If You Don’t Like My Book, Please Tell Me Why

Face it, we all like praise and accolades. When someone says, “You look good in that outfit,” or I really enjoyed your book,” it makes your day. As much as we want everyone to praise our work, writers know that rejection and negative comments accompany the process.
Publishing is not for the faint-hearted. Most of what you submit will be rejected, but after awhile, one learns not to take it personally. You can’t please everyone.
The best rejection letters offer praise, and specific comments for revision. Whether or not I agree with the editor or agent, this type of rejection is a conversation between two people. The same could be said of a review.
Back in the Dark Ages of publishing book reviewers wrote specific comments on why a book did or did not work. While some reviewers could be just plain snarky, for the most part a reviewer quoted lines from the text, summarized key points, and offered either praise, criticism, or sometimes a combination of both. The writer knew where he she stood with the critic.
Enter Amazon and Goodreads, where anyone, whether he or she has read the work or not, can click on a series of stars between 1 and 5, (1 meaning-hated it, and 5 meaning-loved it). and the assessment ends there. No reasons are given, just a star.
The other day I received a 2 star click on my novel. It wasn’t the dislike on my book that bothered me; I expect not everyone will like my book. Some readers hate first person, others detest present tense. I expect some will find the poetry and other literary references tedious. Others might object to the location or the characters’ names. The reasons for a reader’s objections are infinite. But just to click one or two stars tells other potential readers next to nothing.
First off, what do we know of this anonymous ‘reader?’  Were they bothered by the cover or the title? I had recently had a giveaway of three books. Was Mr. or Ms Two Star a sore loser who didn’t win a free copy? Or did this person receive an e Galley that didn’t download properly? I’ve seen 1 star reviews given on Amazon because the person received the wrong book. In what way is it the author’s fault Amazon shipped the incorrect item?
An effective review is a form of argument. It’s a discourse between reader and writer. But just saying “because I didn’t like it,’ is not an argument. It’s an empty opinion that falls alongside the phrase, “because I said so.” It’s one sided, and ultimately, unfair.
Writing a book, even a bad one, is hard. Constructing a book length project is like assembling a 5000 piece puzzle. If the puzzle is askew or missing pieces, editors will often catch that. Yet editors are also working on a number of projects, so ultimately the writer has to be certain all the periods and commas are there, the plot makes sense, and the chapters fall in the right order.
Each time a writer publishes a poem, essay, story or novel, he or she leaves themselves open to criticism. Feedback offers the poet and writer room for improvement, unless it’s so vicious the writer wants to go all Dexter on the critic’s ass. I’m too squeamish to slice my detractors to ribbons, though, but I do want a dialogue. So here’s what I have to say to you, Mr. or Ms. Two Star: talk to me.

Happy Writing.