So you\u2019ve written a book. You worked long and hard on the story, theme or educational value of your book, and you\u2019ve edited it over and over again. Your one expectation is that readers will appreciate all of the thought and effort you poured into this book. You want your message to resonate with readers in a meaningful way whether it is informational\/educational or pure entertainment. You want your book to make a difference. What you don\u2019t want is criticism.<\/p>\n
But I have to tell you, you cannot put yourself out there<\/i> in any way, shape or form without attracting some criticism. Your job is to identify the source and intent of the criticism. Not always easy. It\u2019s important, however, that you listen and learn when there\u2019s definite value to your project and disregard those comments that appear to be sour grapes.<\/p>\n
How do you determine when a seriously negative review is from a delusional knucklehead or an astute critic? The wrong approach is to disregard all bad reviews. Another wrong approach is to believe all bad reviews or all good reviews, for that matter. Here\u2019s my rule-of-thumb:<\/p>\n
Remember that the majority of people filter the material or stories they read through their own personal life experiences and belief system. So, when you promote your book to the masses, even within a particular theme or genre, you will generate a wide variety of opinions. The more reviews you get, the wider the scope of opinions.<\/p>\n
One area of critique that I highly recommend you heed is when it comes to typos and other errors. I\u2019ve reviewed books that were riddled with errors. When I notice that the main character\u2019s name changes throughout the book, the author misspells words, punctuation is messed up, there are words missing or extra words and typos throughout, for example, I will not write a review. I will contact the author and strongly urge them to pull the book immediately and hire a proofreader and\/or editor.<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s another way to encourage positive reviews or to cut down on negative ones. Produce the best product you possibly can by making sure you have dotted all of your i\u2019s and crossed all of your t\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Upcoming Newsletter for Authors<\/strong><\/p>\n The next issue of Patricia Fry\u2019s Publishing\/Marketing News and Views<\/em> is scheduled for publication in early April. Sign up now to receive your copy: http:\/\/www.patriciafry.com<\/a>. Read back issues of this informative enewsletter here: http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?page_id=3081<\/a><\/p>\n