I may have mentioned a time or two that I am a BIG fan of Chuck Wendig’s TERRIBLE MINDS blog.
I haven’t read any of his books. I really ought to. They ARE on Kobo, after all – but the household budget this year has been strained a little by my wife’s return to college and my book-buying addiction has been voluntarily curtailed.
Still, his blog makes me giggle and it teaches me at the very same time.
Just yesterday I read a blog entry of his that spoke about the reasons WHY a writer ought to think twice about replying to negative reviewers.
Let me add my own two bits here.
DO NOT REPLY TO A NEGATIVE BOOK REVIEW.
Oh sure, you’re going to say. That’s good advice, Steve, but I don’t have to follow your advice now – do I?
Well yes, it is good advice. And it is JUST my advice – and no, before you can say it I am NOT the boss of you.
But is good advice – even though it is JUST advice.
Same as – “Do not put your foot in that bear trap!” is just advice.
So, now that I have established that I am indeed a knowledgeable guru-giver of good advice that you really ought to listen unless you LIKE the idea of a bear trap as a pedal accessory – I probably ought to tell you WHY I think that replying to negative reviews is a BAD idea.
Listen – that negative review is just somebody who has made their mind up – and no matter HOW persuasively you try to encourage them to see things your way – odds are you are going to wind up in the middle of a discussion that most likely will turn into a digital fist fight and might possibly result in an onslaught of bad reviews – either delivered karmically by some unseen dubiously-benevolent get-your-goat god – OR – delivered to you by an angry peeved-off steamed-up mad blood-stalking book reviewer who has made it their personal mission in life to hunt your e-books down and bash them unmercifully until they either die, give up, or take up stamp collecting.
Remember – the One Hundred Year War – that really lasted about 116 years, if memory serves – started out with two old boys standing in a field saying “I disagree”.
If you want to read Chuck’s blog on this matter – and about a billion reader comments swing on over to TERRIBLE MINDS and maybe even follow it – because a good blog is a terrible thing to waste.
AND – while you are in the blog-reading mood – why don’t you hit this link and give a look-over to my other take on this situation – ADVICE FOR DEALING WITH A BAD REVIEW.
Yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
YOURS IN STORYTELLING... 