Horror Aficionados discussion
Authors, What Do You Feel When You Read Negative Reviews of Your Books?
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Jon Recluse
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Apr 08, 2013 09:53AM
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Well said, Bark. I've enjoyed your honest reviews over the years for books you loved and loathed. Since you mentioned it, I just went to Amazon and saw over a dozen 5-star reviews for a book that I thought was an average read at best.
I don't like when I get something wrong in my review, and will correct that if someone mentions it.
Me too Jon. People will hate on everything. Which is why I am skeptical about books with only 5 star reviews.
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Thanks Tressa, I'm fond of your reviews too. Honesty always wins for me and your reviews always read like your true opinion to me. I've made mistakes in my reviews because my memory is so lame and have fixed things after a re-read or when a reader has pointed it out. It happens to all of us but it always feels uncomfortable when it's the author who does it. I see authors do this here on a lot of reviews and oftentimes they come across as superior and offended. I know this is going to sound unfair but I'd rather them leave it alone and have a reader point it out if it's that noticeable of an error (and believe me they will!) because it can be a bit of a turn-off at least for me. I don't believe in doing those "never" "douche-bag" or whatever shelves because I'm too lazy to be bothered but I do keep one in my head.
I do understand why authors do this. I suppose if I were an author first and not an opinionated reader I might have the urge to point stuff out too and call everyone a mean dumb-ass. I'd have to ban myself from the internet.
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I don't like spoilers.
It worked for me. That's it.
Although, I try to use exciting words, since most ebooks have lousy blurbs and synopsis' lately
Thanks, Bark.I have such a love/hate relationship with the Internet. I love sharing my reading with fellow readers and discussing books, but sometimes I miss the time before when it was just me and a book and I didn't get reamed for missing a detail or turning cartwheels over a book or hating a book or, say, thinking Lincoln is one of the greatest presidents!
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Tressa wrote: "I have such a love/hate relationship with the Internet. I love sharing my reading with fellow readers and discussing books, but sometimes I miss the time before when it was just me a..."Yeah, that's why sometimes I have to tune out for my own sanity. People will jump down your throat for the silliest of reasons.
Jon Recluse wrote: "Being right?"Huh? How can an opinion be wrong? Or am I missing the sarcasm?
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Huh? How can an opinion be wrong? Or am I missing the sarcasm?"
Sarcasm, this is Bark.
Bark, this is Sarcasm.
;)
This internet thing. It so easily confuses me.
There are an awful lot of writers out there (particularly in the current tsunami of the self-published) confusing individual preferences for a quality check. Poorly-crafted work is going to get reamed, and deservedly so. But sometimes it just comes down to personal taste.More authors should take a cue from Dr. Frank In Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show who, when Janet said about Rocky with a nervous giggle, "I don't like men with too many muscles", replied, "I didn't - make him - for YOU!".
Or as the troubador once sang, "Can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself."
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A musical masturbator?
Jon wrote: What's a troubator?A musical masturbator?
Had just corrected my misspelling, but you posted while I was making the edit. (For the confused, Jon caught my typo of 'troubator', instead of the proper 'troubador', just prior to my correction. Ah well...)
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A musical masturbator?
Had just corrected my misspelling, but you posted while I was making the edit. (For the confused, Jon caught my typo of 'troubator', instead ..."
What's a troubadour?
Damn, misspelled it again. Should have been 'troubadour', not 'troubador'. Jesus Christ... See, this just proves how important a good copy editor is.
For those who can spell, according to Merriam-Webster online:
Troubadour:
1: one of a class of lyric poets and poet-musicians often of knightly rank who flourished from the 11th to the end of the 13th century chiefly in the south of France and the north of Italy and whose major theme was courtly love — compare trouvère
2: a singer especially of folk songs
I've grown way too dependent on my iPad catching my typos. :P
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Troubadour:
1: one of a class of lyric poets and poet-musicians often of knightly rank who flourished from the 11th to the end of the 13th century chief..."
Oh, a hippy.
Why didn't you say so?
You can spell hippy....
Thank you for your misplaced faith in my orthographic skills.
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I have a soft spot for geezers.
*BIG HUG*
Thank you (said the geezer).Now someone tell those damned kids to get the hell off my lawn.
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Now someone tell those damned kids to get the hell off my lawn."
Those are your lawn gnomes, Walter....
I used to get really worked up about bad reviews. Then I went to the reviews of three books I love and read their one star reviews.Now I take review a lot less seriously.
Knew I shouldn't have bought these glasses from the discount bin at Goodwill.
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Try Dollar Tree.
They have all the hip, Elton John frames!
What josh said. It's so true.And I think troubator fits your quote better Walter :)
We can all be happy we have better things to do with our time than hang out on Amazon to vote up, or down, reviews that (in the end) don't really matter. Now what's all this about troubadours and lawn gnomes...
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Basically, folk singers are really annoying and the lawn gnomes are up to something.
Keep watching your lawns!
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BarkLessWagMore wrote: What josh said. It's so true.And I think troubator fits your quote better Walter :)
Bark, I was trying to figure out why your name sounded so familiar, and I just remembered. We had both posted in an Amazon Reviewer's forum thread on authors and reviews. Deja vu.
We actually got a review on an audiobook (one star) that said "my daughter doesn't really like audiobooks so I bought a print copy" - one star - the entire review (lol)
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I love on Amazon how a reviewer will give an item one star because it got there late. WTF? Too stupid to live, if you ask me.
What about the 1 star reviews because the reviewer wants the book in ebook form and it isn't? I see those all the time. Lol.
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LOL. I've seen all those asinine reasons for low ratings. There's no way I could write something and put it out there for the world to see and criticise.
We reprint a lot of backlist titles in eBook formats. We had one that got a review carried over from the old used paperback that claimed it "smelled of cigarette smoke" and was the top review showing on the Kindle edition (lol)
Unless the book is just inked in awesomeness, I tend to write sarcastic reviews and if it's a new author I will pick it apart. Can't help it. (just like Jon can't let a misspelled word go *wink*) It's who I am. I'm not writing to the author though. Like I'm that important. No. It's like I'm writing to a friend. You don't tell a lady, to her face, that those jeans make her look fat, you tell your friends :)
Yeah, but it's more like you tell your friends the lady's jeans make her look fat and it shows up on a bulletin board right next to her where she can see it. Sort of a mixed bag ... I admit, I just went and searched your books to see if you'd read / reviewed any of mine, and to see how my jeans fit...
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The good thing about me, is that I'm honest. Whatever I say behind a persons back, whether it be wide or small, I can also say to their face. Not in a confrontational way. Just in a "I said what I said and meant it" type of way~
Lol. You'd get plenty of horror and no promotion with that. Jeans I can usually pull off...the swimsuit is for a younger generation. I don't even like to WRITE about swimsuits any longer, out of regret...
Nikki, that's how I feel I write my reviews, but then I feel a little guilty if I've been too flippant. Thus the reason I created this thread.
I always read any review with a certain amount of trepidation. So far all actual reviews have been constructive and positive.The only type of "review" that does irk me (and I've had one) is a one star rating with no comment at all. I'd prefer it if someone really didn't like a story that much then they'd at least give an idea as to why.
But hey-ho, everyone's different. I just appreciate it when people do put down what they thought, even if it's just a couple of sentences.
Cheers
David
Tressa wrote: "Nikki, that's how I feel I write my reviews, but then I feel a little guilty if I've been too flippant. Thus the reason I created this thread."The only time I feel guilty (I do have a soul) is when I've chatted or associated with the author~
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