Last fall I was preparing to release the first book In my PRINCESS KANDAKE series as an Indie Author. I shopped around for people and blogs to review the book and came across a blog that I thought would be the perfect fit. We will leave it nameless.I had received several very good responses from blogs, writers, and beta readers. I really wanted this particular blog to review it because I just knew it would position the release well for marketing and promotion.
Well, I was able to get them to read it and the blogger hated it! She didn’t dislike it, she hated it. She said that the protagonist was whiny. She said that she couldn’t believe anyone would act like that. And the worst thing she said was that the book was one hundred pages too long!
Her words pretty much destroyed every shred of hope and pride I had taken in the work. So much so that I had decided that the book was no where near ready to release. I was prepared to throw the whole thing away!
Fortunately, I have really good writing friends. They encouraged me to set the manuscript aside and think about things. They also asked some very good questions. Who was this blogger? What was her area of expertise? Why did her opinion carry so much weight?
Three months later I decided that one blogger’s opinion was not strong enough to wipe away the opinion of other writers and professional reviews like Publishers Weekly. I went forward with my publishing plans and released the book, PRINCESS KANDAKE: Warrior by Choice…Appointed to Rule. It is doing really well.
Today I came across an awesome blog post: How to Respond to Negative Reviews by Beth Revis. It is required reading for every writer. I wish I’d had it available to me last Fall. Click on the link and read it now before you write another word!
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