Surely the one thing worse than no customer reviews of one’s published writing is a bad review! And if that review also strikes one as blatantly unfair or rather should I say, ‘uncritical’, then it seems even more devastating. I was schooled to understand that ‘criticism’ did not necessarily imply adverse comment but rather impartial evaluation, for better or worse. Imagine then my dismay when I first published a collection of short stories on Kindle and discovered the only two ‘customer reviews’ are, how should I say, a tad soul-destroying.
‘A Puppy Can Destroy Your Sex Life’ , my collection of short stories, was my first bold attempt to reach a wider public and naturally, like any aspiring author I had high hopes, if not exactly of rave reviews at least encouraging comment. Instead, the first person to comment didn’t even get to read any of the stories because of some glitch he encountered trying to access his Kindle account. Author’s response: a loud groan. Why bother to tell the world of Kindle readers that because of some technicality or possibly your own incompetence (understandably I opt for this explanation) you never read the book? PS: Thanks anyway for the 4 star rating; or was that also a technical glitch?
But the second review was far more damning and yes, I admit hurtful. But I guess authors need a thick skin. However, once I recovered from the shock of it I realised the woman who wrote it probably betrayed much more about her short-comings than she did about the quality of my writing. Apparently she, “…wasted (her) time even downloading it” but blamed herself, “… for being cheap.” (the book was on a 3 day free-download). It, “…wasn’t what I expected.” I wonder whether the title had somehow misled her to expect lurid mild porn?
I have since recovered my composure, though sadly the book doesn’t seem to have gleaned many readers, and a certain perspective leaning towards the understanding a writer writes primarily out of a compulsion to do so rather than for public acclaim.
I’m growing a thicker skin and if any of you reading this would care to access, ‘A Puppy Can Ruin Your Sex Life’ and oblige me with a fair evaluation and a customer review you can do so for FREE on Saturday 5th April if you have a Kindle account.
Get It Write 