Show Me Received Its First Negative Review

Happy Monday, Soul Questers!

I originally had plans to write a different post for this week, but when I was checking my Amazon Reviews this morning, I learned that I received my first 1-star review for Show Me and I wanted to address my feelings on it.

Every author receives negative reviews–it’s going to happen. Honesty, I was waiting for one to pop up because I know that my book isn’t for everyone and that’s OK.

I will admit, I did not expect the lengthy review from the reader who gave her very honest opinions on what bothered her about the book.

I’ve said this before–I appreciate the honesty from my readers. I just texted my best friend/critique partner this week to ask her ‘What do you honestly think needs to be fixed in book 2 to help my writing develop?’ And she was very honest, but in a nice way in the obvious issues that needed to be addressed.

I respect that my book is not for everyone–heck, Harry Potter has 86K 1-Star Reviews on Goodreads!

Funny enough, many of the issues were the same issues I had talked with her about–Kade’s character needing to be further developed and the magic is confusing. This makes my life easier because I knew about my problems with the book and already had plans to fix them. I spent this week working on an eight-page portfolio for Kade’s character to help me get to know him better.

Reading this review did hurt a little because when you spend hours working on your novel, only to see that someone has spent their time dissecting all the problems with the story, it feels like a piece of you has been ripped from your body.

But this reviewer did not attack me in any way and didn’t even hate on the book at all. She was just honest.

I’ll say what I said to my mom–I have to write a bad book before I can write a good book. I’m still growing as a writer and there are going to be issues with my writing. Besides, my book is not going to be for everyone–I’ve had my fair share of books I didn’t enjoy myself.

So thank you to whoever gave me a nice long review with your honest thoughts on my book. It may sound weird to hear that from the author, but as I’ve already said, negative reviews will help impact my future books. If you’ve read my book, and you had issues with it–please be honest. It will help me grow as an author.

So that’s how I feel about my book baby’s first one-star review.

Have you ever received negative reviews for your book? How do you feel about it? Please tell me in the comments below! I’d love to chat with you.

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