Reviews - authors just have to deal.
When you are a newbie author and you send your first few babies out into the publishing world it is hard to let go of them. Will they be bullied? Will people love them unconditionally like you do?
And those first few book reviews, it doesn't matter if they are one star or five star, the author is going to agonise over every single world. Every. Single. Word.
We pick those reviews apart because, I'm sorry, but becoming an author doesn't come with a complimentary thick layer of skin. We are human, and who likes being critiqued? Even glowing reviews always seem to have a BUT in them.
I loved this tale but... I didn't like etc, etc, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I don't believe a writer should EVER contact a reviewer. Good. Bad. Indifferent. Stay the hell out of the equation is my motto.
I wrote a fairly glowing review of a newbie author a while ago and I was okay that they hit the like button on GR, what I wasn't okay with was they also commented on my review when I had no history or contact with the author previously. I felt... exposed somehow. I didn't like the feeling at all.
In every forum you will see authors/reviewers/bloggers state categorically that reviews are for readers, not authors. Yes. Absolutely. But like I said, authors are only human and we seem incapable of not looking.
The only thing that will help an author when it comes to being able handle reviews is time, and perhaps a heap more published books under their belt.
Because with time the author will finally get it:
- One person will slavishly love, love, love a book, whilst the next will hate it with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. Cos, that's life, and people have different ideas of what they find funny, romantic, interesting, annoying, frustrating, and irritating.
- What the author loves most about the characters, world or story they have created might just zip on by an oblivious reader without ever making any impact.
- People have unique and personal scoring systems. A three star review and a terse comment might be the equivalent of a glowing five star review from some readers.
- Likewise a glowing five star review may not hold much value when the reader only ever awards five star reviews because they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and they know how much time and energy go into creating a book. An A for effort, if you will. But really it is just a participation ribbon.
Once an author has several published books under their belt and an array of reviews for each of those books, you are so busy working on the next instalment, or new series, that you don't have time to dwell on reviews or give them much head space anymore.
You finally get it, people will love, hate or be indifferent to your work and there is not a damn thing you can do about it but put your head down and keep on writing.
Because in the end, we don't write for the reviews. We write because we have something to say, because we have to get a story on paper, because we need to feed the family or pay the bills. And reviews? Should never stop a writer from writing - but hopefully they will help a reader find stories that will resonate and they will love.
And those first few book reviews, it doesn't matter if they are one star or five star, the author is going to agonise over every single world. Every. Single. Word.
We pick those reviews apart because, I'm sorry, but becoming an author doesn't come with a complimentary thick layer of skin. We are human, and who likes being critiqued? Even glowing reviews always seem to have a BUT in them.
I loved this tale but... I didn't like etc, etc, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I don't believe a writer should EVER contact a reviewer. Good. Bad. Indifferent. Stay the hell out of the equation is my motto.
I wrote a fairly glowing review of a newbie author a while ago and I was okay that they hit the like button on GR, what I wasn't okay with was they also commented on my review when I had no history or contact with the author previously. I felt... exposed somehow. I didn't like the feeling at all.
In every forum you will see authors/reviewers/bloggers state categorically that reviews are for readers, not authors. Yes. Absolutely. But like I said, authors are only human and we seem incapable of not looking.
The only thing that will help an author when it comes to being able handle reviews is time, and perhaps a heap more published books under their belt.
Because with time the author will finally get it:
- One person will slavishly love, love, love a book, whilst the next will hate it with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. Cos, that's life, and people have different ideas of what they find funny, romantic, interesting, annoying, frustrating, and irritating.
- What the author loves most about the characters, world or story they have created might just zip on by an oblivious reader without ever making any impact.
- People have unique and personal scoring systems. A three star review and a terse comment might be the equivalent of a glowing five star review from some readers.
- Likewise a glowing five star review may not hold much value when the reader only ever awards five star reviews because they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and they know how much time and energy go into creating a book. An A for effort, if you will. But really it is just a participation ribbon.
Once an author has several published books under their belt and an array of reviews for each of those books, you are so busy working on the next instalment, or new series, that you don't have time to dwell on reviews or give them much head space anymore.
You finally get it, people will love, hate or be indifferent to your work and there is not a damn thing you can do about it but put your head down and keep on writing.
Because in the end, we don't write for the reviews. We write because we have something to say, because we have to get a story on paper, because we need to feed the family or pay the bills. And reviews? Should never stop a writer from writing - but hopefully they will help a reader find stories that will resonate and they will love.
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