Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Thoughts on Instant Karma & My First Bad Review


Instant karma's a bitch. Yesterday a friend in my Facebook writer group started a discussion.  She was feeling down after a negative critique.  It had sapped her motivation to write and made her doubt herself.  I pondered the subject then imparted some rather trite and pompous (in retrospect) advice about not taking criticism too personally and learning what she could from it. It wasn't terribly helpful and truth be told I handle criticism worse than just about anyone I know, so I really should have kept my mouth shut.  Karmically speaking, it was an invitation for the Universe to smite me.  And smite me it did in short order.

I logged off, went to Goodreads, and immediately read my first really bad review since I published three months ago. I had gotten some ambivalent reviews before, but nothing truly bad. This one was bad.

The first thing I saw was two stars. My brain imploded.  Jesus! Oh no! Oh God, no! Not that. Two!  Two!!! Aargh!  I closed my eyes Tupperware tight and took a deep breath.  I opened one very slowly. It was still there. Two stars.  After I purged a week's worth of meals and cracked open a Corona, I logged back onto Facebook and shared the ironic timing. The conversation that ensued was half wise, half hilarious. Thought you might enjoy reading it. 


(The times are off because I worked on the graphics am and pm. Condensed entries.)


Before I read THE REVIEW:




After I read THE REVIEW:



I was so thankful to have these wonderful writers to talk me down and make light of this painful rite of passage. I've always known my time was coming sooner or later.  But I had gotten comfortable since readers had generally seemed to like my book up to this point.

Now I'm going to practice what I preached to Charlotte. Learn what I can from the review and move on. But damn, it hurts. It really, really does.


11 comments:

  1. My sense is that that anonymity of the internet, and the widespread access it grants, has resulted in more, meaner, reviews. There is little check and balance on review content, no widely promulgated standard of responsibility, and some review sites take it a step further, seeming to delight in their sarcasm and nastiness.

    This is sad, and a loss to the writing and reading community as a whole. One can be critical without being mean, direct without being destructive. We seem to be losing sight of that, which is a slap in the face not just to authors, but to all the reviewers whose view of their job includes civility and a constructive ethic.

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    1. I agree with you about mean anonymous reviews, Grace. In this instance, however, it was a blogger to whom I had sent my book with a review request. The review was more dismissive than mean. It was just my first truly negative one, so I took it to heart. This entire process of writing a novel has given me so many unexpected gifts. Chief among them friendships with people I never would have known. I need to focus on the positive and take my own advice!

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  2. Honestly, I think sometimes it's someone who purposely wants to be mean, or a jealous author or a friend of another author of a b ook like yours. I had one for one of my ghost books that said this was not here, etc.. in the book and not like they said. I even had one write my publisher, with wrong stuff.
    I had an author friend send me an email, upset, as someone on Amazon wrote a review that pages were missing and all. The publisher told her to let the reader know to send them the book and they would replace it for free. Of course, that reader never sent them anything. Had they even read her book? I am learning to let these reviews go over my head. If I think too much on it, I would go crazy. But this is what we have with the common man reviewing--not the same as those who review for a living.

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    1. Yes, I've heard a lot of horror stories. It is disheartening. With the really mean ones, I wonder if the reviewers ever think about how it will impact the drinker, errrr, I mean author. I will do my best to take your advice.

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  3. I hear you. I still don't like super negative reviews and I have some real stinkers, but life goes on. Lump it under the shit happens category. Also, beware of the trolls.

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    1. Definitely going to file it under shit happens. What are trolls?

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  5. Kate, something else to remember and people don't talk about this much. You can also get a bad review from someone trying to make your book look bad so their own book will look better. Those are the ones that tinkle in my cornflakes and make me foot stomping mad. Not everyone is going to like your book, and that's a fact. If you really want to feel better go look at the top selling books and check out all their *1 reviews. Always a seat for every butt! Much love!

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    1. Much love back atcha! I love our fb writer group and you're one of the reasons why. You know so much technical stuff! Things I had absolutely no clue about. I'm so glad Charlotte invited me... :)

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  6. Hi, Kate -- I feel and share your pain. My first truly bad review was a one-er (yes, a "one"!). I was sleepless for a few nights after that. To make it worse, the reviewer added a spoiler in her drivel. (At least I'm convinced her remarks were drivel.) :-) Yes, I agree, we can all learn from constructive criticism, but nasty rants don't help anyone. I've decided to follow some advice from a friend who told me to just not read them. So far, ignorance is bliss.

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  7. Thanks, Leah. Good advice! I think I'll follow it. Or maybe ask my husband to pre-screen to see if there's anything constructive to be found within.

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