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Blogs by Bill Ward
Reviews 3/26/2015 10:21:56 PM
Let’s face it, Reviews are scary! Especially for a brand new author publishing his first book and full of doubt whether he is completely off his head expecting strangers to pay to read his book. (Yes that was me!)
Every positive Review helps build confidence in your writing ability and in my case led me to writing two further thrillers and I am now looking to write many more.
Even more importantly, Reviews help other readers decide to buy your book. There is no getting away from the importance of Reviews for new authors in particular.
I now have about a hundred and fifty reviews spread around various sites but still feel nervous each time I receive a new one. When I published my first book, I expected my friends and family to rush out and buy my book and quickly write glowing reviews and though a few did, it didn't add up to very many! The strange thing was the number of people who said they enjoyed the book and promised a review but never quite got around to writing one. I eventually just gave up reminding them about the importance of a review as I didn't want to appear completely obsessed by the subject.
I have had some funny experiences with Reviews. One person will love something specific about my book and someone else will dislike exactly the same thing!
I have had an American tell me I had a load of spelling errors and after further investigation, had to point out certain words are spelt differently in the UK to the USA.
What this has proved is, reading is a very personal experience. Do not, as a new author, be intimidated into thinking you must make massive changes because of your first negative review. The reader may not be the right type of reader for your book so was never going to enjoy the experience.
Constructive reviews are very useful in helping us learn to improve our writing skills. I have had some excellent feedback, which continues to improve my writing. I remember an early review of Revenge where I was criticised for too much "tell" and not enough "show." I had never given any thought to the difference and the review was a revelation!
So take the occasional bad Review on the chin and realise your book just wasn’t right for that particular reader. I have recently read a couple of the most successful thrillers of the last couple of years and frankly didn’t particularly like either of them. It is all just a matter of personal taste.
