How do you deal with bad reviews?

How do you handle scathing reviews?

  • Ignore them.

    Votes: 5 11.6%
  • Ignore them mostly....unless they have a point.

    Votes: 19 44.2%
  • Send the reviewer an "I hate you" e-mail.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Meh, it never really bothers me.

    Votes: 5 11.6%
  • Chocolate. A lot of chocolate.

    Votes: 6 14.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 8 18.6%

  • Total voters
    43
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Sirion

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I've been thinking about this a lot lately, ever since I became addicted to Amazon.com reviews. Yes, it's a bad habit, I know. After that I started looking up professional reviews of books, and have found out there is only one undeniable truth to writing:

Someone will hate your book. Someone, somewhere, will hate everything you've written with a passion. It's inevitable.

I suppose bad reviews aren't the end of the world, but then there are reviews like these that just seem like they were over the top:
"(Dan Brown is the) worst prose stylists in the history of literature...the writing is not just bad; it is staggeringly, clumsily, thoughtlessly, almost ingeniously bad." - Geoffrey Pullum on the Da Vinci Code
After trying valiantly to get past the first chapters (of Twilight), all I can say at this point is "WOW." What a load of grammatically incoherent, sexually repressed, Mormo-Victorian manipulation. I tried to pull my hair out after the first chapter, the syntax was so perplexing. - Eric Vogeler

(Stephen King is) a writer of penny dreadfuls...but perhaps even that is too kind. He shares nothing with Edgar Allen Poe What he is is an immensely inadequate writer on a sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph, book-by-book basis." - Richard Snyder

Yes, yes, I know. Easy targets, and there are plenty of worse reviews out there. But you get the point.

From big named writers to the newly published, authors love their books. They pour their heart and soul into them. It has to feel horrible when someone rips them apart.

How do you deal with scathing reviews? Have you ever had one? Do you tend to just ignore them as hard as you possibly can?
 
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pepperlandgirl

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You just got to say "fuck 'em" and keep working. Even when it genuinely stings and you don't want to keep working, you pretend you don't care. And you fake it until you make it, and one day, you realize that you genuinely don't care.
 

StephanieWeippert

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I cry onto my loving boyfriend's shoulder until I feel better. He tells me how great I am, how much he loves the stuff I write, how he knows very well that I'll get published, etc. until I feel better and sit down at my keyboard and start writing again.
I so love that man.
 
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gothicangel

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I read them get depressed; then angry; then when I've calmed down I re-read them to see if I can learn anything from them.
 

NeuroFizz

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There is a difference between a bad review and a harsh review. The former tends to be vague and vindictive. The latter makes some valid points, even though it may not be very kind in its tone. For example, if one reads Da Vinci Code or Twilight with an eye for a mastery of the writing craft, the reviewers cited in the OP are correct (in the opinion of many writers here and elsewhere). But if those same two stories are evaluated based on their target audience-specific storytelling, they hit home runs, which is why they are/were such good sellers.

A bad review just has to be discarded, both practically and emotionally. Writing is very subjective and that won't change. A harsh review, on the other hand, contains learning potential. It should be dissected and carefully analyzed to see if it points to some real shortcomings in one's writing method and writing style. Constructive criticism, even if poorly presented, should be viewed as an excellent opportunity for improvement. And that attitude requires that we put our martyrdom and our ego where they belong--as far away from our writing desk as possible.

I find it strange that the poll emphasizes choices that suggest the authors are being victimized. There is a enormous amount of crap out there being tossed to reviewers, and when a reviewer calls crap out as crap, the author shouldn't be patted on the head and told to eat chocolate and plot ways to get even. That author should be told to sit down, pay attention to the reviewer's comments, and do something about it. Otherwise, that author will continue to churn out the same crap time and time again, and likely get in the habit of pushing all blame for bad reviews off on the reviewers.
 
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Sirion

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I find it strange that the poll emphasizes choices that suggest the authors are being victimized.

The thread is about how authors handle scathing reviews, not if the reviews are right. It is directed to the authors who write the books, not the people who review them.

Things such as Dan Brown being the "worst prose stylists in the history of literature" is just an exaggerated example. The reviewer who wrote it is obviously over-the-top.
 
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BlueLucario

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Depends. If every review was a one star review.

...I would never write again.
 

Claudia Gray

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Honestly, I ignore them now. When I read them at the beginning, they would sometimes have a point -- but sometimes they wouldn't, and even when they did, it was never something that I didn't already know I wanted to work on more. So reading them was a lot of psychological wear-and-tear that wasn't actually teaching me much. Not to say I don't listen to criticism -- I do -- but I listen to my agent, my editor and the beta readers I've found (who are, to a woman, willing to be as harsh as necessary). That's more constructive overall.

Besides, reviews are not critiques for an author's use. They are critiques for readers' use. Those are two very different things.
 
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maestrowork

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I ignore them. Like Claudia, I read them before and most often they didn't have a point or they got it all wrong. In one review, I even doubt the reviewer read the whole thing. And I have to realize it's just one person's opinion, and this person happens to not like it.

As an artist, I think we need to have thick skin and know that we can't please everyone. Yeah, we'd love every review to be glowing and positive, but life doesn't work that way. If a review is sincere and has a point, we may try to figure out why that person didn't like it and reflect on that -- but nothing more. Didn't have to kill yourself over someone's opinion. Nope.

Some critics are nasty just to be nasty -- that's their thing. I have been writing movie reviews for a few years now and I know some movie critics only focus on the negative -- that's what "critique" is about for them. Personally, I think everyone should deserve at least some kudos (yes, even Dan Brown! :) ). I never understand critics who give a film or a book 1/2 star -- was it really that bad? If Stephen Spielberg listened to and stressed over every review he's received, he wouldn't be where he is now.

For our own artistic integrity, don't put too much emotion into a bad review. Hey, at least you get one, in a major publication no less! You have arrived, baby!

Focus on the critiques from your beta readers, your agents, your editors, and your fans. They have more value than a review from some random person whose job may be to just rip things apart. If true Star Wars fans rip on Phantom Menace, you know something wasn't right.
 
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Ken

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... I self-pub'd a little work several years back. One person who picked it up at a bookshop gave a mixed review of it on her political-leaning website. I wrote to her thanking her for picking up the zine and offering to send her a copy of the publication I was writing for at the time which was a source of some of the material in the zine. She didn't get back to me, and shortly took down the review from the web. I told my editor about it and he said that reviews, whether good or bad, are valuable, because it means that people are paying attention to the work.
 

willietheshakes

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Gin. Straight from the freezer.

Actually, I read them fairly carefully -- if the reviewer has genuinely read the work, and didn't connect, or found that it didn't work, maybe I can figure out why.

Sometimes there's a very clear agenda, which can be discerned fairly quickly, which can take some of the sting out. I've had a couple of those.

And some are SO obviously written by people who haven't even given the book a fair shot that they can be dismissed almost entirely.

I do have one negative review of BIW, though, which I had to print out: it was SO vitriolic, it was virtually unhinged. It made me wonder what I had done to piss the reviewer off personally -- kill her dog? Sleep with her sister? It was THAT bad.

It makes me smile, just thinking about it. But that might be the gin.
 

popmuze

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If a book gets a lot of reviews, it's easier to take the good with the bad. You can even laugh at the ones that just summarized the press release.

If your first and only review is bad or mixed, no matter how much you try to personally discount it (or learn from it) the results to the book's sales (and the motivation of the publisher and the publicist to keep pushing it) can be devastating.

I got a mixed review from Variety for one of my books...with all the negative stuff in the first paragraph and lots of positive stuff below the fold. In fact, I even used the quotes from the review in future press releases. But as soon as the Variety review came out (on the book's pub date) the air seem to go right out of the publicity department.

I had visions of using the Variety momentum to get space in Entertainment Weekly, Time, People, etc. But nothing else ever materialized.

A got a bunch of good reviews several months down the line, but as far as reviews, if you don't get them early and often, the book will be returned from Barnes & Noble before the other reviews are even out.

(I got another negative review once for a different book that said "This isn't so much a book as a database." This review got picked by a syndicate, so I wound up receiving it in the mail from the publicist about a dozen times. I did take it to heart, however, and I turned my next book into an actual database.

Don't get me started....
 

Wayne K

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If I get a bad review I'm going to hunt the person down like a dog...
 

Lauri B

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THe only thing I look for in a review is a clippable blurb I can use in promotion. That's all they are good for.
 

Lauri B

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You don't find they affect sales? Promotion? Other publications reviewing the book?

I write for the children's nonfiction market--there are only so many publications that cover it, so they usually get reviewed as a matter of course. When I had a great review in the NY Times Book Review for one of my books, that really affected sales because people who didn't usually buy children's nonfiction decided to give it a whirl, but in general, the market I write for is fairly slow and steady.

The point I was trying to make (and doing it poorly, obviously), is that when you get a review, consider it only as useful as you can make it. For me, they are useful to put on the back of the next book, or have the publisher pitch it to another media outlet. Otherwise, I don't worry about them.

As far as making lemonade out of lemons, you never have to use the whole review for promotion. When one of my books got that review in the NYTimes, the only thing I took from it was, "a fascinating gem of a book." That and the publication's name was all the publisher needed to promote the hell out of the book, and it paid off.

Really, what's more important than what the review says is where the review appeared. An ambivalent review in Variety is way, way better than a good review in the Pennysaver, or even on Amazon, because Variety has a perceived value that is higher than a customer review on Amazon.
 

rugcat

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Some critics are nasty just to be nasty -- that's their thing.
I think you find more of that on blog reviews than on respectable, or even semi-respectable review sites and venues.

I don't like bad reviews -- I want everyone to love my books. I've been lucky -- most reviews have ranged from positive to very positive, but there have been a few nasty ones thrown in the mix, again, mostly from blogs.

I don't mind bad reviews that echo an honest opinion of the writing from a critic -- if someone says they find the pace of the book too slow, or they find the mc unappealing, that's their opinion, and for them it's valid. That may not be how I see it, but not everyone is going to like your work.

But you can't let those reviews affect you. If you do, you're liable to alter your writing style to counter those criticisms, and that's a sure path to inferior work.

Gratuitous cheap shots do really piss me off, though. "This author clearly can't write as well as he thinks he can" type of comment. I think of it sort of like someone who cuts you off in traffic and then gives you the finger -- momentarily enraging, but not worth much thought after the moment.
 

Tanya Egan Gibson

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The reviews for my upcoming book (trade reviews and reviews from people who have the ARC) have been mixed so far -- some people really like it and some really don't. Some of the mixed ones that are snarky are extremely funny and clever (there's one on Amazon right now called "Ten Reasons This Book Wants to be a TV show").

Here's the thing: while I love my book, it would be presumptuous for me to expect that EVERYBODY else will. For me, trying to keep a sense of perspective helps: it's a book -- not a child or spouse or cure for a disease or prescription for world peace. And (almost) always, a sense of humor.
 

Sunnyside

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One of my first reviews out of the gate was from Publisher's Weekly, who called me "unsophisticated," followed up by Kirkus who called me (oddly) "breezy" but "solid." That resulted in panicked phone calls to my editor and to my agent, who each allowed me exactly one day to sulk and then snap out of it. For a fat guy, I have thin skin, but I got over it.

So yeah, those bad reviews sting -- but that makes the good ones (Hi, NY Times!) all the sweeter. Plus, you get to make like a Marvel supervillain and rub your hands in delight at how you Proved Those Naysayers Wrong. Or something.

Let me quote the subject of my book here, then, for some sage advice (even though he never really followed it):


"I have no allies among the scribblers for the periodical press. . . . However, as I do not read criticism good or bad, I am out of the reach of attack. If my writings are worth any thing they will out live temporary criticism; if not they are not worth caring about."​
--Washington Irving, 1824​
 

Romantic Heretic

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I tell myself "I can't please everybody" and keep on going.

The worst review I ever got was from a reviewer who mistook the fictional situation for a real one and lambasted me for placing the main character in it. :Wha:
 

maestrowork

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I got a "meh" review from Publisher Weekly and I got a bit miffed, but my publisher and dear friends on AW sort of put everything in perspective.

a) look, I was reviewed by PW. First book, too. I have arrived.

b) there's always something that you can use... blah blah blah... hey, it says it's nostalgic. That's good enough, so here goes the PW blurb: "The Pacific Between is nostalgic." :)

c) they do make the good reviews so much sweeter.


Not to mention being reviewed -- whether it's good or bad -- means you're better positioned to enter the market. Some libraries and stores noticed that my book was reviewed and mentioned by PW, Foreword, etc. and that's good enough for them. Having a trade review is very important. So I have to have some perspective. Dan Brown probably have quite a number of scathing reviews, but guess what, 3000 people reviewed his book -- that means he is some hot shot!
 

illiterwrite

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I go straight for the wine. I skim every review with my eyes half-shut, letting only key words stand out. Usually I can figure out if the review is good or bad from that, and then I read the full. I find that negative reviews are usually balanced by good things that are happening or about to happen, so that takes away some of the sting. Really it boils down to one person's opinion, though that doesn't make me feel better if a review is printed in a serious, national paper with one of the highest circulations in the country. ;) I don't mind if the review has some criticism -- in fact, I kind of welcome that, because I can learn for the next book. I've only ever had one seriously awful review (with book 1), and it was apparent that the reviewer had no interest in my kind of book anyway. He had nothing good to say about any aspect of the book.

That said, NOT being reviewed is worse.
 
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