Bad Reviews are Good!

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When you ask for reviews from friends you know what they're going to do, they're going to give you 5 stars and tell you that it was the best thing that they have ever read, when in actual fact there are going to be negative aspects as well. Also, everyone has a different opinion, some people might hate your ending and others might love it!

I was talking with a friend the other night and she said that she didn't think authors should read bad reviews of their work because there's more of a chance that the author will reply to the comment and that's bad author-etiquette, especially when the reviewer is just being negative and making nasty comments about the author. THAT kind of negative review is just plain negative and is there to evoke a response.

There are a lot of readers who will give valid reasons as to why they hated your book, and let's face it right here and right now, not everyone is going to love it, and NEVER try to make everyone love it. When someone gives a bad review, they feel that they have to say why the thought it was bad, so they highlight the worst parts, or what made the book bad, these are the things that you should look for, and if more than one review says those things... then Houston, we gots ourselves a problem.



People might be reading your work and saying that they love it, but there will always be people who hate your work, NOT YOU, your work! So don't take it personally when someone says that the plot was sloppy here, here and here, or how the character lacked development.




I do know that some people will not revise their work once it's published because they want each and every reader to have read the same thing and discuss the same book, as a single revision could change that, a single revision could create a whole new book. AND you should stick to that, don't go making changes for every bad review that you get, only if it's something major, and all of the bad reviews keep on mentioning it, then you know you're doing something wrong.




If you ignore it, it doesn't go away.

Just like constant promotion; IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER, and IT'S STILL ANNOYING!




And also, if you're not getting any bad reviews, then you're doing something wrong! YES. Something wrong. Or maybe you're just not successful enough, when people find success, they also find haters (people who hate a person for one reason or another) and once you've got to that stage, then YAY, you've done well.


Have you ever revised your book based on a bad review?

Have you ever read a book based on a bad review?

-Joseph


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