Blessed Are You When the Reviewer is A Twit, by Ben Jeapes
Image by mcmurryjulie from Pixabay
Someone on the ACW Facebook page recently asked for advice on coping with a bad review that was quite probably deliberately malicious. Yes, that hurts.
I hope, once that author is over the shock of the attack (because that is essentially what it is) they will eventually come to see the up side.
Yes, far too many one-star reviews are just dumb: either plain missing the point or blaming the author for something that isn’t even their fault. Publishers and authors must tear out their hair when, for example, a book gets a one-star review because it arrived later than the customer hoped for, or got knocked about in the post. That is not the author’s fault and nothing to do with the quality of the book.
In the latest edition of The Author, however, Mark McCrum makes a couple of very valid points about one-star reviews.
One is the sheer entertainment factor. I enjoyed coming across a review of The Hiding Place that complained it got too religious at the end. My novel The New World Order, set during the English Civil War, drew a complaint that I was using it to push my Catholic agenda. A clear sign that reviewers that shouldn’t use long words they don’t understand; I’m not a Catholic, but Catholicism was, let’s say, in the air quite a lot in that period.
In short, they can be just so wrong, there’s no point getting upset.
But McCrum also makes another point: that they can be much more informative than the puffed-up four- and five-star ones. Fans who truly love an author’s work might not be very critical; neither, probably, will be the author blurbs festooning the cover. A one-star review might genuinely point out the flaws and reveal the Emperor’s new clothes.
I hope, once that author is over the shock of the attack (because that is essentially what it is) they will eventually come to see the up side.
Yes, far too many one-star reviews are just dumb: either plain missing the point or blaming the author for something that isn’t even their fault. Publishers and authors must tear out their hair when, for example, a book gets a one-star review because it arrived later than the customer hoped for, or got knocked about in the post. That is not the author’s fault and nothing to do with the quality of the book.
In the latest edition of The Author, however, Mark McCrum makes a couple of very valid points about one-star reviews.
One is the sheer entertainment factor. I enjoyed coming across a review of The Hiding Place that complained it got too religious at the end. My novel The New World Order, set during the English Civil War, drew a complaint that I was using it to push my Catholic agenda. A clear sign that reviewers that shouldn’t use long words they don’t understand; I’m not a Catholic, but Catholicism was, let’s say, in the air quite a lot in that period.
In short, they can be just so wrong, there’s no point getting upset.
But McCrum also makes another point: that they can be much more informative than the puffed-up four- and five-star ones. Fans who truly love an author’s work might not be very critical; neither, probably, will be the author blurbs festooning the cover. A one-star review might genuinely point out the flaws and reveal the Emperor’s new clothes.
Alternatively, forty years ago, long before such things as online reviews, Iain Banks’s debut novel The Wasp Factory garnered page loads of negative reviews in print. He (or at least his publisher) put them on all the cover. They correctly realized that it didn’t matter what the reviews were saying, what mattered was who was saying it. Banks wasn’t after respectability. The target audience could see that if this book upset such and such a person then they themselves would probably like it.
I know, this can be cold comfort, and as I say, a malicious review like the one that started me off here is an attack. A blow when you have already made yourself vulnerable hurts twice as much. The Society of Authors has a page of health and wellbeing resources for authors that could come in very handy: https://www2.societyofauthors.org/help/health-wellbeing/.
And meanwhile: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me …”
Great post Ben. I often think that there are some people that only ever leave negative reviews and they fail to give praise, not just in reviews but life in general. I once heard that a 4.2-star rating is the 'sweet spot'. People are often suspicious if a rating is higher. I have said for many years now that a harsh review reflects more about the reviewer than it does about the book.
ReplyDeleteI had a review that stated ‘I’ve downloaded but not read yet’. Hilarious!
ReplyDeleteSuperb blog Ben. A local restaurant was recently given a low review because the diner had forgotten to put a car parking ticket on their car and received a hefty fine. A one star often says a great deal more about the reviewer than it does the book. And as you say, it's good for the stats, weirdly enough.
ReplyDeleteBaffling! Some people just like to lash out.
DeleteBrilliant!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful post Ben! Really enjoyed reading it, along with all the embeded extras! I think so far, I have got a 1 star review from a non Nigerian criticising somethig they had no clue about! Blessings.
ReplyDelete