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Reviews of your work How do they affect you?

M. WelshmanM. Welshman
edited May 2014 in Writing
Prompted to ask Talkbackers views on this topic as just picked up on this review of my first pet book - Pets in a Pickle. Posted last year on Nook Book reviews. Seems the reviewer though it was a children's book. Hee ... Hee ...

Posted June 3, 2013
Lacking family values
I was surprised by the adult content in this childrens book For that reason I stopped reading it to my young son The main character repeatedly comments on his bosses attractiveness and moves in with a woman he just met after pointing out that his female landlord was making moves on him I hope this is not representative of the new wave of childrens books

Comments

  • Stan2Stan2
    edited May 2014
    What is the world coming too!
  • Tiny NellTiny Nell
    I haven't had many - and fortunately, up until now, I haven't had any like that! I would be miffed by it, I must say! Why would she assume it was a children's book? Was the category obvious on Amazon?
  • toothlighttoothlight
    In fairness, having seen the cover of your new book on this site, I-too-thought you were writing for a young readership, but assume Amazon had it listed as a children's book
  • M. WelshmanM. Welshman
    That's just it - the book appeared as a Freebie Friday ebook on Nook Books advertised as a light humorous read and Barnes & Noble invited reviews. As a consequence it got over 500. Early on one person assumed it was for children and it sort of snowballed from there. I got a real mix from 5* down to 1*. That's the danger with freebies or Kindle offers. It attracts people who aren't necessarily interested in the genre - just that it's cheap - and consequently fail to connect. I was warned that could happen by author, Stephen Leather, who used the 99p approach to get five of his books in the top ten on Kindles bestseller list at the same time a few years back.
  • CarolCarol
    It's annoying, but we can't do much about it.



  • Tiny NellTiny Nell
    They say you should never reply to reviews, but I would be tempted to politely point out that it's an adult book - or add it into the blurb so that other readers won't fall into the same trap.
  • NefertariNefertari
    How ridiculous. Can you ask for it to be removed?
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    edited May 2014
    that posted twice.
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    That's annoying. My long post came up twice. I changed the second one to my comment above and then the first one vanished!

    Basically, out of 28 reviews for Escape to the Country, 26 were 4 or 5 stars. 1 was a 2 star. I was a 1 star and so very negative and so contradictory to what all the others said, that I think it reads more like spite than a valid review.
  • datco2014datco2014
    HI, I did an amazon freebie for my crime thriller - 'Flowers for Dying' and someone downloaded it thinking it said flowers for DRYING - to do with flower arranging - to her eternal credit however she read it and loved teh book and gave me a 5* review - you can see it on Amazon - had me in stitches for hours - still makes me smile even now!! Also taught me to pick a better title next time!!
  • datco2014datco2014
    Overall reviews are great - I think there are three types of reviews - editor reviews, peer reviews and reader reviews.


    The first kind are the ones you get from (hopefully) a professional critique/editor that you've paid to do the job - if you are lucky enough to be able to afford such a thing - or from your publisher if you are incredibly lucky enough to have one- they should be constructive and where necessary brutal - ignore their comments at your peril.

    The second kind are the type of feedback you get from sites like this - they can be very useful but sometimes not as 'impartial' or accurate as you might think they should be and finally the reader reviews when your book is actually out there - the ones that you have a hard time believing because soneone who has downloaded or bought your book has actually taken the time to post a review saying they like it... or NOT in some cases.

    The latter is the most important of them all - some of the most successful self-published writers are getting great reviews, selling thousands of books and yet still can't land a traditional publisher - so to them the most important guide to their success is reader reviews

    I wish I was at that stage lol
  • M. WelshmanM. Welshman
    Some good points there Datco. Reader reviews are certainly worth taking note of esp if reoccurring negative comments appear. In my first book, Pets in a Pickle, I was far too 'clever' at playing with words esp my use of puns. This got between the book and the reader. And many people loathed the excessive punning. Some saying it was a feeble way to conceal poor writing.
    I lessened the use in the second book. And in Pets Aplenty I've all but abandoned puns and think the book is better for it ( I hope! Remains to be seen what readers think)
  • Stan2Stan2
    Wot no puns?
  • polar bearpolar bear
    I had a great one, 'I liked this book, but won't bother reading her other stuff.' Damned by faint praise. It rather made me laugh actually.

    My other good one was, 'It's very English.' Yep, there's a reason for that!

    In the main I've been lucky, I haven't had many bad reviews, but then I've not sold in large numbers either.
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