Step away from the reviews and no one will get hurt...

Authors often struggle with bad reviews. After all, a slice of our heart and a dash of our soul are poured into every work we create. Our greatest wish is that other folk will bond with our literary baby just like we did. When readers can't get past perceived warts or blemishes it is hard not to feel a little pain. Even though it is extremely tempting to believe only the good reviews and see the bad ones as some aberration, we must rationalise that as long as a reader's response is honest we have to accept the bad if we want to also accept the good. And then sometimes, we start to trust the bad reviews and begin to question the good ones. Were people just being nice, sparing us their real opinions with their kind words? Which of course then begs the question, what is a 'real' opinion and are book analyses ever truly objective? (No). And what impact does it all have on us as writers, and on other prospective readers of our work. Some authors have become very concerned over bad reviews, suggesting reviewers have made incorrect assumptions, or missed some important thing in their reading. They've questioned the reviewer's taste, their focus, and their motives, scared that other readers will trust that review at the expense of better ones. And maybe sometimes they do. But folks, it is not our place to tell people how to read our work, or what impression or reaction they should have when they are done. Check out this smart post by Stroppy Author on a kind of related topic. You can't and don't want to stop readers coming to their own conclusions. Whether you like it or not, it's none of the author's business. The minute you, as an author, make it your business the review is tainted by your involvement. And this can get ugly. I've seen it happen. Step away from the reviews and no one will get hurt (except the author, but for us it's just part of the job description and you must find ways to manage this or change professions). 

When I contemplate the purchase of a new title I now find myself sampling a selection of reviews good and bad (trying my best to avoid spoilers along the way) and trying to decipher whether those other readers (and sometime reviewers) share my taste and my values.   My best method of trusting another reviewer is to check out how they reviewed books I have loved. If they loved them too I take a punt that we are sympathetic and I trust their judgement to help ME find books I might enjoy. You might see their reviews very differently. You might be looking for different things. That's cool. I find it very helpful if reviewers have justified their position with specific examples (although not if you haven't read the book yet - potentially very spoilery). If they rant without justification this is also informative - these kinds of reviews can make for fun reading but are less likely to give me a real feel for the quality or lack thereof in a particular book. But a gut reaction can be just as meaningful. Over time you can build patterns and find some terrific books.

The bottom line is if you don't agree with what a reader has said in their review, this does NOT mean they are wrong. The biggest mystery to me is writers I love, who praise other writers whose writing is just not in the same league. And then you begin to question their impartiality. Which opens up the whole impartial worms can. It's a big can. I'm not sure anyone can ever be truly impartial. Everyone has an agenda, whether it's to support their writer friends, further their own reviewing career, or vent from their soapbox. Wondering about motives can mess with your head. DON'T do it! DO be as honest as you can be in your own reviews. DON'T review books you haven't read. DO respect the opinions of others. If you can, it can be helpful if you can justify your position/opinion - this can be a good way to develop your own reviewing skills. But folks at the end of the day your gut reaction/visceral response alone IS enough. I saw Iron Man 3 recently. I wanted to love it but I didn't feel the same level of satisfaction I felt after watching The Avengers or Dark Knight Rises. I enjoyed the movie but that ultimate gut satisfaction just wasn't there. You can't pretend that reaction. And the books that leave you with that profound sense of satisfaction, or that move you or transform you - they are the ones you should rave about. And you want to be free to say whether they do or don't, don't you?

I don't mind what you say as long as you talk about me...

I have been following this story with interest. The story of how a bad review revealed something very interesting about an author and her fans. It is instructive on how not to behave if you get a bad review. Justine Larbalestier has been writing a series of posts on the topic of handling reviews: good, bad and indifferent, and they are full of good advice. Start here and work forward (there is an earlier post called 'What to do about cranky authors'but it is quite far back - check out the 'recent posts' column).

But author Larbalestier has also explained why bad reviews really ain't that bad. Read that explanation here. I am still too green to feel anything but stung when a reviewer dislikes my writing. After all I am not trying to write bad stuff that someone will hate. But as Larbalestier says, getting reviewed at all means someone is reading your book and feeling strongly enough about it to tell others. That is a good sign. Sometimes when I look at the reviews of the bestsellers (50 Shades anyone??) I am a) amazed that they are all talking about the same book and b) I am struck by the fact that sales don't seem that influenced by the number of stars on the reviews. What seems to count is just the sheer volume of discussion about the book. The more people talking about it the more people want to check it out for themselves. No surprises there really I guess but there are no guaranteed pathways to getting enough people to talk about your book. That is the dilemma that everyone in the book industry wants to crack (like Fermat's Theorem or finding a unified theory for everything in the Universe).

So when people unexpectedly talk about my books, especially in a very public forum I can't help but feel excited. Yesterday on National Radio they were discussing my book/app The House That Went to Sea (at around 3.15pm I think). They were saying some nice things about it and discussing the model of having the book complement the app and vice versa physically and in sales. Colour me happy indeed.

I also received a selection of cover designs from the publisher for the new novel - even though I have been working on this for so long it all feels like its happening so fast now that we are getting to the sharp end of the process. The cover, blurb, tagline decisions are thrilling. Of course now the pressure is on to go through the Editors revisions ASAP. I have also had some roughs (b&w and colour of one spread) for the next picture book. They are completely different to my other books and I can't wait to see more. It is all go in the muppet labs!!

And just in case you need a good laugh go check out this GIF about the business of being a writer over at Nathan Bransford's blog. This is the funniest thing I've seen in ages. That's me running the hurdles!!