Reviews for an author are what turn the wheels for a book. But with my debut novel Bottom Feeders making the rounds with reviewers this year, what have I learned?

Disclaimer: No reviewers were hurt in the making of this blog post.

The Good

When I first published my book, I was a complete novice when it came to what reviews were all about. I tried to follow every review—not only my book—but any I could find. “Consumed” wasn’t a strong enough adjective to describe my obsession with the new art-form I discovered (sorry reviewers if I annoyed you)

I soon discovered that regardless of what the author thinks, reviews are for the reader. Don’t get me wrong, there are those rare gems hidden in the harshest reviews that shed light on the weakness of a writer. Unfortunately, some critiques are more about the reviewer—their background, their baggage, and even the mood they were in when they took your novel to bed with them.

But in the author’s heart of hearts, reading a stellar review is a small validation for all the endless, lonely moments writing and rewriting their child. In my naivete, I thought I’d become friends with some of the reviewers but soon realized that no matter how much they loved your book—they were onto the next one.

Let’s face it, if you’re not with one of the “Big Five” publishers—you are hustling for reviews. What I learned is that as a writer’s career progresses, the author becomes more insulated—removed from reviewers. This is both a blessing and a curse. The curse: an author loses touch with the people that drive sales and do the hard work of pouring over millions of words a year. The blessing: the author doesn’t have to carry a “bad review” with them all day long. Breakfast (thinking of the review), shopping (thinking of the review), tucking the kids into bed (thinking of the review).

At their best—and I’ve seen a few amazing reviewers—he or she reads the work objectively to pick out the gems of a story, revealing to their readers what was special or unique about each book. A great reviewer understands that a book is an author’s labor of love and because they didn’t enjoy it doesn’t mean it wasn’t good.

The Bad

Although no one is perfect, there are those reviewers who read every review of a book before they settle in with it. As you can tell from how I phrased the sentence before, I’m not a fan of this approach. I think most authors are hoping for a fair shot at a decent review. Reading a book’s glowing review before you tackle the pages can be a positive thing—sweetening the pot—so to speak. The opposite side of the coin is when someone wants to promote how much they didn’t like a novel or proselytizes an author’s flaws. I’ve seen reviews go South like a contagion when reviewers see other bad reviews—the novel starts behind the eight ball in these cases.

Another unfortunate part of the review process is the reviewers that elevate themselves above the authors they read. Best-case scenario: the author and reviewer are equal participants in the thing they love—books! But in some rare situations, reviewers believe they wield power over the authors, holding them hostage for a rating that they need. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen too often and not for long. Both authors and readers get wise to these kinds of reviewers fast.

And the Ugly

I want to say that MOST reviewers don’t fall into this category—they are the ones that hold grudges with an author for no reason, lashing out like a jilted lover. All authors have experienced the “anonymous” 1-star rating left without even a review. Or the 1-star review because it wasn’t what they expected. Life isn’t fair, and this truth comes out in reviews more than anything else I’ve seen. But the worst of the worst are the reviewers that want the author to know that they’re giving them a bad review. These wonderful humans will tag the author. In all fairness, not many reviewers are doing this and the ones that do, are losing authors willing to hand over their pride and joy to such a person. Every author is working as hard as they can to put out something a reader will love. A public critique can hurt like anything else.

The Takeaway?

Reviews are an important part of book sales. A reviewer is doing a job like everyone else and almost never compensated for their services. The best an author can do is to write the best book they can—dot all the Is—and cross all Ts and send their baby out into the world with optimism. Once the public finds a book, it no longer belongs to them the same way a song takes on a life of its own. Oh, and the best advice to give any author (that they will never accept)—“Don’t read your own reviews” 😊