This mini-blog is about literary reviews from a writer’s perspective.

I never read reviews of my work. There are two main reasons.

1) It can have an adverse effect on a writer’s mind. I have read instances where writers have allowed bad reviews to affect their emotional and mental well being. Writers have agonized over them, felt sick, questioned their own ability, and, as a result of this reduced level of confidence, saw a reduction in their output of work. Some have quit. I won’t put myself in that position. I won’t allow it to change my approach, it won’t affect my confidence or impede my ability to write with confidence, or to be constantly second guessing myself. I do enough of that without anyone else’s help, thank you.

Two: Reviews are subjective. One person may praise a book and give it five stars, while another trashes the book and gives it one or two stars. In the end it boils down to personal preference or an individual reader’s experience and opinion. That’s what a review is: one person’s opinion. So, why allow someone’s opinion to affect whether or not you write, how you will write, and with what level of confidence you will write?

Let me tell a quick story. There was once an author (actually, more than one) who engaged a reviewer in a confrontational way. Things got ugly. You can guess the rest. There was one author (who shall remain nameless) whose diatribe against a reviewer went viral, yes, viral. Things became very ugly. She used the reviewer’s name to post to an online forum in her very public rebuke. The result was her publisher severed ties with her shortly after her book was published. True story.

Of course, it is entirely up to the individual author whether or not they wish to read their reviews. I will not, and I recommend other authors do not. Look at it as a consumer’s tool to review and rate a product. It can be a book, an appliance, an electronic device, or a service. I see it as their domain. I have no business in it, and under no circumstances would I engage a reviewer, good, bad, or indifferent. I see it as an intrusion of their space. They should be able to rate a product without being confronted by an irate author who, because of a bruised ego, feels justified in lashing out at someone over an opinion, which said person is entitled to.

My advice to big headed, “everybody should love me and how dare do they not?” Authors: Get over yourself. Just because you have a certain level of talent, maybe a talent the person next to you doesn’t have, doesn’t mean the reading public owes you any special loyalty or praise. In fact, they owe you nothing. They bought your book, read it, and so have every right to review and rate it however they wish. Get off the high horse. You’re one of hundreds of thousands of authors trying to carve out a niche, maybe earn a living working at the craft they love.

Well, that’s all I have to say on the subject today. As always, thank you for reading. Have a great day and an even better week.

Ray