By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Wired’s founding executive editor Kevin Kelly stated that if writers and other artists have “one thousand true fans” then they’re able to sustain a living from their art.
I don’t honestly know how many true fans I have (and I prefer calling them readers instead of fans) but I know I get nearly-daily emails from readers.
And I do know one true ‘fan’. She is, actually, my number one fan (no Stephen King reference intended). She is also my number one critic. Since she doesn’t have a public presence, I won’t call her out by giving her name online.
She started emailing me over a year ago, giving me feedback on various books in various series. She has mentioned reading each of my books numerous times.
I’m almost positive that she knows my characters better than I do.
The emails start off with a list of things she enjoyed about the book and end with things she hadn’t enjoyed or character issues she questioned. Sometimes she’d mention absent recurring characters or elements that I had used in other books in the series that hadn’t appeared in the most recent book.
I always wrote her back, thanking her for reading my books and for her feedback. And when I had a new release, I knew she’d be emailing me within the week with a detailed critique.
I’d wait for her feedback with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension. Because…there was nothing I could do. The book was published and, aside from small corrections, I wasn’t planning to go back into the document to add scenes or rewrite large portions of the book. But she always had such good points.
Finally I decided that I was approaching the situation the wrong way. Here was a very perceptive reader who loved my books and had constructive, heartfelt criticism of my work. Why on earth didn’t I just shoot the book over to her before I published it? Let her be a beta reader.
I emailed the reader and asked politely if she might be interested in an advance copy of the manuscript. I said a downside would be that it wouldn’t be formatted for Kindle yet (I know that’s her preferred way to read) and wouldn’t be professionally edited prior to her reading. I cautioned her that I may not use some or any of her suggestions but that I was very interested in hearing her thoughts. And I mentioned that she wouldn’t feel she had to spend any additional time reading the material than she usually did.
My experiment worked out really well. I used roughly 75% of her suggestions to improve and tweak the book. She was excited to get an advance copy for free and I was excited to get a preview of a critical review. I sent her a free copy of the finished book and thanked her in the acknowledgments.
There have been recent, widely reported incidents of writers behaving badly in the face of bad or sometimes somewhat unfair reviews.
When I hear these stories, I’m always surprised. Not because bad reviews don’t sting (they can and do), but because they frequently present an opportunity for the author in terms of reader base research and areas that might require improvement (especially if it’s a chorus of complaints targeting specific story or character elements).
Besides enlisting a reviewer as a beta, I’ve used critical reviews to gauge reader reactions to suspense, humor, character arcs, and other elements of various books.
I think if we look at our worst, constructive reviews as opportunities for improvement, it gives us the necessary distance and objectivity to find the usefulness in the reviews and overcome the sting.
If you’ve received negative reviews (as I have), what’s been your strategy in dealing with them?
Image: MorgueFile: JDurham
Hi Elizabeth – you’ve taken the best route here … and what an opportunity for you both – so pleased you turned the tables for her, so you can both benefit.
Brilliant idea … cheers Hilary
Hilary–Thanks! And thanks for coming by.
I like a good three star review, myself, one that balances strengths and weaknesses. Nearly every book has something in it that can be improved. One and two star reviews? I’m not such a fan. I also didn’t think much of the person who gave a 1-star rating to my book on Goodreads without leaving any review at all. How is that useful to anyone?
I picked up a book a year or two ago which had a lot of 5-star reviews and 1 or 2 4-stars. I didn’t think much of it, for reasons stated in my 3-star review (which also said what I did like about the book). The author jumped in defensively, then another reader (or maybe a sock-puppet) chimed in with her. The conversation went on for months. I was not favorably impressed.
Amelia–I’m with you…those are the worst when they don’t give any indication why the reader gave such a poor review. I’ve thought to myself that some of those readers want to keep track, on a personal basis, what books they enjoyed and didn’t. In other words, they’re not actually trying to inform others…only to remember the hits and misses on their own, personal reading list. Either way….bleh.
I think writers who comment on either favorable or negative reviews are supplying the worst kind of author intrusion. Most of the time the reviews are by readers for other readers (except, of course, in the case of an emailed review…which is what I was receiving. Definitely intended for my consumption and action. :) )
I’ve always looked at them that way. I took to heart what people said about my first book and used it to make the second one better, including adding a female lead. And my test readers were the same for all three books of my series, so they knew the character very well and made suggestions on how he should act.
Alex–You did a great job with changing direction…so responsive. Keeping the same test readers for series continuity is also a great idea.
No question about it, one should not react to negative reviews, however much they hurt. And you did a superb job of enlisting your reader, though I suspect the job was facilitated by the fact that here was a real fan of your books, someone who read them over and over again and deconstructed them in a useful way.
So yes, a critical review that is also constructive is a bonus, and I agree with you, we writers should stop and take notice and even take advantage of it to improve our books. I’ve done it several times, to the point that I’ve unpublished about as many books as I have published! I’m sure I’m driving Amazon batty, my author KDP dashboard looks like a battle field.
And of course I’ve uploaded revised versions with new titles and new covers – the latest one, just yesterday: I pulled down my speculative fiction “Forever Young” (there were tons of books with that title, very confusing) and re-uploaded a new, revised version (about 10% changes) with a new title “Gateway to Forever” and a totally changed cover that better reflects the genre. We’ll see how it goes.
But the book got killed back in July, just a month after launching, by a devastating, unfair 2-star review accusing me of not being sufficiently “futuristic”!! This is one case where I broke down and contravened to my own principles – and I replied, arguing that the book couldn’t be more futuristic than it was.
I know, I should never have done it but I truly object to unfair criticism. If it’s constructive and I can infer from it things that will improve the book, fine, I’m ready to do that. But if it is simply willfully destructive, well, then, no. A right of reply should be exercised in those very, very rare cases…But maybe I’m wrong. If I were successful to the point of having hundreds of reviews, I suppose I shouldn’t care and could easily afford to ignore the bad reviews…
Claude–Absolutely, that was key. She loved the books and was indignant on behalf of the characters when she thought I’d screwed something up. :) She cared so much that she made me want to get it right.
KDP dashboard as a battlefield…ha! Love that. And good for you for being so proactive in improving your books. I love the title change and I think you’re smart to have changed it. I know there’s even a song called “Forever Young” and since Amazon sells music, it could make for a very cluttered field. I now do title searches before I name a book.
And, oh Claude, I know it’s so hard not to engage. I know quite a few authors who have jumped in when something in a review is blatantly untrue or just unfair. Although it’s tempting, I just don’t jump in. You’re right–it does make it easier when there are a large number of reviews and one review doesn’t impact the whole.
That was a great solution including her as a first reader. Even at the most boring workshops I learn at least one thing. If we allow ourselves we can learn from negative reviews.
Teresa–It sounds as if you and I have been to some of the same workshops! :) And you’re right…there’s usually at least one takeaway.
Elizabeth – You’re fortunate to have someone like that, who likes your stories and your writing well enough to believe in you that strongly. And she’s fortunate that you’re the kind of author who listens to and cares about readers. I’m sure it’d be quite different if you weren’t. Sounds like a symbiosis.
Margot–A symbiosis is a good way of putting it!
I love how you decided to use her as a beta reader. I bet she gives you some great ideas.
Diane–She sure did. And I’m planning on asking her opinion again, for future books.
If I had a reader or two like that maybe I wouldn’t be paying my brilliant editor so much. But that’s what I get from him, the critical (not meant in a pejorative sense) feedback that makes me think hard and write better.
I keep hoping for a critical review. Closest I’ve come is “this book has missing words” in a 4-star review. Fix ’em and move on, but not much to learn about writing from that.
If I could garner some negative feedback, a greater body of constructive criticism, I’d wallow in it and splatter it on the walls; use it just like you have: grind the kernel to make your bread, and let the wind take the chaff away.
I could sure use some more critical readers like your treasure.
My first Mac McClellan Mystery, Deadly Catch (Seventh Street Books), has received mostly favorable reviews (5-star & 4-star) at Amazon and Goodreads. I always feel the reader has a right to his/her opinion, and I don’t generally let the occasional bad review get to me. Here is a 1-star review I received:
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It doesn’t tell me much, except that I’m not John D. MacDonald. I don’t get upset, but this type review is next to worthless. Very nice article — thanks for sharing!
Michael
Michael–The most frustrating poor reviews are the ones that don’t help us out at all. I try to just let my eye skip over those when I’m looking at reviews. To me, those are just notes from readers to themselves about books they’ve read…tracking them, rating them.
Joel–Hoping a critical review will come your way (ha! That doesn’t sound friendly, but is meant to be). :)
Even when someone is biased and rants, you’ll find a kernel of truth in what they’re saying. I know many authors shun their reviews because they don’t want to hear the meanies out there, but I read them all. Why? Because I want to know where I’m failing. If there’s some way I can improve my writing in the future, I’d like to know it. Don’t get me wrong. I sill have those sad, “I’ll never be good enough” moments, but I feel empowered when I can gain some idea of where to go from here.
Crystal–And knowledge is power…you’re right. Very empowering to get tips on what we can tweak in upcoming books.
GREAT post, Elizabeth. Like the rest of your commenters, I’d love to have that level of engagement in a reader(s) and would also want to turn them into a beta. Pure gold, to have that! And yes, I too have grit (gritted?) my teeth over a bad review and overlooked suggested changes for my character that I never would have made, but paid attention to the one or two points that would absolutely have improved the mss. And then I changed it. This is a business, after all. Readers some first. Reviews are like medicine, sometimes they taste bad, but they can help. Thanks so much for sharing!
Molly–Exactly. I’ve never pretended to be anything other than a commercial writer–I want to spin a good tale and have readers really enjoy it. If they don’t enjoy it, I want to know why and how I can deliver a better book. Call it good customer service, but it’s important to me as a storyteller.
Funny. I just conveyed some feelings along these lines. I’m like anyone else. I don’t like bad reviews and do like good ones. With some reflection (and as others have mentioned), if the criticisms are to the point, I try to use them as a learning experience. I do, really do, appreciate someone taking the time to read my work. They give me a very valuable gift – their time. On my first book, many commented I used to much description – I’ve taken those comments seriously and consequently hope to forge a better work. Some readers, after reading a few chapters, indicated that the storyline didn’t interest them. Fair enough – life’s too short – no harm, no foul.
As an aside, one of the most difficult things for me is finding beta readers. They tend to be people I’m linked to in some way and don’t provide the hardcore criticism for fear of offending. As you indicated, Elizabeth, better to get the valid criticism prior to publication.