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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Indie Life - Taking The Good With The Bad


Welcome to my Indie Life post for March. This is a monthly feature posted on the second Wednesday of the month and hosted by the Indelibles. The aim is to promote, encourage, and support indie authors.

My first book has been out for less than two months, and so far I’ve had a pretty good response. Early reviewers have had some great feedback and Fall For Me is currently sitting at a 4.5 star rating on Amazon. Yay!

A few days ago I got my first really bad review. And it wasn’t bad just because it was a 1 star rating; it was bad because it was nasty.

Not everyone will like my work. I accept that humbly because I don’t like everything I read, and there have been books that I’ve wanted to throw across the room in frustration, but I believe there is a right and wrong way to go about writing a review. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there are ways to say you don’t like something without being hurtful, snarky or mean. A bad review can still be tactful.

Fight For Me, the second book in The Tate Chronicles, is still in the drafting phase. I hit a few hurdles with it and got to a point where things were just a mess. I didn’t write anything for almost two weeks, and I felt awful. So, when I saw the bad review my confidence had already taken a leap off the nearest cliff before I’d even read the first line.

I decided not to read the entire review simply because I knew it would damage my confidence further. The small amount of it that I did read had a bad enough effect on me. I had to sit myself down and give myself a talking to, and remind myself that even the likes of Stephen King and J. K. Rowling are not immune to a bad review or nasty comments about their work. I also know I didn’t receive this bad review because I’m an Indie; I received it because that particular person wasn’t a good fit for my book.

After I talked to myself for a while (no, I’m not crazy, I’m a writer) I came up with a way to help me deal with the dent in my confidence. Keep writing. It’s that simple.

Fight For Me is still a mess and I can’t deal with it right now, but I’ve started a new project that I’m hoping will answer some questions for me and lead me back in the right direction. I haven’t announced the title yet, but I have all the details ready to go, and a cover reveal is set for April 23rd. The first draft is almost complete so I’m planning to make my announcement next week.

My readers will have something in their hands by the end of May, and I’m so excited to be able to share my next story with everyone. If I wasn’t an Indie, I wouldn’t be able to do it so soon.

The other thing I’d like to share with you today is that I had a very exciting week last week (before I discovered my bad review) and I was lucky enough to get to meet the wonderful R. K. Grow. We became friends via twitter and stay in touch on a regular basis. We chatted via Skype and she interviewed me for a podcast that went live on her blog last Tuesday. To have a listen to me talk about Fall For Me go HERE.

Until next month…

K x

13 comments:

  1. Yeah. Don't worry so much about opinions. Everyone has one, right? That's what makes the world go round. Keep your chin up and keep writing.

    Hugs and chocolate,
    Shelly

    Found you through Indie Life.

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    1. Thanks Shelly, and thanks for stopping by :-)

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  2. I am so sorry. The life of an artist is so tough, whether its a writer, painter or musician. Not everyone will appreciate your blood, sweat and tears. Focus on the ones that do because they are the ones that add meaningful moments to your life.

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    1. No need to be sorry, Cynthia. I knew I'd need a tough skin when I decided to put myself out there. Thanks for your kind words.

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  3. Sorry to hear about your bad review. Bad reviews can be tough to deal with, so I'm glad to hear you'll keep writing. That's the important thing.

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    1. Yes, I would never stop, I enjoy it too much.

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  4. Bad reviews are hard to swallow ~ read. Just know you're awesome. Love the cover!!

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    1. Thank you RaShelle, and thanks for the cover love.

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  5. I think a bad review is something we all cringe dread. hard not to take it personally, since it's our baby that's being ripped. on the other hand, you can't take it personally. it's just how the reader/reviewer is perceiving what's written. it's about the lens their looking through. and each human being on the planet has their own perspective.

    I'm rambling, sorry. LOL!

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    1. No, I totally agree, I just think people can still be tactful when writing a bad review instead of nasty. Thanks for stopping by :-)

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  6. Some people just enjoy taking their inner bitch out for a walk. And protestations along the lines of "Oh, I don't LIKE being sarcastic and mean, it's just my inner reader having a whinge" don't really cut it in my book. That just makes her a hypocrite as well as sarcastic and mean.

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  7. Bad reviews are hard to take. I have had a one, who I believe did not even read the book, but wrote the review on her dislike of the blurb. She did not like stalkers!

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