The Writing Process discussion

My friend and author James Anderson today shared these lines on Amazon threads. They are a good reminder for every writer who felt the sting of a bad review.

James Anderson - All the hype about the Leonardo Di Caprio movie THE GREAT GATSBY has revived interest in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, often described as one of the great American novels of the 20th century.

For those of us who have been the recipients of some one-star reviews for our own literary efforts, it may comfort you to know that F. Scott is not universally acclaimed by reviewers in his own time and even today.

Writing in The Spectator, Douglas Murray blasts the book for "its terrible clunking passages, the coarseness of its plot" which he dismisses as "mere melodrama."

Toronto Globe and Mail book editor Jared Bland condemns Gatsby for "its flabby, imprecise prose" which he likens to "a sort of aeshetic Ponzi scheme."

Kathryn Schulz, book editor at New York magazine, calls Gatzby "aesthetically overrated, psychologically vacant and morally complacent" and says Gatsby "as a literary creation leaves me cold...the least funny book about rich people ever written."

Another unidentified reviewer calls THE GREAT GATSBY "a pretentious, implausible, incompetently written dud."

So the moral here folks, is don't take those book reviews too seriously. They are only the opinion of one person reading your book. And I say this as a former professional book reviewer.

I got my first one star Review a while back and of course I was disappointed and angry wishing for a 90 pound hog to fall down upon the little bas-ard’s head. Until I read the review… it was actually the best one star review I have ever read and if I was to review reviewers then I gladly give this reviewer 5 stars.

Here is the review from amazon UK:

“a great story but marred by graphic descriptions of violence, torture & rape. It's more like a video game than a book”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revie...

Well, at least he liked the story – (and it’s not that violent etc.)

There are 4 kinds of reviews.

Good good reviews --> 4 and 5 stars with thoughtful comments
Bad good reviews --> 4n and 5 stars with laconic or no comments
Bad Bad reviews --> 1 and 2 stars with laconic or no comments
Good Bad reviews --> 1 and 2 stars with thoughtful comments

The hope is to receive the Good good and Good bad reviews only :)

The 3 stars are "I like it somehow but it did not shake anything inside" ;)

Massimo wrote: "My friend and author James Anderson today shared these lines on Amazon threads. They are a good reminder for every writer who felt the sting of a bad review.

James Anderson - All the hype about th..."

So true~! This makes me feel better.

Massimo wrote: "There are 4 kinds of reviews.

Good good reviews --> 4 and 5 stars with thoughtful comments
Bad good reviews --> 4n and 5 stars with laconic or no comments
Bad Bad reviews --> 1 and 2 stars with la..."

That's true, too! I like the Good Good Reviews, and the Good Bad Reviews are okay because they give comments on how the book can be improved but they also say positive things about the book alongside the negatives, unlike a bucketload of reviewers I see on this site whom are only negative (and high with cursing), listing not a single positive.

I review everything I read, both for myself due to the high volume of what I consume as well as for others who follow my reviews and the author who may stumble across my words. If I don't have time to write a thoughtful review, I won't mark it as read. I have a friend who recently got a 1 star review of her book without an explanation and it troubled the new author. So I engaged the commenter on what she didn't like about the book and ended up writing a very helpful review for the author (in response to my questions on what she didn't like), with her reasons for not posting being she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. In the end, the author benefited for future works and I told the reviewer that almost all words left are helpful to both the author and possible readers.

Also, I rarely give out 5 star reviews. Nothing is *that* good and I feel like they are tossed around so quickly and add little to the review other than you're a fangirl (or fanboy!) who likes to use annoying gifs (most likely).

Alicia wrote: "I review everything I read, both for myself due to the high volume of what I consume as well as for others who follow my reviews and the author who may stumble across my words. If I don't have time..."

Without thoughtful comments, any review is a bad review no matter the number of stars.

The 5-stars is a subjective measure. You said you rarely give out 5 stars reviews and then add that nothing is *that* good, and yet something—even if rarely—deserved your 5-star ;)

I wrote a blog post yesterday about getting my first one-star review, and how it left me irritated. Not so much at the person who gave me the one-star review, but the circumstances behind it.

My First One-Star Rating, Or: The Unintended Problem With Book Giveaways.

I agree that people toss about 5 star reviews like they're going out of style. I only give 5 stars if I really enjoyed the book and it was well written. If it hasn't been edited and I loved the characters and plot, I will only give it 3 or 4. I feel like it diminishes the value of 5 stars if you give it to everything. You need to be able to delineate between excellent books and good books.

I also get peeved when someone gives me, say 4 stars, but goes on about what they didn't like and I think "Why did you give it 4 stars?" Alternatively, if someone writes how much they loved it and only gives it 3 stars. Or there's the person who will give me one or two stars with no review and I check their other ratings to see if they usually rate high or low and how I compare, and find that they have read many books in my genre and have 2 starred all of them! I think "Why the hell do you even read this genre?" I find that most strange lol.

Dionne wrote: "I agree that people toss about 5 star reviews like they're going out of style. I only give 5 stars if I really enjoyed the book and it was well written. If it hasn't been edited and I loved the cha..."

:) Well said. The problem, if it even is a problem, is that Amazon "reviews" aren't reviews at all, but for some rare exception from the top ranked reviewers, maybe. What we get are readers' feedback, not an editorial review. The book might have not a single language issue, a consistent plot, well developed characters, and engaging storyline and a compelling end and still receive a one star from a reader who might say "I hated when the main character did that. I tossed the book away and didn't even finish." A reader's reaction, legitimate even, it's in readers' rights to react that way to a novel, but a review? No way :D