The Dreaded One- and Two-Star Book Reviews

This is part of the Dissecting Reviews series, a component of my Indie How-To Index that’s meant to help authors learn from the reviews people leave on their novels. No, the Index is totally free. Have fun.

 

Low ratings. Ick, am I right?

One- and two-star reviews are a painful reality of publishing a book. Your novel might be your baby, but some people will think it’s a whiny child that smells like a sewer.

That’s okay.

Your confidence shouldn’t derive from your reviews. Really, it shouldn’t. You published a damn book. No matter how popular the indie revolution is, most people in the world will never, ever say that. Even more will never be able to say their published book is doing well. Many traditionally published authors can’t even say that. So—I’m going to repeat myself because it’s important—don’t let your confidence rest in your book’s average rating, whether it’s high or low. Especially if it’s low, you need to worry about improving, not how “mean” everyone is.

I know it’s easier said than done to not let a low rating or negative review affect your mood. I’m such a perfectionist that sometimes even 4-star reviews get me down. Which is stupid, by the way. Don’t follow that example. It’s something I’m working on improving, and it’s one of the main reasons I started this Dissecting Reviews series…to push through this personal weakness of mine and help other authors learn from my mistakes at the same time.

Back to business. One- and two-star reviews are usually left by readers who didn’t like your book for one reason or another. You can sometimes learn why they didn’t like it by reading these reviews, but most of the time it just boils down to one of a few possibilities.

 

Possibility #1: They’re Not Your Target Audience

For those of you who don’t know what a “target audience” is, your audience is the group of people you think will best like your book. Don’t you dare say, “everyone will like it.” That’s insane and it will drive you crazy.

If a reader isn’t in your target audience—that is, you don’t think they’ll like your book in the first place for one reason or another—it won’t do you much good to learn from their reviews. The simple fact of the matter is they don’t like the sort of stuff you like to write. So…why stop doing what you like in an effort to write something they want to read? That’s not writing. That’s impassionate and it will fail. A writer needs to be passionate about their novel or readers everywhere will lose interest in it—including the reader the writer was trying to impress in the first place.

You can tell if a reader is in your target audience by looking at the way they rate other books in your genre. If they don’t have any other books in your genre…well, I think that pretty much speaks for itself. However, if they usually give high ratings to books similar to yours, you should take a look at possibility #2 as to why you got a low rating from them.

 

Possibility #2: They Have a Point

There are exceptions to the “target audience” rule of thumb, of course, and here’s the biggest one: if you get mostly low ratings, there is probably a pretty solid reason. Have a look. Sometimes—hell, most of the time—it’s because you didn’t hire an editor and it shows either in spelling and grammatical errors or in sweeping plot holes and unrealistic characters. To fix this, hire an editor. Address the concerns. Do a re-release once you’ve read my indie index, done some other research, taken notes, and applied these changes to your book to make it polished and clean. Start over and do it right.

 

The Game Plan

Yes, you can learn from low ratings. As this Dissecting Reviews series proves, you can learn from negative reviews. Luckily most reviewers are amazing and will give incredible insight as to why they didn’t like the novel. They’ll be professional and give examples in their criticisms—that’s a real review.

However, even a helpful negative review isn’t always the strongest place to learn. They might not be in your target audience, remember? Take a look at their other reviews. How did they rate books in your genre? Consider their advice if they rated other books in your genre higher than they rated yours. Remember that a review is an opinion. They’re 100% entitled to write one, but you’re not obligated to take the advice.

There’s no rule of thumb for this kind of thing. Those in the one- and two-star categories aren’t always going to have a wealth of information for you just because the review has a low rating. In fact, it can actually be harmful to your self-confidence if you don’t approach it with thick skin and a strong mind.

Reviewers and Readers

Let me know what you think about this. What makes you write a 1- or 2-star review, and what do you put in it? Do you post low ratings in all the same places you post high ratings? I ask because I actually see a lot of reviewers save only the positive reviews for their blogs, but always rate all books on all other sites.

 

My fellow authors with thick skin

You can skip the rest of this section and jump down to the comments. You know what you’re doing. You know how to take criticism with an open mind and a grain of salt. Go kick ass or fight crime or something.

 

Authors who need to work on their thick skin

Try this: read through two low-rating reviews the first time. Two. That’s it. Don’t take notes. Just read. If you can get through these two without getting angry or resentful, go back and take notes on these two reviews. Jot down a bullet or two with areas in your writing you might be able to improve based on their comments. Consider their suggestions—it’s their opinion, remember—and stop. No more for today.

Sleep on it. See what you think about it in the morning. You can take their advice if you think it will actually help you. If you think their opinions stemmed from the fact that they aren’t in your target audience, you can move on—but be honest with yourself about it.

Be proud of yourself, especially if you were calm through the whole thing. Repeat on positive reviews, alternating every time between the high and low ratings. Increase the number of reviews you read as you go along.

Some authors suggest ending a negative review session with a glowing 5-star review. Sure, go ahead. Do it if you want. Just remember not to let your confidence stem from your reviews. If you truly did your best—if you put everything you have into producing the best work possible—you should always be proud of yourself, no matter what your average rating is.