If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you know I love Seth Godin. He’s a marketing maven and always shares a wealth of wisdom in his books. My favorite example? All Marketers Are Liars.
Yes, I insult myself every time I say the title. *Grins*
I reread it the other day, and something stood out to me. Seth has a section on bias where he discusses his friend’s book. About half of her readers rated it five stars, and the other half gave it one. The reviews were split between glowing praise and scathing personal attacks. So, how did Seth explain this discrepancy?
'The book didn’t generate anything. All it did was give people a chance to express the biases they had before they even opened the book.'
– Seth Godin
He went on to say:
'People don’t want to change their worldview. They like it, they embrace it and they want it to be reinforced.' – Seth Godin
That makes sense, doesn’t it? This is a highly subjective industry. People have different tastes, different biases. Maybe your horror-writing friend didn’t fall in love with your romance. Maybe the chef you used to work for didn't like your cookbook. That’s okay.
The same goes for the strangers who review your book. It’s entirely possible that your category/genre isn’t their cup of tea, but they decided to read it anyway. That’s flattering, isn’t it? So they didn’t end up liking the book. Big deal. How did you handle split feedback before you were published?
If you're anything like me--and I'm speaking to fiction writers now--you waited and took a consensus of your critique partners’ opinions. Did any of their suggestions overlap? What did the majority of readers think about scene X? Did most of them like the voice?
I know. You’re probably thinking, ‘Your book isn’t even out yet, Carrie. Talk to me after the bad reviews pour in. You’ll foam at the mouth!’
That’s fair, but I’m not saying they won’t hurt you. I’m saying they shouldn’t hurt your writing. Look at everything. Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, critique partner notes, beta reader emails, fan letters, etc. Take it all into consideration. What’s the consensus?
You are not a bad writer.
Keep your chin up, work on improving your craft every day, and do the very best you can. No one has the right to expect anything more of you. If they do... well, that’s their problem. ;)
How do you handle reviews/ratings? Is it different than how you handle early feedback?
Have a great week, guys! ♥
Next topic: Goodreads!
