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Shobhan Bantwal | How Do You Handle Malicious Reviews
November 17, 2009
As a new author, one of the most valuable and painful lessons I learned was that
not every soul in the universe is going to adore my books. Before becoming
published writers, many of us who eventually get there harbor delusions about
throngs of fans clamoring to read our books and that every one of them will fall
in love with our stories. Alas, that dream vanishes with a quiet, rueful sigh. The agony of reading that first acrid review is something only a published
author knows and lives with. Knowing full well that Amazon and other sites,
especially blogs, will serve up reviews crawling with fangs, talons, needles,
and venom, we still visit the sites with anxious yet hopeful hearts. Every time
we see terms like cheesy, poorly-written, clichéd, total waste of time and
money, tawdry, tedious, and pedestrian, we wince and try to quell the tears
burning our eyelids. And yet, the sting seems to fade with time. We manage to banish the poison
arrows and start writing that next book. THE SARI SHOP WIDOW is my
third novel released by Kensington Publishing. I now consider myself a
somewhat
seasoned author. Every time my spirit plunges while reading a nasty review, I
recall my wise editor’s words, "Remember, it’s only one person’s biased opinion,
while there are thousands of others who read and enjoy your books." As long as we put out fodder for public consumption in the form of books, there
will be negative reviews, but most of us eventually learn to handle them with
professional detachment. It is the vicious ones that make me stop and speculate
about the reviewer’s true intent. I would love to hear from my fellow writers as well as readers on this topic.
How do writers handle unkind reviews, especially the ones that are clearly meant
to hurt and belittle the author? Why are some readers intentionally malevolent
when writing a review instead of making it an objective critique?
Visit my website at www.shobhanbantwal.com for book
trailers, reviews, and pictures.
Comments
11 comments posted.
Re: Shobhan Bantwal | How Do You Handle Malicious Reviews
Shobhan Bantwal: Thank you for your post.
William Faulkner had a great way of handling critics. When one wrote a particularly nasty review, Faulkner replied, "This is a free country. You have the right to say what you want about me, and I have the right to ignore you."
Keep up the good work, and like the ancient Romans used to say, "Non illegitimati carborundum." Don't let the bastards grind you down!
(Mary Anne Landers 12:41pm November 17, 2009)
I always tell myself that not everyone will like everything that I write and so I accept those bad reviews as just part of the process. But it is hard to deal with reviewers who are malicious in their comments. That said, I think Faulkner's advice is timely - just ignore them. As for well-constructed critiques, I try to listen to what they didn't like and if it as merit, improve on those points for next time.
(Caridad Pineiro 8:40am November 17, 2009)
I'm a veteran of online contests, two where people could comment on the entries. My advice - don't heckle the hecklers. Say, "thanks for taking a look" and move on - if you're going to respond at all. The nasty reviewers have other things going on in their world; it's best not to feed into it. Your job is to write the best book you can; focus on that.
(Judi Fennell 9:27am November 17, 2009)
We can only learn more about human nature from these comments. Consider using these writers and their comments in a future book! "Criticism is as inevitable as breathing, and that we should be none the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it, for criticizing our own minds in their work of criticism," wrote TS Eliot in Tradition and the Individual Talent.
In the end, shrug and move on ... no book is for all people.
(S Froetschel 9:36am November 17, 2009)
It depends on what's being said. Your average sour grapes review is easily shrugged off. But, I encountered a nutcase who accused I'd plagiarized from two NY Times bestsellers. I hadn't, and the punch line is that they are both friends of mine from way back and have seen my work. The only comparison you can make is that we all write vampires.
A case like that takes extra steps.
I contacted the other two authors, who both laughed it off.
I had his reviews removed from several sites, and he kept reposting them, so the sites locked down the reviews for a while and deleted his accounts. Mind you, according to them, there's no proof he's ever read one of my books at all, since he hadn't purchased them where he was logging the reviews. Just one of those.
Then he tried taking the accusations to the Yahoo lists and was publicly trounced and had his accounts there deleted.
It was a long hard road, but it's one I'd only take in a case like that...where I'm being libeled and accused of a crime I didn't commit.
(Brenna Lyons 10:01am November 17, 2009)
Stick to your guns. I agree with Faulkner - ignore it when you can. When it becomes libelous then you need to take action.
(Karin Tillotson 4:01pm November 17, 2009)
As one of your followers, I beleive in you and your works. It is a long hard road walked by many of your fellow authors, but will prevail. Everyone start out with baby steps before they could walk or even run down that road!
(Lisa Glidewell 5:37pm November 17, 2009)
Pointing out great and weak areas in critiques is key to my Writers Group. Readers search for viewpoints outside the norm to better understand relationships. My first writing critique was embarassing, yet I stuck with it. The professor said he only read my mystery manuscript because it was a workshop. It remained a mystery to everybody because it was so distant and nobody could identify with it, except they were encouraging and wanted to know more. So, keep writing was the advice.
(Alyson Widen 5:44pm November 17, 2009)
I think that some people get
off on putting out nasty
reviews. This is the only way
they can feel important. They
are probably the same naysayer
in person. It takes making
someone else feel bad to make
themselves feel good.
Different people like
different books thank
goodness. Can you imagine if
all of us read and wrote the
exact same type of book. If I
write a less than glowing
review, I always offer up the
possibility that it's just me.
Putting down someone's sweat
and tears is like telling them
their child is ugly. There's
just a better way to say it.
(Lisa Richards 7:35pm November 17, 2009)
Thanks to all of you who took the time to read my guest blog and posted your comments, advice, and tips on handling nasty reviews. Yes indeed, growing a hard and thick alligator skin is one of the requirements of becoming a published author. And thank goodness for the human brain that manages to forget the negative experiences quite easily.
Shobhan Bantwal
(Shobhan Bantwal 5:51am November 18, 2009)
I don't believe anyone has to be nasty!
dancealert at aol dot com
(Brenda Rupp 10:45pm November 18, 2009)
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