Responding to Reviews and Comments
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
One of the most awkward things about being a writer is handling reviews and reader comments.
The rule of thumb is to never reply or comment on reviews: good, bad, or indifferent. In many cases, this is my own personal policy (I list exceptions below). Reviews are for other potential readers, not usually intended for the author. Responding to reviews is a special kind of author intrusion. And authors, especially responding to a poor review, can come across as argumentative.
But a recent post by Crystal Otto on the Women on Writing blog made me reconsider my policy, at least in terms of book bloggers.
In the post, she states: “Feedback is so important. The best way to say thank you to an author is to leave a review. As authors we can encourage this behavior by in-turn thanking the reviewer. I often receive a thank you or a ‘like’ on Amazon after reviewing a book or product. Do you make this a common practice in your writing life?” (Emphasis hers.)
She wrote a thoughtful post with many good points. I try to practice gratitude both professionally and personally, but her article was an excellent reminder.
Customer Reviews on Retail Sites
My policy for customer reviews on retail sites is usually to leave them completely alone unless the reviewer is asking for a comment from me (in which case I carefully consider my options).
I collect especially-day-brightening reviews in my Evernote folder for tough writing days. And I learn from the critical ones.
Book Blogger Reviews
In the past, if I’ve had a book blogger ping me online about a review they’d written, I’d thank them on social media and share it on my Facebook page.
If I wasn’t pinged, I usually a) didn’t know about it (unfortunately, Google alerts pick up a lot on me because I’m active on Twitter and I don’t have time to comb through it all) or b) didn’t feel comfortable responding if I did happen across it. Again, I feel as if blog reviews are from book bloggers to readers and not to me. But I’d share the post on social media and thank the reviewer (just not on their blog).
Crystal Otto’s post is making me reconsider this policy, though. If I leave a comment, I’ll keep it to a standard “thanks so much for reading and reviewing my book,” whether it’s a good review or a bad one.
Reader Comments on Reading Platforms Like Wattpad
Sometimes the comments in Wattpad are almost like marginalia…they seem intended for the reader by the reader. They’re personal notes.
Sometimes the comments seem directed to other readers.
But the comments that are directed to me, I always respond to: Wattpad is an interactive writing and reading community.
Comments on Social Media
Goodreads: Unless it’s an Ask the Author, I leave it completely alone. This is not a community that handles author intrusion well.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. : These are the places to be chatty with readers. Just very carefully chatty. It’s easy for comments to be misunderstood online, even with the use of emojis. And things we write online are forever. I frequently ask myself if a comment is something I’d be happy with my future grandchildren or great-grandchildren reading. Because it’s there for the long haul.
Emails
The only time I’m 100% comfortable responding to readers is through email. I’ve carefully responded to readers who have written me to both criticize and praise my writing (sometimes in the same email). I’ve given estimates as to when I should finish my next book (and remind them it’s easy to sign up for Amazon’s author updates and/or my newsletter for future updates).
For me, this has been the safest approach to handling reviews and reader comments. But I’m curious to hear from you. How do you handle reviews and comments on retailers, book blogs, and social media?
Responding to reviews, comments, and more:
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