I started to reply to a post in Jan's thread about Black Silk, then realised it was wayyyyy off-topic, so I thought I'd start a new one.
How do you deal with reviews? Do you find them at all useful?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dadioflex
Naw. Nasty reviews are a waste of everyone's time. Negative, but fair, reviews can help, but even then you have to ask whether addressing the criticisms and changing how you write, or what you write about, is going to do more to alienate the people who like you, than it is to attract new readers.
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I find that the negative reviews, even just-plain-nasty ones, can be handy for a few reasons -
- they point out flaws, from the reader's POV, in the story. These aren't always useful to me (what? my characters aren't completely fleshed out? It's a humour-driven short story, dude!), but they're sometimes useful in warning off people who'll hate it before they bother reading it and getting annoyed. People who only love lots of flowery, evocative prose should NOT read my work. Ever. Neither should anyone who's easily offended.
- they give me clues on marketing. If people are reading my blurbs, getting interested, then being thoroughly disappointed, my marketing methods need work.
That said, I take every review with a BIG grain of salt. Some feedback is completely correct. Most is a matter of personal taste, which I may or may not want to take on board. Some is just dross. I guess my point is - be humble, but don't be a doormat. I think even the nastiest review deserves some thought (even, 'what inspired THAT level of vitriol?'), but not necessarily more than that.