No one writes a book hoping everyone will hate it. At least, I’m 99% positive on that. But what does a bad review do to an author’s spirits? When Destined to Fail went on sale in October, I was truly petrified. I remember when the first review popped up on Amazon. Four stars. Good review. Reader connected with the book. I cried. Of course I cried. Years of hard work and determination and endless typing and editing and frustrations over characters and scenes and nightmares of red pens had all culminated to that moment. My book was being read and getting reviews.
The next five reviews on Amazon were all four stars. Then reviews started going up on GoodReads. Four stars. A five star! (Yes, I nearly fell over when I saw my first five star rating.) Book bloggers were posting their reviews, and the feedback was overwhelmingly good. While I was ecstatic about this, I knew a bad review was out there lurking. It had to be. I never expected everyone to love or even like my book. It just wouldn’t be possible.
Then came the two star. A short little blurb on Amazon that said there were too many heavy topics and my main character was “contradictory.” Not much more was said – only six lines, so I really didn’t know what to take away from the review. It wasn’t really constructive feedback in my opinion, because it was so short and didn’t explain why they thought this. But hey, that’s okay. And you know what? It really was okay. I honestly expected myself to have a meltdown when the first “bad” review came in. I thought I would cry and yell and tell myself I would never write again (okay, maybe not that last one, but you see what I mean). But…I didn’t. I was strangely calm. So strangely calm I wondered if perhaps I was getting sick. Or if I didn’t read the review properly. Or something – anything!
I think I had prepared myself enough that when a negative review was posted, I knew it was coming. It’s a part of life for people to disagree with others and not like everything, even if others do. And another thing – I realize that my book has some pretty controversial subjects in there. It’s not light, it’s not fluff. Serious issues are spoken about, serious decisions are made by the characters. If everyone had a positive reaction to the book, I would think something was seriously weird.
I won’t mind if people give their feedback saying it wasn’t their cup of tea, or they didn’t expect something with a pink cover to be so serious. I will also be happy if people have a strong reaction to the book, whether good or bad. Even if it is bad, it means my story said something to them. It touched them in some way. I have read books before that I didn’t particularly enjoy, but some of those same books have characters that haunt me. That I can’t help but tell everyone about. Because I want others to read it and let me know what they think. If some readers have this reaction, great. Maybe it will get more people to read Destined to Fail and they will enjoy it. Who knows?
I will never be able to write a book that is aimed just at pleasing people. Who can? I want to write what I want to write, and I will do just that. Some books might be deeper women’s fiction. Some might be lighter chick lit. I have on my writer’s bucket list (post about this to come soon) to write a mystery and a book with a magical element.
My journey as an author has only just begun. Feedback, reviews, and ratings will always be there. Whether positive, negative, or just in between, I will embrace the comments and enjoy knowing that my book is being read. Because no one writes a book without wanting readers.
December 29, 2011
