Every writer knows that. It’s a pity more reviewers don’t.
Today I stumbled upon a negative review for an author’s book in a FB group I know she visits. The OP meant to express her opinion that the story was compelling, but she couched it in “I don’t know why when the editing is so poor” complaints. She was surprised and became defensive when people interpreted her review as a negative one, insisting in response to comments that the book or story isn’t bad, merely the editing. She has every right to her opinion and to state it in a polite fashion, but I wonder at the impact her words might have on the author.
It’s important to point out that for an Indie author to hire a professional editor costs over a thousand dollars (no, I’m not kidding and they’re worth every penny). A professional cover design you may use commercially starts at two hundred, typesetting/formatting takes at least another two. Unless your last book has over 500 four or five-star ratings, you’ll never recover that, and the book will lose money.
I spent six months crafting my first spicy paranormal book (I’ve got a growing backlist of books, just never wrote that specific genre) racing to ready it for a Halloween release. As a retired schoolteacher, I live on a very fixed budget so while I created characters and struggled with plot points, I also had to design my cover, do my editing, format the book for delivery as an eBook, and then do everything again in different formats for paperback. I spent months and money crafting my own ads, putting them all over my brand new social media accounts, joined BookFunnel, updated my website, created a newsletter, and built the list in group promotions. Then I scurried around asking for beta and ARC readers (seventy-five percent of whom took the book but never responded or posted reviews) and begged Sapphic book reviewers to give it a chance. Most never dignified my request with a response. Finally, one of the biggies picked it up.
Just before the book launch, the reviewer posted her thoughts with a cover shot of the book and my name centered. She started by saying it was a bit hard to get into because the unprofessional editing distracted her so much that she couldn’t enjoy the story the way she should. She mentioned the plot, characters, and plenty of ‘smut’, but she damned it with faint praise, a final meh recommendation to try it, and a parting shot at the author’s immature use of adverbs(*). Over 4,000 people had read her review by the time I saw it only hours after it went up. No idea how many more saw it after, because I’ve never been back.
Book died. I cried. Yada, yada, yada.
Gutted, I spent money I’d saved for something important (granddaughter’s college graduation) on ProWritingAid, ruefully learning the errors I was unaware I was making. Still devastated and now mortified, I spent another three months re-writing the book, and used my new tools (and some I didn’t know came with my Word program) to rewrite/repost/republish the sucker. Doesn’t matter, dead is dead, and it’s now on perma-free so the poor baby will at least find some readers, but it matters to me, goddamnit.
The reviewer forgot me and The Gaunt by the time she started her next review. It’s a year later, and I’m still walking wounded, leery of review sites, afraid of reviewers, doubtful of my talent as a storyteller, ashamed of my editing abilities, and lurking around better writers to learn from their wisdom and hope some of their skill rubs off on me. Which means, when I’m supposed to be writing I’m on FB in Sapphic writers and reading groups, where some authors I admire hang out.
Which is how I saw the original post and knew I had to speak up even though the situations differ in one large regard; I asked for the review, while the author of today’s FB post was putting out an unsolicited critique of an often recommended book. But my point remains the same.
Every single book review (identifying a book and stating your opinions about it) affects authors directly, swaying public opinion for or against the purchase of their artistic endeavors. If you enjoy a book, then consider your four- and five-star reviews are shaking an author’s hand, while a quick mention in reader groups is like giving them a public hug.
But those who post negative reviews (Amazon considers 3-stars or less) impact authors like hecklers at a live performance, distracting the audience with their supposed brilliance by criticizing the performer. It annoys me beyond reason when an up-and-coming reviewer uses snark and a superior tone to tear down a book, courting a fan base by grandstanding on an author’s neck.
If you wouldn’t egg an artist’s painting, face-plant a mime, or trip the ballerina, then don’t leave a critical review. Just as you do with a painting you find garish, the mime who can’t make the wall, or a struggling dancer, move along and say nothing.
(*) Who died and left Stephen King in charge of adverbs, anyway?
