How to Deal with a Bad Book Review
It's Not the End of the World
When you get a bad book review
You've just been notified a review of your book has been posted. You're all excited and can't wait to see what has been written. You're clicking onto your book's page when...Oh no! They hated your book! This bad review is going to turn away customers from buying your book. Wait! This isn't the end of the world. Here's 3 tips to deal when you get a bad review.
1. You can't please everyone!
Example: One of my favorite authors is a bestseller but the author didn't receive such hot customer reviews.
Another example: I was reading some book reviews and one of the books had one of the worst ratings ever. I clicked the link with curiosity to find over 20 customers had reviewed the book and loved it. In life, you can't please everyone. Will a bad review discourage future customers? On to my next tip.
2. A bad review doesn't have to mean bad profit.
Not all customers look at a bad review as their only guide to buying. In fact, if your review is so awful, they may even buy the book to see if it's really as bad as the reviewer rated it. There's the saying that curiosity killed the cat, curiosity in this case could help you. Customers also realize that everyone has different tastes. Maybe the reviewer didn't like your book, but who's to say someone different won't? It may be bad publicity, but none the less it may help you. In fact, sometimes a customer may have read the bad review but only remembers your name and or the book's title.
3. If you're getting more than one bad review.
It's understandable if you're disappointed. It's expected, but do not allow yourself to become discouraged. If you've published an e-book and can easily edit your work, bad reviews can actually help your writing. Now don't go crazy and change everything! But if reviews are constantly pin pointing on one certain area, review your work and see if and how you could improve it. I know reviewing repeatedly can be hurtful but if it can help your e-book, isn't it worth considering? Also, don't start picking apart reviews right away, give yourself time to go over them. Picking apart your reviews the moment you receive them could prove fatal to your self esteem.
You've just been notified a review of your book has been posted. You're all excited and can't wait to see what has been written. You're clicking onto your book's page when...Oh no! They hated your book! This bad review is going to turn away customers from buying your book. Wait! This isn't the end of the world. Here's 3 tips to deal when you get a bad review.
1. You can't please everyone!
Example: One of my favorite authors is a bestseller but the author didn't receive such hot customer reviews.
Another example: I was reading some book reviews and one of the books had one of the worst ratings ever. I clicked the link with curiosity to find over 20 customers had reviewed the book and loved it. In life, you can't please everyone. Will a bad review discourage future customers? On to my next tip.
2. A bad review doesn't have to mean bad profit.
Not all customers look at a bad review as their only guide to buying. In fact, if your review is so awful, they may even buy the book to see if it's really as bad as the reviewer rated it. There's the saying that curiosity killed the cat, curiosity in this case could help you. Customers also realize that everyone has different tastes. Maybe the reviewer didn't like your book, but who's to say someone different won't? It may be bad publicity, but none the less it may help you. In fact, sometimes a customer may have read the bad review but only remembers your name and or the book's title.
3. If you're getting more than one bad review.
It's understandable if you're disappointed. It's expected, but do not allow yourself to become discouraged. If you've published an e-book and can easily edit your work, bad reviews can actually help your writing. Now don't go crazy and change everything! But if reviews are constantly pin pointing on one certain area, review your work and see if and how you could improve it. I know reviewing repeatedly can be hurtful but if it can help your e-book, isn't it worth considering? Also, don't start picking apart reviews right away, give yourself time to go over them. Picking apart your reviews the moment you receive them could prove fatal to your self esteem.
Published by Laura Hickey
I wrote the children's book Mysterious Chills and Thrills that contains 10 short stories of the paranormal adventures for kids ages 6 and up. Read excerpts, reviews and order the book at http://authorlaurahi... View profile
- How To Deal with "Ice Dams" From Heavy and Melting Snow on Your RoofLiving in the Midwest can be both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, for instance might be the colorful changing of the seasons, whereas one of the curses most certainly is dealing with heavy, sometimes unpredictabl...
- Work with Unhappy Customers? Here's How to DealYou pick up the phone and greet your caller in your most polite voice, the next thing you know you're greeted with the words, "You're website is a piece of trash."
- How to Respond When Your Articles Get CriticizedThere is always a risk of getting negative comments when you write an article. Here are some thoughts on how to deal with it, without losing your cool in the process.
- How to Increase Your Credit ( FICO) Score Part ThreeA good credit score is crucial if you want to get the best rates on loans such as mortgages and car loans. Charge-offs are one of the worst things you can have on your credit report.
- Reason to Fear an Air Gun: a Review of the Movie No Country for Old MenThe Coen brothers could easily have retired, having already created their masterpiece with "Fargo." They haven't though, and we are much better because of it.
- Book Review: How to Deal with Difficult Customers
- Cynthia Voigt's Izzy Willy Nilly: A Book Review
- How To Get Into Almost Any Computer Business
- How to Avoid a Cesarean - Ten Steps to Take for a Healthy Delivery
- How to Survive Downsizing
- Book Review: Inappropriate Men
- How to Get a Good Book Review
5 Comments
Post a CommentI wish I had read this article sooner. I can tell you there is nothing more painful than a negative review. Except, perhaps, apathy from a solicited reviewer. As a self-publisher, I wear many hats: author, publisher, editor, marketer, publicist, you name it. It is very hard to edit your own work. It's not unlike an attorney trying to provide his or her own legal counsel. It's not a good idea. But sometimes, you can't help it. There are many constraints, money being one of the major ones, that would drive someone to edit their own writing. But what a pandora's box it can be. When I wrote How Oprah, Donald Trump and Jesus helped me turn a midlife crisis on its exquisite nose, and proceeded to publish it under my publishing co, The Waterfall Press, I knew it was totally perilous. I knew I was taking a huge chance sending it out to all those media outlets without first having it evaluated by an objective third party. Believe me, it is not the way I wanted to do it, but I had no choice.
Ive seen actual authors argue with reviewers before in comment sections. I feel that is the most unprofessional thing a writer could do... argue with someone who reviewed their book harshly.... then to tell them to read it again, and understand it better, and re-review... its classless...
my advice... NEVER EVER leave negative comments to negative reviews. It makes you look unporfessional, and makes customers think you should not be writing at all.
Anyhow..... .this is a great piece you have here. : )
Thank you for posting this little article about bad reviews and how to deal. It has helped me tremendously.
Getting real, I will be looking more closely. Thank you for pointing that out. I'll look into getting someone to edit my work. I hope AC is on the look out for mistakes too.
maybe you need a few more bad reviews? your articles consistently leave me wondering why you're publishing them without editing them first...