We all know a bad and biased review stings like a rejection letter. Guest blogger Viviana Mackade tells us how to handle them.
How to deal with a bad, biased review…
The short and real answer is, you don’t.
If you do this for a while, and put out books on a fairly regular basis, and you have a decent number of people reading your books, a bad review will happen.
Take, let’s say, 100 people and give them your book-your diamond, the one you’re most proud of because of how much sweat, blood, time, and money (hello, editing and ads) you gave for it. Well, there will be at least one person who’d say that book is crap. Boring. Predictable. Flat characters. Overused setting. You get the gist.
Which is fine.
You as an author must understand that any form of art is subjected to personal taste and experience. Hence someone might hate your book.
Again, is fine. Part of the game and all that.
What is, by any means, NOT fine is when a bad, maybe offensive review is left for no other reason than pushing the reviewer’s agenda.
Many, too many shades of wrong in this palette: there’s the one who writes how horrible the grammar is and then promptly leaves an email to contact her/him because she/he is an editor and can help–1-star review. The who say the author is rude because she didn’t reply to a FB comment–1 star. The one who writes she/he didn’t bother to read the book–1 star. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. And btw, all of the above happened to me or some other author friend.
And it doesn’t even stop at books! Once I was reading the reviews for a pair of boots, trying to understand if they fit bigger or tighter, and I swear I read: Boots are fine, but I bought the wrong size–1star.
Yes. Honest truth, I read that.
Which of course, in a way it makes you feel better because when it’s your time to get one of those reviews you know it has nothing to do with your book.
I’d rather have someone say I’m a b@#ch–1 star than someone saying my characters felt flat and my story didn’t make sense.
But the truth is, that stupid 1 star (left out of scorn, trying to advertise a business, or for plain stupidity) stays, and it hurts.
Not only our soft, blessed hearts. There’s a cure for that, and it’s called Margaritas in a Mexican restaurant with your friends.
It hurts because many advertisers only accept books with an average of 4 stars. Because many potential readers will not take the time to investigate the low review; they see a lower average and will move on to another one.
What I’m doing, and I’m asking you to do the same is: whenever you spot such review, being for a book, a bra, or a brand of cheese, mark it as not useful, and maybe even report it as abuse. Because damn it, it is abuse!
And I thank you from the bottom of my heart if you, even just once, try to right these wrongs.
Those keyboard-lions (AKA as#ho##es) need to be fought.
Check out Viviana’s latest title
At eighteen, DJ made a choice–her heart or her dreams. Neither was wrong, yet either would break her heart. She chose the world. Over a decade later, she returns to Crescent Creek and to the one regret she’s ever had–Scott.
About Viviana
Beach bum and country music addicted, Viviana lives in a small Floridian town with her husband and her son, her die-hard fans and personal cheer squad. She spends her days between typing on her beloved keyboard, playing in the pool with her boy, and eating whatever her husband puts on her plate (the guy is that good, and she really loves eating). Besides beaching, she enjoys long walks, horse-riding, hiking, and pretty much whatever she can do outside with her family.
Find her at-
On my website http://www.viviana-mackade.com/
On FB
On Twitter
Thank you for having me, Susan! And thank you for every one of you who’ll help me fighting stupid reviews! 😀
Vivi
Reblogged this on Viviana MacKade and commented:
Read my 2 cents on how to handle biased, bad reviews.