This post is aimed at authors, whether you’re e-published, self-published, NY print published, or any other type of published.
If you have a book available to the public, it’s almost impossible to avoid seeing reviews. They show up under every online product page, in your Twitter or FB @replies, in link notices on your website, in your inbox, in magazines, or in comments on your blog. First I’ll say that all the above is a good thing. The more your books are talked about, the better chance you have to reach new readers. Even bad reviews are inherently good because again, it’s people talking about your book(s). Plus, what Reader A may have hated could be Reader B’s favorite thing, so bad reviews also sell books. The internet has, in my opinion, really helped level the playing field. Authors aren’t totally dependent on a push from their publisher to get the word out about a book – or on shelling out a lot of money. For example, can’t afford to go on a ten-city tour to promote your release (and few of us can!)? Then do a blog tour. It’ll probably reach the same, if not more, number of readers, but it won’t cost you anything except your time. Feel like your publisher didn’t send out enough copies of your books to review sites? Get a list of popular bloggers who read your genre and ask if they’d like to receive a copy of your book. Or host giveaways on your own blogs and politely request – don’t demand – that the winners post a review when they’re finished reading.
In short, the internet = win when you’re talking about increased exposure for your books, no matter how you’re published.
Of course, the internet can also be dangerous if you don’t treat it with respect, because once you say something online, it’s there forever. Deleting it won’t matter, there’s caches and print screens available to immortalize your words. So as mentioned above, even if you don’t actively seek out reviews of your book(s), they will find you. We all know that a review is only one person’s opinion. We also know that no book will please 100% of readers, so not all reviews will leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling. Some might leave you downright mad, in fact. I think everyone knows that.
So why do some authors still go publicly batshit over a bad review?
It might just be wrong place, wrong time. I’m sure if most of us think back over the jobs we’ve had, at one point we’ve done or said something stupid, usually precipitated by having a really bad day. It happens. But even though the occasional professional blunder may be understandable, it still has consequences. For authors who aren’t careful with what they say online, the consequence can be readers thinking, “Wow, Author A is an ass. I don’t want to spend my money on his/her books.” Or, in some cases, an editor/agent thinking, “Wow, Author A is completely unprofessional . Maybe I should reconsider taking on his/her manuscript*.”
Reviews seem to be the biggest trigger in authors losing their cool online. I’ll be the first to admit that negative reviews can sting. Please don’t tell me all the reasons why they shouldn’t – the logical part of me already knows why they shouldn’t. But at times, Logical Jeaniene is asleep and Crazed Jeaniene is at the wheel, heh. Or sometimes Logical Jeaniene is at the wheel and negative reviews can still sting. Hearing “this was the worst book I’ve ever read” and having that be about a novel I’ve written just plain sucks, pure and simple. But no matter if a review is impartially worded or ends with the reader saying she burned the book out of loathing, the best response an author can give is simple: Silence.
Author Ilona Andrews sums it up this way:
What about negative reviews, the ones that make you cringe? Say nothing. Say nothing, say nothing, say nothing.
But what if they said this unfair thing…
Say nothing.
But they brought up a really good point…
Say nothing.
If you argue with the review, you look unprofessional. You are a weakling who can’t take criticism.
If you agree with the review, you look unprofessional. You are sucking up in hopes of future positive reviews.
You can’t win. Remember the guiding principle: if you are an author…you are not a person. You are a representative of a brand. If you have to say something, if you just can’t help yourself, say, “Thank you.” You must find your inner customer service representative, smile, and say, “Thank you so much for taking the time to read the book.”
It is really, really difficult to find that customer service representative sometimes. So if you can’t trust yourself to smile and say thank you, say nothing.
Thank you or nothing. From the business point of view, there is no third choice. (full link to post here)
After seven books, four novellas, and two short stories on the market, I’ve had every type of negative review posted, from ones that were objective and thoughtful to ones that attacked me personally and even threw in nasty comments about my family, too. Yet out of all this, I believe that saying nothing is truly the best way to handle negative reviews. Why? You can’t hurt your career by saying nothing. Have any of you heard of readers refusing to buy an author’s books because that author didn’t comment on a bad review? Or of editors/agents thinking twice about signing an author because the author didn’t start an online flame war? I haven’t, so while this method may be the least satisfying while in the heat of the moment, if you’re concerned about selling books, say nothing. At least, nothing in public. Do feel free to call your friends/family/Significant Other and rant to them, or write a scathing reply that you never, ever post, but damn, it feels good to spell out all the reasons why the reviewer is wrong, wrong, wrong! *wink* But in public, don’t comment, even if it pains you not to. From what I’ve seen, you’ll get over that pain far faster than you’ll live down an online flame war where you’re the target.
And if you have lost your cool and said something in public that you now realize was Dumb to the Tenth Power, admit you were wrong. Apologize**. You may have to rinse/repeat both of those a few times, but you know what? Many people will remember the dumb thing they’ve done in the past and give you a second chance. As for the ones that don’t, well, that can’t be helped, but at least you tried. Live and learn and all that.
Personally, I recommend authors avoid reading reviews as much as possible. Reviews don’t help most writers improve their craft (nor should they; reviews are for readers, not authors) and stumbling across negative ones while everything else is going wrong with your day can leave you more likely to have a public meltdown. Reading a bunch of glowing ones might have an adverse effect, too. You don’t want to start believing your prose is flawless because no one’s prose is flawless.
Even though I avoid reading most of my reviews for the reasons I listed, I am ever so grateful they’re out there. Positive or negative, reviews are readers talking to each other about my books, something I dreamed about when I was trying to get published. Plus, most reviewers don’t get paid for their time; they do it for free because they love books, and that is very cool. So please, no one make any rude assumptions about reviewers who don’t only talk about books they like. I don’t like every movie or TV show I see, and I’ll mention the ones I don’t like in public, but that doesn’t make me a frustrated aspiring actress with an ax to grind. Following the same logic, I don’t subscribe to the theory that people who post negative reviews are aspiring authors who are bitter because they couldn’t break in. Reviewers are just people who take the time to talk about books in a public forum, and we could use more people talking about how much fun reading is, couldn’t we?
.
*Think this is an urban legend? Every agent or editor I’ve met has an “I would never work with Author ____” story, and it’s almost always based on the author’s behavior instead of the quality of their writing. Why burn professional bridges if you don’t have to?
**Apologies where you’re still blaming everyone else but yourself don’t count. Those just tend to tick people off, so if you can’t accept that you were at fault, don’t bother to apologize. It’ll be obvious that you don’t mean it.
Great post, Jeaniene, and one that needs to be required reading for all authors. I agree that saying nothing is the best policy. Reviews are for readers and yes, the bad ones hurt, but people are entitled to their opinions, good or bad. Nothing an author might say is going to change that opinion – or anything else, for that matter – except damage their reputation.
I try not to read reviews, but I don’t always succeed. The bad ones make me want to sit and brood (with a glass of whiskey at hand, preferably. LOL) and even the good ones can freak me out a little because then I think, “Holy crap! How am I going to top that??”
Good or bad, reviews get people talking about your books – and that’s awesome.
Write the next book, the next story, and do your best not to take the reviews (good or bad) personally. Hard to do at times, but necessary.
Good ones freak me out for the same reason, too, lol. It’s a no win situation, so that’s why I try to avoid reading them. Every once in a while I’ll slip and read a bunch, and I always, always regret it.
Thank you for your great writing. I read at least one book per day, sometimes two….so it takes me a bit to keep my interest. However, I have enjoyed each of your books greatly.
Keep up the good work.
Well said! I just saw that some of a recently tweeted/blogged about author’s rants have made it onto a coffee mug. Not a good way to be immortalized.
I agree in the cases where a review is so negative it’s difficult to respond to it rationally.
But from the point of view of a reviewer, a deathly silence from writers can be disappointing. Anyone who writes should have a thick skin, and that includes book bloggers, and sometimes criticism is appropriate and it can provoke a better understanding of the work.
So if your heart rate is normal and you’re not clenching your fists involuntarily after reading the criticism, don’t be afraid to make your points.
Ros, I see your point, but the thing is many reviewers have publicly stated that they do not want an author to “explain” anything about their book in response to a less than stellar review. They take that as intruding into a conversation meant for readers only. How’s an author to tell which reviewers don’t want an author’s input, and which ones do? Besides, authors are told repeatedly that reviews are for readers (a point I agree with). So please don’t take silence from authors as a bad thing over reviews. Actually, it’s authors trying to show you and your opinion respect.
This was a great post and I think everyone, not just authors, can learn something from it.
Great Post. Thank you for taking the time to write this.
Thanks for posting this, Jeaniene. As a reader, I’m glad there are other readers willing to share their opinions on books as it helps me to decide what I want to read. As an unpublished writer I know how much of my blood, sweat and tears goes into my work and can well imagine the pain of a bad review posted in public (or, as in some cases, emailed or tweeted to me by a well-meaning reviewer). After seeing quite a few inappropriate (yet well-meaning) responses from authors to bad reviews and then yesterday’s author meltdown, I have to agree that not responding is the best policy.
@Ros – I think accepting that deathly silence is part of having the thick skin of being a reviewer.
Excellent!!
Great post Jeaniene! And I agree with Midnyte Reader too.
I hacve been making this my mantra lately – probably in hopes that I will remember it myself:
We have the right to free speech. The right to say anything not libelous or slanderous on our blogs.
We seem to forget that we also have the right to remain silent.
I think perhaps we do more of the former and not enough of the latter.
[I am pulling this, in a skewed fashion, from comedian Ron White]
Having said that, my responsibility as a blogger is to provide an honest review for the benefit of the people who read the blog. I will always try, and try very hard to find something, anything good about a book. But, I have to say. as well, that there have been one or two about which there was nothing good to say.
My only responsibility to an author is constructive honesty.
If people stop sending me books b/c I am honest then I can buy them.
Ciao, and great topic to bring up. Steph
Fangs, Wands and Fairy Dust
email: steph@fangswandsandfairydust.com
Twitter: @fangswandsfairy
Snowgirl!
Some very good advice there. I remember hearing about some author blowing up on some readers not long ago because they said something about her work that she didn’t like. My first thought was way to win new readers and show her support to here current readers. Some one like that may find themselves working at the Waffle House soon.
If you ever do feel like ranting, you know my email address and where to find me. Keep on writing. I’ll keep reading.
V^^^^V
Here is a prime example of what Snowgirl is talking about.
http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html
I don’t know this author and because of her behavior, I’m not sure if I’d want to. Some one I trust would have to recommend her to me.
V^^^^V
Wonderful post Jeaniene and so true in everyway!
Sage advice. I just signed with an agent and pray reviews (hopefully good) will roll in once I have a publisher. I had no idea you try to stay away from all reviews, even the good ones. Makes a lot of sense. Once the reviews start, I’ll print this post and pin it up on my vision board as a cautionary reminder. Thanks!
This was great and can be used for day to day things too. A lot of people in the media should take note as well. Because a person getting nasty because someone said “No i don’t like it” is just nuts.
Jeanie nothing to do with , butI have a question , wellit is rather a question :
At death, people when they become ghosts, are celibate?
They can not have sex?
Excellent Post and actually good advice for any line of work. We all get negative and positive feedback during the course of our careers. The best thing to do, if you have to say something, is acknowledge both with a Thank You but then keep on, keeping on doing the best that you can do. You can never please everyone!
As a reader who posts my opinions on books, I kind of freak out when an author acknowledges a review (good or bad) because honestly I never think about them reading the thoughts. I write them for my friends/fellow readers in mind. It is kind of like having an online reading circle of friends that you want to know what they thought. I do like interacting with authors for blog tours, guest posts, and such but yep reviews (or my thoughts whichever way you want to think about that) are for my friends/fellow readers. That being said your advice works in reverse too! I think a little bit of thank you or closing comments once a comment rant starts goes a long way! It helps save the authors face (who lets face it might have been just having a bad day) and also keeps your online presence from being known for a hot bed of negative activity!
Great Post and didn’t mean to write such a long response LOL
Thx for the thoughtful post Jeaniene. You are quite right that a bad review isn’t necessarily bad for sales – there are reviewers around who I know like the books I tend to like and ones who don’t – so long as I know the “key” I can decode the review to work out whether I’ll like the book or not. As a reader, I don’t really want to visit blogs where the only reviews are 5 star – I need to believe the reviewer is giving an honest opinion and not just being a people pleaser to shell out $$ based on a review.
As a reviewer, it’s a challenge to write a review which is fair and honest sometimes – I use the personal rule of thumb that if I’m prepared to say it on my blog, I should be prepared for the author to see it (even though s/he most probably won’t LOL!) – hence I should be able to justify my criticisms (and praise for that matter) and make sure I’m talking about the book and not being personal. It also means that anyone who reads the review will be able to make their own judgement about whether they think the book will work for them or not. (I also think that the written communication can be easily misunderstood and so I try to take care that the message I’m wanting to send is the one being communicated – it’s too late once the post is up to realise that what I thought sounded funny was just rude!).
Great post Jeaniene. I write reviews on Amazon for books, but have never had an author reply. That is fine with me. Most of my reviews are four and five star because I hate giving negative criticism. The two that got three stars were indie authors with a ton of grammer and spelling mistakes. I don’t always give a lower rating for just that, but if they also have a weak plot or characters then I have to lower the rating. The one low rating I gave was for a $10 ebook that only took me ten minutes to read the thing cover to cover. I was really upset as I thought it was a much longer book. To top it off, the editing was bad.
I have reviewed the last two novels you released and never expected you to read them. They were for the readers who might be interested. Of course, I love your books so my reviews on them were positive, but there are others who felt differently. Everyone certainly has their own tastes. I am sure it is hurtful to see bad reviews but at least you keep a positive attitude about it!
Are you going to put up deleted scenes from “This Side of the Grave” and if you are when?!
I agreed to read Halfway to the Grave for a girl. I downloaded it onto my phone and didn’t think I would actually finish, but as I read the first few chapters I was hooked. Soon I found myself reading One Foot In the Grave and then At Grave’s End, but as I continue to read I find the constant explaining of things that happened in previous books to be annoying. I’m not sure if its there just to fill a page, or to annoy readers like me, or If you’re doing it to help the new readers. If its to help the new readers, may I recommend to just tease them a little. Don’t explain everything just enough for them to feel the need to read the other books to figure it out.
Other then that, I’m enjoying this series and your style of writing. And thanks for making it available thru Kindle (iPhone) or I would never have found the time to read it.
Don’t know how many more books you’re planning on writing with these characters, but I hope you consider my recommendation.
excellent post jeaniene..that is so true..no matter what you say in response to a review, good or bad, you can come off looking unprofessional, or needy depending on the response..and to Vampyre…PERFECT example of what NOT to do! lol!
Hello Jeaniene!
Sorry to interrupt THESE conversations. We want to obtains some informations, but we didn’t know where to write you to you answer us. We are two French fans, and we would like to know if your 2 spin-off (“Eternal kiss of darckness” and “Frist drop of crimson” ) will be published in french ?!
‘hope you will answer us and we hope too that we didn’t make mistake in our texte in english. Bye 🙂 !
Emily & Fanny.
PS: We also want to tell you that you are a great writer ! We have all the books of the series “the night huntress” (which are already out) and … Wow! We love your writing style, and how you transport us into the world of Cat and Bones. And the fact that your stories of vampires aren’t “simpleton” like (for example) in “Twilight”. The vampires know what they want ! ‘Cause, for example, if they want to “fuck” you, right now, they do. Yes … We also love the way you itemized ALL the scenes. (… we think we’re going to burn in hell *o*) Oh god. So, continue to keep us in suspense with the most beautiful couple of vampire that is 😉
Hi Emily and Fanny,
My French publisher bought translation rights for First Drop of Crimson, but has not bought rights yet for Eternal Kiss of Darkness. That may change in the future, and I’m hoping it does.
Thanks, and glad you’ve been enjoying the books.
OK !We hope it will buy the rights to “Eternal Kiss of Darkness” and thank you for having responded 🙂
Bye … Emily and Fanny 🙂
OK ! we hope it will buy the rights and thank you for having responded 🙂
Sorry … We made an error ^^’
Thank you for the insightful post. You are so right when it comes to responding to reviews….Just don’t do it!!!
Very insightful and necessary post. I have written reviews that have painted halos on books I’ve loved. I’ve also been asked by the author of one of those books to “change” my review and “delete” a specific part of the review. This is also unprofessional, unfair, and takes away my credibility as an honest reviewer if I cow to such a request. Yet, it happened.
Well said! I saw too many authors make the mistake of commenting on reviews before I first published and made the decision to never respond to positive or negative ones. If someone goes through the trouble to message me letting me know they posted a review, then I thank them, but that’s the most I do. As for reading the bad ones, I learned my lesson early on and refuse to even look at them now. The fact of the matter is that everyone begins reading a book with certain expectations and we can’t please them all. We just have to write the story we believe in.