The Bad Review

All right, everyone needs to fess up. How do you feel about a bad review?

Personally, I take whatever the reader has said, mull it over in my mind, decide if there is anything I could have done differently in my book and then move on. Everyone has their opinion and I know in my heart, not everyone will like my book. It's not easy having your baby ripped apart, but all in all, most professional reviewers are good at giving you the good and the bad in their review. Reader reviews are a little more potent. They usally say what is on their mind whether it be nice or not. Honesty. It's not a bad thing. One thing I make sure to do with professional reviewers is thank them. If I get a note from a reader who absolutely hated my book, I usually don't respond. No use getting into a shouting war over something.

I have beta readers I use to give me input on things. The best beta reader is not your mother, your Aunt Sue, your neighbor next door or anyone you specifically are close to. The best beta readers are other authors or editors who will give it to you straight. Mine, hate when I make them read my piece as I'm writing. We have a love/hate relationship like that. :-) Especially when I send them something to read and it stops at a cliff-hanger moment. I usually get yelled at and told I'm a major tease. *insert evil grin here* I appreciate all they do in reading my book for me and giving me pointers on the storyline. I'm currently writing the second part to the Montana Cowboys series and I like having someone tell me, "You know you really need to look at this again. Something doesn't sound right here." Those are the things I may not want to hear, but I need to. I know I can't write a 50k book in one sitting and I'm assuming none of the authors I know can. Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it and under those circumstances, I migh have missed a plot point or went off in a direction that doesn't jive with the rest of the story. I'm a panster to the core so I can't write by outlining. It just doesn't happen for me. So thus, I need a good beta reader who knows my story from reading it and can say, "Wait, you missed this or where are you going with that."

They are invaluable to me and I appreciate each one.

See? I went off on a tangent there I hadn't planned on, but that's okay. The beta reader can help you get those glowing reviews and hopefully keep you from getting one of those bad ones. My thoughts? Shake it off and keep writing.

~ Sandy