Let’s face it, for authors, receiving bad reviews feels equivalent to spilling scorching coffee all over a new, white shirt when you were on your way to an event where you needed to make a good impression.

For me, bad reviews have never popped up on a good day. In fact, I got my first one-star review during one of the most difficult months of my life. Sometimes, they feel like the icing on the cake of why we should just give up writing altogether, because apparently, we’re terrible at it and should have never published.

But the truth of the matter is this: Book reviews are for readers, not for us authors.

As an author, negative book reviews can be hard to take, but they shouldn’t be taken as personal attacks. This week, we’re tackling how to not take them to heart.

Tip 1: Try to Not Read Reviews of Your Books

I’m preaching to myself on this one, because this is sound advice I’ve heard from other authors that I have not yet been able to implement for myself. Even though I’ve been an Indie author for eight years, all but one of my books still have under 50 reviews on Goodreads, which makes it easier for me to notice whenever I get a new review or star rating there.

But that doesn’t mean it’s helpful. In fact, I’ve hurt my own feelings a time or two by being nosy and reading my books’ negative reviews when I should’ve just avoided reading reviews at all costs.

But… How Can We Avoid the Temptation of Reading Our Books’ Negative Reviews?

When I got my first one-star review a couple years ago, God orchestrated a situation where the news was relayed to me in a way that didn’t completely crush my spirits. I reached out to an author friend and asked her to pray for me after I saw that my book had a one-star review. During that time, I was already struggling with my mental health because a loved one had received a scary diagnosis. My friend prayed for me and ended up scoping out the review for me, summarizing what it said. It was not a mean-spirited review at all (which is what I had feared the most), just one where the reader was not within the target audience for the book, which is perfectly okay.

Long story short, having a trusted friend read your reviews can be a boundary you can implement if reading your reviews has become a problem area in your author career. By doing this, your friend can discern whether they should tell you what the review says or not based on if the review contains constructive or destructive criticism. Constructive criticism includes objective advice on how the book could have been improved, whereas destructive criticism is often subjective and tends to be unkind. As authors, we should try to avoid consuming destructive criticism at all costs. By allowing a trusted friend to check for us, we can avoid unnecessary heartache.

Tip 2: Consider the Source

If you’re like me and haven’t yet been able to break the habit of reading your books’ reviews, another way to not allow negative reviews to get to you is to consider the source of the review.

Some readers, bless their hearts, are critical of the majority of books they read, just because they can. Some readers enjoy writing scathing reviews. If this type of reader leaves a negative review of your book, even though it can be hard to do at first, take a deep breath and brush their comments off. Remember that they’ve probably never published a written work of their own, and if they have, they should know better than to taint their own reputation as an author by spewing such vile takes on their peers’ work. This type of reader will almost always write reviews full of nothing but destructive criticism. They may be hurting in their personal lives and, like a playground bully, choose to inflict hurt on others rather than seeking positive coping mechanisms. Book reviews may be their method of choice to release their negativity, and if their comments can’t tell you how your book could have been improved, their comments hold no bearing on your writing ability.

Then there are other readers who just don’t jive with our books but are kind enough to offer constructive criticism. Even though they may have given our books one or two stars, they explain why in a way that is not mean-spirited and provide feedback on legitimate issues in the work that can help the author improve their writing for future projects. Authors, these are the negative reviews we must take to heart. No matter if we’ve published one book or one hundred, we should always look for ways to improve our craft, and receiving constructive feedback from readers is one way to locate any problem areas we may have.

So, if you can’t help but read your negative reviews, remember to consider the source: is this someone who is giving sound advice, or is this a hate-filled review that doesn’t offer any advice for how I can improve the book?

Tip 3: Remind Yourself that Even Your Favorite Books Have Negative Reviews

If all else fails and you’re down in the dumps because you’ve taken one of your negative book reviews to heart, head on over to the Goodreads pages for your favorite books and read some of the one or two star reviews there. I specifically suggest reading reviews on Goodreads for this experiment, as reviewers tend to be harsher there than on other review sites. What you’ll find when you get there is that even the book(s) you’ve always considered flawless were “full of flaws” to some people, but that their negative opinion of it doesn’t negate the fact that other readers, like you, loved the book.

Just like your favorite author has received negative reviews for their books, you and I, my friend, are destined to receive negative reviews on our books. It’s an inescapable fact of life as an author. But, the most important thing to remember is that you weren’t forever turned off of your favorite authors’ work just by seeing a negative review of their book, and that you could still become someone’s favorite author someday even if your books have negative reviews.

The fact of the matter is everyone has different opinions, and contrary to modern society’s belief, that’s perfectly okay. There are enough books to go around for all of our different opinions anyway. 🙂

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

Authors, do you have any tips on how to not take negative book reviews to heart? If so, drop them in the comments!

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀