It’s official. Today, thanks to New Dawning International Bookfair and all their fantastic staff, I am a published author. For years this has been the day I’ve been working towards. So now I’m done, right? Move on to the next project.
Not so fast.
Publication is only the beginning. Because publication brings with it responsibilities: to your publisher, to your readership, to your book, and to yourself. And I now know that there are a lot of mistakes that new authors, and not so new, can and do make. In the next weeks I’m going to be talking about some of these mistakes and offer some advice I’ve found or been given to help you avoid them.
I am starting today with a topic that has garnered a lot of attention because it is one of the facts of life as an author: the bad review. But now I actually have a work that people, hopefully, will be reading and reviewing. Now I have to worry because of the negative impact a bad review can have on your work. Right?
Maybe not so much. On The Big Bad Book Blog, for Greenleaf Book Group, Shenandoah Diaz discusses the fact that negative reviews can actually help you in several ways.
First, one or two negative reviews can reassure readers that the reviews are authentic. Nothing (not even your own literary labor of love) is 100% perfect. Letting readers see that there are possible flaws encourages them to believe that a couple of less-than-glowing critiques are simply the law of averages. If you have ten glowing and two unfavorable reviews, most people will assume that majority rules.
Second, really outlandish or over-the-top bad reviews can make readers curious. Is it really that bad? Why would a reviewer say such a thing? I need to read this and judge for myself. Some authors have ridden a bad review very solidly to the bank. You don’t want to wish for this kind of review, but if you get it, use it to your advantage if possible.
The final, and most important, thing new and established authors need to beware of with the bad review is your reaction to it. Yes, seeing those unkind words about your pride and joy will hurt your heart. However, possibly the worst thing you can do is try to defend your work or point of view. Remember, each reader is entitled to his opinion—and face it, a review is really just one person’s opinion. Trying to argue, rage at, slander, or otherwise attack the reviewer is committing authorial suicide. It makes you seem petty, immature, and unprofessional. Any sympathy you may have garnered for receiving the bad review will automatically revert to the reviewer. Kathleen Massara at Flavorwire gives examples of how to act and how not to act towards the bad review. Heed her advice WELL, my newly pubbed friends, and you will be able to take that sour note and make sweet music for some time to come.
Today there is much excitement on Jenna’s Journal as well as at New Dawning International Bookfair.
My Fairy Tale Ending Book Giveaway Contest is in full swing with the prizes being free copies of Hog Wild, Pinocchio Syndrome, Goldie and the Three Doms, Hideous, and Snowy and the Seven Wharves.
It’s easy to enter:
1. Read the excerpts from those five tales posted on my blog earlier this week.
2. Answer the five questions below and email them and the answers to jenna.jaxon@yahoo.com
3. Post a comment about one or more of the tales on this blog before 11pm tonight and you are entered.
FAIRY TALE ENDING QUESTIONS:
1. In Hideous, how is Triselle’s hair styled?
2. Where were Rob and his brother supposed to ride to that morning in Hog Wild?
3. In Goldie and the Three Doms, what is the first name of the guy who blindfolds Goldie?
4. How long does Chio say his dick is going to be in Pinocchio Syndrome?
5. What are the legal charges against Snowy’s stepmother in Snowy and the Seven Wharves?
The winner will be drawn randomly from all correctly answered entries and announced on Jenna’s Journal tomorrow.
Meanwhile, today at Publishing Trove New Dawning Bookfair will be hosting a chat from 10am to 10pm with contests, giveaways, prizes, jokes, recipes, and more. Please come join in the fun!
Even better, join New Dawning’s new group, Bookfair Buddies, to find out about more prizes during the month of June, including info on how to win a Kindle and upload a free book twice a week for a month.
I’ll be online at Publishing Trove beginning at 10 am, so come chat with me!
Jenna Jaxon Romance--because passion is timeless. 
Congrats! Yes, bad reviews are hard to take but it’s part of the territory. It’s the way u handle them that sets you aside from everyone else.
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Thanks, Mart! Yes, your reaction has to set the tone for how you are going to deal with an aspect of writing that will not get better or easier to handle as time goes on. There will always be people who don’t like your work. As an author, the sooner you accept that fact, the easier it will be to move past the disappointment of the bad review and onto the rest of your writing career.
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Congrats, Jenna!
Good advice! I know of one particular author who destroyed her career by going bat shit crazy over a review!
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Thanks, D’Ann! It only takes one moment of insanity, born out of hurt feelings, to ruin a career. I’ve seen it happen too. You just put your big girl panties on, take a breath, and move forward. Hard to do sometimes, but if you think this business is easy, you need a reality check.
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Congratulations, JJ! Welcome to the glamor and fame! (Well, not exactly glamor and not precisely fame.)
Negative reviews can really tick you off, believe me, but if you know you haven’t written a dog, even one positive review can make up for anything unpleasant a reviewer has thrown at you (except for maybe rotten veggies–only laundry detergent makes up for that). Enjoy your new title: Author!
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Thank you so much, Patricia! Yes, the rotten tomatoes stain the worst I’ve heard. LOL Congratulations to you as well, on your new releases of Snowy and the Seven Wharves, Goldie and the Three Doms, and soon to be released Kiki’s Millionaire. I see another challenge to authors is one of steady production! You so have that one nailed!
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You’re welcome!
New releases are always exciting. You never quite get over the rush of signing a new contract or seeing your words in print.
Kiki’s Millionaire is a real thrill for me because it is my first foray into a new and very lucrative market. Thanks for mentioning it!
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Congratulations on your publication. It’s good that you’ve taken the time to learn some of the pitfalls of this strange, sometimes confusing, business.
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Thanks for the good wishes, Simone. Strange and confusing sums it up well. You can’t just go blindly forth–which I did before realizing I didn’t know nothing–without doing research and listening to your writing “elders” who have made mistakes and learned from them. In an earlier post I talked about how “it takes a village” for an author to succeed and how taking advice and sharing experiences from professional writers, crit partners, editors, and publishers are the way we grow as an author. To be the best writer you can be, you need to watch, listen and learn.
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Words to live by — or at least write by. Congratulations to you on your debut publication. I am honored to share this moment with you.
A big shout out to New Dawning Bookfair too. May this be the first of many successes.
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And congratulations right back at ya, Casea! I couldn’t have done it without you. And yes, congrats to New Dawning, an awesome publisher, on their launch as well. Dee, Penny, Vg we love you!
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Guess I’m the first one to congratulate you on the new release of a new author.
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Thanks, Lindsay! It feels strangely exciting and scary. So many more expectations now, both from others and from myself. Congrats on your recent release as well.
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