Ba-a-ad Behavior About Reviews

Every writer, whether it’s the first time or the twentieth time you are sending your “baby” into the public, cringes at the idea of a bad review. Suddenly terms such as one star out of five, only two coffee cups, or any other measuring symbol being used, brings nervous jitters and even tears. Writers crave acceptance and praise and often take the reviews personally. Danielle Steele says that she ignores reviews because she doesn’t want to become upset by them. Some fledgling authors fade from the eye at the first mediocre to poor review.


A thick skin is a must for anyone looking to survive the game.

First let’s talk about the authors reaction to reviews. Walk into the nearest book store or library and ask yourself if you have a genuine interest in every book on those shelves. Have you ever read a book whose subject matter didn’t appeal to you? I’m sure you’ve read books that have bored you or where the author’s style was not pleasing. Think about your answers and get over it, do not take bad reviews personally.

Second, how does a reader use these reviews? Most (admittedly not all) readers who use a review to choose a book will read all the reviews, or at least the first few lines and rating, and will decide for themselves how much to rely on a single bad review when the others are consistently better. So if the author has four or five (or more) good to great reviews and one or two very poor reviews, there is really nothing to worry about. Multi-published authors will also benefit by the reception their other books have received as well.

Why did you get a bad review? Often it is simply someone who doesn’t like your particular style. If you do read the review through, see if there are reasons given. Sometimes even a poor review might indicate a book worthy of a read. One of my books once received only a 3 (out of 5) and the reason given was the genre and style – the reviewer was honest and said she was not attracted to romantic suspense and then compared my style to Danielle Steele! I was quite pleased and gladly accepted the 3. Some reviewers are known for their low ratings and sometimes caustic remarks. If you are on a site like Amazon you have the option of clicking on the reviewers name and reading other reviews by them. You might see a definite trend. Once again, there is no reason to take this personally.

One author I know said that when her books first come out her loyal fans, friends and even family are usually among the first to read and review her works. Her attitude is by the time she gets a less than satisfying review it means that her book is genuinely out there. Other authors look at the average rating they’ve received or other accolades (contest winners or honorable mentions). It is only when the reviews are consistently poor and the same complaints are repeated that many seasoned authors “worry”.

While there are some nasty and critical reviewers out there who think this is an opportunity to exert a cruel power, most reviewers are not heartless clods. Almost more important than the biting, scathing review is how the author reacts to it. If you come back fighting and try to match nasty for nasty, your readers will lose more respect for you over your actions than for the poor write-up. There was a recent example of “how writers should not react” where otherwise nonplussed readers decided they didn’t care for the writers attitude no matter how good the book might seem. Readers expect to see occasional bad reviews, they don’t expect the author to respond with righteous indignation and criticism of the reviewer. A separate reviewer commented on the incident that if you don’t like the review, rant privately to family and friends but do not have a hissy fit in public.

While it is always good to read and CONSIDER comments sent to you by book editors evaluating your book for possible publication, it is NOT the responsibility of a reviewer to help you make it better once the book goes to print. Thus the reviewer does not need to understand you would have those typos with a little more time or what you were really trying to say but never got out the right words. The reviewer simply has to write about their impressions of your book.

Writing exercise: Sit in a public place and write-down a few “snippets” of random conversation you hear around you (make the sources different). Link them together in a very short story (no more than a few paragraphs)

Writing prompt: Describe the clothing you are wearing right now using touch ONLY.