Why you shouldn’t sweat “hurtful” reviews
People will sometimes get REALLY upset with an author for non-literary reasons — i.e. their politics or their point of view on some issue of fandom. Those folks will sometimes leave negative reviews to try to “hurt” the author.
Of course, reading a book and simply not liking it, even having a strong negative reaction to it, is totally fair. Makes sense you wouldn’t risk your time on another work by the same person. I’m talking here about someone who hasn’t read the author’s books — probably hasn’t read any book, at least in a while — nevertheless leaving an angry review, typically with LOTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS!!!! with the idea that other people will see it and decide not to buy, and then the author will be really sorry.
This almost always backfires because of the psychology of product reviews. Research shows that people tend not to choose a product because of the positive reviews. Positive reviews may help make the case, but people choose the product based on popularity and features. (More on that below.) After identifying a product they think they might like, they look to the negative reviews to talk them out of it, to make the contrary case. If the negative reviews don’t do that, there’s a good chance that person will buy the book or toaster or whatever — as long as they don’t find a different product that seems a better fit to their perceived needs.
Unlike with toasters or computers, which have more objective criteria, enjoyment of fiction is subjective, and I think readers understand that intuitively. If a book has no negative reviews, something seems “off,” as if the book has been reviewed only by the author’s friends and family. This is why I tell authors not to sweat a bad review or two and why I tell readers to be honest. If one of my books was a two- or three-star story to you, say that. You aren’t going to hurt my feelings. (You’re not individually that important!)
If a potential reader looks at the negative reviews and what they find is some moron TYPING IN ALL CAPS, they pretty much just roll their eyes. Because of the way people use product reviews, over-the-top angry ones actually help the author make a sale by failing to talk a potential reader out of it — by suggesting the positive reviews have more merit since the negative ones were clearly written by cretins. If you really want to “hurt” an author, you actually have to read their book(s) and spend time writing thoughtful critical reviews — i.e. give potential readers something of genuine value that aids the decision not to buy. But that of course takes time. And intelligence.
Even then, they will run up against the issue of popularity. Research also shows that the total number of reviews matters more than aggregate star rating. I’ve said it before many times. I will say it again. Above a certain floor, total number of reviews matters more than the star rating. A 3.5-star book with 1,500 reviews is more likely to be purchased than a 4.5-star book with 150 reviews. This is because people understand enjoyment is subjective and they are generally risk averse (even though they will all claim to be open-minded and experimental). It’s the McDonald’s effect. Readers will opt for the surer thing, even where there’s a high chance the book is merely decent but not amazing.
Popularity always trumps quality because quality is subjective and people feel they have a high chance of enjoying a book that lots of other people have already enjoyed, versus taking a risk on a book that relatively few people have. It’s why in every generation there are a handful of mega-rich authors whose every work is a best-seller and an ocean of undiscovered ones. It’s just how readers are, how we ALL are.
In that regard, adding another review, even a critical or angry one, is always somewhat positive — which is another reason not to fret about what you say in a review or to feel like you have to inflate your star rating because you’re friends with the author. Provided a book has a critical mass (about 30, but of course more is always better), any additional review is helpful in that the counter goes up by one.
In other words, the same effect that makes it so difficult for authors to break in also has a buffering effect that makes it equally hard to “eject” us from the market altogether. So to my fellow authors I say, don’t sweat those assholes. Really. They can’t hurt you.
