Dealing and/or Coping With Negative Reviews

Hello my people! I hope everyone is doing well! Today, I have a blog entry about how to deal with negative reviews. Yesterday, I had the pleasure and privilege of being a part of Audra Russell’s Black Indie Author Week on a Live Instagram Video, and we had a great conversation about how to deal with negative reviews. Unfortunately, the Live Video did not save, so I thought writing blog posts about the topics we covered yesterday would help!

Now, I haven’t had many negative reviews YET in my early writing career. However, it is a part of the territory of being an indie author (any author for that matter) and it happens to all of us. But how do I deal with it? Today’s entry is almost like an advice column, and it is because many authors and/or aspiring authors follow me, but these are the questions I happen to ask myself and how I justify why those questions should be asked. Comment below how YOU deal with negative reviews, or if you are a reviewer, there’s some honesty for yo’ ass in here, too! Here we go! To deal with negative reviews, ask yourselves the following questions:

 

• Did you thank them? 

Thank and appreciate the reviewer when you are able and/or if you have the opportunity in a professional way. The individual reviewer took time to read the book, which they didn’t have to agree to doing. But after that, just leave it alone. You showing gratitude after them being so negative can honestly help them reflect on their personal, negative approach to the review and help them grow a sense of humility, especially if they aren’t writers themselves. 

 

• Is the individual a part of your target audience? 

Sometimes, we ask people to review our books who are not a part of the intended target audience, which is fine! Especially if they are a fan of the genre. However, if the person reviewing is not a part of the target audience, then their thoughts don’t outweigh the reviews of the intended audience you’ve directed your book to. Especially if the review is negative. For example, older teens who have read my novel and say that they loved it hits me in the feels much more than an adult aged 25+ would. While all reviews absolutely matter to me, the thoughts/reviews of people I intended to write for means a lot more than folks who are not.

 

• Have other honest reviewers given similar feedback as the negative reviewer?

 

If so, then that’s something in your book to take and learn from. However, if the overwhelming majority of other reviews don’t have similar feedback, take the critique with a grain of salt. Chalk it up to it being that person’s personal opinion, which it is, and keep it moving. You can’t change how someone feels and you shouldn’t want to.

 

• Did the reviewer really READ the book?

 

For example, if a negative review said something was lacking, wasn’t in the book, or should’ve been in the book, yet you can find several concrete examples right off the bat of where that thing was and can give them literal page numbers to reference, then it’s “Boy Bye,” for the reviewer. They just lost all credibility. Let that fall on them, and not you.

 

• Have you discerned the difference between bashing and constructive critique?

 

This is huge. When you are an author, and you’ve put thousands of dollars, time, energy, heart, and years into your work, and you receive a heavy handed negative review with very little positives, it can honestly get you upset. To make matters worse? Some reviewers will then take their overgrown ass to a live or create a post, talk more crap or engage in passive aggressive behavior (like saying “indie authors need to do this”), and then have the nerve to shrug their shoulders and try to soften it by saying, “Well I was honest,” or “I’m trying to help.”

Then, with their several thousand followers, everyone in the comments laughs or says they won’t read the book. Nah. That’s not what honesty or helping is. That’s actually called bullying, bad vibes, and says a whole lot about the reviewer. What’s really trash is that despite this, many people really rock with these types of reviewers because they find harsh critique and judgment entertaining. Please, please don’t internalize this.

Here’s a nugget for reviewers real quick from a reviewer myself. Show empathy. We all have been on the receiving end of getting feedback about something before. Treat critiquing a book like you would want to be treated when you’re up for a job evaluation. Or if you’re a parent on the receiving end when your child is at a parent teacher conference. If your boss or child’s teacher said, “Well I was just being honest,” after spending majority of the time ripping you or your child apart with deficit-based, heavy-handed critique when y’all may have areas of improvement, you’d feel awful.

If you take the time to read someone’s work, there are ALWAYS gems in it somewhere, just like you and/or your child exhibit positive attributes at work/school despite the areas that could use improvement. You would want those things to ALSO be recognized. Check yourselves. Especially if you’re a reviewer who has never written a book. You have no idea about the complexities of the creative process. If you don’t like the book, that’s fine. I’m not saying to NOT express that. Not everybody will like everything and authors know that, but as mentioned above, there is a way to go about expressing it. BUT… if that’s how you roll… just know you’re also giving that book more publicity and sparking curiosity among other potential readers, too. Because you expressing what you don’t like? People will try it for themselves. That’s just how human nature works.

Now authors, the way to truly discern the difference between a constructive review or a flat out negative review is that the review will almost always start out with the positives and what worked in the book. On the flip side, when it talks about the negatives, you will see language such as, “I wish I would’ve seen more of…” or “My suggestion would be to…” or “My experience reading this was…” You may see their overarching constructive critique in the structure of “positive, positive, negatives,” or “glow, glow, and grows.” You will NEVER see language that says, “This book was trash,” or “I just couldn’t get into it,” or “DNF.”

You also won’t see the review come in the form of a list of things they didn’t like with one or two positive lines at the very end, or any other deficit-based language. Don’t let this get you going. Focus on positive reviews and/or reviews with advice you can actually use. OR, trash the unwarranted parts of the review and keep the aspects of the review you can apply. Let that negative reviewer make themselves look crazy.

 

• Not a question, but finally, continue to show up for yourself and market your work because self-publishing is a BIG deal! No one else will be your biggest cheerleader other than YOU. 

 

Listen. A negative review can literally be deflating. I’m not talking about a constructive review. I’m talking about a NEGATIVE review. That’s normal, but look. You can be deflated about the review inside, but your social media presence better not show it. You can have the worst book in the world, but if you’re confident about your writing and your work, then who can tell you anything? If you don’t show up for yourself and market your book, guess what? Then everybody else will take that reviewer’s word for it because you won’t even show up for yourself. People see that. But if you show up for yourself and start winning? Then it’s like middle fingers up because as long as you winning? It don’t matter WHAT they think!

 

Hope this was helpful!! Until next time!! Comment your thoughts below!