, I thought I could handle reading some of the negative stuff, but the first lukewarm reviews sent me into such an emotional tailspin that I had to stop looking at them lest I never write another word.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And you know what? That\u2019s part of the deal when you publish a book. Obviously I\u2019m disappointed when someone didn\u2019t like Tidepool<\/i>, but bad reviews come with the territory. Heaven knows I<\/i> haven\u2019t held back in the past when I disliked something.<\/p>\n

So I check my ratings on Goodreads and Amazon, but I don’t\u00a0scroll down to the review sections.\u00a0If I happen to stumble across a bad review on a website while I\u2019m ego-surfing, I bail out the minute I realize where things are going.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(I know I shouldn\u2019t ego-surf. I do it anyhow. Sometimes I find something neat. Like how Tidepool<\/i> got a nice mention in the UK\u2019s biggest-circulation print newspaper last October as part of a \u201cScary Books for Halloween\u201d type of roundup.)<\/p>\n

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Lookit me in the English paper right next to Stephen Graham Jones!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I violate the old rules in one way: If someone tags me in a review on social media\u2014a concept that did not exist back when I was lurking at\u00a0Absolute Write\u2014I assume that means they want me to see it and respond. Fortunately, everyone who\u2019s done this has posted good reviews. I have yet to encounter the sort of person who tags authors in negative reviews, but should someone do this with Tidepool<\/i>, I\u2019m planning to stick with the no-response strategy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In all honesty, I appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read and review my book\u2014even if they weren\u2019t shy about saying they didn\u2019t like it. I know that sounds corny and fake, but I mean it. Someone going to the trouble of reading my book and posting a review is no small thing. Maybe my next book will be more to their taste, or maybe I\u2019m just not the writer for them. That\u2019s OK too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because I’ve come to realize something in the past several months: You know what feels even worse than a bad review? Knowing that a publication or review site got your book but never reviewed it. It\u2019s hard not to think \u201cGeez, did they hate Tidepool<\/i> so much they couldn\u2019t be bothered to write anything<\/i> about it? Damn.\u201d If someone\u00a0talks\u00a0about disliking\u00a0my book, at least they\u2019re\u00a0bringing it into\u00a0the ongoing conversation. When you’re with a small publisher like I am, any kind of attention is better than none.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So when I beg for Amazon reviews and assure you that you can be honest, I\u2019m not lying. I won\u2019t know what you said, and even if I somehow find out, I won\u2019t hold it against you. All reviews\u2014yay, meh, or nay\u2014help boost Tidepool\u2019s<\/i> profile on Amazon and elsewhere.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you\u2019ve already left a review, thanks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if you didn\u2019t like the book. Really.<\/p>\n

PS: Something that helped me ground myself when I saw the first really bad reviews of Tidepool?<\/em>\u00a0Going to Goodreads and looking up reviews of the books I think are perfect, shining jewels I wish I’d written. No matter how great I think a book is, someone out there (usually multiple someones) hated it and eviscerated it in public. It really put things in perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some reason, the topic of bad reviews and appropriate responses is a contentious one on Twitter right now. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,61,4],"tags":[105,17,39,5,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1519"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1817,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions\/1817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}