Monday, May 2, 2011

Different Strokes for Different Folks

When you write and get published! (my dig at unpublished haters! Ha) You are going to have people who don't like what you do and will need to fill that terribly empty void within themselves.

These people will give you bad reviews.

A funny thing I have noticed is, they will especially review your book, giving you bad marks, when they can't get up the motivation to write reviews about what they actually like.

I take occasion to look upon what these people don't like even more than I do at what my fans like, because it always brings a good dose of comfort.

You won't feel so bad that someone gave you a bad review, claiming that your characters have poor dialogue, no growth and no personality-when they also gave 2 stars to Harper Lee and George R.R. Martin. I take consolation knowing that particular reviewer has no depth or taste and just leave it at that.

I'll bet a lot of you read about an author that recently had a melt down and actually argued on a blog with a reviewer and their commenter's about her book. She actually swore at people on the blog and threatened them, etc, etc.

I know everyone won't like what I do ( & why should they? Led Zeppelin didn't write songs everyone liked-they left that to the Bee Gee's)--but to argue? = insanity

So next time you're on the tree of woe over a review, just laugh.

12 comments:

Tristi Pinkston said...

What if I don't like the Bee Gees?

Steve Westover said...

I'm with Tristi--Can't stand the Bee Gee's.

So let me take a moment to criticize your blog post for its utter failure in choosing a musical group that EVERYONE actually does like :>)

Fun post. I love the Conan Laughing. Fantastic!

Charles Gramlich said...

It is inevitable. painful but inevitable. I find myself dwelling too much on bad reviews but I do eventually get over them.

David P. King said...

That was a sad thing to read--the argument thing, not your post. Your post is excellent and a good reminder of potential things to come. Thank you for that, David. :)

Th. said...

.

This has to be the worst blogpost I've ever read. The way the "writer" kept interrupting himself with over-punctuated parentheticals made it difficult to understand his "point" (my bad? assuming he has a point). Stop blogging! Go back to writing "novels" you poser!

Love,

----------theric-

Angie said...

Good plan, David. Remember the good reviews are just as valid as the bad ones. Probably even more so! Hope to see you at Storymakers this week!

nephite blood spartan heart said...

Tristi-that's Ok I'm not ahuge fan either-quoting Mike Myer's.

Steve-I can take it.

Charles-they'll fester if you let them.

nephite blood spartan heart said...

David-much appreciated.

THanks

Angie-write on-I'll see you there.

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

That's the best attitude to have. It's the only way to come through it without losing your mind.

nephite blood spartan heart said...

I would too Carolina if I stewed too long.

Paul R. McNamee said...

Part of the reason I don't like posting reviews too often - what goes around comes around.

There is no accounting for taste. I mentioned before that Amazon is about useless now because you'll almost always see a 5 star review and a 1 star on any given thing.

Better to listen to folks you know have similar tastes as your own - which is where the Internet actually comes in handy.

nephite blood spartan heart said...

Very true Paul. I've even been finding that people I thought MIGHT like my book don't because it isn't EPIC enough-too S&S? Oh well...

I had hoped to straddle that line (granted, skewed within my own personal & religious background for this particular work) but again who knows what some people like or don't like.