Negative reviews can be devastating. “I know people who have never recovered,” says actor/director Seth Rogen of Green Hornet fame speaking recently about movie reviews. There are probably many authors who know exactly what he means. Well, here’s how to recover from your negative book reviews — maybe, even enjoy them.
Don’t Look For 5-Stars All The Time
Here’s the thing. As authors we all look for the five-star reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and on any book blog tours for which we’re signed up. The closer we get to launch date, the more nervous we get about reviews and ratings on the Advance Review Copies which have been sent out by the author or publisher. But you’ve got know that not all your reviews are going to be 5-star reviews.
Why? Because some readers just aren’t going to be into your novel. Ask any bestselling or award-winning author who’s received rave reviews from all the industry trade publications. They’ll tell you they get their fair share of 1-star and 2-star reviews on Goodreads or Amazon. Not every reader is going to absolutely, totally, love your book. And, even if they are, their 3-star rating may mean the same as another reader’s 5-star rating.
Continue reading “How To Read Your Reviews — And, Love Them”
I considered Jeanne an important part of my publication journey –keeping me sane and calm, focusing on tennis while waiting for publisher responses. So, when FHO was finally released in hardcover, I naturally gifted her a signed copy. And, when her book club agreed to read it, she asked: “Would you come to our book club discussion?”
Imagine a young woman, 26 years old, a newly married school teacher. One morning, there’s a knock on the door of the apartment she shares with her husband. It’s the FBI come to tell her that they have arrested her father. Her world shatters as she learns that the man who walked her down the aisle just 18 months before is the notorious BTK serial killer who has killed ten people– including two children — and terrorized Wichita, Kansas for more than 27 years.