Oops!
I’m sorry, I forgot to Tickle. Instead, I have this link to Chuck Wendig’s blog, just to go along with the Dirty Birds Theme.
Actually, after some of the crazy stuff that’s been going on this week, this is really appropriate. So, folks–do what Uncle Chuckie says, and don’t waste money on rental cars or train tickets to Scotland.
Five Ways to Respond to a Negative Review
I’ve had some reviews where it was obvious that the reviewer didn’t get it. It upset me at the time, because I felt that they were essentially reviewing a different book from the one I wrote, and I felt as if my book was going to lose out on finding readers because they weren’t getting ‘the real picture’. I’ve also had reviews where someone really got hooked on a character, and then decisions that I hadn’t even made yet upset them and they let fly at me in reviews. (That’s okay–I did my job if the reviewer was that invested that they couldn’t even face the possibility of one of the options. Thanks, hon! Sorry I made you mad. 🙁 ) But I know that if I started posting reviews, I’d have a lot that pointed out weaknesses, because I’m a writer and that’s what I’m trained to do. So you just deal, and realize that no one brings the same set of expectations and experiences to the book as anyone else.
That being said, I’ve just started Josh Lanyon’s Stranger on the Shore, and it’s lovely. I haven’t found anything to complain about, which isn’t as common as it used to be. The last couple I tried to read got the Substibook treatment. Darn you, mini-editor in my head!
2 comments to “Oops!”
Lillith - October 22, 2014
I’ve noticed I’m pickier now when it comes to reading. And good lord does that make reading hard sometimes. Surpriskngly I’m not prone to editing older classic or semi-classic works while reading them, so I’ve been reading more stuff that’s older lately because lf it. Gives me a hard time though, when it comes to recent stuff.
Kate Lowell - October 22, 2014
I think the market is changing. It’s about new ideas, and a less accomplished writer with a novel idea can get published, where someone with cleaner text but a more mundane idea gets left behind. (Not that it wasn’t always about interesting ideas, but that seems to carry more weight now than it used to.)
I make a lot of use of the Look Inside on Amazon now. It’s not a 100% sure thing, but it stops me from buying a lot of stuff that would drive me crazy editing it. 🙂