My hat goes off to Melanie J, who is up on my blog tour today. Reason: She didn't like my book.
I've known Melanie in the blogger world for more than a year. I imagine that it was very hard for her to email me and tell me that she didn't enjoy my book. Rather than make me look bad in front of the whole world, she requested that she be taken off my blog tour.
I declined her request, asking her instead to post the negative review.
The bottom line is, folks, some people aren't going to like my book. Some of you, even. So take a look at her review. And if you think you might not like my book, buy the ebook. It's a smaller investment. :)
Oh and then pop back over here and tell me what you think of the review. Because, to be honest, I'm not brave enough to go look at it.
The negative review is here.
19 comments:
Tamara, I really respect this!
But seriously, don't go read the review. Here's the best part for you (and the only one you should read): "Regardless of my opinion, I wish you great success because I definitely think you have talent."
Several of the comments also applaud your integrity and respect you for wanting this posted.
Tamara, I respect your willingness to go ahead when she warned you it wouldn't be a positive review. Still, I felt her review was unnecessarily harsh. I've reviewed books I didn't particularly care for before, and I can always find something good to say about it. That's my policy, to look for the good in any book I review and focus on that rather than focusing on what I didn't like. I can't imagine she didn't find ANYTHING good in your book to mention.
I know you're going to be really really curious but I'd caution you against reading it. But then again, we all get them eventually so why not read it and get it over with? Um, never mind, don't do it. It isn't a helpful critical review.
I think your blog tour has been awesome. You've gotten a lot of attention and some positive feedback from bloggers I know and whose opinions I respect.
Thank you, Jordan and Karen! Like Karen said, the negatives are going to happen, and I don't want to twist everything into my favor. You have definitely convinced me not to look at the review!
I read her review and agree with Karen that she should have found SOMETHING good to say about it. It seems like she just didn't like it and didn't take the time to write critically about it.
But good for you to insist she post it. Some people aren't going to like what any writer writes and it's something we all have to accept. If people only post the good reviews, we'll be left wondering why we haven't won the Nobel Prize in literature yet.
Oh and no offense to your post title, but I don't think it's at all brave to post a negative review of a friend's book. Glad you're not going to read it. You will stumble across enough poor reviews on Amazon and Goodreads to ruin your day, why read one on purpose LOL?
Tamara, please don't read that review. It's just not worth your time. Stay on the high road and leave the low road for those who choose to travel there.
But a bit of advice: Writing comes from the heart, but publishing is a business. The old adage of not mixing business with pleasure is oh so true.
I would say read the review, it might hurt your feelings but it will make you grow as a writer and a blogger.
Perilous and I still have a date.
I'm not sure how you are keeping yourself from reading the review! You are my hero!
I know everyone is saying this but my respect for you has grown SO much since reading this blog. AND I want to read your book based on that review and the fact that you were such a big person about it.
Someone once said to me that you learn to write the hard way...and if you get your early books published, you do it for all the world to see. My first 30 books (that may be an exaggeration, but not by much) have been long ago lost. The ideas are still in my head but I don't write romance anymore so they're useless anyway. I don't WANT them to be seen. I've learned so much along the way...and I started writing novels when I was 25. The fact that you started at 12 AND that's the book that was the first one published says a lot.
Read the review when you're ready. It will hurt. You'll reject the criticism, likely. But you will become better from it. I compared it once to working out. You have to tear the muscle down to build it back up stronger. But you have inspired me in so many ways by this. I hope once I'm published I will be as good a person about it as you are!
Thank you, Stephanie! I am hoping most people will feel that way. That they won't let one negative review decide for them that they won't like my book. Hopefully it will intrigue them more!
I read the review and all the comments.On the up side, five commenters really want to read your book now.
LOL, Kate. That's good to know. I was hoping that would happen.
I'm glad Kate pointed that out, Tamara, because I was about to email you later to tell you the same thing. I'll still email you later because I think you have some people who are scaring you unnecessarily about the "harshness" of my review, but I wanted you to at least know that you have several people who flat out want to read your book and my review hasn't hurt you at all.
Hi Melanie! No worries. I didn't think it would. I think it's good for people to know the stuff others didn't like b/c they might not like it either. Or it just might make them curious.
I haven't read the review yet, but I'm amazed that you haven't. I don't know if I could resist! You've titled this Brave Little Reviewer, but I think YOU are the brave one!
Good for you, Tamara! The old publicity adage goes: Any news is good news. I'd rather have 1000 bad reviews than absolutely no reviews--at least you'd know somebody was reading and thinking about your book. Besides a review is mostly personal preference.
I admire both of you for your decisions.
Lee
Tossing It Out
You're so patient, I'd probably want to murder people if they didn't like my book.
Probably best I stick to blogging till I get some anger management.
Tamara--big kudos to you for this! I didn't think the review was that harsh. It was pretty generalized, so maybe that's why I felt that way. My opinion is that we can always improve/change/tweak our writing. There will always be something to learn, so I applaud you for letting her post this and when you feel like it, don't be afraid to read the negative reviews--just have some chocolate handy. :)
This has made me very curious, and I'd like to read the review, but this was posted two years ago and I don't find a search bar on Melanie's blog. So, where is the actual review?
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