Do you drive by the editor's house and shoot rolls of toilet paper into their trees when a night rain is expected? Or do you defend your plot twists on FB or Goodreads when someone gives your book a bad review?
Handling these things well is important. One does not want to turn off even one reader fan. They all have friends, and before you know it, your reputation precedes you like the smell of garbage downwind.
One of my authors happily saw the recent launch of her first book. And every review has been favorable, so far. She has been giddy with joy. And I, the voice of doom and gloom, remind her that one of these days, there will be that one reader that will say hurtful, hateful things. It happens to the best of the best, eventually.
“NEVER take rejection of your work personally unless it is accompanied by a punch in the nose”! Paraphrased quote of Ron Goulart
Ignore them.
And go after some fresh reviews to cover them up in the list.
When someone tells you they loved your book and can not wait to read the next one, ask them if they would be willing to write you an Amazon review. Explain how helpful the reviews are to authors. (the more reviews you have, helps your book rise up in the search engines, and can even convince sites like Amazon to advertise your title for free.)
Kristen Lamb, published author and
blogger said: Rejection sucks. There is no other way of saying it. Of
course, the clincher is that rejection is not only part of life, but it is a
necessary ingredient to the life well-lived. But, how do we handle rejection in
a way that is constructive? A lot of how we handle rejection stems from how we
view rejection. I have a saying: If we aren’t failing, then we aren’t doing
anything interesting.
“What stands in the way becomes
the way.” — Marcus Aurelius
In, The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials intoTriumph, by Ryan Holiday, he uses three titles in his outline for turning
our disappointments into success: Perception, Action, and Will. It is up to us
to alter our perception, practice persistence, and love every thing that
happens. Because as Marcus Aurelius also
said, “we can accommodate and adapt.”
What ways have you found to appropriately handle rejection and bad reviews?
