Member-only story
How to Make the Most of Your Negative Reviews
I’ve noticed that people within the traditional publishing industry — authors, agents, editors — tend to advise authors to refrain from reading negative reviews of their books. I’ve read a lot of articles/interviews with professionals in trad pub that have said this so I am not making it up — and I get it. These authors have book deals. Their books are in Waterstones and Barnes & Noble. They’ve made it. The negative reviews will only taint the good times they’ve worked so hard for. A lot of people in indie publishing may say the same to self-published authors. In fact, many do.
I actually re-read my negative reviews more times than I re-read the glowing ones 4- and 5-star ones — in fact, I don’t re-read the good ones anymore. Back when I first started self-publishing, 5-star ratings that were posted without reviews used to make me sigh and think, “I wish they’d written something; I could have put it in my book description!” Now, when 1- or 2-star ratings are posted without reviews, I’m more like, “I wish they’d written why they hated my book; I could have learned something.”
I’m not saying they should — y’all know that I don’t think readers owe authors reviews — but I just can’t help wish that they had said something. It’s natural.
That’s not to say that you should follow my lead and devour the negative reviews —…
