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April 2009 Article

“A Matter For Review”

By: Kelly Moran

As most of you may know, I am an author. I am also a book reviewer for Bookpleasures, a staff writer here for Poetic Monthly Magazine, and I interview authors on my Blog at Blogger. After doing these things, and after a bad experience, I thought that this may be a good topic for this month’s article, (and hopefully to not bore you senseless.)

Let’s start with my bad experience. (Drum roll.) Awhile back, a friend of mine from a social media site alerted me to a negative review on Amazon about one of my books. Intrigued, I went to check it out. It was, in fact, not a negative review, but a slam on me. It was apparent that said reviewer had not read the book and was interested only in slamming me. This probably wouldn’t have bothered me, except said reviewer put words in my mouth that I did not say, which was of concern. I contacted Amazon, and they removed the review. This person then went about setting up a Blog to ridicule me and further put inaccurate words in my mouth. After the support of friends and family, I just let it go and said reviewer has been mute.

What did I learn from this? Never provoke crazy? Oh yeah, that too. But seriously, don’t let it get you down. It has always been my opinion that when you put yourself out there as an author to be reviewed, you have to be able to take the positive and the negative. Not everyone is going to like your work. Simple as that. And reviews are just opinions. Take the advice and criticism, and use it to better the next book. Of course it was my reputation that concerned me at the time, it dawned on me afterwards that no one would have taken it seriously anyhow. Not to mention, negative reviews can have as much of an impact on sales as positive ones.

I have reviewed small press, self-published, and large mass market authors alike, positively and negatively, through Bookpleasures. The bottom line, they all thanked me. That is my advice to you. Thank the reviewer for their insight and time, and move on.

In interviewing authors on my Blog, I like to ask the question: How do you handle the negative reviews you receive? I’ve gotten a variety of responses from: “I don’t read them” to “I cry”, and “I take the advice” to “It’s only opinion.” We are human. It hurts when a bad thing is uttered about our precious pages. But remember, this too shall pass.

Lastly, here are some reviewers for you who like small press or self-published authors: Bookpleasures, NovelTalk.com, Kasey’s View Reviews, Midwest Book Review, Bookfetish, Authors on the Rise, Front Street Reviews, Reader Views, Simply Romance Reviews, Fallen Angel Review, MyShelf.com, Romance Readers Connection, RomanceReviewsMag.com, & Romance Reviews Today.

Best of luck to you!

Kelly Moran