Negative publicity

dworth · 09-16-2010, 05:48 AM

My science fiction novel Exiles, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UYUWE2 had been selling steadily from Amazon.com and has generally been quite well received. However, last week a recieved a one star, one line review that was incredibly harsh and dismissive and has pretty much killed my sales. I'm a big boy and I'm aware that whatever I write and however good it may be, someone will hate it, but I was wondering what everyone else has done in this situation.

Thanks in advance

Dan

ardeegee · 09-16-2010, 07:06 AM

"Poorly written. Good story. Needs editor. Rambles. I would avoid the work--but give the author another chance should he try again.

Doesn't seem to approach the level of "incredibly harsh" to me. ("Good story", "give the author another chance".)

I think that your problem is more people read the succinct 1-star review and skipped over a possibly even more brutally honest 4 star one:

This is a decent enough effort... Not great literature... My main beef is with editing. Even a quick pass by a competent professional editor would clean up a mildly depressing tendency toward structural wordiness... and inconsistent grammar... unpolished and not particularly writerly. It annoys me enough to detract from the flow of the narrative, but it isn't bad enough to make me scream.... I want to encourage the author to go the extra step for your readers and put a good copyeditor to work before you bring out the rest of the series....

kcmay · 09-16-2010, 08:43 AM

It's one person's opinion, and it's not obviously inflammatory. Chin up and press on.

dworth · 09-16-2010, 09:39 AM

I think it was the one star, the 'poorly written' and the 'I would avoid' that stung and is possibly hurting my sales. To me 'poorly written' says 'can barely string a sentence together,' which I refute. I do accept that I am a little long winded though.

That other one is at least constructive and I did take it on board. Unfortunately it refers to an earlier version of the text which has since been re-edited by a third party. Yes, I should have done this beforehand, I know. I edited the thing myself several times and it doesn't work!

On the other hand, one guy genuinely loved it, which was nice.

I had a quick look around at the titles that people had bought as well as mine and they were getting ripped to shreds by some of their reviews, but were still selling bucketloads.

I was just wondering what other people had done in this situation and whether things tend to even out once you've got plenty of reviews with a spread of opinion.

HarryT · 09-16-2010, 12:12 PM

Has your book been professionally edited? If not, the "needs editor" comment is probably justified; it's a rare author indeed whose book cannot be improved by an editor.

neilmarr · 09-16-2010, 12:44 PM

Ditto, Harry. Meanwhile, grin and bear it, Dan. But no review is negative if the author learns from it. Neil

Valmore Daniels · 09-16-2010, 12:51 PM

Stephen King's new book "Under The Dome" got 120 x 1 star reviews. It happens to everyone. You just have to put it behind you and concentrate on your next masterpiece.

Elfwreck · 09-16-2010, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Has your book been professionally edited? If not, the "needs editor" comment is probably justified; it's a rare author indeed whose book cannot be improved by an editor.

Agreed.

Fanfic authors sometimes seek beta readers for 100-word drabbles. *Any* literary work can benefit from a critical view before it's sent to the public.

HistoryWes · 09-16-2010, 01:33 PM

I've found the reviews incredibly harsh on iBooks. I'm pretty thick-skinned, but some of them are just mean. "The previous five star review could only have been written by the author or his mother." Never mind there are scores of 5 star reviews. I know not everyone is going to like my work and I can respect a 1 star review if it is constructive. I'm also pretty happy with the knowledge that there are more 5 and 4 star reviews than 3 and 2 stars, and there are more 3 and 2 star reviews, than 1 star reviews. I have to admit though that I've just gotten to where I don't read the 1 stars anymore.

meromana · 09-16-2010, 02:01 PM

I'm just gonna throw this out there--are you sure the sales change is because of the bad review? It could just be a coincidence (as a statistician, I can tell you that you don't have enough data

). The better reviews outweigh the poor one; most people ignore a single bad review; and a positive review is the first one they see.

Did you do anything else that could affect your marketing at the same time? Were you previously active on a forum and have been less so lately? Were you getting book blogger attention, and now it's died down? Has a competing book gotten a lot of press lately? Think through all the things that might affect your sales, and consider that that one review might not be at fault.

--Maria

jamesread · 09-16-2010, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HistoryWes

I've found the reviews incredibly harsh on iBooks. I'm pretty thick-skinned, but some of them are just mean. "The previous five star review could only have been written by the author or his mother." Never mind there are scores of 5 star reviews. I know not everyone is going to like my work and I can respect a 1 star review if it is constructive. I'm also pretty happy with the knowledge that there are more 5 and 4 star reviews than 3 and 2 stars, and there are more 3 and 2 star reviews, than 1 star reviews. I have to admit though that I've just gotten to where I don't read the 1 stars anymore.

Speaking of which - I just gave your novel "Princess of Amathar" 3 1/2 stars out of 4 stars in my Digital Spotlight Fiction Review blog.
http://digitalspotlightfictionreview...y-allison.html

queentess · 09-16-2010, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardeegee

I think that your problem is more people read the succinct 1-star review and skipped over a possibly even more brutally honest 4 star one:

This is a decent enough effort... Not great literature... My main beef is with editing. Even a quick pass by a competent professional editor would clean up a mildly depressing tendency toward structural wordiness... and inconsistent grammar... unpolished and not particularly writerly. It annoys me enough to detract from the flow of the narrative, but it isn't bad enough to make me scream.... I want to encourage the author to go the extra step for your readers and put a good copyeditor to work before you bring out the rest of the series....

Yeah... if both the 4-star review and the 1-star review are harping on grammar and the need for an editor, I'm going to avoid that book like the plague.

You should have it professionally edited and release a new version. Perhaps after it's released, respond to the reviews out there now and say "I've released a newly edited version of this book" or some such. Amazon notifies purchasers when the book has been updated, but you'll want everyone who reads the reviews to know you've made an effort to clean it up.

dworth · 09-16-2010, 04:41 PM

"Yeah... if both the 4-star review and the 1-star review are harping on grammar and the need for an editor, I'm going to avoid that book like the plague. "

My thoughts exactly

It's a shame that the reviews in Amazon don't have a 'this review refers to an earlier version' tag on them or something.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm off on my hols for the next few weeks so I might not be able to respond after today.

jaxx6166 · 09-16-2010, 08:07 PM

There are some people though that would be on the opposite end of the coin. Several one star reviews, somebody could think "Is this really THAT bad? I have to look."

It's like the people that stop and stare at nasty car wrecks. Reviews are reviews and just as subjective as the author and the writer. What's dreck to one person could be a pearl to another.

I don't think a single one star review could kill your sales completely. But, in the self pub world where 50 copies is a gold record, it very well could... I'm still of the opinion that NOTHING should be sold before it's been seen by other's eyes.

meromana · 09-17-2010, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by queentess

Amazon notifies purchasers when the book has been updated, but you'll want everyone who reads the reviews to know you've made an effort to clean it up.

Is that true? I've not been notified of any re-releases of books I've bought for Kindle, and I know some of them have been updated since I bought. I had to contact Amazon to request the updates be sent to my Kindle account. Is there some opt-in list I need to get on for these kinds of notifications?

--Maria

09-16-2010, 05:48 AM	#1
dworth Zealot Posts: 140 Karma: 2094632 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bradford, UK Device: kindle pc	Negative publicity My science fiction novel Exiles, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UYUWE2 had been selling steadily from Amazon.com and has generally been quite well received. However, last week a recieved a one star, one line review that was incredibly harsh and dismissive and has pretty much killed my sales. I'm a big boy and I'm aware that whatever I write and however good it may be, someone will hate it, but I was wondering what everyone else has done in this situation. Thanks in advance Dan

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09-16-2010, 07:06 AM	#2
ardeegee Maratus speciosus butt Posts: 3,292 Karma: 1162698 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS-350	"Poorly written. Good story. Needs editor. Rambles. I would avoid the work--but give the author another chance should he try again. Doesn't seem to approach the level of "incredibly harsh" to me. ("Good story", "give the author another chance".) I think that your problem is more people read the succinct 1-star review and skipped over a possibly even more brutally honest 4 star one: This is a decent enough effort... Not great literature... My main beef is with editing. Even a quick pass by a competent professional editor would clean up a mildly depressing tendency toward structural wordiness... and inconsistent grammar... unpolished and not particularly writerly. It annoys me enough to detract from the flow of the narrative, but it isn't bad enough to make me scream.... I want to encourage the author to go the extra step for your readers and put a good copyeditor to work before you bring out the rest of the series....

09-16-2010, 08:43 AM	#3
kcmay Addict Posts: 363 Karma: 500001 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Georgia, USA Device: Kindle2	It's one person's opinion, and it's not obviously inflammatory. Chin up and press on.

09-16-2010, 09:39 AM	#4
dworth Zealot Posts: 140 Karma: 2094632 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bradford, UK Device: kindle pc	I think it was the one star, the 'poorly written' and the 'I would avoid' that stung and is possibly hurting my sales. To me 'poorly written' says 'can barely string a sentence together,' which I refute. I do accept that I am a little long winded though. That other one is at least constructive and I did take it on board. Unfortunately it refers to an earlier version of the text which has since been re-edited by a third party. Yes, I should have done this beforehand, I know. I edited the thing myself several times and it doesn't work! On the other hand, one guy genuinely loved it, which was nice. I had a quick look around at the titles that people had bought as well as mine and they were getting ripped to shreds by some of their reviews, but were still selling bucketloads. I was just wondering what other people had done in this situation and whether things tend to even out once you've got plenty of reviews with a spread of opinion.

09-16-2010, 12:12 PM	#5
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Has your book been professionally edited? If not, the "needs editor" comment is probably justified; it's a rare author indeed whose book cannot be improved by an editor.

09-16-2010, 12:44 PM	#6
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Ditto, Harry. Meanwhile, grin and bear it, Dan. But no review is negative if the author learns from it. Neil

09-16-2010, 12:51 PM	#7
Valmore Daniels Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,592 Karma: 2822668 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle	Stephen King's new book "Under The Dome" got 120 x 1 star reviews. It happens to everyone. You just have to put it behind you and concentrate on your next masterpiece.

09-16-2010, 01:33 PM	#9
HistoryWes Teacher/Novelist Posts: 632 Karma: 2274466 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Nevada Device: Nook STR, iPad	I've found the reviews incredibly harsh on iBooks. I'm pretty thick-skinned, but some of them are just mean. "The previous five star review could only have been written by the author or his mother." Never mind there are scores of 5 star reviews. I know not everyone is going to like my work and I can respect a 1 star review if it is constructive. I'm also pretty happy with the knowledge that there are more 5 and 4 star reviews than 3 and 2 stars, and there are more 3 and 2 star reviews, than 1 star reviews. I have to admit though that I've just gotten to where I don't read the 1 stars anymore.

09-16-2010, 02:01 PM	#10
meromana Zealot Posts: 129 Karma: 11430 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: NC, USA Device: my laptop	I'm just gonna throw this out there--are you sure the sales change is because of the bad review? It could just be a coincidence (as a statistician, I can tell you that you don't have enough data ). The better reviews outweigh the poor one; most people ignore a single bad review; and a positive review is the first one they see. Did you do anything else that could affect your marketing at the same time? Were you previously active on a forum and have been less so lately? Were you getting book blogger attention, and now it's died down? Has a competing book gotten a lot of press lately? Think through all the things that might affect your sales, and consider that that one review might not be at fault. --Maria

09-16-2010, 04:41 PM	#13
dworth Zealot Posts: 140 Karma: 2094632 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bradford, UK Device: kindle pc	"Yeah... if both the 4-star review and the 1-star review are harping on grammar and the need for an editor, I'm going to avoid that book like the plague. " My thoughts exactly It's a shame that the reviews in Amazon don't have a 'this review refers to an earlier version' tag on them or something. Thanks for the input guys. I'm off on my hols for the next few weeks so I might not be able to respond after today.

09-16-2010, 08:07 PM	#14
jaxx6166 Wizard Posts: 1,222 Karma: 769316 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Eternal summer Device: 350, iPad, PW	There are some people though that would be on the opposite end of the coin. Several one star reviews, somebody could think "Is this really THAT bad? I have to look." It's like the people that stop and stare at nasty car wrecks. Reviews are reviews and just as subjective as the author and the writer. What's dreck to one person could be a pearl to another. I don't think a single one star review could kill your sales completely. But, in the self pub world where 50 copies is a gold record, it very well could... I'm still of the opinion that NOTHING should be sold before it's been seen by other's eyes.