RE: Negative reviews

This has to be one of my favourite responses to the negative-reviews controversy, written by the amazing Julie Kagawa, author of the Iron Fey series! You can go HERE to read it on her blog :)

Basically, Julie spoke what was on my mind also: that, no matter how good a book is, no mater how many people do love it, and no matter how much effort you put into creating and sharing this little piece of you, there are always going to be people who have negative opinions.

But it's only to be expected. Everyone has opinion, and everyone has a right to share it. The best thing for the offended writer to do is to just accept it graciously or turn a blind eye. You shouldn't rat out on the person just because they have an opinion, no matter how much you want to scream or cry. Just scream or cry to a close friend or sibling instead. If that fails, write a really mean response letter just to let out the frustration but tear it up instead of sending it.

I'm not saying that writers don't have a right to be hurt -- because God knows we do. A writer's book is like his/her second heart, and hearing bad reviews can be very hurtful. To be honest, I think that some words that critics use are just plain cruel.

--(Do you remember the phrase, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"?)--

I'm only saying that we shouldn't give the critics the satisfaction of having us react badly to their antagonistic opinions. Hold your head high and focus on the good aspects of your book, or the good reviews, or the comforting words that your family and friends tell you (because, as much as we deny it, they do help).

Point is, there will always be two sides to the story. There will always be people who aren't afraid to speak their minds. I'm sure that there are at least a handful of people that disagree with my opinion on this matter, and I won't blame them. But keep in mind that I have an opinion too -- and so do the writers.

Goodreads is brutal. Bloggers can be very biased. Readers will love or hate your book, but we should be able to accept both the good and bad. Because, I promise you, there will always be some good to accompany the bad. :)

-Mimi