Be Good to Reviewers

You’ve poured your heart and soul into writing your book. The editing process has ripped apart what’s left of both. But you finally have ARC copies ready. A publishing date is in sight. All you have to do is send your book out to reviewers.

Then the first review comes in, and you discover there’s a tiny sliver of heart left to be broken when you read the reviewer’s words.

Do you:
A) Rush online to write a blithering response to the reviewer explaining why they don’t understand your work and lack the brainpower to comprehend your literary genius?

B) Bad-mouth them on social media, using multiple profanities and several insults you invented yourself as you were reading their review?

C) Shrug it off and go write something else?

If you chose option C, you probably have a long and fruitful career as a writer before you.

If you chose option A or B, well, if you thought the review was bad, wait until you see the comments section…

Writers are nothing if not protective of reviewers, even ones who don’t always appreciate their work. Reviewers are kind of like referees, in that you don’t always agree with them or particularly like what they decide, but they’re essential to keeping things balanced. A good reviewer is comparing your book to hundreds if not thousands of books they’ve read in their lifetime, and deciding how to present it to their audience in a way that appeals to the right reader among them.

Take, for instance, my friend and reviewer Milt Theodossiou. Not every review he writes makes me want to pick up the book and read it (even though they’re always incredibly well written and overwhelmingly positive). But, he does a good job of relating what I can expect to find in the book. So when I see he’s posted a new review, I’ll read it to see if I think I’d be interested in the book. He’s done a lot to expose me to new authors and books I didn’t realize I’d be interested in reading.

This is why reviewers exist. To bring authors and readers together when they might not find each other on their own. Does that sometimes mean that a review might not be everything you hope for? Sure. Opinions are like a–holes, everyone has one, and sometimes they stink. But if your work is good, and it’s just not to a particular reviewer's taste, other reviewers will pick up the slack and give it the glowing treatment it deserves. And the next time, you may find that everyone else is down on your work, but the one who didn’t like your last book LOVES this one. 

But the reviewer won’t have looked at it if you went with option A or B at the beginning. 

So don’t abuse reviewers. Follow their instructions to submit your work for review. Treat them as a valuable part of your release, and in return, they’ll help grow your audience (and sometimes, you as a writer).