Would you read your own book reviews?

[jajalala]

It's been around a half-year since my roommate officially published her book and there's been some nice reflection time. Overall was a lovely launch; I'm super proud of her and thrilled that her writing is officially out there in the world and more people than just myself and a few friends know what beautiful worlds and stories she can build.

With publishing though come reviews, many of which are positive but on occasion are more negative or are a mixed "liked this, didn't like that" that are sometimes super wonderful to read and sometimes hit like a stack of bricks. My roommate originally kept a close eye on the first few reviews, and those first ones were really positive so it was like a ton of dopamine to hear a stranger praise her book, but then there was a negative review or two and she decided for her mental health that she shouldn't watch the reviews roll in too closely. So I and another friend filtered reviews for awhile, passing along the positive ones... though at some point she asked us to stop sending those too! She's working on her next book, and I think her being reminded of and seeing that book that is already done and set and published was both distracting and put a lot of pressure on her. So as far as I know, she's mostly stayed away from her book reviews since then, though she's kept the positive ones she received.

For anyone who like the thought of publishing one day (or who has published!) what do you think about reading reviews? Do you think you could handle seeing someone write "1 star, DNF" or more thorough criticisms about something you put your heart and soul into? Would you want just the positives? Do you have a firm reader/writer separation you wouldn't want to cross?


Closely watching the reviews has given me some stuff to reflect about goodreads and rating systems on sites like that... like each review is very much a PERSONAL opinion. Some people are like "this book was too complicated" and others are like "this book was too simple" and which one is right?? Neither, of course, because they're both based on the scale of that individual reader.

There was also reader expectation at play too - the book has a premise of a mystery (undead poet trying to find her own murderer) but is not really written intentionally in the mystery genre (like it's not focused on laying out clues and crafting an elaborate mystery, it's more of a setup for a bit of cozy adventure romance). So some reviews expressed disappointment that it was not more of a classic mystery setup... There were similar things with other aspects, where some readers went into the story expecting something specific and came out feeling shafted, even if the story was well-written, it didn't fulfill the thing they wanted/expected out of it.

Which made me consider the power of advertising... books need to be presented with a promise of the kind of story you're going to get. It made something click in my head - I understand now why publishers frequently want to publish something that FITS a specific genre really cleanly; it means they know EXACTLY how to advertise and what to promise their readers. My roommate's book is a bit of a swirl of genres and was picked up by an indie publisher that specifically goes for that sort of book that doesn't neatly fit into a box, but seeing how readers struggled to set expectations for something unconventional makes me see why larger publishers tend to be so strict on the conventional.

Like it's not JUST about writing a "5-star book"... because there are always gonna be people who just DON'T like a book for whatever reason. It's more like writing the best book possible, and then specifically targeting and delivering that book to people who will give that kind of book five stars, and dissuading people who were never gonna like it from reading it. You can't write a book that makes everyone happy, but you can ADVERTISE in a way that attracts the audience who is going to be happiest reading it.

My roommate calls me her mini-editor since I do full beta-reading and a lot of development work with her, and I enjoy being in a support position with a writer (tho it probably helps I've known her for over a decade). Don't get me wrong, I love writing myself as well, but also I feel like I've been developing a new skillset on the editor side that I'm enjoying the abilities of... and I think now part of that skillset is developing stronger knowledge on "the market" and publishing trends and how the actual business side of books, and it's a huge amount of stuff but I'm gaining a fraction of understanding now (thank u roommate!) that's really opened my eyes.

I love my current job, but honestly I could see a career as an editor being rewarding as well. Of course, I didn't even get an English major so I'm not qualified, and from my understanding editor salaries aren't great, but being a hobby editor for my roomie is a happy fit for me!

Comments

[corvidology]

Editors are also going the way of the Dodo. Only the biggest publishing houses really employ a noticeable number of them anymore and most of them are assigned to specific 'successful' authors. It's one of the things to note when readers complain about SPAG in (non-self published) books that so few of them are actually going through a traditional editor.

Reading is always going to be a subjective experience. There's the whole argument contained within Reader Theory that the story is actually really created in the space between the author and the reader as they both bring their own 'baggage' to the table.

[jajalala]

:'( That makes me sad to hear... I feel like an editor can really elevate a book... or at least reduce the SPAG issues. Feels unprofessional to cut back on them, but I guess if people are still buying the books publishing houses aren't necessarily motivated to do more.

Oooh I like Reader Theory then... like the book comes to life specifically when it's being read by an individual. Makes reading sound less like a passive intake and more like a conversation. Some conversational partners vibe really well with specific people and others don't XD

[pauraque]

I have been published (in anthologies, not in a whole book of my own) and at first I looked at reviews and scanned to see if they mentioned me or authors I personally knew, but I quickly stopped doing that because it was too much of an emotional roller coaster and I didn't think I was gaining anything from it. I agree that people's response to writing is often more about their own expectations than about the quality of the work.

One of the things that's nice about fanfiction is that you as the author have complete control over how your work is "marketed". You also have finer tools for setting expectations via rating and tagging systems; genre categorization is such a blunt instrument and many writers' work is not well served by it.

[jajalala]

That's pretty similar to how my roommate felt!! The emotional roller coaster was unstable and interfered with her ability to write.

Ahaha I thought about fanfic while writing this post too... Personally I feel decently well-versed in the "marketing" side of AO3 where I'm aware of the popular tags, conventions, and other shit that goes into a fic getting "popular" (tho specialized to my own fandoms of course)... "writing quality" is only a small slice of that pie. And yeah much finer tools that allow readers to filter, so they can find exactly what they like.

Looking into the marketing side of traditional publishing feels like a bit of a fun house mirror where some of the stuff I've learned on AO3 applies, but certainly not all

[adore]

I would see some reviews just at first and then exercise self-control to not make a habit of it. I feel like negative reviews would affect me disproportionately – funny how criticism sticks harder than praise.

[jajalala]

Yeah it seems hard to hold back... they say that one negative review is more memorable than three positive reviews 😭😭😭 So reviews can be dangerous even if the actual number of negative reviews are small

[tropicsbear]

I don't mind getting critical reviews on my fanfic. But thinking about it, if I ever went and got professionally published, I would not ready any reviews at all of my work.

For me, anything I publish would be something closer to home or something more personal; I created this world, so it's got a bigger part of me, compared to fanfic where I borrowed someone else's stuff to create a story.

So, while I don't mind if people are writing critical or negative reviews of my stuff—I'm gonna assume they paid for it, so I think they can have a say on whether or not they got their money's worth—I think it's safer to just avoid all reviews. You never know if you're suddenly gonna get hit with a "This sucks!!" in the middle of a bunch of "This was wonderful!"

[jajalala]

Oh that's interesting that u feel differently re: fanfic vs professional publishing, esp in that direction. I feel like I've heard a lot of fanficcers say that they specifically DON'T want any critique on their fanfic bc it's being done just for funsies and being shared for free. But I guess using characters/world from elsewhere does give a little distance

[tropicsbear]

For me, it's kinda like the difference between a (hypothetical) nephew/niece and a (hypothetical) biological son/daughter. At the end of the day, a nephew/niece isn't my kid, I didn't carry them in me for 9 months and then give birth to them.

I find fic to be more low stakes so it's cool with me if people leave constructive criticism on my fics because it's free feedback that I can use to improve. If people don't like my fic, it's no skin off my back. If people don't like my professional publishing, that lowers the chance of me earning and getting the chance to publish something again.

[vriddy]

I was nodding along as I read and thinking, yeah, probably after the first couple I would quickly start to ask friends to go through them on my behalf first, because the negative ones sound like recipes for being blocked forever even when knowing at a logical level that you can't please everyone.

I didn't expect your friend not to want to hear anything at all after a while!! Even though that also makes sense. I feel like not looking at all requires a lot of inner strength, haha. I remember an author explaining how positive reviews would block him from writing his next book as well, because people praised his worldbuilding so much and he kept thinking, "is this something that an author praised for their worldbuilding would write?" and so on.

...I think I'd probably ask my friends to put them somewhere for me to look at when I need a boost, haha. Hard to tell until it happens :D And good luck with growing your editor skills!! Your friend is lucky to have you :) I'm glad her launch went well and she's working on the next thing already!

[jajalala]

That sounds pretty similar to my friend. And even if it's "a lot of inner strength" not to look, I think one or two stings of people being negative in the reviews makes for a pretty sharp lesson in the kind of pain that can result :'(. My roomie definitely has a document on her phone where she's copied the really nice reviews she got so she can read them when she feels down on herself.

Thank you, I'm glad for her too!!