Because I am about to bestow some of my infinite knowledge on each of you. Little tidbits of information to make this journey through life more tolerable. Words of wisdom that will give you greater understanding of one of life's biggest questions....
Namely, why didn't that person like my book?
Ahhhh, yes. It will happen to every writer. They will pour their heart and soul into their work, literally soaking the pages with blood, sweat, and tears...
They will type until their fingers bleed and weep at the emotionally pristine and borderline-perfect state of their heart, er, manuscript in it's utmost polished state...
They will get a review. And then another. And then another....
And they are dancing and singing and feeling like they have the world at their fingertips because the reviews are stellar....
And then the bomb will drop.
The wind will leave their sails.
The bottom of the boat will fall out and they will find themselves drowning....in a sea of self pity, as well as those aforementioned blood, sweat, and tears!
Someone didn't like their book.
Yes. It happens. I know, I know, it's painful and its sad and it makes you want to bury your head in the sand, throw away your laptop, and give up the biz forever....
"Well, if all I'm writing is crap, then I should just quit and become a...a....podiatrist!"
Stop what you're doing, put down your spouses foot, and listen to me:
A career in podiatry won't make that bad review go away. Every book has at least one or two bad reviews. Just because one person didn't like it, doesn't mean that ten others won't rave about it. One man's trash, is another man's treasure, you know...
Books are incredibly subjective.
I've lost count of how many times I have opened a book that friends raved about, and wound up feeling disappointed. And when that happens, I always ask myself, "What is wrong with me? If everybody else likes this book, why don't I? What am I missing?"
And the truth is: books are just subjective. What one person finds wildly entertaining, might be highly offensive to another. What one person treasures, another person might go on a verbal rampage about. What brings tears to one person's eyes, might wind up making another person feel sick to their stomach.
No author wins over every reader.
Ugh....that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when they write a scathing review, though.
However.....that having been said...
A writer friend once told me that some people buy books based only on their bad reviews. Sometimes being knocked down a peg or two is good for the soul. It builds character. For me, it turns into an opportunity to write an even better book in the future. I want to prove that reviewer wrong! Write something that will knock their socks off next time.....or die trying!
You can't have the sweet without the bitter. This, my friends, is a certainty.
So thank you, negative reviewer, for prompting me to work harder and tune up my craft even more. Thank you for challenging me to blow you away with my next book. Maybe I will succeed, maybe I won't. Frankly, it's a crapshoot.
BUT I can tell you this:
(And this time you really SHOULD take notes...)
I won't ever stop learning to write better books. I won't ever stop listening to what my readers want. And I won't ever stop perfecting my skills. A writer's skills can never be perfected. If they consider themselves perfected, then they may as well stop writing...because there is nothing else for them to do. Period. I promise to never stop learning.
So on to the next book.
Wait, after I have a cheese break. Cheesus saves, ya'll.
Brooke Moss.
