How do you handle bad reviews?
A. Fight fire with fire by writing a rebuttal to the review, assuming that the reader has no taste whatsoever.
B. Write an apology letter to the reviewer for wasting their time and promise that your next book will be better.
C. Take a day to digest what was said, compare it to other reviews, and then decide if there is merit to the review.
The answer? C.
It’s never a good idea to react first and think later. This is particularly true with book reviews.
To avoid bad reviews in the future, become a stronger writer. First, read! Get a feel for the genre that you want to write in. Second, write even when you don’t feel like writing. If the book isn’t flowing, then try something to get you out of writer’s block such as writing a character profile.
You can avoid bad reviews in the future by sending your writing out to beta readers before you publish. Survey your friends and family about what they liked and didn’t like. If many people have the same complaint about a story, there’s probably some merit to it. But, if the reviews are mixed with some people loving it while others hated it, perhaps that’s a good sign. It means that you touched a nerve and got people talking, which at the end of the day is a sign of a powerful book.
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