One Star or Five — Keep on Writing
It's never nice to be criticised but the great thing about keeping on writing and publishing is that, over time, we get used to the notion that while some people like what we do, others will be indifferent, and some just won't get it.
That our job is to keep on doing it anyway.
The only useful thing to do with a bad review (or a good one, for that matter) is to learn from it, if we can.
If we can't, to let it go.
To treat (with apologies to Mr Kipling) praise and put-downs, those two imposters, just the same.
This recent book review of one of my books should demonstrate why:
In fairness to the reader, I think this arose because Amazon is now emailing customers to ask their opinion of books they've purchased or downloaded. The customer is led to respond to the email on the book's page, where it comes up as a review.
But it also shows that the only sane standpoint on reviews, for a writer, is laughter.
Write on, dear indies!
[…] Indie Authors: A Book Review That Shows Why We Shouldn’t Take Book Reviews Too Seriously […]
[…] Indie Authors: A Book Review That Shows Why We Shouldn’t Take Book Reviews Too Seriously […]
On Amazon, where spoof reviews are virtually an acknowledged sport, a very dear but sadly now departed reviewer friend of mine left the following as a direct response to the kind of review we’re talking about above:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1W7AGUU995FWM?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl
[…] Indie Authors: A Book Review That Shows Why We Shouldn’t Take Book Reviews Too Seriously […]
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Wow, I guess it could have been worse. I saw a review someone left for an author because the book order, a paperback, didn’t get there from the seller fast enough. The “reviewer” left a 1.
We had one of those too – that explains it!
At least she didn’t one-star it because she’s annoyed by the Amazon spam.
Seriously, though – here is Amazon stumbling over itself to “fix” their review system, and yet they keep sending these emails out.
😀 It sums up the pressure readers feel about leaving reviews. It makes a farce out of the star system.