Posts in the "Dealing with reviews" Category

• Word of Mouth 2.0: This Time It’s Personal

  Dealing with reviews

  Even using the term “reviews” is ambiguous nowadays. There’s no longer a No Man’s Land between the opinion of the average reader and that of the professional reviewer. There’s a million ways in which reviews have become personal; the line between reviews and word of mouth is unclear at best nowadays. The Internet offers opinions on demand, and sometimes those opinions hurt.

  In this context, I’m excited about seeing how a Thomas Roche book fares in today’s opinion-market. I got fuck-all for reviews back in the day, when I, you know, published books and stuff. I’ve had about ten books published under my own name, and I think I’ve gotten fewer than ten reviews in published sources.

  First-time authors expecting dozens of reviews may wish to know this. At least in my experiences, reviews in publications don’t just happen; they happen more often than not because a publicist makes them happen, or because one’s last book got sufficient “buzz.”

  I never wrote or edited the same thing from year to year long enough to get any “buzz” at all, really, which I think contributed to my lack of reviews. And since all of my books came out before the entirety of human culture migrated by truck from the page to the internet — so they were more or less before the go-to place for reviews was the reader who posts her or his opinions online, rather than zines, magazines, and “online zines,” as we charmingly called them back then (most of you were probably in diapers). The world of “reviews” today is so different than it was ten years ago that it’s almost incomprehensible. Whereas reviews used to be (mostly) generated by a small group of readers, they’re now generated by all readers. Any reader can be a reviewer, with just a few keystrokes. But are “reviews” on social networking platforms like Good Reads or in stores like Amazon really “reviews?” (more…)

  Read More...

• Listening to the Outside Voices

  Dealing with reviews

  Our topic this week: Dealing with reviews.
  Which means I had to go out and actually read mine. I felt awful, because I was really looking forward to getting book reviews. After having to ask nicely and ply my friends with beer to read my stories and tell me what they hated about it, to have spontaneous feedback?   I was excited.   Plus, one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to start caring what other people think.

  But first I got distracted by… I don’t know… shiny objects, probably… and then I got a bit terrified of what readers would say. Then I started having lurid nightmares of all the flamingly evil reviews I wrote as a teenager, before it occurred to me that actual people write these books I read.   (Although I maintain that a sushi cookbook that includes peanut butter and jelly in its ingredient list gets all the troll venom what it deserves.) (more…)

  Read More...

• Opinions and A$$holes – Everybody’s Got One (Or a Bad Case of Sepsis)

  Dealing with reviews

  Southern Gods is my first novel. It comes out – in an ever changing release date – on July 28. For now, at least. Tomorrow Amazon might send out a email that it’s already been released. So, as I write this, I’ve never truly had a review.

  I’ve had people read and critique my book(s), and that can be unpleasant sometimes, but usually not. And I don’t think critiques count, because as an author you want them to be harsh, or, at least, intensely truthful.

  How will I deal with poor reviews? Will I rant and rage and gnash my teeth? Yeah, most likely. Will I respond in a vitriol filled diatribe on my blog or some other public forum? Oh, jeez. I truly hope not. I’m not saying that’s beyond me – I think that kind of lashing out, well, everyone is capable of it in some way but most people have more sense. I’ve proven before that I can be stupid that way. I hope I have more sense, now. (more…)

  Read More...

• Why Do We Focus on the Negative?

  Dealing with reviews

  Some people say they don’t look at reviews. Others try not to look at them, and eventually succumb. Not only am I not going to lie and say I’m one of those people, I fully admit that I embrace reviews. At least I did in the beginning…

  I’ve been at this a while. Roughly ten years. And let me tell you, feedback in this business is hard to come by, especially if you’re working your way up through short stories, which is the path I took. At first, when you start sending out your work, all you get are stock rejections, and sometimes not even that. Sometimes your rejection is no rejection. (That, let me tell you, is some pretty infuriating stuff.) Eventually, you start getting a bit of feedback along with the rejection. You get some nice “this was close, but no dice this time” comments. And it’s heartening. You feel like you’re making some progress. Although this is valid feedback, it’s not the thing you’re really looking for. You’re looking for feedback from readers. You know, independent verification, and yes, validation, of your work. At least that’s what I’m looking for.

  I want to share my stories, and part of sharing is hearing what people think.

  (more…)

  Read More...

• Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar

  Dealing with reviews

  And sometimes it isn’t. That’s the magic of dreams, literature, and art.

  To be honest, I’m not sure what I can add to this subject that hasn’t already been outlined quite well by Martha. (Seriously great advice there. Really. She’s one wise woman.) However, I can tell you what it was like last January when the first reviews of my novel came out. Initially, it was panic-inducing. No joke. My heart rate shot through the roof, and I thought I was going to pass out. I had to read it in stages. It’s one thing imagining how great it’d be, seeing your first book on a shelf and quite another, understanding that the sucker is OUT THERE, and you can’t correct anything. The flaws are cemented in place. There is no going back. That’s the main difference between reviews and workshopping. In a workshop, you can nod and say to yourself that you can fix the error of your mistake when you get home. With a review? Err… not so much.

  Unfortunately, writers are sensitive creatures. We have to be. Or at least, I do. Otherwise, it’s too difficult to transfer emotion to page. Without emotion, the Reader doesn’t get to ride the ride — the roller coaster of emotions crammed behind that cover.

  That said, I’ve come to the conclusion that reviews are facinating. Literature is an art form after all. Part of what makes art ART is what the Viewer (or in this case the Reader) gets out of the experience of interacting with said ART. In other words, what makes a novel really work is what the Reader gets out of it. That’s why Authors shouldn’t tell Readers what to think — even if they’re way off. Their experience is their experience.* What makes everything worthwhile is when a reviewer not only “Gets it” but they pull interesting things out of a piece that I hadn’t considered before. Even when a reviewer doesn’t understand the intent behind the work it’s good information to have. Also? It never hurts my feelings when it’s obvious someone has given it some serious thought. That’s the point. And hey, there’s so much to learn about writing. The learning process never stops. That’s the wonderful thing about writing. One really can’t know all there is to know. There’s always another subtle layer, and sometimes it’s easy to forget the basics too. A good review brings all those things to the surface. Some people seem to think good reviewing is easy. It isn’t. It’s hard work. Frankly, I deeply appreciate a good review.

  ———————–

  *The downside to the internet, I’m afraid is that Readers do interact with Authors quite freely. Sometimes this can lead to the Author telling the Reader what to think. To be honest, I don’t like that — even if I’m tempted to do it from time to time. Hey, I’m only human.

  Read More...

• Quick, Pass the Duct Tape

  Dealing with reviews

  I’m still a total newbie when it comes to dealing with reviews, so I may not have much useful to say this week. With The Whitefire Crossing not yet released (only two more weeks to go, woo hoo!), I’ve had a few early reviews, but so far they’ve all been highly positive. I’ve yet to cross that authorial Rubicon of reading a negative review, though I know the day is coming. No book survives its release into the wild unscathed – readers’ tastes vary too much for that.

  Though I’m accustomed to hearing criticism of my work from the fellow writers in my critique group, I suspect harsh reviews will feel a touch different. If someone savages your chapter in critique, well, you can always fix that chapter and make it better. But Whitefire is out in the world now, mine no longer (as Douglas Hulick discussed in his excellent post over at A Dribble of Ink on dealing with reviews). If someone thinks my plot or characters are horribly flawed, I don’t have the option of trying to improve them. (more…)

  Read More...

• Martha Wells: Don’t Be That Guy

  Dealing with reviews

  

  Arguing with someone who gave you an unfavorable review is always a bad idea. First, you have to remember that everybody is entitled to their opinion. Fiction is art, art is subjective and in the eye of the beholder, and everyone is going to have an opinion on it. There are books that you don’t care to read that other people rave about, and vice verse.

  Second, writing is your job, and you have to be a professional about it.

  The first review I saw for my first novel was in a national SF/F magazine, and from her summary of the plot, I could tell the reviewer hadn’t actually read the book. She had read the somewhat misleading description on the jacket, and probably the first and last chapters, but not all that stuff in the middle. This wasn’t the last time that happened to me. It isn’t uncommon, and will happen at one point or another to most writers.

  If arguing with a reviewer is bad, assembling a pitchfork- and torch-bearing mob of friends to go after the reviewer is an even worse idea. Possibly the very worst idea ever. It turns you into a troll. (And if you do bad things online, contrary to popular belief, it does make you a bad person in real/offline life, too.)

  Some people get addicted very quickly to internet attention and sympathy, and are prepared to kill and eat just about anybody to get that attention and sympathy. Don’t be one of those people. And don’t play into the hands of one of those people by responding to their effort to kill and eat you.
  (more…)

  Read More...