Dealing With Bad Reviews: Advice For Authors
I love this article by Matthew Dunn. I particularly like how he reinforces the point that, as an author, you don’t have to “deal with” bad reviews and, in fact, shouldn’t. You should rise above the situation and, instead, realize some things about the reviewer himself. He points out, “The majority of people who couldn’t write a book are very successful in other ways – their jobs, family life, friendships, hobbies etc. They would never consider disparaging someone by writing a 1 star review. But abject failures want other people to fail [emphasis added].”
He’s right. They do. You wouldn’t believe–or maybe you would–the backlash when I published my first book. Especially from other would-be writers. Some people were passive aggressive; others were downright horrid. And by horrid, I mean, “you’re qualifying for your own Lifetime movie on the evils of cyberbullying” horrid. Which brings me to the best part of Dunn’s article, which I’m sharing here:
HATERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AROUND, BUT NOW THEY HAVE A VOICE.
That voice is the Internet. When Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the net so that we could stop doing annoying things like going for a healthy walk and talking to people face to face, it quickly became a voice for the masses. Unfortunately, as ever, a small percentage of the masses just plain and simple doesn’t like life. You’ll find their embittered ramblings in the comments sections under news stories, in nonsensical Tweets, and in Amazon reviews.
Before the arrival of the Internet, newspapers were pretty much the only place one could vent one’s opinion in print. But if one wrote a rambling, illiterate, vitriolic letter to the editor of The Times, hoping it would be posted in the newspaper’s “Letters Page”, the editor would simply tear it up because it was not worthy of being included in his prestigious, literate, and intelligent paper. The Internet, by comparison, has very few checks and balances and virtually no quality control.
So, if you get a review from a hater, just remember: he hates his life and, tragically, is probably going to kill himself soon.
His reference to suicide is, of course, tongue in cheek. Suicide is no laughing matter. Neither, of course, is the fact that we live in a world where people get their kicks out of bringing each other down. And yet we have to laugh, at some point, or the burden of knowledge–that this is what we’ve come to, collectively–can be simply too much.
Another piece of advice he offers is to never feed the trolls:
People who write bad reviews want you to bite by responding to their review. Why? So that they’ve got your attention, can – aged 40 – momentarily stop surfing the net for porn in their loft bedroom in their parents’ house, and can briefly gain an “Internet Friend”. An Internet Friend doesn’t have to be someone who likes the hater. “Like” has nothing to do with it. Instead, the hater is hoping to connect with someone, whether positively or negatively.
What do these haters hate the most? Silence and being ignored. It eats at them, makes them desperate, angry, and probably makes them want to throw themselves out of the loft window. Head first. Let them do that. It’s not against the law for you to do so.
This is worthwhile advice to remember, but hard advice to take. Extremely hard. Especially if you’re in the position, which many of us–including myself–find ourselves in, of knowing the person who chose to leave a bad review. For, naturally, unstated reasons of their own. Rare is the person who writes, “I’m leaving this hateful review because I’m a jilted superfan, who has a problem with the fact that you’re already married.” That would, ah, rather reduce their credibility. Rather, they tear your book apart in the hopes that this will hurt your book sales. Which isn’t really any different, if you think about it, than stealing someone’s toolbox or setting fire to their truck. You have an issue with them; you want to sabotage their livelihood.
And especially when you have a child to support, someone casually–or, indeed, with malice aforethought–trying to sabotage your livelihood is incredibly hard. Facing the fact that people who do not know you could bear you such ill will is incredibly hard. But you have to ignore it. Not because, as Dunn (correctly) suggests, it will hurt the hater but because doing anything else will hurt you.
At the end of the day, you can’t be responsible for others’ conduct. You can’t be responsible for how even well-intentioned readers who actually are strangers see your book, or whether they hate it, or what they decide to say about it. And you certainly can’t be responsible for the actions of people who’ve proven that things like the golden rule mean nothing to them. Someone who actually knows you, through whatever channels, who chooses to bite back at you in this way, is beyond your power to help. Trust me on this.
Pouring your energy into trying to fix other people is like pouring your energy into a black hole. The only result you’ll get is making yourself miserable–and, of course, draining valuable time and energy away from other, more worthwhile pursuits. Like writing your next book. Or, indeed, getting outside and enjoying some time with your family. The only person you can be responsible for is you; don’t let another person’s conduct, whatever their intentions, or your belief about their intentions, compromise your values.
Do negative reviews affect sales? I don’t know. I think so. But so do positive reviews. Focus your energy on believing in yourself, and in believing in the quality of your product. And on writing your next book. Haters–of all stripes–will hate, but I do honestly believe that cream rises. In the end, regardless of what people say, or whether everyone understands your vision, quality will out. Remember the ugly duckling? When you read those negative reviews, remind yourself: these ducks think my duckling is ugly, because it’s a swan.
