Do bad reviews matter?
What do Twilight, The Da Vinci Code, and Fifty Shades of Grey all have in common? Yes, they've all sold a mountain of copies, but they've also been criticized for their cardboard characters, their elementary-school-grade prose, and their clunky dialogues.
At the time of writing, Fifty Shades of Grey had 1,118 one- and two-star ratings on its Amazon listing, (compared to 1,414 five stars), yet it's an overwhelming success residing at the number one spot. The question is, therefore, do bad reviews really matter?
Well, some authors positively hate negative press. In 2009, author Alice Hoffman was so incensed because of a bad review in the Boston Globe that she went on Twitter and launched a campaign of malicious tweets. "Now any idiot can be a critic," she tweeted and went on to publish the reviewer's phone number (which turned out to be incorrect) and e-mail address. Yet, if you're a writer who has attracted a negative review, you may well sympathize with her.
The importance of good and bad reviews
Peter Hildick-Smith of the Codex Group summed up what reviews mean when he said, "Reviews help both to raise awareness of a book and to persuade people to buy it." And in the world of indie authors, reviews are probably one of the best ways to get noticed and kick-start book sales.
The natural assumption is that bad reviews harm your reputation and credibility as a writer. And you might think that a few negative reviews can kill the career of a fledgling indie author, but is this true?
Jacqueline Carey, the author of Kushiel's Scion, suggested that negative reviews might not be as drastic as first imagined. "I'm sure [a negative review of a book] piqued the curiosity of a number of readers who might not have picked up the book otherwise," she said.
Carey might just have a point. According to a study co-authored by Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Alan Sorenson and Wharton Business School professor Johan Berger, bad reviews can actually increase sales. The study demonstrated that negative reviews of an unknown book did not affect whether or not the subject would buy it, and for new authors out there, bad publicity may actually be good publicity.
Keep calm, carry on
So although bad reviews can emotionally scar an author, they need not be too worried. After all, some people loved the raunchy Fifty Shades of Grey while others positively reviled it; books will always have fans and detractors, and no book has ever been universally praised.
The best thing for indie authors is to continue marketing their books, collect as many reviews as possible, and be aware that negative publicity doesn't necessarily harm book sales. Finally, you might also consider getting a review with Kirkus or Clarion Foreword to help raise awareness about your work.
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