MattManochio
Registered
I expect to start getting some reviews, in general, soon. I Googled my name and title yesterday (I have ARCs floating around to various review sites and bloggers) and found two guys had talked about my book on a podcast (and I indeed submitted to them). I thought, cool! Let's hear what they have to say. So I did, and, well, was let down. One of the guys said he was currently "slogging" through my book. Uh-oh, slogging through anything (unless you're in Scrooge McDuck's money bin) is never good. So he hadn't completed reading it, and said, to the effect, "it's not a terrible book" and then made a gagging sound for what he, I presume, considers to be a terrible book, and made it seem like, but for his podcast, he'd never have bothered with my book in the first place. Because he hadn't finished reading it, there was no constructive criticism (or any, really; just that he seemed unimpressed).
If anything, hearing that opened my eyes for what's ahead: I will be getting bad reviews at some point. So how should I handle reading any reviews, in general? I drowned my sorrows by reading Amazon one-star reviews of the mega-popular books: Gone Girl, Mr. Mercedes, anything by James Patterson.
Everyone, no matter the success level, will get a bad review at some point. I think we assume (and hope) everybody who reads our work will automatically like it. We know deep down this can't be true, and when confronted with it, it can be jarring. That's what happened to me yesterday.
So, now I steel myself. I get a thicker skin. And if the criticism is constructive (because one- and two-star reviews can be) I'll take it to heart and see if I can understand the reader's point. I figure, just so long as you're getting more positive reviews than negative ones, you must be doing something right. Onward.
If anything, hearing that opened my eyes for what's ahead: I will be getting bad reviews at some point. So how should I handle reading any reviews, in general? I drowned my sorrows by reading Amazon one-star reviews of the mega-popular books: Gone Girl, Mr. Mercedes, anything by James Patterson.
Everyone, no matter the success level, will get a bad review at some point. I think we assume (and hope) everybody who reads our work will automatically like it. We know deep down this can't be true, and when confronted with it, it can be jarring. That's what happened to me yesterday.
So, now I steel myself. I get a thicker skin. And if the criticism is constructive (because one- and two-star reviews can be) I'll take it to heart and see if I can understand the reader's point. I figure, just so long as you're getting more positive reviews than negative ones, you must be doing something right. Onward.