I recently received my first one-star review. This was my reaction:
Nah, just kidding. I was pretty bummed at first, but now that I’ve had time to think about it, I have some fresh thoughts. In this post, we’ll discuss ways to make something good out of a bad review.
Write About It
…But please don’t write a scathing hit piece against the reviewer. Remember, every review is valuable, even those with one star. Instead, it might help to write a piece that helps other writers going through the same thing.
Okay, I know this sounds a little like a support group for something that isn’t that bad. It’s just a review. However, bad reviews sting, and they can be jarring blows to your confidence. So do what you do best. Write about it.
Give others tips on how to overcome their disappointment. Discuss ways to do something positive with a negative. That can help turn things around.
You might even take this one step further and use it in your next story. Every experience can contribute to fictional work, so keep this one stored away. Write about a writer who’s struggling to move on after receiving bad reviews. Or, more generally, apply this feeling to a character who’s experiencing momentary failure.
Remember That Everyone Gets Them
Really. Everyone. Here’s a review for Margaret Atwood’s latest:
Here’s another for J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, one of the most successful novels of all time:
And even the master of horror himself, Stephen King:
It’s just like mom said: You can’t please everyone. Your carefully crafted plot twist is going to be labeled predictable by some readers. Your favorite character is going to be someone else’s punching bag. Your most intricate passage is going to feel unwieldy to a less patient reader.
It’s the nature of art to be controversial. If everyone feels exactly the same way about it, then maybe it’s not doing its job well. Some of the most enduring stories are those that people argue about.
For example, consider the latest Avengers film. Without giving anything away, let’s just say that Marvel Studios made significant changes to some of its most beloved characters. Some people liked it. Some didn’t. Yet even those that didn’t are joining a conversation about the film. And that’s a good thing.
Consider the Aggregate
If I may take an example from my cardboard addiction, Magic: The Gathering, consider the aggregate. In Magic, if your goal is to win every match, you’ve set an unrealistic expectation for yourself. Even Jon Finkel, the Michael Jordan of Magic, wins only about 65 percent of his games. So if you can’t win every match, what should be your goal?
In Magic, the goal is not to win, but to increase your percentage chance of winning. The best players in the world squeeze out that additional one percent of win likelihood, which doesn’t sound like much, but really is. Over the long term, that extra one percent could be the deciding match in a championship game, or a difficult-to-navigate situation most other players would lose. Percentage points are what separate good players from the greats.
The same goes for reviews. Even if that one-star review feels like a loss, your skill will be shown in the overall record of your book. The aggregate scores will drown out some of the worse ones, and overall, you’ll find success.
Summing It Up
One-star reviews are hard to stomach in the moment. Give yourself time to be sad about them, but then move on quickly. Find something positive to do with that negative review, and then do it. It will be a huge help in the future.
Kyle A. Massa is the author of the novel Gerald Barkley Rocks and the forthcoming short story collection Monsters at Dusk. His stories have appeared in numerous online magazines, including Allegory, Chantwood, and Dark Fire Fiction. He lives somewhere in upstate New York with his wife and their two cats.
