what to do about an unwarranted bad review.

[Judy]

A reviewer gave me 4 stars out of 5 for my first book for the following reasons:

The typos were a little distracting [I used the Yiddish vernacular in places early in the book. Vhat do you vant to do for a job?] No other misspellings

Content
Violence
Discussion of beatings [my father was beat up in orphanage in 1906];
someone has a revolver and is implied to be in a gang [my father turned down the chance to run numbers in NYC in '20s;
a miscarriage; adults die; two children died before the events of the story; [that's life]
a dog is euthanized [our dog had cancer and vet put him to sleep];
someone gets a hole burned in their foot through an accident [Daddy had cinder fall out of furnace onto his foot];

Language
“Pansy”; “a few choice words”; “wimpy”; “stupid”; “shut up”

Sexual content
A child strips naked [I was 3 years old and slept in the hay field naked]

Other notes
Outhouses; cigarettes; moonshine; Judy steals twice as a child, but this is shown to be wrong;
Halloween

Do I have any recourse? This review is at the top of my reviews since it is the most recent.

[Marie Silk]

That's not a bad review at all. It's 4 stars and informative. Even if it were 1 star with completely untrue stuff about the content, you shouldn't do anything about it.

[P.]

Hi, Judy:

Ignore it. And be sure to tell them to steer clear of my books! Hahaha!!! Mine have foul language true to the Alaska fishermen in the book and some graphic scenes.... Seriously, you need to let people have their opinions and let them beat you up. I had one guy give my crime thriller book 2 stars because 1) a state trooper didn't use gloves when he poked around a crime scene (he was not a forensic cop and it was a heat-of-the-moment scene), and 2) a gas can was shot and blew up (he claims it's impossible... I know it IS possible if there's a spark). That's pretty petty considering the length and detail of the book. A 2-star.... really??? But I didn't respond. You can't.

In the end, that same book has an overall rating nudging up at 4.5 with more than 50 ratings and reviews (GR and Amazon). That 2-star review is one of two or three, with one 1-star. Clearly those people just didn't like the book. Okay.

Be Gore-Tex.... let it bead up like water and roll right off you. :-)

Hope this helps.... Happy New Year!
--Wes

[Judy]

Thanks for the feedback. Guess I just need to toughen up. It's vicious out there.

[Shannon]

Judy,

I think that's a good review! Four stars! That means "very good!" in my book. And all the critical stuff he said just made me want to read it more lol. Don't sweat it.

[Emma]

Don't do anything, especially not contacting the reviewer.
4 stars is good, not bad.
A review is a personal opinion and its always correct, for that reviewer.
The only reviews you may get goodreads to remove are if the review isn't about the book. i.e. if they say something like - this author lives next door to me and has wild parties all night. Don't buy her books so we can get some sleep.

[P.]

Let me add along with the others that a 4-star is a very solid review. To me, a "good" review is a 3.... anything above that should be above average, anything below means below average. So I'm with the others here.... you got a very good review!

[Frances]

In many ways, our books are like our children. So much of us has gone into them. We yearn for them to be valued and understood. When you have time, look at the Amazon reviews for the winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1980: William Styron's Sophie's Choice.

Here are three of them:
5 stars: "Wonderful book."
2 stars: "Hard to plow through."
1 star: "Terrible. I couldn't even finish it."

In spite of some heartbreak along the way, I do believe quality is recognized in the end. Keep believing in the integrity of your work.

[Marie]

Four stars is actually good. When browsers see all fives, they suspect they are all from the author's friends or paid reviewers. Four is still good, and lends authenticity.

[Shannon]

Yes, I agree with Marie. Browsers are suspicious if they don't see a range. Personally I'm happy with anything above three stars. And I'm not sure he was criticizing you when he pointed out things in the book like language, violence, etc...he may have been trying to help people determine whether or not they want to read the book. Some readers will give a book like that a pass. Personally I would prefer they not read it if that types of thing bothers them, then read it and give me a one star review because I use four letter words.

[Rhian]

Yeah, it just looks like a heads-up on content rather than criticism, which is fair enough. It's just instead of a synopsis.

I wouldn't worry about it untul you've had your book mauled on national radio, or you are down-rated because a reviewer doesn't like the look of the front cover of totally different book listed in your publishing history (yes, really).

[Judy]

Thanks for all feedback. Just a very crazy review on a sweet book that's basically a cross between Green Acres and Little House on the Prairie. Oh, well. Moving on.