How to Deal With Reviews
All right- here is a small soap box I am stepping onto. This has been said before, but I will repeat it again. Reviews are for readers!
That’s right. I said it. As a reader, I very rarely look at specific reviews of a book I want to read. I may look at the percentage, yes—how many reviews compared to the average score—but I don’t usually look at a particular review for a few reasons:
1- I don’t want someone’s response to a book to affect my own experience
2- reviews are highly subjective
3- unless I know a particular person’s reading interests are similar to mine, our reading experience of a book might be quite different
AND THAT’S OKAY!
Now, after I have finished a book, there are times that I will look at reviews then. Maybe I still haven’t decided how I feel exactly or it is book one of a series and I haven’t decided if I should keep going or stop there. Then I will go check out some reviews that look helpful and had the same star rating that I considered for the book.
All that to say—that’s as a reader—from a reader’s POV.
As an author, who wrote a book, sent it out to the world, I know very well that all the above will come into play for readers of my book too. Some will think it is too slow. Some will read it in two days. Others will think there isn’t enough plot. Not enough romance. Not enough…. it is the reality of sharing your work with a wider audience.
Now, initially the idea of sharing my book beyond the small group of people who I trusted with my words and story was probably the second scariest part of this venture (second to marketing which, as you may have noticed, I haven’t written a post on yet).
That’s not to say that I haven’t been curious about reviews. I accidentally saw a negative one come across from the ARC’s because I didn’t know how they were shared yet. And for that brief moment after reading, I felt that pang of imposter syndrome desperately trying to grasp hold. That self doubt attempted to tell me to give up before I finished. All of the self-consciousness began to plague my mind.
Then a positive review came in, I read it, and I felt better. Then I closed the web browser and reminded myself of my plan.
What plan, you might ask?
Well, I am going to protect myself. Not only because I have a second book to finish editing, but because I don’t want to be influenced in any positive or negative way to detour from the story I am meant to tell. So, I have a few trusted individuals (some who have offered, others who I have requested) to read the reviews and they will filter to me the one’s that will cheer me on as I continue to write. The second book. The next book after that. And so on…
It’s to protect myself, my mental health, and my stories.
Seems simple enough, right? So if you ever need someone like that, just know that I will gladly do that for you too. Because we all need to find ways to protect and care for ourselves when it comes to sharing our creations with the world.
The second part to my plan- Have a reader, writer, and close confidant be my review filters. Why all three?
A writer might see a review differently and it might be helpful (even if not a positive review) and worded well to help me grow
A reader will be able to see something from a reader’s POV that is positive or constructive assistance
A close confidant will protect you and want to share all the good things all the time and usually will be the perfect one to go to when the doubt starts to slip in.
Not that I’m recommending having these people read reviews daily or even weekly. But every now and then when you might need a pick me up or a little motivation to keep on going!
Hope you find this helpful! Now go out there and keep on writing!
