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Should You Respond To Reviews?
I struggled with this question for a long time. Is it better to not respond to reviews or to respond to them?
From searching forums on this topic, and looking at reviews of other books for the author commenting back, it appears that the majority opinion is for the author to not respond.
I finally settled on this: No response to positive reviews unless the reviewer asks a question - such as "when is the next book coming out?". No response to negative reviews if the reviewer simply doesn't like the writing style or story line, everyone is entitled to their aesthetic opinions after all.
But, when a reviewer leaves either a hateful/spiteful/vile comment that is aimed at me personally as the writer (and the subject and material in my book does tend to attract some of those); or if the reviewer leaves a comment that is factually incorrect (my book has some technical aspects to it) then I respond to correct the erroneous information they have left behind for all of eternity. I respond in the same tone of voice as the reviewer. If it is caustic or sarcastic so is my response. If the tone is courteous, so is my response.
One reason, other than correcting factual errors, is that controversy tends to get people's attention. It is for now a part of my overall marketing strategy to be controversial in response to the hater's reviews. I have noticed, but can't document yet, that I seem to get a small sales spike after receiving a hater review and I comment back in kind. I don't see the spike after positive or neutral reviews, only the vilely negative ones.
What's your take on this?
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