Those of us with books to promote are always striving to solicit reviews. When regular customers post a review, we get ecstatic, unless\u2026it is a negative, nasty, mean-spirited review.<\/p>\n
Then we wonder, \u201cWhere do these people come from?\u201d \u201cWhy do they read a book that clearly involves cats, dogs, murder, clowns? and that\u2019s obviously a cozy mystery, military story, romance, or? and then write a review saying, \u201cI hate cats (mysteries, cutesy stories, war stories, sappy stories about dogs), etc.\u201d<\/p>\n
I know that Amazon actually chases down customers and asks them to write a review for the books they purchase. That\u2019s a good thing, unless they catch the reader when he is in a foul mood or it is a customer who hated the book.<\/p>\n
Customer reviewers\u2014you gotta love \u2019em, (when they write rave reviews). But what about those people who don\u2019t agree with your fans\u2014who didn\u2019t love, love, love your book? I like to tell clients who are upset about a bad review, \u201cIt\u2019s just an opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s how I look at it\u2014when the review is excellent or at least swell, I say, \u201cPeople love my work. I am a good writer. My story is good.\u201d And when I visit my Amazon book pages and see a negative review, I say, \u201cWell, it\u2019s just an opinion.\u201d It\u2019s not an opinion I like much, but it is someone\u2019s opinion and I sure wish they\u2019d keep it to themselves.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, I try to look at the big picture\u2014out of 113 total Amazon reviews for my Klepto Cat Mystery books, a solid three-quarters of them are rip-roaring positive. But what can one do with the percentage we all get of less than desirable reviews?<\/p>\n
Stack the deck? Ask for phony reviews? Naw. Not in my DNA to do that. It isn\u2019t a bad idea to ask friends, neighbors, coworkers, colleagues and acquaintances who have read your book to write a review. Some of them just don\u2019t think to do it. And most of them would at least humor you and write a decent one, don\u2019t you think? And then just continue to write the best books you can and have them professionally edited\/proofed.<\/p>\n
There will always be people of varying opinions. Even major best-selling books get bad reader reviews. Just look at the opposition over the years to the most famous book of all\u2014the Bible.<\/p>\n
And that super controversial book that came out a few years ago\u2014\u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d\u2026 This book has collected nearly 11,000 five-star reviews. But wait\u2014the one-and two-star reviews number over 8,500.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s always a rainbow somewhere. You just have to look for it. Today, I will focus on the positive. I have a higher percentage of great reviews than some of the bestsellers.<\/p>\n
If you like cozy mysteries with a little romance and cat fur involved, check out my Klepto Cat Mystery series. There are four books now\u2014\u201cCatnapped,\u201d \u201cCat-Eye Witness,\u201d \u201cSleight of Paw\u201d and, the latest, \u201cUndercover Cat.\u201d If you have something nice to say after reading one or more of them, please do leave a review!!! Here\u2019s a shortcut to the Klepto Cat Mystery page. http:\/\/amzn.to\/1kAI8I2<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Those of us with books to promote are always striving to solicit reviews. When regular customers post a review, we get ecstatic, unless\u2026it is a negative, nasty, mean-spirited review. Then we wonder, \u201cWhere do these people come from?\u201d \u201cWhy do they read a book that clearly involves cats, dogs, murder, clowns? and that\u2019s obviously a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t