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With a new book release, there are plenty of things that authors worry about – the worst of which are, I think, the reviews. As authors, we put an awful lot of stock in what an individual reviewer has to say about our work. Obviously, not every reader is going to love every piece of work we put out, but we can’t help but be upset or hurt when we read a bad review. The reviewer’s words stick in our heads and keep on repeating.
Our editors are reviewers, too. They receive our manuscripts as written, and then make recommendations on how to improve them. I don’t know about other authors, but this stage is difficult for me, too.
So, think about it. You sit down to begin your next book. You start working up the characters and suddenly a less-than-complimentary review starts to reverberate in your head. How can you write now, especially when you know that everything you write is doo-doo? Or your editor’s words come back to you … and you wonder how you ever got an entire book down on paper in the first place!
Even the good reviews do it to me. I think about what it was that the reviewer (or editor) liked and become preoccupied with those features and try to think how I might incorporate them into the current book. It’s a no-win situation!
But I don’t think I would trade this occupation for any other. 
Filed in: Jaunty Post
Aug 23rd
2007
1:00 am
Kate Diamond Said:
Wow. Talk about karma. I can’t believe I stumbled onto this post after giving a mixed review of a book on another site. The minute I hit “send” I felt guilt.
After all, I feel pretty crummy when someone criticizes my work… and I’m thinking back to when it was a loan professor grading my term papers!
The reason that I responded so passionately to this author’s work is because I care about her characters… enough that I hated what she did to them.
I think I’m going to write that author a letter; a sent-through-the-mail letter that lets her know how much I enjoy her series. After all, you authors pour your hearts into your books… and then they get picked apart by professional reviewers and armchair critics.
For my own part, I think I need to be a little less critical and a little more thankful that I have so many good books at my fingertips.
Thanks for the epiphany!
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Aug 23rd
2007
1:06 am
Kate Diamond Said:
Ugh. I should proofread. I meant lone professor. Not loan professor.
Although perhaps that was a subliminal commentary on the rising cost of education…
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Aug 23rd
2007
9:30 am
Margo Maguire Said:
I should clarify — I haven’t been on the recieving end of a recent spate of bad reviews. I just happened to be musing on how other people’s critiques of our work can influence our process. So, good or bad, what other people say can have an effect on how we go about our writing.
Kate – definitely write the author and tell her how much you enjoy her series. I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.
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Aug 23rd
2007
1:39 pm
Clarisse Said:
I remain in utter awe of published authors when it comes to dealing with reviews. Even if it is only one person’s opinion (and that is true whether it is a “name” reviewer or just someone on Amazon), I think that there must be a natural desire to know what anyone who is not related to you really thinks of your baby book. And of course we are all primed to believe the bad stuff in life so 50 people can say it’s great and one person pans it and it stings. But to be creative on the next book when the last one is being whacked — now that’s professionalism I think. Is there somewhere to go to learn to have thick skin or is it just a learning process?
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Aug 23rd
2007
3:14 pm
Kate Diamond Said:
Margo–I didn’t mean to imply that you’d gotten a bunch of bad reviews. I was just shame-spiraling when I posted on your blog!
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Aug 23rd
2007
3:23 pm
Margo Maguire Said:
LOL, Kate – I didn’t think you had … but when I re-read my blog I realized I was pretty whiney there and I didn’t intend that at all! I’ve had mixed reviews for most of my books, and that’s fairly typical. It’s expected, although most of us take them quite personally, even if we don’t intend to. And for those of us who try to avoid reading them (good AND bad), they sometimes sneak up on us inadvertently!
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Aug 23rd
2007
8:38 pm
Shana Said:
You know, I don’t think it’s just authors who have to worry about reviews–it’s just that we get our work picked apart publicly. When I’m working at my dayjob, I worry all the time about whether my boss thinks I’m doing a good job. I wonder if the other employees like me and if think I’m pulling my weight. Of course, if I do mess up, it won’t be all over the Internet or in a magazine with a subscription of 100K! That’s the difference.
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