Tuesday's Inspiration - Reviews good and bad

There's been a lot said on other sites about reviews and raving over good reviews and crying over bad reviews. I've received both good and bad reviews on the same books. What does this mean. Perhaps that sending books out for review is fraught with danger. My own opinion about reviews is that I read them and shrug. I have never bought a book because a review raved about how wonderful the book was. I may have even turned away from the book because I wondered what the review received for the glowing review. Call me cynical and I am when it comes to reviews. A review is one person's opinion of a book, A review can be influenced by a number of things in a reviewer's life. Face it, people have individual likes and dislikes. These will color their reviews. My feeling about reviews is to read them and forget them.

Like writers, there are many kinds of reviewers. When reading the reviews your book garners remember there are some reviewers who don't like any books. They might give one good review for an obscure author and pan those who are popular. A reviewer could be a frustrated writer and their reviews could show their anger about not being chosen when someone they think of lesser talent has grabbed the prize - publication. There are the reviewers who only like best sellers and those are the ones whose books they praise.

So how can the writer overcome their reaction to a bad review of their book. The first thing is don't attack the reviewer. You can have these private thoughts. Do not make them public. Remember the reviewer is only one person and if there are glaring errors in the review they may not have read more than the blurb. Pretty much ignore the reviews. And if the reviews for your books are all raves feel good for a moment and put those feelings aside. What a writer wants to do is write books they believe others will enjoy and that they themselves enjoy writing. Do bad reviews hurt, of course they do but learn to have an oily skin so these bad reviews roll right off. Only remember this I've heard that a bad review can also generate sales. People are curious. Another point to remember is that reviews are written after the book is finished and ready to be published. By then it's too late to change things. If there are things in that review that trouble you, think about the next book and make the changes there.