I want to dedicate this inspirational Monday blog and offer lots of hugs to my fellow writers with Siren Publishing who have all been so positive/caring/helpful/insightful/encouraging/supportive - even to virtually slapping my face and telling me it’s happened and to pick myself up.
The reason why? Because I noticed on Saturday that my latest book had got a rating of just 1 on the publisher’s website from a reader. This seriously dented my ego – everything seemed to be going so well to that point. It even seemed to dry up sales briefly! However, I can’t blame readers for being put off buying a book that has a poor rating – I would be put off!!!
The problem is I don’t know what the reason for the poor rating is so don’t know if they feel it is badly written or just not what they were expecting. But I also have to remember that we can’t please everyone all the time – what story suits one person another may hate. In retrospect I also have to accept that if we are going to make our stories public then I have to accept that people are entitled to their opinions, whatever they are.
I’ve had lots of messages from my lovely fellow writers telling me all sorts of stories about reviews they’ve had – some quite nasty ones in some cases. And some unintentionally funny like one writer who said that she had a review once where the reader told her they were disappointed with it and there was too much about the stupid people and their boring story!?!
There were also some very helpful comments like the one writer who had been to a workshop about dealing with bad reviews and was told that you need 7 ‘touches’ for a reader to remember your name and that a bad review can count as one of them.
So to finish, thank you to all my wonderful fellow Siren authors - I am so glad to be part of a publishing house that is so supportive. And I will now pick myself up and continue writing hoping that other readers like my stories (in fact since composing this email I have had three lovely readers who rated it a 5!!! And I am pleased to note sales have picked up again. So whoever you are hugs to you too).
Hugs to all (I was actually looking for a group hug picture but found this one particularly inspiring!)
Jennifer
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I'm glad you didn't take it to heart. Leslie put it best: "Here's what you need to do about bad reviews -- eagerly look FORWARD to it. Because then you can proudly say, "I am a professional author!" And then ignore it and move on." Those words made me feel pretty good.
ReplyDelete~Rose Anderson
Hugs back to you, Jennifer! It's hard enough to get up the nerve to put your work out there for all to see, but we keep doing it because we love to write. As my Muse told me the other night, "Honey, you write first and foremost for YOU. Whether the sales are there right off or not, doesn't matter. You've realized your dream. You are a PUBLISHED AUTHOR!" Gotta love that man!
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