Authors, What Do You Feel When You Read Negative Reviews of Your Books?

[Teresa]

Hey Rebecca it worked for hemingway! lol

[Rebecca]

Ha! Some of my best passages are ones that I don't remember writing at all. (You know, because it was late...or something.)

[Teresa]

yeah rebecca late and tired ..thats it! lol

[Walter]

Tressa wrote: I've been burned before on a book by believing the blurbs on the back cover from famous authors. Wonder if they're getting compensated in some way?

I think it varies. Publishers will send books to their authors for blurb purposes. Some authors will read these books and contribute an honest blurb. Some will read the book and say "Um, no thanks." Others will give the book a blurb (whether they've read it or not) for any number of reasons. They may want a favor from their publisher, or owe one to the publisher. From what little I know, I don't think it's a straightforward 'cash for services' exchange; at least, not usually.

And then there are those who communicate with us beyond the grave, as Jon pointed out. :)

[Tressa]

I rarely pick a book just on some author's blurb recommendation. I have in the past for King, but years ago stopped depending on even his blurb recommendations because I'd read the book and wonder why he liked it so much.

[Walter]

Phebe wrote:
I have long assumed it's how famous authors fend off envy, by being generous.

I agree, Phebe. I also think that there are authors out there who contribute blurbs as their way of paying forward, writers who are grateful for their own success and want to give a newcomer a helping hand (whether he or she truly deserves it or no). It's not always about 'What do *I* get out of it?'. Or so I'd like to think. :)

[Phebe]

Walter wrote: "Phebe wrote:
I have long assumed it's how famous authors fend off envy, by being generous.

I agree, Phebe. I also think that there are authors out there who contribute blurbs as their way of paying forward..."


Thanks, Walter, for your reply -- it can't hurt, being nice and being liked, you know? It just doesn't hurt anyone in the public eye. I can remember when King started and he ramped up sales so fast and furiously that the air was full of jealous comments about how he wasn't a "real" writer, wasn't any good, just genre, etc., etc. And he has long written biographically about being much saddened and upset by all that.

Now he's a grand old man of letters and many people (incl. me) think he's the Dickens and Twain of our time. Being generally nice and scattering flowers every direction toward other writers cannot have done him anything but good.

[David P]

I'm a big proponent of cross-promotions. I tweet and post other authors' books and promos. I also started ApocaCon last year to promote apocalyptic fiction as its own genre. My latest project is an anthology titled "Outbreak, Visions of the Apocalypse." It features excerpts from twenty books showing different versions of how a zombie apocalypse might start. Each excerpt ends with a link to buy that book. The anthology will be free wherever possible (99 cents on Amazon until price match) and any proceeds go to charity.

The reason I mention it here is that many well known authors in the anthology (such as Hugh Howey, Rhiannon Frater, Shawn Chesser and John Campbell, etc.) are doing it to help lesser known writers get noticed. I hope it will be a good example of how authors can come together to promote each other and their genre.

[Tressa]

David wrote: "My latest project is an anthology titled "Outbreak, Visions of the Apocalypse." ..."

Thank you so much for not using the word "ENtitled"!

[Brett]

I prefer the honesty. I'd never change what I write because of a review (unless it was a technical error). I feel bad that I let the reader down, and it encourages me to try harder next time. I don't kid myself that I will ever make EVERYONE happy, but I do like the inspiration to try.

[Walter]

David wrote: I hope it will be a good example of how authors can come together to promote each other and their genre.

We could use more of that sort of thing. Occasionally I get the feeling that some writers think readers are supposed to spend one week reading the writer's book and the other fifty-one weeks out of the year discussing it with all and sundry. :)

[Phebe]

David wrote: "I also started ApocaCon last year to promote apocalyptic fiction as its own genre. My latest project is an anthology titled "Outbreak, Visions of the Apocalypse." It features excerpts from twenty books showing different versions of how a zombie apocalypse might start."

Huh!! That's quite an original idea! I'd buy that. Let people know when it comes out. I love apocalyptic fiction. Some favorite beginnings of the ends of the world: The soldier and his family of The Stand fleeing the dire disease in the biowarfare compound in California just efore the doors slam shut-- the real moment, though, is when their car hits the gas pumps in nowheresville and the character soon to be a main character flips the pump switches just before impact; Dies the Fire when all the airplanes fall out of the sky; Nantucket, same author, S.M. Sterling, when a dome of light covers the island and it departs for 1200 years before; the French novel Malevil when the little group are bottling wine deep in the chateau cellar, when The Bomb goes off in the outside world.

Zombies are such a great symbol for the mob rule of the Arab Spring and French Revolution Terror and so on and on. I guess it's what we're really afraid of now, the riots of uncontrolled mass movements of way too many people.

[Rick]

Outside of typos, grammar, or formatting errors, I look for trends in my reviews, especially the negative ones. For example: one person hating the characterization is probably just a difference in opinion. Multiple people thinking the characters are wooden is probably a warning sign and something to be looked at.

[David P]

Walter wrote: "David wrote: I hope it will be a good example of how authors can come together to promote each other and their genre.

We could use more of that sort of thing. Occasionally I get the feeling that s..."

My sentiments exactly. I am not jealous of my readers. I know I can never write enough to keep them occupied. :) In fact, two other new authors have asked and received my permission to write spin-off books in my Sovereign Spirit Saga "universe." After seeing samples of their writing and outlines of what they had in mind, I was happy to give my blessing. After all, each of their books will refer to mine and should help promote my own work. I will also introduce them to my little fan base, both to help them launch their own books, and hopefully satisfy some of the readers who keep bugging me to release more books in my series. LOL ;-)

[Brett]

Rick wrote: "Outside of typos, grammar, or formatting errors, I look for trends in my reviews, especially the negative ones. For example: one person hating the characterization is probably just a difference in ..."

I find reviews to be wildly inconsistent.

[Gregor]

Brett wrote: "I find reviews to be wildly inconsistent. "

They certainly are. They don't factor in a whole lot into my buying decision. The basic premise of the book is usually what hooks me.

Level of Influence on a Product Page:

Book Cover: 10%
Premise: 50%
Sample: 35%
Reviews: 5%

[David P]

Phebe wrote: "...French novel Malevil... "

That's the only one you mention that I have not read. Sounds good though. Thanks, Phebe. I will let you know when the anthology comes out too. Permuted Press picked it up, so it should get some hype when it does. :)

[[deleted user]]

I probably shouldn't admit this, but book cover is very very important to me. I know... don't judge a book by its cover and all that. But I do. If the cover is bad I probably won't get it. But if it doesn't sound good, I definitely won't buy it.
Mine would probably go like this:

Premise: 65%
Book Cover: 30%
Reviews: 5%
Sample: 0% (I never sample books)

[Gregor]

The book cover might get me to the page, but it's not a huge part of why I'd actually press the buy button.

[Brett]

Yep. Book covers have gotten me to buy more books than just about anything. I mean, it has to be a book cover depicting a premise I like, but once you got that...

[Walter]

Gregor wrote: Level of Influence on a Product Page:

Book Cover: 10%
Premise: 50%
Sample: 35%
Reviews: 5%

For anyone not aware of it, Goodreads does allow the posting of samples. I did it for House of Shadows. It will also allow you to post an entire book if you so choose. If you only want to post an excerpt, you'll have to upload the entire manuscript (in ePub format, IIRC), then check the appropriate boxes and enter what percentage of the book you want to make available.

Once you've done this, the excerpt will be accessible under the cover image on the book's Goodreads product page via a button that says, 'Read Book'.

There's a download counter, but it may only work for downloads of whole manuscripts.

[David P]

My son created my covers. I like them and think they reflect the "premise" of the series. They also look great in the 6" x 9" paperback format too -- as if they were leather bound. :)

[Rick]

Brett wrote: "Rick wrote: "Outside of typos, grammar, or formatting errors, I look for trends in my reviews, especially the negative ones. For example: one person hating the characterization is probably just a d..."

Reviews are, but I've found that themes tend not to be (at least for true problem areas). Once again, it's looking for items which are being mentioned by multiple people. For example, say in a murder mystery, multiple people finding it difficult to believe the murderer could have gotten from point A to point B in the time they did.

Likewise when I'm shopping. A year or so back I was looking for a new TV. Samsung models had good reviews, but nearly all the negative reviews mentioned the exact same issue. That raised a warning flag for me.

[Brett]

I actually did a post on this for my blog.

http://brettjtalley.com/2012/08/17/th...

For those who don't want to read it, here's the highlight--four reviews of my book, The Void, that are completely at odds. I particularly enjoy the use of hands down in the last two.

Review #1

The characters are well-developed, complex, easy to identify with, and drive the plot admirably. (I appreciated the strong but still-human female captain in a sci-fi/horror thriller written with a depth far greater than usual … and enjoyed slowly uncovering the characters’ respective demons.)

Review #2

His characters parade by in a nameless, faceless row all in the same voice.

Review #3

The Void is one of the best horror novels that I’ve read this year, hands down. It is a vast improvement on That Which Should Not Be and firmly establishes Brett Talley as an author to watch out for in the future.

Review #4

The Void is hands down one of the most disappointing follow up novels I’ve read in a long time. That Which Should Not Be had great monsters, good and evil, and all the other dark, sinister elements Lovecraft was famous for in his day. The Void has none of that.

[Gregor]

Brett, none of those reviews would have had any impact on me as a buyer. They are just too vague.

[Brett]

In fairness, Gregor, they are just parts of reviews. I just thought it was funny the way that clash. As I said in my post, I always want to learn from reviews, but sometimes it is difficult. As Rick said, looking for themes helps, but not always.

[Gregor]

Oh, OK. I got it. There are some pet peevish kinds of things that if I see in multiple reviews that might turn me off from buying a book. An example might be, "Man, this guy makes up his own punctuation rules, as if the rules we already have just aren't good enough." Another example, "The whole story is told through diary entries, letters, e-mails and text messages."

[Michael]

Brett - Thanks for that post. The reviews made me laugh. I think it's good to find themes, but sometimes it's just personal taste and there's no accounting for that.

[David P]

Brett wrote: "I actually did a post on this for my blog.

http://brettjtalley.com/2012/08/17/th...

For those who don't want to read it, here's the highlight--four reviews of my..."

I have the same range of reviews on my characters. Some say "great character development" and others say the "characters are one dimensional" etc... One says, "Can't think of a single main character that I didn't like," while another says, "I couldn't identify with any of the characters."

My editor actually said she HATED my lead character, but went on to give the book 4 stars (a year before I asked her to edit it for me). LOL. Her honest, if slightly "negative review", was actually one of my favorite reviews and made me tag her as the editor I wanted to use when the trilogy was completed. I'll share it here and hope you get a kick out of it too:

"I do not like Scott Allen, the main character. I think I am SUPPOSED to like him, being that he is all prepared and rich and perfect and knows everything and does everything right and always makes the right decisions and can save the whole entire world and smile while doing it. I, however, think he is insufferably arrogant. I don't think he is supposed to come across that way, but he does. That's not to say he is a bad guy - he's not, and his intentions are good...it's just that I hate him.

He has E V E R Y T H I N G and it's all his and any single solitary thing a community, even a floating one, could possibly ever need to survive the zombpocalypse, well Scott has it. He's willing to share, of course, even with strangers, but it's HIS stuff and he doles it out in an insufferably arrogant way....like his personality. Insufferably arrogant. And even, at a point, high ranking Marine and Coast Guard officers are put under SCOTT'S CIVILIAN command (not believable at all) in the middle of a WORLD APOCALYPSE (even less believable).

But enough about Scott who I may have mentioned that I hate.

The rest of the book is outstanding. Great story, plot, arc, characters, situation, and I have already decided that I am going to purchase and retrofit my very own cruise ship to live on NOW so that when the zombpocalypse comes, I'm already set."

After reading that I knew that Felicia A Sullivan was the editor I wanted. She did strive to make "Scott" more likeable in the edited edition and I am very pleased with the end result. :-)

PS: I guess the moral of that story is that what might look like a "negative" review can actually be a hidden gem. I also have some three star reviews that say they really liked the book, but deducted a star for editing issues (but that was before I hired Felicia) ;)

[Phebe]

Gregor wrote: ""The whole story is told through diary entries, letters, e-mails and text messages."

Whoa! That would be a big advertisement for me. I love epistolary novels.I like the creativity of thinking up new ways to communicate by written word, more than we used to have. Now epistolary novels can include emails, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, refrigerator magnet notes, ads, notes pasted onto a door, everything EXCEPT formal letters: we don't do those anymore.

[Mark]

I was a food critic but it didn't last long. My first review of a restaurant was, "The food is terrible. And the portions are too small." I was fired.

(Okay, that's really from Annie Hall)

[Feliks]

I feel like I want to...POISON A MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY!!!

--every lame, hack, 'e-book author' out there

[David P]

Belly wrote: "Feliks wrote: "I feel like I want to...POISON A MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY!!!

--every lame, hack, 'e-book author' out there"

A lot of writers are sneaky ninjas, I know. But it's not like they're a real threat..."

So true! We are easy to ignore. :)

[David P]

My latest review on Goodreads shows how a good review can also be viewed as "negative" if the author has a thin skin:

"Jul 14, 2013 Netanella rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: zombies
3 1/2 stars rounded up to four cause that's how rounding works...

As the Sovereign Spirit kept gaining new passengers from rescue missions, the little female part of my brain kept asking, "who the hell is going to do all those dishes?" We're serving food three times a day and the sushi bar opens at 4 pm. :) I had a messy roommate once who left pieces of himself behind like Pigpen. I can imagine a boatload of these people. But I digress.

I really enjoyed this book - a manly man's take on the zombie apocalypse that takes the saying "he who dies with the most toys wins", er...the guy with the most toys survives the zombie apocalypse. And this book is a toy lover's wet dream - a lottery winner outfits a luxury boat with every possible upgraded vehicle known to man, and then some. Weaponry, too. 007's Q is probably in the back somewhere, creating new devices of destruction for the Marines to use.

This was a really cool book, but I got bored with Commodore Scott after a while. He seemed a little too flat, too honorable, too meh. He probably doesn't even fart. Now Carl, our engineer hero who turns the vehicles at the oil refinery into zombie-death-dealing vehicles a la Road Warrior - him I truly enjoyed.

Overall this is a good read, and recommended. (less)"

:) Not sure if that is from the edited version or not. LOL. But I will take 4 stars and criticism any day.

[Michael]

David wrote: "My latest review on Goodreads shows how a good review can also be viewed as "negative" if the author has a thin skin:

"Jul 14, 2013 Netanella rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: zombies
3 1/2 stars rou..."

This is a solid review. On negative reviews - Here's a one star for mine on Amazon. It's provided me with the most entertainment of all my reviews so far (although the slight spoilers annoyed me a bit):

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful! Depressing, and too much detailed torture., 27 Jun 2013
By skycat - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: Crash (Book One) (Kindle Edition)
This isn't a story about survival, rather, a story about not surviving. I can only assume that the author suffers from depression. Why would anyone want to wallow in such complete bleak and horrific scenarios I can't imagine. There is no glimmer of hope at all.

I read to enjoy myself, not necessarily to escape, but even in real life nearly every situation has some redeeming light. Here we have nothing but despair, violence,(graphically portrayed to a hideous extreme) and for what? What purpose is served by such misery?

Maybe some people actually enjoy reading about how a child and a dog are crushed to death in minute detail. To me this seems bordering on the perverse and sick-minded. Read at your peril!
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* This review has really helped me find my audience more and I've sold more books as a result *

[David P]

Michael wrote: "David wrote: "My latest review on Goodreads shows how a good review can also be viewed as "negative" if the author has a thin skin"

Wow, Michael, your reader is clearly sampling the wrong genre. On the other hand, I wrote my books with a slightly different perspective in mind. Yes, my books describe bloody and gruesome death (and undeath), but I wanted to set my main characters in a better spot than a farm house, shopping mall, or wasteland. I actually thought about the BEST place to be at the WORST possible moment and took the story from there. Not that you didn't, but just saying that was the "twist" I tried to introduce to a tried and true genre.

[Michael]

Haha - It would see so wouldn't it?

That sounds like an interesting twist, David.

[Phebe]

C.J. wrote: "Even the best of the best books have 1-star reviews."

Yes.....but why? I just looked up Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall to see where she is splitting her accounts of the life of Thomas Cromwell. I was amazed to find her top three reviews were all negative! This woman won the Man Booker prize, she is famous and popular and is earning barrels of money for her best-selling books: why the bad reviews? I'm reading this book and think it's wonderful. Historically accurate, sympathetic main character, what's not to like?

I think envy is a main driver of the Wheel of Fortune. Anybody who has more fame or money or advantage of any kind, a whole lot of people are going to hate on him. Or her. It's the human condition. There are ways to ameliorate the problem of envy, but it will never entirely go away.

Additionally, people will criticize things that are not under the control of the author. Plural people hated the names and the titles in Mantel's Wolf Hall: That "half the world is named Thomas" as Thomas Cromwell says himself. And the other half, nearly, are named Henry. The women are named Catharine, Margaret, or Anne. The occasional Jane (Seymour, Grey) comes as a great relief. That was simply a naming convention of Tudor times, like Mohammed being used for most men among Muslims.

Titles and names are separate but when someone gets a title you stop using their name and call them by the title and if they got a higher title, they get called by that. When they get demoted on their way to the scaffold, you call them by their name again. This was a Tudor convention that was very important to them, because titles were important, and historical novelists try to go back and forth between, say, Charles Brandon and Duke of Suffolk, but it doesn't really help. Historians simply switch directly to the new title and leave you to it, as the Tudors did. None of this is Mantel's fault, but she is sure getting blamed for it in reviews.

On your excellent points about helpful criticism, Mantel is getting a lot of complaints from reviewers about not having her pronouns properly referenced: there are a several characters in a paragraph, and then she says "he." He who? I bet she fixes that in her last book of the trilogy.

[Rick]

Phebe wrote: "C.J. wrote: "Even the best of the best books have 1-star reviews."

Yes.....but why? I just looked up Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall to see where she is splitting her accounts of the life of Thomas Crom..."

I disagree. Sure there will sometimes be reviews for those reasons, but I think it's dismissive of readers to assume negative reviews for a book one personally considers to be above reproach fall into these buckets.

Me, I simply chalk it up to differing tastes. Plenty of people consider A Tale of Two Cities to be a timeless classic. I found it to be dull enough that I'd rather sit through a Sharknado marathon than read it again.

[R.M.F.]

I may not be the only one, and perhaps I'm too fussy, but I feel 4 and 5 star reviews seem to be handed out to easily these days.

[Mark]

R.M.F wrote: "I may not be the only one, and perhaps I'm too fussy, but I feel 4 and 5 star reviews seem to be handed out to easily these days."

It does seem like a 3 star review is perceived as negative, which really shouldn't be the case. Like others have said, if it's anything less than 3 stars, I'm probably not finishing.

I actually hate giving stars. I think if you describe your experience good enough in the review section, then the number of stars will come shining through.

[Phebe]

R.M.F wrote: "I may not be the only one, and perhaps I'm too fussy, but I feel 4 and 5 star reviews seem to be handed out to easily these days."

Star inflation, like grade inflation? [;-)

But that's how we are trained: think of all those appeals from the Amazon used book dealers who pack little notes in with the books saying to contact them immediately if you can't give them five stars!

"Don't nobody bring me no bad news." From The Wiz, Evilene.

[Mark]

Phebe wrote: "R.M.F wrote: "I may not be the only one, and perhaps I'm too fussy, but I feel 4 and 5 star reviews seem to be handed out to easily these days."

Star inflation, like grade inflation? [;-)

But th..."

I think that works with some things. Like ebay sellers, or Fiver.com who request you contact them before leaving anything negative. Sometimes they can change things. This doesn't work in the world of books. ( btw, If you haven't tried Fiver.com yet, Run, don't walk.)

[Rick]

R.M.F wrote: "I may not be the only one, and perhaps I'm too fussy, but I feel 4 and 5 star reviews seem to be handed out to easily these days."

3 star reviews have definitely gotten a bad rap these days. I've seen some authors absolutely flip out over them and it's "whoa there, Hoss. That isn't a bad review."

[Phebe]

Mark wrote: "( btw, If you haven't tried Fiver.com yet? Run, don't walk.) "

I looked at fiverr -- wow, I see what you mean. I bookmarked it.

[Laurie (barksbooks)]

Rick wrote: 3 star reviews have definitely gotten a bad rap these days. I've seen some authors absolutely flip out over them and it's "whoa there, Hoss. That isn't a bad review."

3 stars (here at least) is supposed to mean "I liked it." When I give 3 stars it means I liked it enough to keep reading for one reason or another. I don't get the fuss over 3 star reviews but some authors expect readers to give them five stars or to just shut up. I only give five stars to books I feel are really special and perfect to me and there aren't too many of those around. Most books that I read are somewhere between a 3 and a 4.

[Gregor]

3 stars is a good book, a solid work. I enjoyed it. It delivered based on set expectations.

[Bill]

R.M.F wrote: "I may not be the only one, and perhaps I'm too fussy, but I feel 4 and 5 star reviews seem to be handed out to easily these days."

I have had a lot of 4 and 5 star reads lately which is great. I think that I used to be more stingy with the stars until I realized that I was rating the books on my personal experience and am not a professional reviewer.

[Phebe]

Bill wrote: "I think that I used to be more stingy with the stars until I realized that I was rating the books on my personal experience and am not a professional reviewer."


Hmmmmmm.........professional reviewers are not where it's at anymore, right? We're it. Yet ANOTHER huge change in the book publishing business that's going on before our very eyes.

[Bill]

Plus, with soooo many books on my tbr I have only been reading the most recommended books! My friends here at HA are very helpful pointing me toward "must reads".

I rated a book 3 stars and had the author contact me saying "Sorry, you didn't enjoy the book." I was a bit creeped out. I did like it.