The first review I did on my blog was a bad one. When I looked to see how people had gotten to my blog, I saw there was a link to it on kindleboards.com. I went there and the author of the book had started a thread about the bad review and how upset he was by it. In the review I had mentioned some positive things too and I tried to be nice (some people in the thread stood up for me) but the criticism was still unmistakable and pointed. I instantly felt like a horse's ass because the guy described the review as "a kick in the teeth." But I was glad that I did see it, and since then I try extra hard to be gentle when I have something bad to say. My point is sometimes people who write those kinds of reviews forget that an actual PERSON worked very hard and did their best on the book and is basically putting their child on display to the world.
People who don't frequent forums like this might assume that anyone with a book published is a millionaire and therefore doesn't have feelings, or whatever justification they can make to be mean. Maybe if you post a cordial reply to the review the person will realize that you aren't some faceless evil genius getting rich quick and trying your best to trick people into buying your stuff.
Of course, some people are just insensitive and rude. To hell with them. Obviously the vast majority of people that read your writing love it. Commence to feel warm and fuzzy.
