Negative Reviews

 Books & Such published What to do with a negative review? and gave this good advice:

For those of you who are unpublished, if you get a bad review from someone who is considering your project for representation or publication, understand that the agent or editor took time out of a busy schedule to give you feedback. This is usually a sign that the editor or agent sees potential in your project, but something about it isn’t ready for publication yet. Take these reviews and use them to improve your book. When you’ve finished revising, you might even ask those editors and agents who gave you feedback if you can submit your revised book to them. Just let them know that you used the review they gave you to make your project better. Many times the editor or agent will take another look.

A scathing review on a published book from a professional reviewer–like Publisher’s Weekly or Kirkus–can cause damage to an author’s sales figures, but there’s not much you can do when you get a bad review from a professional reviewer. So I suggest that you look for the silver lining instead of letting the dark cloud of depression loom over you.  If your book is reviewed–even negatively–at least it is getting some publicity. Readers will see your name, the book title and possibly the cover. The exposure could help to sell books that wouldn’t have sold without the review just from readers recognizing your book. And remember that many readers don’t even look at these reviews. They are picking up a book because the back cover copy sounds intriguing, the cover looks good, or because a friend recommends it.

 I received another rejection of my story "Colonel Tom". This time from Sequestrum. This I think fits within the first quoted paragraph.

Thank you for sharing your work with us. We often have to turn down well-crafted writing, and while 'Colonel Tom' isn't quite right for our current needs, we appreciate the time and effort which goes into every submission we consider. Thank you for sending your work.

I had wondered if it was the right forum. I can (quite easily!) rationalize as saying I have a well-crafted story. I will persist, which is my real takeaway from the Books & Such blog post.

(I have added this blog to my blogroll.)

sch