by Matthew Dean The linked article is worth reading. It represents how Ive often felt when people ask to down-vote a review or, worse, report it as abuse. Sometimes the review IS abusive, but often it sounds like someone is being truthful about their experience. Once, someone gave me a one-star review. Since the book was written in character, I responded in character with a bit of humor, saying Oh well, better luck next time, and maybe youll like it more if you buy more of my books. The reviewer contacted me and again voiced that this was their experience. I responded (not in character) and said I wasnt trying to belittle their review, and, in truth, I felt they had a right to their opinion. The response from this was that the reviewer (having talked to me) felt they had been too harsh, and that they would delete their review. I, in turn, begged them not to. Because, as this article says, my work affected them, and affected them in a true way. I believe wholeheartedly that the worst review is probably a 2-star or 3-star review, or, more likely, no review at all. The worst response to art is not anger or disgust, its indifference. It means your work did nothing. It had no effect. It might as well not have existed. And, truly, everyone who leaves a review represents SOMEONE. If someone else comes along and sees a mix of reviews, they know theres a chance its not for them. If that reviewer seems to represent them, then they may become INFORMED that my book is not for them. And thats great to me. I want people to read my book WHO WILL LIKE IT. One-star reviews help me achieve that goal. If, however, someone comes to a book and its filled OVERWHELMINGLY with 5-star reviews, its either the best book in the history of mankind, or its completely misleading about what their experience will be. To me, a 4-star to 4.5-star ranking is the ideal rank for a good piece of work, not a 5-star ranking, and to get there, you need some oners. Anyway, soapbox done, this guy says it better than me.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 07:25:46 +0000