Ahhhh…reviews. Are they helpful? Yes. Can they shred your writer’s soul? Definitely.
The first thing you need to remember when dealing with reviews is this golden rule:
Reviews are not for authors.
Lemme say that again, because I really want you to take this in. Reviews are not for authors. They are for readers. They are for people who want to discuss your work. You can read them. That’s all.
Many a writer has found themselves in unpleasantly, scalding, what-have-I-done water by responding to a review or the reviewer.
Some writers have the best of intentions. “I only wanted to explain!”
Some not so much. “#$@#%!!!!!!”
It doesn’t matter. Don’t do it. Don’t engage. Don’t even offer gratitude. Reviewers and the people who rely on them need the space to talk and consider without you looking over their shoulder.
So. Should you even care? Oh yes. Definitely.
If you’re going to read reviews, do so as a professional wanting to learn. The good ones are going to lift you up and plop you right on a fluffy cloud with feathered quills dancing. The bad ones are going to drop you in a cold mud puddle. But if you approach the opinions of others with a student mindset, you can learn a lot.
Are your plots overly complicated? Readers will let you know. Loose ends? Weak characters? Grammar and spelling adrift? All will be revealed.
You’ll also get the things they like. That MC was spicy! Someone loves your style. You reminded a reader of better times.
Take notes as a neutral observer. Ignore the overly wrought on both sides. Ignore the ridiculous—like the reader mad because a book that was written before the pandemic didn’t include the pandemic. Or the reader who felt vampires in a submarine was unrealistic. Yup, real examples.
Amazon and GoodReads are probably the most recognizable amateur sources for reviews. They can be helpful and harmful—both in equal measures. I will refer you back, yet again (did I mention this matters?) to the golden rule. I’ve seen authors get dragged a country mile because they offended someone, and suddenly every work they’ve ever published gets swamped with one star reviews. Ouch.
Professional reviews are a different game, but the above rules still apply to you. Going after someone who reviews regularly and has a large following, and/or gets paid to offer their opinion, is going to backfire horrifically. Magnificently. Badly.
If they like your work? Wonderful! Ride that high and make sure they are aware of your next piece.
You can ask professional reviewers for a write-up. Many will agree without charging you, but you are at the mercy of their words, so be sure. Be confident. Their good graces will reach far, drawing curious readers to your work. And isn’t that what we all hope for? You can find these folks on social media and by searching the Intrawebz. I don’t travel in TikTok circles, but I’ve heard tell good things spring forth from there.
(You can send a polite thank you to a professional who writes about you. Thank them for their time and promise to follow them. They need engagement, too.)
Consider getting genre-granular. Look for people who know your field. Asking a Victorian Romance reviewer to check out your Splatterpunk Gorefest might not gain the results you want.
Or maybe you do. Horrifying the reader may be high on your list.
I don’t mean to scare you and offer nothing but doom and gloom here. Reviews catch attention. Land an influential one and you’ll be swimming in sales.
Good reviews will also improve your outreach. Slap them on your website. Add them to your newsletter. Share on social media, especially if you can do so from the source rather than quoting.
People will only know of your work if someone tells them about it. We talk a lot about authors marketing their books, pounding the pavement, getting the word out. But you don’t have to do all the work, all the time, all by yourself. Book (and short story) reviews can be magical.
10/10 would recommend!
Five stars!
Excellent new voice!
Be respectful of the space and put reviewers to work for you.
Gently.
Kimberly Rei
Kimberly Rei, in addition to writing creepy tales, is an editor with Black Hare Press and takes joy in offering the wobbly wisdom of her experience. She does her best work in the places that can't exist...the in-between places where imagination defies reality. With a penchant for dark corners and hooks that leave readers looking over their shoulder, she is always on the lookout for new ideas, new projects, and new ways to make words dance. Her debut novelette, Chrysalis, is available on Amazon. Kimberly lives in gorgeous Florida where the Gulf hides monsters and the sun is a special kind of horror.
Dean Shawker
Dean Shawker hails from Bracknell, UK, and now lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Dean is co-founder and editor of Black Hare Press.
Having found that his BSc in Bioengineering and BA in Digital Media were as useful in real life as calculus and geometric proofs, Dean now works in commercial non-fiction during the day and moonlights as a minion of the hell hare, Captain Woundwort, in the dark hours.
He writes speculative fiction and dark poetry under the pseudonym Avery Hunter, and edits under the name D. Kershaw.
You’ll usually find him hanging out with the rest of the BHP family in the BHP Facebook group, or here as a servant to the Stygian Lepus.