Bad Demons: Overcoming Your First Bad Review

Bad Demons: Overcoming Your First Bad Review

No one likes to be told that the masterpiece they poured blood, sweat, and tears into is flawed.

Even if you have prepared yourself for your first bad review, when it finally plants itself on your Amazon or Goodreads page, it will still sting a bit. It may leave you questioning everything about becoming a writer, or worse, cause you to give up writing altogether.

But a bad review should never be the end of a story. 

As all artists experience, using your God-given talents to create something you think is wonderful does not mean that everyone will find it extraordinary. In fact, no matter how much effort you've put into it, there will always be those few individuals that would rather hurl insults than offer anything of value. Trolls, as the some call them, are just looking to draw everyone into their pits of despair. Self-absorbed hacks who's only goal is to take down authors with a swipe of a keystroke. Ignore them, they will only annoy you. 

But the others, the real audience, those we artists intend to market to, they are the ones to listen to. When a legitimate reader plops a crater of a review on your page, take a moment to breathe out the bad demons. They could be just the thing to help you take your book to the next level, even if they could use a lesson in tact.

The truth it, how we respond to that first bad review can either ruin us, or cause us to become a stronger writer.

Rather than erupting like a volcano, asking pointless questions like "Can they actually read prose or is their literary capacity limited to social media posting?" or spewing lava about how they should actually read the book before judging it, perhaps we should be considering the fact that these revelations of relativity can bring about something productive! 

 After the shock and the anger wears off, none of which can actually produce any positive change, comes the real questions that we must actually bring ourselves to answer. What do I need to change to make my book better? Is there something that I'm failing to see that others can?

Bad reviews (in small numbers) are actually healthy for a growing author. While there is no way we can ever please the multitude of personalities and preferences out there, using the criticism to hone our craft can actually be like an adrenaline shot to the creative heart that lives within us. If the reviews are founded, use those opportunities to read them carefully, and consider making small changes to make your masterpiece even more palatable for your audience. 

For my first novel The Watcher Key, the first bad review I got was from an individual on Amazon Kindle Unlimited who seemed to make it his personal goal to review as many first-time novelists as he could, most of which in his examination he spent no more than thirty pages assessing. In my case, he believed my writing style was "too far verbose" and the first chapters did not produce a plot quickly enough. 

I stewed over these words for weeks, justifying to myself all the reasons I should not have to change my approach for book two of the series, The Watcher Tower, which is still being written.

When I finally dragged myself out of the swamp of self-pity, I began to see my bad reviewer in a more positive light. Not only had he kept me from getting too comfortable with my apparent success, he had now given me all the fuel I needed to take my second novel to a new level. 

Now, as readers order my book and leave a review, I think of them all as potential bad reviews. I have learned to accept criticism for my writing, and even embrace it. Why? Because I would rather feel the sting of criticism now and grow because of it than to allow stubbornness or ignorance to hinder creating something really great. 

You too, can use bad reviews to make your writing better. Take all criticism with a grain of salt, however, and learn to discern what you can use and what you need to ignore. Make a list of items you think could improve your book, and choose a few respectable readers to make suggestions for you. Goodreads is a great place to find friends in your genre who will review your book for free. You will need to send them a free book of course, or provide a PDF version and allow them plenty of time to provide positive feedback. Who knows? Perhaps by asking for book reviews you may also be marketing as well!

I leave you with the words of Norman Vincent Peale, who said: 

"The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism."