How To Handle Bad Reviews
Guest Post by Amanda Arista
Guest Post by Amanda Arista
As I’m writing this, my husband is watching an absolutely vile show on TV and giggling like a school girl. He thinks it’s hilarious; I think it’s completely horrible and it’s killing my brain cells just listening to the crude jokes and course language.
But then again, I have 200 channels of things that I don’t necessarily want to watch. But someone wants to watch them, and that someone will probably want to tell someone else about what they watched.
Reviews are the reader’s relationship with the writing material. It is how this one person interacted with the characters and the plot and how the themes spoke to them. It’s a one-to-one relationship. Just like my husband really likes certain shows and I really do not, everyone has entertainment that they like and entertainment that just really doesn’t do it for them. For me, I really like books with an interesting world-building premise; some like small town romances with more character-building. It really is person-specific.
As a writer, I try to tell myself the reviews are not about me personally. The reviewers don’t know me. The reviewers aren’t cutting down my character or insulting my choice of career (which one editor actually did). Reviews express how the reader interacted with my characters, the plot pursued, and the themes explored. Not me personally.
After Diaries of an Urban Panther came out, I was told not to read the reviews that came out, especially because I was writing the second book at the time. But it was inevitable. I had just let my baby girl out into the world and I didn’t know if she was going to survive. Of course I was going to read the reviews. Some of the reviews were good, really good. Some of the reviews were bad, and some of the reviews were just meh.
For reviewers, I say Thank you! I love reading what worked and what didn’t. Some reviewers have been wonderfully specific about scenes that really struck them in a good way and a bad way. It’s always interesting to find what one person really did like, one person really didn’t, and it’s usually a reaction to the same thing. Some reviewers really liked Violet’s first person narration, some really didn’t, but it was significant enough that both decided to write about it.
For readers, I recommend reading reviews. Find a site that seems to like the same things that you do. Review sites can act like a good friend recommending books. It’s a great way to get introduced to new material, possibly some obscure little first time author who writes about shapeshifting in Dallas (wink, wink). But you can always do what I do and give any recommendation the First Line test: Read the first line and see if it intrigues you. If it doesn’t, move on. Life’s too short to read books that don’t stimulate you.
For Claws and Effect, I hope that this interview guides you in the direction of the series. Violet Jordan would love you to explore her adventures as a writer-turned-panther. And maybe you can leave a review out there to guide other readers.
If you have any questions about the series, I’ll be checking in all day. If you leave a comment, you will be entered to win a gift certificate at the end of the Virtual Blog Tour.
Thank you and Happy reading!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amanda was born in Illinois, raised in Corpus Christi, lives in Dallas but her heart lies in London. Good thing she loves to travel! The summer of second grade, she read every book in the young adult section of the library, so she started making up her own stories and hasn’t stopped.
She has a husband who fights crime, one dog who thinks he’s a real boy, and another who might be a fruit bat in disguise. When not writing, Amanda often dreams of co-opening an evil bakery and sell despicable desserts. Her particularly favorites are larvaceous lemon bars and sinful cinnamon streusel.
She spends her weekends writing at coffee shops, practicing for the day that caffeine intake becomes an Olympic sport, and plotting character demises with fellow writers Wolvarez, Killer Cupcake and Keith (names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent).
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Thank you so much for the post. I would think that bad reviews would be hard to take, much like hearing someone say something bad about your kids, lol. I do think that reading is subjective, and that no reviewer should attack a book or author, or be rude or disrespectful. I think that even if you don't enjoy a book, you should be able to find some things you did like and mention those.
ReplyDeletemanning_j2004 at yahoo dot com
This is very thoughtful and informative. I wonder if any writer has ever successfully not read their reviews! I couldn't do it when my book came out. Ironically, the "meh" bothered me more than the "bad." Can't wait to learn more about your series.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fabulous post. I have such a hard time writing reviews of books I'm not fond of - I can't imagine how much effort and heart goes into writing a book and it makes me so hesitant to be negative. Your article gave me some ideas on how to make my more negative reviews less difficult for the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting Amanda today.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right about reviews. Different people see things differently. The thing to remember is that you are writing about things you love, and that is the most important. The small things they mention can be changed, but not the way you write. That is you.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the reviewers gave you feedback that was helpful. Not so much negative or ravingly positive, but more as to why it was or wasn't a favorite with them. Things you could take away from it & use.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Great post! I completely agree that it is hard not to read reviews, but I personally like to read them to see what the people who did like the book thought could be improved, or maybe which scene they didn't like -- as you said. Great post and great advice!
ReplyDeleteAlexandra~
http://www.wordsoftheworlds.blogspot.com
Great post! You have such a positive attitude toward something that can be hard. Thanks for your thoughts and good luck with book two...sounds like a good one.
ReplyDeleteThat's such an awesome post! And I agree, it is very interesting to see what everyone likes and dislikes especially if they have different opinions on the same scene/character, etc.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very great post. Reviews can tell you a lot about a book that may not be in the blurb. I am a total review reader :-)
ReplyDeletejustforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
I would imagine that a bad review is hard to take but if it's written with care and thought, then I believe it could very well be a useful learning tool for the author. If a review is nasty and rude, I refuse to acknowledge what that reader said. Normally I will not leave bad reviews unless the book was just so bad that I had to say something, but even then I only point out the things that turned me off and I try not to belittle the author or her work in general. In cases like this I try to find something good to say to counterbalance the something bad. Sort of the spoonful of sugar makes the bad stuff easier to swallow.
ReplyDeleteI can take a bad review if they aren't snarky, and give good constructive crits. Few things make me crazier than getting a one star review with no explanation...
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your post, Amanda. For any auto-buy authors, I tend to not even peek at reviews, because I don't want any spoilers. For new to me authors, I might check out a review from a favorite site, but ultimately, it's the excerpt and book blurbs that will usually get me making a purchase.
ReplyDeletecaity_mack at yahoo dot com
What a refreshing outlook on reviews! As a reader who follows a LOT of blog hops, I feel the least I can do is give a review of the book I've won for the author that has donated it. So far I've been really very happy with all the books I've won, probably because I only enter for books that interest me, but I cringe in anticipation of the day when I may have to give a less than hoped for review. When I know it's truly taken as constructive and not personal, that makes me feel SO much better!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this blog tour...I've enjoyed every minute of it =)
Gena Robertson
robertsongena@hotmail.com
As a reader, I find good, honest reviews very useful. Even if a review isn't "glowing," if it mentions things that I might like, I will still read a book.
ReplyDeletecatherinelee100[at]gmail[dot]com
@capefearlibn
I like to read reviews of books that look interesting, just to see if I have good taste :P
ReplyDeleteMorganlafey86(at)aol(dot)com