I kid you not fellow writers and writers to be, some day you'll get a bad review, whether you like it or not. As sure as there is night and day.
Is it because your book was truly bad?
Is it because the reviewer did not just like it?
Is it because the reviewer is just bitter and looking for books to mull?
Is it because the topic in your book was plain insulting, controversial or cliché?
Whichever one, like I said above just as sure as there is the sun and the moon, you'll get one at one point in your writing career.
So the question is: HOW DO YOU HANDLE IT?
Before you consider sending out your babies for scrutiny (review), I would like you to spend a week or two on goodreads, reading one-starred reviews of books that you thought were amazing and made you dream happy dreams.
You're going to see things like this:
Couldn't write a darn thing to save her life.
I pity the tree that this book was produced from
I completely wasted my time
I threw the book at the wall
Bella is the most annoying character ever
Malfoy is too stereotypical
The HELP needed HELP with a good editor
I could go on and on, oh yes and there's this one too:
The blandest tasting paranormal soup.
This book is hardly original, what's the fuss.
All the names I mentioned are from major best sellers so I doubt if they would mind. Why do I advice you read all these reviews?
Because I want you to know that nobody is above bad reviews, and I also want you to be prepared for the worst.
But even after you've read all the reviews and proofed yourself and taking a lot of anti-feel-bad pills, when your first bad review comes in, you might still lose your appetite (I know I did), lose the zeal to write again. You might even start crying and alienate your family and friends, or worse go crazy.
Here's what I have to say to you:
If symptoms persist after two days, then you're a wuss and you have no business writing, if symptoms persist after three days, then I say to you my dear child.
“GET UP, SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE AND GET BACK TO WRITING SOME MORE.”
In a few cases though, you should read through the reviews and see if what they say is really true, or better still, write something else putting in mind the remarks and make it better.
Don't reply the reviewer, please don't do that. Don't call him or her names because you'll scare other potential reviewers who would have liked your book.
And don't comment on their posts anonymously, because they usually know who it is, and will gossip to other reviewers about this even though they don't post it publicly.
The best way to handle a bad review is to weed it of the chaff that it is filled with, and take the most important details and try to improve.
Don't try to please anyone and don't un-publish (if you're self-published) just because of two or three bad reviews unless they were really that bad and they had something in common, or they were true and you knew but you were just too lazy to change it, and you were hoping no one would notice. Well the jokes on you because they noticed it.
Do all these and trust me, next time you get a bad review with useless trash (yes there are some useful trash) instead of constructive criticism, just laugh “Ha ha ha-” okay enough, and resist the urge to tell the reviewer a thing or two and just continue writing.
Have you had any experience with a bad review, or are you a reviewer that has been attacked for writing an unfavorable review, please tell us about your experience by commenting below.
